KCUR

Young Athletes Are In Greater Danger As Kansas City Sees More Hot Summer Days

Kansas City has more days with a high heat index than it did a few decades ago, and that could make outdoor sports and exercise more dangerous. Extreme heat events are on the rise across the United States due to climate change. That is putting athletes, especially young athletes, at risk, according to a report released Wednesday from Climate Central, based at Princeton University.

The Collapse Of A Hospital Empire — And Towns Left In The Wreckage

How A Kansas City Woman Is Changing The NFL's Culture From Within

Kansas Judge Throws Out Convictions Of Undocumented Immigrants, Ruling In Favor Of Free Speech

By Dan Margolies • 3 hours ago

In a major ruling with implications for employers of undocumented immigrants, a federal judge in Kansas said a law making it a crime to "encourage" or "induce" such immigrants to live in the United States is unconstitutional.

Applications For Medical Marijuana Facilities Pour In At Deadline

By Jaclyn Driscoll • 9 hours ago

With the deadline to submit an application for a medical marijuana business closed, more than 2,100 were received, bringing in more than $5.3 million in fees, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

On Thursday, the department announced it would extend the deadline to 4:30 p.m. Monday. Initially the cutoff was midnight Saturday, but with a slow start early in the application period, the department expected an influx toward the end.

Employers Struggle With Hiring Undocumented Workers: 'You Cannot Hire American Here'

By John Burnett • 14 hours ago

The lunch rush is over at a popular, cozy restaurant in a city somewhere in Missouri. The owner, Lynn, is sipping a glass of pinot grigio as her cooking crew cleans up.

Like thousands of other restaurants across America, Lynn's kitchen is staffed mainly with unauthorized Latino workers. She agreed to openly discuss this employment conundrum if NPR agreed not to give her last name, identify her restaurant, name the city, or even specify the type of cuisine. Like a lot of employers these days, she doesn't want to attract the attention of federal immigration agents.

St. Louis Scores Major League Soccer Expansion Team For 2022 Season

By Corinne Ruff & Wayne Pratt • Aug 20, 2019

Updated at 5 p.m., Aug. 20 with stadium details and comments from ownership.

St. Louis soon will be home to a top-tier professional soccer team. Major League Soccer officially awarded St. Louis an expansion team on Tuesday.

The team will begin play in spring 2022 in a new stadium to be built just west of Union Station. Construction could begin in January, according to team officials. The team’s name, logo and colors have not yet been finalized.

“It is with great pride that we welcome St. Louis to Major League Soccer,” league Commissioner Don Garber said Tuesday morning.

Wyandotte County Evicts The T-Bones After The Team Failed To Pay Rent For Nearly 4 Years

By Greg Echlin • Aug 19, 2019

The Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County served the Kansas City T-Bones with an eviction notice.

The UG cites more than $700,000 in unpaid rent and utilities as the reason for the eviction notice.

T-Bones president Adam Ehlert released a statement late in the day. He called the timing a surprise and said that the organization was “shocked by what appears to be this capricious action.”

The T-Bones have been up for sale for almost a year, but in the statement, Ehlert said that a sale would not come during the season.

Instead Of Expanding, A Cattle Feedlot Near Powell Gardens Shut Its Doors

By Aviva Okeson-Haberman • Aug 19, 2019

A cattle slaughterhouse and feedlot near Powell Gardens says has closed instead of keeping up a drawn-out legal battle over its planned expansion.

Housing Costs And Lack Of Local Services Leave Mentally Ill In Nursing Home 'Warehouses'

By Stephen Koranda • Aug 19, 2019

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VALLEY FALLS, Kansas — Dennis Ritchey stands in the kitchen of his modest apartment. He calls it efficient, but likes that it has plenty of cabinets.

A New Affordable Housing Complex Will Help Families Escaping Domestic Violence In Kansas City

By Lisa Rodriguez • Aug 19, 2019

Addressing Kansas City’s shortage of affordable housing options was a main tenet of Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas’ campaign. On Monday, Lucas is set to announce a new affordable housing project geared specifically toward families who have survived domestic violence.

Iowa's Rural Voters Are The First To Have A Say, Which Holds Sway Over Candidates' Policies

By Amy Mayer • Aug 19, 2019

Presidential candidates have been fanning out across Iowa for months ahead of the 2020 election, creating an opportunity for voters to get agricultural issues on the national agenda.

How Murals In 26 Kansas Post Offices Tried To Cheer People Up During The Great Depression

By Rylie Koester • Aug 18, 2019

A mural showing a stagecoach crossing a snowy, windblown Kansas landscape once graced the walls of the Olathe post office. Albert T. Reid's "The Mail Must Go Through" was created as part of a New Deal-era program that put 29 pieces of art in 26 Kansas post offices.

The story behind these pieces of art, and the conflicts arising from the democratic process that led to their creation, are the subject of "A New Deal for Public Art in the Free State," a documentary by Kansas City filmmakers Kara Heitz and Graham Carroll.

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