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Kansas faces its worst ever teacher shortage

Kansas is dealing with the most severe teacher shortage it’s ever known, and it's likely to be even worse by the fall. Plus, celebrate Sliced Bread Day in Missouri with the story of how one small town revolutionized our food culture — and then forgot about it.

This year, Kansas reported 1,400 teacher vacancies, almost twice the number two years ago. Come the fall semester, those shortages are almost sure to be worse. The Kansas News Service's Suzanne Perez reports on what may be driving educators out.

Chillicothe, Missouri, has an unusual claim to fame: It’s the town where pre-sliced bread first debuted back in 1928. The state has even declared July 7, Sliced Bread Day, as an official holiday. But despite being less than a century old, the origin of this revolutionary pantry staple was almost lost to history. From the KCUR podcast A People's History of Kansas City, Suzanne Hogan reports on how the world almost forgot how the world's greatest thing was created.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love, Trevor Grandin and KCUR Studios and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Lisa Rodriguez.

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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.
Trevor Grandin is a contributing producer for KCUR Studios.
As an on-demand producer, I am focused on using my skills and experiences across multiple digital applications, platforms and media fields to create community focused audio, video and on-demand products for KCUR Studios. The media that I produce aims to inform, entertain and connect with the Kansas City metro area as we continue to learn from each other. Email me at byronlove@kcur.org.
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