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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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. -
The Caribbean country of Haiti is in the midst of a severe political and humanitarian crisis as it struggles to address widespread gang violence. Ahead of the 14th annual KC Haiti Symposium on Saturday, KCUR's Up To Date spoke with two journalists who cover Haiti and a Kansas City doctor who runs a surgicenter in the country. -
The Kansas City Renaissance Festival began as a fundraiser for the Kansas City Art Institute in 1977, making this year its 50th season. The festival opened September 5 and will run every weekend through October 12, rain or shine. -
Dr. Sasha Hamdani's new book, "Too Sensitive," aims to provide a science-backed, empathetic framework for understanding why some people experience high emotional sensitivity. The Kansas City psychiatrist joined KCUR's Up To Date on Tuesday. -
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. -
The festival returns for its sixth year of free movie programming, which will include films across a range of genres from experimental to animation. -
Sweeping Promises will embark on an American tour on Sep. 9 to share their third album, “You Say I Romanticize.” The Kansas-based duo has been gaining national attention, while also producing other local bands at their "artistic commune." -
Gillon Property Group, which owns the Plaza, says the empty lot is a “physical and psychological” problem and will be one of the first major redevelopment targets now that Port KC approved a major incentive package. The space was meant to host a Nordstrom, but the project was scrapped in 2022 after multiple delays. -
In a stunning unanimous ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked the state’s newly redrawn congressional maps from going into effect for the 2026 midterms, and ordered a referendum on the map to be placed on the November ballot. But Attorney General Catherine Hanaway says she will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. -
Rohlfing, a U.S. Army veteran, is running against Democrat Stacy Lake in November to become the next Jackson County executive. He says he would focus on providing “world class customer service” if elected.
