KCUR
Laura Ziegler / KCUR 89.3

MoDOT Promises Minimal Headaches During Two Years Of Road Work Near Sports Stadiums

Commuters, take note: Beginning Sunday, the Missouri Department of Transportation will begin closing ramps and lanes at one of Kansas City’s busiest interchanges.

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Tyrone Turner / WAMU

Several children at the Langston Lane Apartments in Southeast Washington, D.C., saw the body of 15-year-old Gerald Watson after he was chased down by two assailants, shot and killed in December.

The shooting happened just a short walk away from the TraRon Center after-school program, a community anti-gun violence resource and refuge to some two dozen children, which is housed in the same apartment complex where Watson lived and was killed.

Sylvia Maria Gross / KCUR 89.3

People in Kansas City go crazy about cinnamon rolls, says Carlton Logan, an administrator of the Kansas City Eats Facebook group and Central Standard food critic. He says conversations about this baked good include the right way to eat them (there's an ongoing debate between starting with a middle piece or a corner) and what to eat them with (some people say chili).   

Bigstock

Three Kansas City-area hospitals are among 17 in Missouri and seven in Kansas that are being penalized by Medicare this year for high infection and patient-injury rates.

Truman Medical Centers, Research Medical Center and Belton Medical Center will see their Medicare payments reduced by 1 percent because of high rates of complications. It’s the fifth year in a row Truman has been penalized.

sonyclassics.com

Cher has asked what might happen if we could "turn back time," but don't do it this weeked. It's time to spring forward with your clock, and more importantly, it's time to catch a good movie. Up To Date's indie, foreign, and documentary film critics have some great suggestions for you to enjoy this weekend, so head to your local theater for one of these flicks.

Steve Walker

"Bathtubs Over Broadway," PG-13

Back in December, the Philadelphia City Council passed "Fair Workweek" legislation, joining a growing national movement aimed at giving retail and fast-food workers more predictable schedules and, by extension, more predictable lives. Low-income residents and unions lobbied lawmakers and put the issue on their radar. Similar laws are on the books in New York, San Francisco and Seattle.

That's typically how it works. Advocates shine a light on a problem. A bill gets introduced.

Parlophone Records Ltd

When opera singer Joyce DiDonato decided to try her hand at singing jazz, the idea wasn't as much of a stretch as it might seem. She says the two genres have one key thing in common: improvisation. 

"The expectation (in Italian Baroque music) is that the singer and the orchestra would come and improvise the harmonies and the vocal style," DiDonato told Kansas Public Radio's Michael Keelan. "So in that element, it's exactly what happens in the world of jazz, it's just the chord structure is a little different."

Jason Dailey

Danny Caine is in an awkward position. On the one hand, as owner of The Raven Bookstore, he really loves all the independent shops that define downtown Lawrence. On the other hand, those big box stores and chains that threaten local businesses like his feel an awful lot like home.

So, he wrote some poems to try to sort it all out. That became "Continental Breakfast," his first collection.

Barbara Shelly / KCUR 89.3

Students and families in the Hickman Mills School District will need to cope with major changes next year after the Board of Education decided to close two elementary schools and reconfigure grade levels in most of its buildings.

By a count of 6 to 1, board members on Thursday night voted to close Symington and Johnson elementary schools. Superintendent Yolanda Cargile had recommended shuttering three of the district’s eight operating elementary buildings. A consultant had presented options that included closing five schools.

Stephen Koranda / Kansas News Service

The Republican-controlled Kansas House approved wide-ranging tax legislation Thursday. The measure would reduce sales taxes on food, which could help Kansans across the income spectrum. It would also give some big corporations a break, and that will likely spark a showdown with Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

Show Me KC Schools

Families of prospective charter school students who used a common application have received their offers and will have until March 22 to pick their top choice on School App KC.

Sixteen of Kansas City’s 22 charter schools agreed to use a common application for the first time this year. Families submitted 4,300 applications for 2,500 students, said Leslie Kohlmeyer, the director of programs for Show Me KC Schools.

Kohlmeyer said families who applied to more than one charter in previous years would have to keep calling different schools to find out their status.

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The Acceptance Speech You Didn't Hear At The Oscars

Kevin Willmott indulges local fans with the speech they were hoping to hear (but didn't) when "Blackkklansman" was named Best Adapted Screenplay.

Why Phil Glynn Wants To Be The Next Mayor Of Kansas City

"Too much of the focus has been on luxury developments downtown, not on our neighborhoods," says Glynn, who wants to spur more development outside the downtown-Plaza corridor.