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Nomin Ujiyediin

All Things Considered Newscaster and host of Kansas City Today

As a newscaster and a host of a daily news podcast, I want to deliver the most important and interesting news of the day in an engaging and easily understandable way. No matter where you live in the metro or what you’re interested in, I want you to learn something from each newscast or podcast – and maybe even give you something to talk about at the dinner table.

You can email me at nomin@kcur.org and find me on Twitter @NominUJ.

  • The shooting at Kansas City's Super Bowl rally last month was alarming, but sadly the kind of thing that happens with some regularity. One cause is Missouri's lax restrictions on firearms. Plus: It’s illegal to fight roosters in the U.S., but raising game fowl is a big business.
  • Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas expects to vote 'yes' when he weighs in on Jackson County's 3/8th-cent sales tax extension April 2. But, with many unanswered questions about how the Royals downtown ballpark would affect businesses and the community, the mayor wants answers soon.
  • U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and other Missouri politicians have been especially vocal opponents to the United States financially backing Ukraine in its war against Russia. Plus: Woodman Elementary school in Wichita is experimenting with a program that pairs kids who regularly misbehave with a mentor and given new, constructive tasks to complete on a regular basis.
  • Kansas City has an immigrant population of over 130,000 people that is growing every year, adding to the area's labor force and tax base. Still, a high percentage of immigrant residents can't get the medical care they need — including Selene Rocha, an immigrant living in Johnson County.
  • Kansas could be the first state in the U.S. to allow foster youth ages 16 and above to pick the adults who help support and make decisions for them. The SOUL Family program aims to help create a network of support as foster teens transition into adulthood.
  • Missouri advocates are trying to gather 171,000 signatures for a ballot measure to legalize abortion, but even with a large amount of cash and enthusiasm, the Missouri General Assembly could get in their way. Plus: People in older, more affordable Kansas homes are more likely to lose power, and there's no easy fix.
  • Activists, unions and neighborhood groups have been calling on the Kansas City Royals to sign a community benefits agreement for their proposed downtown stadium for months. And they have a good blueprint of what that could look like. The NBA's Bucks made similar promises to their Milwaukee hometown before constructing a new basketball arena, and University of Wisconsin economist Laura Dresser says it shows a path to "demand real results from a public investment in a private interest."
  • In Kansas City's increasingly tight housing market, large investors continue to buy up homes in the area and convert them into rental properties. It forces prospective local homebuyers to compete against out-of-state corporations.
  • For 75 years, spectators have gathered in Liberal, Kansas, to watch racers run a quarter mile with a single pancake. How unorthodox traditions like the pancake race bring tangible benefits to small towns. Plus: Why comedian Mia Mercado wants KC to reconsider being "Midwestern nice."
  • Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is again pushing lawmakers to expand the health care program Medicaid, which is widely supported by Kansans. But Republican leaders remain staunchly opposed. Plus: Female veterinarians still face skepticism and discrimination in rural areas, where there’s a shortage of animal specialists.