Anna Schmidt
KCUR Studios internAnna Schmidt is the fall 2023 intern for KCUR Studios. She recently graduated from Kansas State University, where she was the Opinions Desk Editor for the Collegian student newspaper and took over the role of podcast host.
She has also served as assistant editor-in-chief for Manhappenin’ Magazine, where she co-created the “What’s Happenin?” podcast, and was a contributor to the Manhattan Mercury MHK Music Scene and the Royal Purple Yearbook. This year, on the day after her 23rd birthday, she ran her first marathon with her mother.
You can email her at anna.schmidt@kcur.org.
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Brian Dorsey is set to be executed by the state of Missouri today. Gov. Mike Parson denied his request for clemency despite support from corrections officers and a retired Missouri Supreme Court judge. Dorsey was convicted of killing his cousin and her husband in central Missouri, but his defense team says the original trial lawyers had conflicts of interest. -
It's Election Day in Missouri, and Jackson County is finally voting on the much-discussed stadium sales tax proposal. Plus: Kansas lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Laura Kelly last week to ban gender-affirming health care for minors. Kelly has vetoed similar measures in the past, but this time, the legislature's GOP supermajority might have the power to override any decision she makes.
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April's election will bring some new faces to the often-contentious Hickman Mills Board of Education. The board has long struggled to work together, and last year couldn’t agree on a board president or how to fill a vacancy. Will this vote help or hurt?
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Missouri's 2024 legislative session is back after spring break. The annual state budget and a tax that funds the bulk of Missouri’s Medicaid program are two things that must pass this session. Plus: Some Kansas lawmakers say improving their compensation is key to recruiting young and working class people to run for office.
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A Kansas family remembers Valentine’s Day as the beginning of panic attacks, life-altering trauma and waking to nightmares of gunfire. Thrown into the spotlight by the mass shooting, they wonder how they will recover. Plus: Four Kansas pharmacy owners are taking on the prescription drug industry.
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U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and other Missouri politicians have been especially vocal opponents to the United States financially backing Ukraine in its war against Russia. Plus: Woodman Elementary school in Wichita is experimenting with a program that pairs kids who regularly misbehave with a mentor and given new, constructive tasks to complete on a regular basis.
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Kansas City has an immigrant population of over 130,000 people that is growing every year, adding to the area's labor force and tax base. Still, a high percentage of immigrant residents can't get the medical care they need — including Selene Rocha, an immigrant living in Johnson County.
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Missouri advocates are trying to gather 171,000 signatures for a ballot measure to legalize abortion, but even with a large amount of cash and enthusiasm, the Missouri General Assembly could get in their way. Plus: People in older, more affordable Kansas homes are more likely to lose power, and there's no easy fix.
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Activists, unions and neighborhood groups have been calling on the Kansas City Royals to sign a community benefits agreement for their proposed downtown stadium for months. And they have a good blueprint of what that could look like. The NBA's Bucks made similar promises to their Milwaukee hometown before constructing a new basketball arena, and University of Wisconsin economist Laura Dresser says it shows a path to "demand real results from a public investment in a private interest."
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The founders of SK8 Shot Studios are taking Kansas City roller-skating rinks by storm. Their plan is to revive the once thriving scene and grow it into a global destination for Black skate culture — one class and skate party at a time.
