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The Missouri radio station airing Russian propaganda

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has renewed the spotlight on a small Kansas City radio station that is still broadcasting Kremlin-backed programming. Plus, Kansas needs more Black foster parents to give kids a more familiar environment after being taken from their biological families.

KCXL is a small AM radio station in Liberty, Missouri, that airs "Radio Sputnik" – programming created by American journalists in Washington, D.C. but funded by the Kremlin. Since Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, many have asked the station to stop its broadcast of what many call Russian propaganda. But as Kavahn Mansouri reports for the NPR Midwest Newsroom, the owner of KCXL says the decision isn't so simple.

Black children are more likely than other kids in the Kansas foster care system to land in homes with parents of a different race. As Blaise Mesa of the Kansas News Service reports, some state agencies are working to increase the number of non-white parents that are licensed, but representation is still lacking.

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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.
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Trevor Grandin is a contributing producer for KCUR Studios.
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