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Kansas City native Edward J. Dwight Jr. is set to be on the next Blue Origin rocket into space. The rare opportunity comes more than six decades after he was passed over to become a NASA astronaut.
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Business owners have campaigned for nearly two years to sever Troost Avenue from its slaveholding past. But the effort has hit a bureaucratic roadblock, as Mayor Quinton Lucas tries to avoid another public controversy like the failed renaming of The Paseo.
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After dying suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Kansas City philanthropist Thomas Swope became the focus of one of the most publicized murder trials of the early 20th century. It’s long been suspected that Swope’s nephew-in-law murdered him and other members of his family as part of a plot to steal their fortune — but the events remain unresolved more than 110 years later.
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Three St. Louis-area locations have been added to the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom for their connections to enslaved people.
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On Tuesday, three U.S. House representatives, two Democrats and one Republican, introduced a bill to make the site of the historic town of Quindaro in Kansas City, Kansas, a National Historic Landmark. The town was once a stop on the Underground Railroad and a thriving multicultural community.
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Dred Scott, the enslaved man whose case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, is getting a new memorial monument. The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation is dedicating the monument in his honor on Saturday at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.
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Alvin Brooks has served as a bridge in Kansas City for decades — as one of the city’s first Black police officers, an educator, a civil rights leader, a founder of Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, and almost a Kansas City mayor. Today he’s still on call 24/7 for whenever anyone needs help. As he asks everyone to mark their calendars for his 100th birthday in 2032, he looks back to his earliest days in Kansas City.
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Located about 10 miles north of I-70, Lexington's population is roughly the same as it was in the 1860s. The town's biggest tourist attraction is the Battle of Lexington state historic site, but community members want to draw visitors to the rest of town.
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At the turn of the 20th century, a self-taught caterer in Columbia gained national acclaim with her sought-after biscuit recipe. Fisher’s famous beaten biscuits made it onto the plates of presidents and Hollywood stars alike — making her one of the wealthiest Black women around. But her story may have been lost if not for a few determined Missouri women.
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For more than 30 years, a Monett Times reporter has held an annual vigil in the southwest Missouri town marking the night that a mob of white residents killed three Black men — Will Godley, Pete Hampton and French Godley — and forced the rest of the town's Black residents to flee for their lives.
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Quindaro in Wyandotte County was once a thriving, multiracial community, inextricably linked to the region’s history before, during and after the Civil War. This week, the ACLU of Kansas is releasing a carefully curated, more than 40-page analysis of the former township.
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With more shoreline than the coast of California, the Lake of the Ozarks in mid-central Missouri is a popular tourist destination for land-locked Midwesterners. For decades, it's provided financial opportunities for locals and outside interests alike — but at what cost? The story of how this man-made body of water came to be involves corruption, jail time, communities torn apart, and displaced families.
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In his film The League, Sam Pollard tells the story of the Negro National League, which began in Kansas City: "They brought a different kind of style ... a kind of baseball which Major League Baseball is trying to bring back."
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Call it Kansas City's cruel summer. In July 1993, the Kansas River spilled over near 59th Street and Kaw Drive in Wyandotte County, Turkey Creek flooded Southwest Boulevard, and the Missouri River came close to overtopping the levees protecting the downtown airport. Hundreds of families were displaced.
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On Oct. 16, 1923, Margaret Winkler agreed to produce and distribute "Alice Comedies," a new series by Walt Disney, at the time a struggling cartoonist in Kansas City. That contract is considered the founding document of The Walt Disney Company.
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As troops took to the battle fields of Vietnam, internal fighting among American service members threatened to weaken the Army's ability to wage war. "An Army Afire" explores how commanders confronted the crisis.
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Peruvian American artist Sarah Zapata, who's based in New York, combines sculptural and textile techniques to create a site-specific installation for Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art’s eighth annual Atrium Project.
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In the days before air conditioning, electric fans were how Midwesterners beat the heat. One local collector is restoring a rare set of antique fans that once cooled travelers in Kansas City’s Union Station.
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Two teams based in Olathe, Kansas, will play in the Granny Basketball national tournament this weekend in Decorah, Iowa. Organizers aim to foster camaraderie, sportsmanship and 'a gentle game' for women over age 50.
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A Missouri bill lays out a plan to let more public schools to teach the Bible, but designing a course that respects students’ First Amendment rights can be tricky.
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New digital billboards that look like "wanted" posters have been popping up around Kansas City. They're the work of a Kansas City writer exploring public memories of the 1988 South Kansas City explosion that killed six firefighters.
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With a small-but-mighty restaurant culture, its own newspaper, and a vision for the future, the neighborhood of Martin City is a cultural hub in South Kansas City.
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Ed and Brad Budde both played offensive line for the Chiefs, and were both first round draft picks — a singular achievement in the NFL.
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The symbolic flower will grace the National World War I Museum and Memorial beginning Tuesday, just as thousands of travelers visit one of the biggest sports events to come to Kansas City.