Elizabeth Ruiz
Producer, Up To DateAs a producer for Up To Date, my goal is to inform our audience by curating interesting and important conversations with reliable sources and individuals directly affected by a topic or issue. I strive for our program to be a place that hosts impactful conversations, providing our audience with greater knowledge, intrigue, compassion and entertainment. Contact me at elizabeth@kcur.org or on Twitter at @er_bentley_ruiz.
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Royals owner John Sherman said the team is negotiating multiple agreements ahead of the April 2 Jackson County vote on a sales tax to help finance a new downtown ballpark. -
Teachers, families and students in Missouri's Independence School District are adjusting to a four-day school week this year. Superintendent Dr. Dale Herl said data shows benefits to the shorter school week, but opinions from parents and staff are mixed. -
Elected officials, law enforcement and community organizations will come together on Friday and Saturday for a public safety symposium and community forum on public safety and violence in Kansas City. The goal of the event is to "build on one comprehensive plan" to address those issues. -
Missouri Governor Mike Parson commuted the sentence of former Chiefs coach Britt Reid, the son of the team's head coach Andy Reid, on Friday. He was handed a three-year sentence in 2022 for a drunk driving accident that permanently injured 5-year-old Ariel Young. -
The Kansas City Chiefs and Royals have announced their desired stadium plans, but questions still remain. Jim Rowland, the executive director of the Jackson County Sport Complex Authority, said the teams are in a "dicey situation" without passage of a 40-year, 3/8th-cent sales tax. -
Christina Sanabria didn't think she'd have a career in performing arts. The Johnson County native recently won her second Grammy for children's music as part of the duo 123 Andrés, whose album "We Grow Together Preschool Songs" won Best Children’s Album of the Year. -
Business owners in the Crossroads area, where the Royals want to build a $2 billion stadium and entertainment complex, fear the district known as a haven for artists will lose its character. "You can imagine people who are counting on this neighborhood for their livelihood, are very worried and concerned about how this plan is going to affect them," said one owner. -
Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander doesn't know what law might have stopped the mass shooting at Kansas City's Union Station. And rather than propose new laws, Kander told Up To Date the first step should be to remove a law that protects gun companies and manufacturers from civil litigation. -
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said her office will work closely with the juvenile court, which has charged two minors in connection with the mass shooting at the Chiefs Super Bowl rally last week. The prosecutor discussed legal challenges she anticipates with the case and ways she'd like to see gun policy change in the state. -
One person was killed and 22 others were injured on Wednesday during a mass shooting that occurred at the end of the Chiefs championship parade and rally. KCUR's Up To Date spoke with government officials at the local, state and federal levels to get their reactions to what happened.
