Laura Ziegler
Community EditorAs Kansas City grows and diversifies, journalists need to listen to the people, to your challenges and successes. As engagement and solutions editor, I’ll make sure we’re framing stories based on what we hear from you, and we’ll partner with communities so our stories help us understand and connect to one another.
I have been a producer with NPR in Washington D.C. and a national NPR reporter covering the Midwest. Email me at lauraz@kcur.org or reach me on Twitter @laurazig.
-
Shayla Curts, the young mother of a toddler and infant, was pregnant with her third child when she was shot and killed by a man in December. Her family says this might not have happened if Jackson County's child welfare system had worked like it was supposed to. -
Kids around the metro are returning to class after the holiday break — but the new semester has some familiar issues kicking around. Staffing issues in schools, fights over curriculums and controversial mascots were some of the top stories in 2022, and those continued debates are setting the tone for the year ahead. -
The Strawberry Hill Bakery has outgrown its original location in Kansas City, Kansas, but the brothers who run it promise the povitica recipe is the same one their great, great grandmother brought from Croatia at the turn of the last century. -
Zero Reasons Why began after a rise in teen suicides. Four years later there’s still work to be done, but officials say the program has contributed to a decline in suicides and an increase in young people reaching out for help. -
The holiday season already has enough stress, and inflation is only adding more. We put together a list of resources if you find yourself in need of assistance, or if you're in a position to help out. -
KCUR editors discuss their approach to the station's political coverage during the 2022 midterm election. -
Two political newcomers seek to represent Kansas House District 37 after what many Wyandotte County voters feel was two years of lost time with a scandal-plagued lawmaker. Plus: the abortion debate has gone local with many towns across the Midwest banning procedures inside city limits.
-
Polls show millennial and Gen Z voters will continue the trend of the last two elections and turn out in high numbers, even though they are disillusioned with divisive political rhetoric and inauthenticity among politicians. -
With almost 900 kids in foster care and just 19 social workers, Jackson County's Children’s Division is short hundreds of workers and has the worst case-overload problem in the state. -
For the third time this year, the University of Kansas has suspended a fraternity for hazing offenses. The fate of Sigma Chi highlights ongoing problems with Greek life on college campuses nationwide.
