Steve Kraske
Executive Producer and Host, Up to DateWhen I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.
I got a call out of the blue one day from then-news director Frank Morris who asked if he would be interested in hosting a show. I didn't think I had the time, but thought it over and decided to give it a shot. Now, more than 20 years later, I'm glad I did.
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Kansas City was recently dubbed the eighth most dangerous city in America. Local experts want residents to better understand the conditions that drive violent crime — and what will fix them. -
Hailes spent the last several years in New York, where she performed in "Hadestown" on Broadway and started her own solo career. She's back in Kansas City ahead of a show at The Blue Room on August 5. -
Kansas City first responders get bit, spit on and cursed at while on the job. In one recent case, a firefighter paramedic died after being stabbed in the chest. Increased attention to these incidents has sparked increased protective training by the Kansas City Fire Department, and proposed federal legislation from a Missouri U.S. Senator. -
Film crews seem to be getting more common in Kansas City thanks to state and local tax incentives. Two veterans of the Kansas City film industry also remember the 1990s as a heyday of filming in town. -
Missouri lawmakers overturned a paid sick leave law, and advanced an amendment to overturn abortion rights, only six months after voters originally passed both measures. Now, the bipartisan group Respect Missouri Voters wants to put a new initiative on the ballot to prevent that from happening. -
As the Kansas City Current prepares for a match against Racing Louisville on Friday, the team currently sits miles ahead of the rest of the league in the NWSL standings. How has this team been so successful? -
Chiefs training camp is well underway up in St. Joseph, Missouri. The Kansas City Star's Blair Kerkhoff discusses the atmosphere among players, the team's major on-the-field storylines and the latest on stadium talks. -
Kansas Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids said that Kansans will begin to feel the effects of the spending cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program at the beginning of the year. She spoke with KCUR's Up To Date about the recent budget bill signed into law by President Trump. -
President Trump is asking Missouri Republican lawmakers to re-draw its congressional districts around Kansas City, aiming to flip Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's seat. It's part of a larger push to redraw congressional lines to benefit Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. -
Six candidates are hoping to replace Tyrone Garner as the next mayor of Kansas City, Kansas. KCUR's Up To Date spoke with Gwendolyn Thomas ahead of the August 5 primary — and we interviewed three other candidates in an episode last week.
