Elizabeth Ruiz

Some kids with mobility challenges are missing out on playing with peers and siblings. Thanks to a partnership between Variety KC and The Barstow School’s robotics team, seven Kansas City toddlers received modified ride-on cars to give them more independence and a new chance to play with others.

Now out on streaming, “Your Attention Please” shows footage of Missouri U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley confronting Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about how social media is hurting teenagers. The film explores how tech companies keep users addicted, and how young people are seeking to redefine human connection.

Pressure to perform and social media are contributing factors to a rise in suicide rates among children between the ages of 8-12 years old. A Kansas City psychologist said that some young kids lack the understanding of the finality of their decision and can be more impulsive, heightening the risk.

Kansas City and the business community are working together to reduce the number of chronically unhoused people by providing vouchers and connecting them with resources. The Housing Gateway Program has proven effective in other cities around the U.S, and advocates say Kansas City is “well positioned” to succeed.

Cases of domestic violence are rising in Missouri. Legal Aid of Western Missouri worked on more than 3,000 cases of domestic violence last year. One woman tells KCUR how she found a way out of a 17-year relationship that grew abusive.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd died last week. In April, Zahnd said the job, which he held for nearly 24 years, brought him joy and also “considerable pain.” Up To Date spoke with two former prosecutors about the toll the job had on their mental health.

The Kansas State Fair offered the first chance to see U.S. Senate candidates Roger Marshall and Adam Hamilton and gubernatorial candidates Ty Masterson and Cindy Holscher square off. The raucous crowd at times shouted down candidates as they spoke.

Charles Adair was in the midst of a mental health emergency when he turned himself into law enforcement for old traffic warrants. If sheriff’s deputies at the Wyandotte County, Kansas, jail had followed protocol for a mental health crisis, it might have prevented Adair’s death — which was ruled a homicide due to being restrained with a knee on his back.

More than 700 patients were sued by a doctor in western Kansas for medical debt. The doctor is now Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, who for decades was a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist.

An 11-year-old boy was allegedly physically and sexually assaulted in April at Eisenhower Middle School in Kansas City, Kansas. In August, the district’s school board received notice of a pending $5 million lawsuit for failing to prevent the attack.