The Walt Bodine Show

10:00 - 11:00 AM Weekdays Kansas City veteran talk show host Walt Bodine and members of the award-winning KCUR news department invite newsmakers and interesting personalities into the studios of KCUR, along with calls and emails from listeners. The show covers a wide variety of topics in arts and culture, history and politics, and life in Kansas City. Producer: Brian Ellison (816) 235-1552 Be part of the discussion during the show. Call Walt's LIVE Listener Line: (816) 235-2888 or e-mail If you'd like to receive a weekly email calendar of upcoming Walt Bodine Show topics, email the producer by clicking here. To sign up for the biweekly "Food, Glorious Food" e-mail newsletter, sign up here.

Walt Bodine Show

[We apologize that we're having difficulty with our website at the moment, disabling our links and photos. We hope to have the page restored shortly!] MONDAY, July 26 The Ethics Professors: Sex, Money and Privacy                                   Next month, unless a court order intervenes, a new Missouri law will regulating strip clubs will take effect, banning total nudity, limiting hours, and prohibiting alcohol sales. Earlier this year in a well-publicized Florida case, a pregnant teacher in a Christian school was fired—with a detailed explanation given to the entire school—when her supervisors learned that her child was conceived a few weeks before her wedding. And the international agency that assigns internet site names recently created a whole new classification for pornography sites; soon the curious can just look for “.xxx”. These and a growing number of stories in the news raise questions about the public interest in people’s private practices. What are the ethical questions that surround industries that profit from sex and sexuality? Today, KCUR’s Sylvia Maria Gross welcomes back our resident ethics experts. They’ll sort through these complex matters of philosophy and morality, asking what business any of this is of the general public, and how a society with a variety of moral and ethical perspectives copes with different sensibilities about sex. Clancy Martin, Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy, University of Missouri-Kansas City Wayne Vaught, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Medicine, University of Missouri-Kansas City                                                              TUESDAY, July 27 The Midwest Democracy Project / Key Legislative Primary Battles Primary elections are one week away, with both Kansas and Missouri voters going to the polls Tuesday, August 3. Sure, the papers and airwaves are filled with stories about a few big battles for hotly contested congressional seats or spots in the Senate. But how is a voter supposed to know what’s on their local ballot? Or what exactly that county ballot issue is about? Or how two seemingly similar state house candidates of the same party line up on the issues? This year, a group of local journalists and academics have teamed up to create the Midwest Democracy Project, a new portal that gathers candidate surveys, news articles, and in-depth analysis in one place. Today, KCUR’s Sylvia Maria Gross talks with a creator of the site about how it came to be and how it’s being used. Then, using the site as our starting place, we’ll explore some of the key races in next week’s elections for the Kansas Legislature and the Missouri General Assembly, sizing up what primary battles might tell us about the future direction of state government. David Klepper, editor, Midwest Democracy Project; Topeka correspondent, The Kansas City Star Jason Noble, Jefferson City correspondent, The Kansas City Star                                                                  WEDNESDAY, July 28 Where Have All the Manners Gone? We’ve all asked the question. Maybe it was as we sat in a restaurant trying to hear our companion over the loud cell-phone conversation taking place at the next table. Or trying to decipher a so-called discussion among shouting pundits on cable television. Or reading an email that was clearly sent before the author took a deep breath and counted to 10.  The question is, “Where have all the manners gone?” Today, KCUR’s Susan Wilson talks with the “Miss Conduct” columnist for the Boston Globe’s Sunday magazine about how manners and etiquette have changed in the age of technology. Do we still have (or need) guidelines for social behavior? And what are the questions that a new generation of advice-seekers are asking? Listeners can chime in with their questions by phone—or, of course, by email or Facebook. Just be nice about it. Robin Abrahams, columnist, The Boston Globe Magazine; author, Miss Conduct’s Mind Over Manners THURSDAY, July 29 County Government: How and Why? Depending on who you are and where you live in the Kansas City metropolitan area, there may be no level of government that affects your daily life more than the county. County governments often have broad authority for roads and law enforcement, provide care for the poor and vulnerable, and have a role in excercising judicial responsibility for crimes from jaywalking to assault. Some counties, like the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, are experiencing budget crunches as severe as any governing body in the region. Today, KCUR's Brian Ellison talks with local county leaders about the nature and variety of county governments in the area. Why are they so different, and what role must they be certain always to play. In the second half, we'll give particular focus to Wyandotte's budget woes as the government prepares to pass a new budget Thursday night, which some worry will cripple key infrastructure and social services. Betty Knight, presiding commissioner, Platte County; past president, County Commissioners Association of Missouri Doug Bach, deputy county administrator, Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas                        FRIDAY, July 30 Kansas City History: Mormons in Missouri The state most people think of when they think of the religious movement known as Mormonism is probably Utah. But Missouri plays a pivotal role in the history of the church known today as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Indeed, Independence is the home of the Community of Christ, one of the historic offshoots of the religious movement founded by Joseph Smith in the 1830s. Today, Walt Bodine and co-host and historian Monroe Dodd talk with scholars about a new look at Missouri’s Mormon history. They’ll explore the violence and prejudice that led to the Mormons’  bloody ouster from the state in 1838, and the local places that carry significance still today in Mormon history and theology. Thomas M. Spencer, associate professor of history, Northwest Missouri State University; editor, The Missouri Mormon Experience Kenneth H. Winn, author, Exiles in a Land of Liberty; director, Missouri Supreme Court Library