News Archives

By Steve Bell

Kansas City, MO – Mayor Mark Funkhouser delivered his State of the City address yesterday, emphasizing the power of the council and the Kansas City spirit to solve serious problems.

Funkhouser praised the council for having already passed an incentives policy and reining in city spending and outlined ten priorities for the coming year. He admitted that he hadn't been able to deliver on a campaign promise of TIFs for distressed areas

By Elana Gordon

By Susan Wilson and Eugenio Taboada

Lee's Summit, MO – Historians disagree whether Lee's Summit was named after Civil War General Robert E. Lee or early civic leader Pleasant Lee. But we can probably all agree that today, to steal a line from Walt Bodine, "Lee's Summit is a sudden burst of everything."

By Sylvia Maria Gross

Kansas City, MO – Jan Jantzen grew up in a small town in Western Kansas.

I've always been an outdoors kid at heart, Jantzen says. And gave things names - trees and weeds and bushes, even when I didn't know what they were.

By Laura Ziegler

KANSAS CITY, MO –
(53 sec)

The international conference on food aid ended in Kansas City on a note of urgency, with a call to action, and some voices of skepticism. KCUR's Laura Ziegler reports.

By Laura Ziegler

KANSAS CITY, MO –
(53 sec)

From the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to Private Voluntary Organizations, to faith based charities like Catholic Relief Services - officials are meeting in Kansas City this week to address record deficits in commodities available for food aid.

By Steve Bell

KANSAS CITY, MO –
(4 min 48 sec)

About a hundred Midwesterners are milling around in the ballroom of the Intrigue Park Place hotel off Riverfront Drive. Some are delegates to next month's Libertarian national convention in Denver. Others are candidates for office. Still others are just here to support the only party they believe represents their views.

Sean O'Toole, from Kansas City, summed up the Libertarian philosophy.

By Sylvia Maria Gross

KANSAS CITY, MO – This week, Fifth District Congressman Emanuel Cleaver announced that he's getting ready to step down as pastor of St. James United Methodist Church. KCUR's Sylvia Maria Gross talked to Cleaver about his decision and his role as a superdelegate in the upcoming presidential election.

By Laura Spencer

Kansas City, MO – After more than six months of negotiations, the Kansas City Council Thursday approved an agreement for the forty-seven million dollar parking garage for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Some of the sticking points included a funding mechanism and control of the one thousand space garage just south of the center. City Manager Wayne Cauthen says the agreement calls for the city to own and operate the garage and gambling revenues will pay the debt service.

By Laura Spencer

Kansas City – Guggenheim Fellows are selected based on achievements and their promise for continued accomplishments. 190 fellowships totaling more than $8 million were awarded this year to scientists, scholars and artists.

By Susan Wilson

By Steve Bell

KANSAS CITY, MO – Crews will start preliminary work on the Paseo Bridge replacement project a week from Monday. The I-29/35 corridor will be widened to three lanes from near Armour to the downtown loop, and all major interchanges and on-ramps will be rebuilt.

Spokesperson Joy Wasendorf told reporters yesterday that though there will be two lanes open during rush hours all through the project, those lanes will only handle about half the present traffic.

By Sylvia Maria Gross

Kansas City, MO – Votes for the only really contested race in Kansas City's school board elections will be counted today - it's between write-in candidates in Subdistrict One. For the at-large seat, computer programmer Airick Leonard West defeated incumbent Bill Eddy, who had dropped out the race, though his name was still on the ballot.

By Elana Gordon

KANSAS CITY, MO – Kansas City voters approved a ballot measure that puts a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants at all times. Bill Nigro is President of the Kansas City Business Rights Coalition and says he's disappointed the measure passed because it will disproportionately affect some restaurants and bars.

"Particularly for the businesses on the perimeters of the city that have competition right on the edge, I think it's going to be a hard go for them," Nigro said.