Central Standard

In the second part of Wednesday's Central Standard, we'll talk with Stephanie Brimhall, Education Manager at the Kansas City Symphony, about the Young Artist Competition.

This weekend, on stage at Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, young musicians will compete in the final round. Violinists Caleb Thill and Emily Shehi and vocalist Rudy Dibble also join us in the studio to discuss their musical backgrounds - and their hopes and fears about the competition.

Back in the 1960s, long hair, political protests and nudity on stage were all taboo subjects to appear in the theater, but that changed when the musical Hair debuted. Over 40 years later the musical is still provocative to audiences in a contemporary way.

Central Standard takes a close look at the most recent homeless count in Kansas City and explore the implications of these findings on these often overlooked residents of our communities.  Our guests are Vickie Riddle, Executive Director of Homeless Services Coalition, Ehren Dohler, Kansas City 100,000 Homes Campaign manager and James Ponder, a former client of Dohler's who was once homeless and now lives in an apartment.

Immigration reform is a hot topic for legislators nationwide, and this week both President Obama and a bipartisan group of senators proposed changes to immigration policy. In a city located in the dead center of the country, it might seem illegal immigration is not the biggest issue facing Kansas City, but that is not the case.

For the first time in 15 years, Kansas City, Mo. is examining its arts-related policies through Mayor Sly James' Task Force for the Arts. This task force is composed of important political members from the city and a variety of artists and advocates for the arts in Kansas City. The task force launched the Envision Arts & Culture KC campaign Monday night, which is the first step in trying to make the arts a more prominent and meaningful part of life in Kansas City.

A recent study from the University of British Columbia found that installing bike infrastructure greatly reduces the likely hood of cyclist injury.  In fact, cycle tracks (bike lanes physically separated from motor vehicle traffic) alongside major streets had about 1/10 the typical risk to cyclists.  Our guests, Elizabeth Bejan, of Revolve KC, Aaron Bartlett, Bicycle and Training coordinator at MARC and Deb Ridgeway, Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator for Kansas City Public Works Department, explore these risks in Kansas City and how organizations and the city are working to address them.

It may be the dead of winter, but there is still plenty of nature to see in the Kansas City area.  Larry Rizzo, natural history biologist, and Joe Werner, biologist and urban ecologist will cover the best places to observe eagles and nesting Great Horned Owls, and explain what's going on pre-February with groundhogs. And we'll also explore how unseasonably warmer weather and a continued drought is affecting animal habits?

Reverend Adam Hamilton, the Senior Pastor at United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, did not believe his assistant when she told him the White House called and asked for his presence at this year's inauguration ceremony. Hamilton gave the sermon at the National Prayer Service, held at the National Cathedral the day after the inauguration ceremonies, which has been a tradition for every inauguration ceremony starting with George Washington.

  Ever wonder what goes on during a city council meeting? Or how much money was made from parking meters last year? The answers to some questions like these are available to the public online, but every city in the United States differs on how much information they share. MoPIRG is an organization that looks at major metropolitan cities in the country and grades them on how transparent their budget information is to that city's residents.

With education options more diverse than ever, some parents are eschewing the standard public school system.  With this choice, comes the debate on where taxpayer dollars should be going.

On the coattails of President Obama's second inaugural address yesterday and the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Central Standard looks at the economic situation for the African-American community in the United States.

Watching the teenage experience

In 2008, High School Confidential, a documentary-type show that followed 12 high school girls at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park through their four years of high school, aired on WE tv. Sharon Liese is the filmmaker who created this show, and conceived the idea to create a documentary about the high school experience when her own daughter was going through high school.