By Steve Bell

Kansas City, MO –

By Steve Bell

Kansas City, MO –

Kansas City, Mo. – One of Kansas City's most recognizable civic activists has been appointed by the Missouri Governor to the city's Board of Police Commissioners: Former policeman, a former member of the city council and mayoral candidate, Alvin Brooks.

Walt Bodine's Movie Critics are back with their reviews for recently released films.

Kansas City , Mo. – The latest feather in the cap for the so-called "animal health corridor" is the Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases, or CEEZAD.

The center is a $12 million dollar investment by the Department of Homeland Security at K-State. It will compliment the work of the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility. The so-called NBAF is the high-security lab Manhattan recently won in a competitive bidding process that will be researching foreign and domestic animal diseases and vaccines.

As a teenager during the Cultural Revolution in China, composer Zhou Long was sent from his home in Beijing to work on a rural state farm. Here, he talks about the experience.

By Laura Spencer

Topeka, Kan. – The Kansas House has approved a statewide smoking ban, opening the door for the bill to become law. It would ban smoking in restaurants, bars and most public places.

Statehouse Reporter Stephen Koranda files this report on how the debate played out.

By Maria Carter

Kansas City, MO – Facing a $65 million budget deficit in the coming year, the Kansas City Council has started listening to city departments' pleas for operating money.

The Kansas City Council voted against annexing a 300-plus-acre proposed subdivision near KCI airport yesterday.

A bill outlawing K2, a synthetic drug mimicking marijuana, passed the Kansas Senate and will now head to the governor's desk.

Kansas City, Mo. – Facing a $65 million budget deficit in the coming year, the Kansas City Council has started listening to city departments' pleas for operating money. Parks and Recreation was among the first.

Kansas City, Mo. – Kansas City, Missouri will not annex 316 acres near the airport. The city council voted the proposal down Thursday, 8 to 5.

Sponsor Ed Ford called it "a gift from heaven" and a net revenue producer. The mayor, often a rival, joined with him in supporting annexing 316 acres near the airport that would eventually contain a subdivision of more than 659 new middle class homes.

But it was the reasoning of Jan Marcasson that prevailed.