Brian Ellison
Host/ContributorAs a host and contributor at KCUR, I seek to create a more informed citizenry and richer community. I want to enlighten and inspire our audience by delivering the information they need with accuracy and urgency, clarifying what’s complicated and teasing out the complexities of what seems simple. I work to craft conversations that reveal realities in our midst and model civil discourse in a divided world. Follow me on Twitter @ptsbrian or email me at brian@kcur.org.
Having studied for careers in both journalism and the ministry, I've served as a Presbyterian minister in Kansas City since 1999 and part-time in KCUR's newsroom and talk show studios since 2008. I'm the substitute host of KCUR's Up to Date, an occasional newscaster, and anchor election night coverage. From 2015 to 2019, I hosted the award-winning KCUR political podcast Statehouse Blend Missouri. I've been part of teams recognized awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Religion News Association. My reporting has included appearances on NPR's Here and Now and national election coverage and KCPT's Kansas City Week in Review. I continue to preach, teach and organize as executive director of a national non-profit organization. My partner Troy and I live in Kansas City with our dog daughter Willoughby, who is lovable, if a bit much.
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Student debt plagues graduates and keeps some people from attending school. Harris-Stowe State University, one of Missouri's historically Black colleges, has joined the effort to alleviate that struggle. -
Mike Frankel photographed music acts from the 60s and 70s like Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane and Mothers of Invention. He says back then bands "greeted you like a friend."
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Under new ownership, Kenilworth Apartments is terminating the leases of hundreds of residents so it can renovate the units — before hiking rents by at least 40%.
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There’s a sort of food that just seems right this time of year, as nights grow cool but the days are still warm. KCUR's food critics have great suggestions for the in-between.
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After six years in Hollywood, the 2021 Etheria Film Festival marks its second year In North Kansas City's Screenland Armour Theatre.
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Exclusion of affordable housing from President Biden's plan has the Missouri congressman unable to commit his support, one Kansas City nonprofit is improving health outcomes for Black LGBTQ residents, and a festival featuring only female directors calls North Kansas City home.
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BlaqOut KC, founded with the mission of eradicating HIV/AIDS from the local Black community, will open a physical safe space for Black LGBTQ residents.
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Critical Race Theory is being debated in statehouses across the country.
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Elizabeth C. Bunce's Victorian 12-year old sleuth won the author the 2021 Edgar Award for best juvenile mystery.
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Why the theory that has been taught for decades is now under attack and Lenexa author Elizabeth Bunce shares the creation story of her youthful detective Myrtle Hardcastle.
