© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Farm Bill Expires, SNAP Benefits, Pageant in Drag, KC Ballet Debut

Esther Honig
/
KCUR

The Farm Bill Expired This Week, What Does That Mean For You?

All the talk in Washington this week was about Obamacare, the government shutdown and the upcoming debt ceiling debate. But in the background of all that, Congress quietly let the Farm Bill expire.  It was due for renewal at the end of last year but extended until Monday, Sept. 30.  Now in October, we have no Farm Bill and some serious divisions about major aspects of the legislation. Harvest Public Media's Jeremy Bernfeld gives us an update on the status of the legislation, and how it affect farmers and the hungry.

With Waiver Expired, Some Kansans Will Have To Work For Food Stamps

This week, new food stamp eligibility requirements went into effect for unemployed people in Kansas. Now, any healthy Kansan between 18 and 49 who doesn’t have kids or other dependents will have to work or be in a job training program to earn SNAP benefits. Advocates for low-income communities say these cuts will create a dangerous hole in an already thin safety net.

Measuring The Impact Of Food Stamp Cuts

Kansas’ new rules for food stamp recipients require them to work if they are able-bodied and have no dependents. These are federal requirements that were in effect until 2009, but were waived across the country when the recession hit.  Kansas is one of a handful of states that are voluntarily re-instating those rules.  But if Congress makes major cuts to the SNAP program, Kansas’ culling of the food stamp rolls could be a preview of what’s to come for the rest of the country. We open up the discussion to talk about food stamps, hunger issues and their connection to the Farm Bill. 

What IS That?: The Story Behind The 'Enchanted' House In Red Bridge

KC Currents’ Susan Wilson asked "What is that?" every time she drove past this sprawling, elaborately decorated property in South Kansas City’s Red Bridge neighborhood. Finally, she had to stop by and meet the owner, who takes home and garden to a whole new level.

Miss Gay Kansas City Event Is Pageantry, Drag Style

Miss Gay Kansas City is one of the oldest female impersonation pageants in the country. This year’s competition marks the 32nd anniversary. It took place last Saturday at Hamburger Mary’s in the Crossroads.  Hear an audio postcard of the event.

Kansas City Ballet Debuts Work By New Director

The new artistic director Devon Carney is slipping a brand new production into the ballet’s season opener next weekend. Opus 1 provides a hint of the vision he has for the company. 

Sylvia Maria Gross is storytelling editor at KCUR 89.3. Reach her on Twitter @pubradiosly.
Matthew Long-Middleton has been a talk-show producer, community producer, Media Training Manager and now the Community Engagement Manager at KCUR. You can reach him at Matthew@kcur.org, or on Twitter @MLMIndustries.
As a health care reporter, I aim to empower my audience to take steps to improve health care and make informed decisions as consumers and voters. I tell human stories augmented with research and data to explain how our health care system works and sometimes fails us. Email me at alexs@kcur.org.
Every part of the present has been shaped by actions that took place in the past, but too often that context is left out. As a podcast producer for KCUR Studios and host of the podcast A People’s History of Kansas City, I aim to provide context, clarity, empathy and deeper, nuanced perspectives on how the events and people in the past have shaped our community today.

In that role, and as an occasional announcer and reporter, I want to entertain, inform, make you think, expose something new and cultivate a deeper shared human connection about how the passage of time affects us all. Reach me at hogansm@kcur.org.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Susan admits that her “first love” was radio, being an avid listener since childhood. However, she spent much of her career in mental health, healthcare administration, and sports psychology (Susan holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Bloch School of Business at UMKC.) In the meantime, Wilson satisfied her journalistic cravings by doing public speaking, providing “expert” interviews for local television, and being a guest commentator/contributor to KPRS’s morning drive time show and the teen talk show “Generation Rap.”
KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and award-winning podcasts.
Your donation helps keep nonprofit journalism free and available for everyone.