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Waiting for the bus

Kansas City’s bus service is slow and rapidly declining. Advocates want the region to step up its funding. But in the meantime, more routes may get cut, and Kansas City could miss out on major economic growth. What will it take to fix the bus system? Also, Missouri content creators breathed a sigh of relief when President Donald Trump paused the federal ban on TikTok, but people who make their livelihoods off the video sharing app aren’t sure its future is secure.

The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority has struggled for years to provide fast and frequent service to the metro. Kansas City and its suburbs have cut funding, which means fewer routes. As KCUR’s Savannah Hawley-Bates reports, money is the solution, but that will be a long and contentious battle.

TikTok is available to download on app stores again, about a month after President Donald Trump paused the legislation that banned it in January. But content creators and digital marketing strategists are still adjusting to the uncertain future of an app that 170 million Americans use every day — and that helps thousands of people earn a living. Katelynn McIlwain has more about how Missourians whose careers depend, at least somewhat, on TikTok’s survival are making do.

Contact the show at news@kcur.org. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love and KCUR Studios, and edited by Lisa Rodriguez and Madeline Fox.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate

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.
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