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Kansas Young Republicans ensnared by racist chat leak

Republican leaders are responding to an investigative report that exposed racist messages shared by Young Republican organizations in Kansas and around the country — while Gov. Laura Kelly says the Kansas GOP is setting a poor example. Plus: Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is laying out her agenda, particularly on crime and abortion.

Politico exposed racist and homophobic messages sent by leaders of the Kansas Young Republicans, which included slurs against gay people and Black people, as well as references to Nazi and white supremacist ideology. The Kansas GOP has distanced itself, but Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said the party modeled similar behavior in its own social media posts. Zane Irwin of the Kansas News Service spoke with NPR's Ailsa Chang on All Things Considered about the fallout.

It’s been a little over a month since Gov. Mike Kehoe appointed Catherine Hanaway to be Missouri’s attorney general. The Republican officeholder is laying out her priorities around fighting crime and defending the state’s abortion laws. St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum talked with Hanaway about her vision for the statewide office.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love and KCUR Studios, and edited by Emily Younker and Gabe Rosenberg.

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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.
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