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Why Kansas City is seeing a surge of traffic deaths

Kansas City traffic fatalities are up 25% from a year earlier, and nationwide, deaths are at a 20-year high, a surge not seen among any other developed countries. Plus: Congress is spending billions to help states stop pollution from abandoned oil and gas wells.

U.S. roads are more dangerous now than they’ve been in a generation. Traffic fatalities are running at a 20 year high in the U.S., despite the fact that cars are safer than they've ever been. KCUR’s Frank Morris reports that Kansas City is not safe from this grim spike in deaths.

Kansas will speed up its work to seal thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells that can pollute our groundwater and the atmosphere. Kansas News Service reporters Celia Llopis-Jepsen and Blaise Mesa explain.

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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.
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.
Trevor Grandin is a contributing producer for KCUR Studios.
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