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Hyatt Regency Recalled by Veteran Reporter

By Dan Verbeck

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-977807.mp3

KANSAS CITY, MO. – Thirty years ago this Sunday, a builder's shortcut became Kansas City's worst non-natural disaster. Falling walkways killed 114 people. Most died immediately as tons of concrete and steel crashed into the lobby of the
Hyatt Regency Hotel at Crown Center. Then-Mayor Richard Berkley called it "Kansas City's worst day." KCUR's Dan Verbeck was the second reporter to get there to give accounts that lasted eleven hours. This is his look back. Starting from a hot Friday evening in 1981 at 2345 McGee, the Hyatt.

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