Going to a World Cup game, for many, requires hours of sitting in online queues, months of planning and thousands of dollars. Still, for KCUR health reporter Noah Taborda, the opportunity is too important to pass up. Plus: Amateur soccer players in Kansas City are hoping to host their own local pickup games with players from other countries.

Data centers are on the fast track in communities across the Midwest and Great Plains, but rising concerns over water, energy and noise leave lawmakers rushing to catch up. Plus: Supporters and opponents are debating a proposed data center in southwest Kansas.

The Kansas City Council is bringing back its efforts to ban conversion therapy after it repealed a 2019 ordinance last month. Council member Jonathan Duncan discusses how the new proposal restricting "dangerous therapies" is intended to comply with a recent Supreme Court ruling.

Kansas City’s efforts to host the World Cup go back all the way to 1988. Now the tournament is finally here, after four years of preparations reshaped the metro's infrastructure. Is the city ready — and could it ever be?

Fifteen former residents of Change Academy at Lake of the Ozarks say they were physically assaulted by staff, and some say they were sexually abused by other residents a youth residential treatment center in Missouri that takes in children from across the country.

Industries and cities used to pollute rivers so heavily that at least one caught fire a dozen times. But like the Spring River in Kansas, some waterways are now bouncing back. Plus: Residents in a small Kansas town are upset about a smelly landfill.

World Cup officials have said 650,000 soccer fans will visit Kansas City over the course of the monthlong tournament. But how will we know how many actually show up? Hear what we're seeing in the weeks before the FIFA World Cup.

Kansas City metro bus riders now have to pay fares after six years of free rides. After decades of underfunded public transit, advocates worry that this will worsen a "death spiral" of fewer riders.

For immigrants looking to stay in the U.S legally, asylum is often their last hope, but judges are denying more claims. Plus: A Missouri man living in the U.S. for 25 years will be deported to Mexico after authorities pulled him over for not having a front license plate.

More than 45,000 habeas corpus cases have flooded federal courts across the country with petitioners alleging their detention was illegal. In Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska, these filings have been overwhelmingly successful, according to an analysis by the Marshall Project and the Midwest Newsroom.