© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Sundays at 5pmRebroadcast Mondays at 8pm Host: Susan B. Wilson Producer & Co-Host: Sylvia Maria Gross Assistant Producer: Alex Smith Contact: kccurrents@kcur.org or 816.235.6696Follow our Tweets: www.twitter.com/kccurrents For a weekly reminder of what's coming up on KC Currents, send an email to kccurrents@kcur.orgThe Latest From KC CurrentsPlanting New Grocery Stores In Rural Food Deserts Rural America is losing its grocery stores. Fewer people are living in the countryside, and mom-and-pop markets can't compete with big chains. But as KCUR's Sylvia Maria Gross reports, some small towns are finding creative ways to buck the trend. K-State Program Supports Rural Groceries With grocery stores in rural Kansas closing at record speed, having access to healthy food is a growing issue. Sylvia Maria Gross interviews K-State Professor David Proctor about what options are available for small town groceries.

KC Land Bank, Reforesting Streets, Tenor Saxes

Mr. T in DC
/
Flickr

The show for April 29, 2012. Click "Listen" to hear the entire show; see below for individual stories.

Top Tenor Saxes Team Up

Today, jazz doesn’t draw nearly the audiences or money that it used to, and it’s rare for a paying gig to feature more than one horn player. Rather than collaborating, horn players are most often forced into competing for gigs. But two of Kansas City’s best sax players are defying the trend to form a new band featuring two tenor saxes.

City Officials Banking On Vacant Homes To Help Neighborhoods

Kansas City officials would like to be able to acquire and sell off vacant properties quickly. That could happen with a bill that will have its final hearings in the Missouri statehouse this week.  David Park, Director of Neighborhood and Community Services

Reforesting KC's Boulevards

If you spent some time outside in Brookside or Waldo this weekend, you might have seen some people planting trees.  They are trying to replace thousands of trees that are disappearing from our neighborhoods.  

Plus, what was that original plan for Kansas City's tree scape, and how has it changed?  Hear from archivist Ann McFerrin, of Kansas City's Parks and Recreation Department.

Walt Bodine's Final Broadcast

Hear Sylvia Maria Gross's memories of working alongside Walt Bodine, and a tribute song from Marilyn Maye.

Sylvia Maria Gross is storytelling editor at KCUR 89.3. Reach her on Twitter @pubradiosly.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Susan admits that her “first love” was radio, being an avid listener since childhood. However, she spent much of her career in mental health, healthcare administration, and sports psychology (Susan holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Bloch School of Business at UMKC.) In the meantime, Wilson satisfied her journalistic cravings by doing public speaking, providing “expert” interviews for local television, and being a guest commentator/contributor to KPRS’s morning drive time show and the teen talk show “Generation Rap.”
As a health care reporter, I aim to empower my audience to take steps to improve health care and make informed decisions as consumers and voters. I tell human stories augmented with research and data to explain how our health care system works and sometimes fails us. Email me at alexs@kcur.org.
KCUR prides ourselves on bringing local journalism to the public without a paywall — ever.

Our reporting will always be free for you to read. But it's not free to produce.

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations to keep operating and trying new things. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.