Brandon Azim
Solutions ReporterI was raised on the East Side of Kansas City and feel a strong affinity to communities there. As KCUR's Solutions reporter, I'll be spending time in underserved communities across the metro, exploring how they are responding to their challenges. I will look for evidence to explain why certain responses succeed while others fail, and what we can learn from those outcomes. This might mean sharing successes here or looking into how problems like those in our communities have been successfully addressed elsewhere. Having spent a majority of my life in Kansas City, I want to provide the people I've called friends and family with possible answers to their questions and speak up for those who are not in a position to speak for themselves.
Contact me at brandonazim@kcur.org.
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JuneteenthKC has been giving out free Halloween Costumes for about the last decade. On Friday, Oct. 23, more than 100 kids stood in line to pick one out. -
As we enter the third quarter of 2026, the Kansas City Police Department has reported 108 homicides, a five-year low for the department. Police credit the drop to more cops on the street, focused deterrence and collaboration with the community. -
At the first of five public listening sessions across the city, Kansas City residents gathered in a Northland community center to express their opinions about a new KCPD chief. -
The Board of Police Commissioners has announced a series of five public hearings across Kansas City to give residents an opportunity to say what they’d like to see in their new chief. The first is Thursday, Oct. 15 in the Northland. -
Dozens of residents attended a public information session to ask questions about how the major highway project will affect their daily commutes. The 11-month closure is slated to begin in January 2027. -
On Wednesday, the Jackson County Legislature overrode two vetoes from Phil LeVota, slightly increasing levies for the Community Mental Health Fund and Board of Services for the Developmentally Disabled. -
Stedman Graham, businessman, author and longtime partner of Oprah Winfrey, addressed young men at a mentorship event Tuesday. -
MoDOT crews scooped rock from what was the bridge over U.S. Route 50 to make way for a project set to finish at the end of 2026. Other road construction on U.S. Route 24 and 71 Highway also are underway. -
After violent winds toppled tents and booths Sunday night, officials told vendors to clean up and go home for everyone's safety. But visitors still hit the carnival rides, without cotton candy and kettle corn. -
Starting Monday, Sept. 7, 2026, 11 Black-owned restaurants will feature special deals in an effort to put their food on the map. Black Restaurant Week was recognized by Christal Watson, mayor and CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, to amplify Black-owned businesses. Many suffered economic losses in the recent severe storms.
