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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North AmericaA new draft White House memo suggests a 2019 law signed by President Trump that guarantees federal employees get paid after a shutdown ends would not apply to furloughed workers. The Kansas City region has tens of thousands of federal workers who could be affected. -
Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesThe federal government is currently shut down. NPR's network is following the ways the government shutdown is affecting services across the country, including in Missouri and Kansas.
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Kansas has been trying to sway the region’s NFL and MLB teams to cross the border. Lawmakers in both Kansas and Missouri have lobbed tax incentives and construction fund packages at the teams. -
The proposed amendment drafted by Republican lawmakers will appear before voters in November 2026, two years after Missourians codified the right to reproductive health care in the state constitution. -
State Senate Democratic Leader Doug Beck said Gov. Mike Kehoe should not have authorized a deployment just hours before the federal shutdown. -
The director of the presidential library and museum in Abilene, Kansas, said he was suddenly told to resign or be fired. He refused to give the Trump administration a historic sword from the museum’s collection. -
A group called "Stop The Ban" is already receiving six-figure donations for its effort to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that would repeal abortion rights in Missouri. The amendment was written by Republican lawmakers and is set to appear on the 2026 ballot. -
Fred Wellman is the host of the On Democracy podcast, which has been critical of the Republican Party gravitation to Donald Trump. He's the second candidate to join the Democratic primary for the 2nd District, which has become more competitive in recent years. -
Kansas City is a regional hub for federal offices and the almost 30,000 federal workers who make up the largest workforce in the area. Many of those workers are furloughed without pay, their agencies closed until the government reopens. -
Tuesday's election saw 85% of voters supporting the recall of Jackson County Executive Frank White Jr., which will set off a rush by county legislators to appoint his replacement. But White is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to stop the vote certification. -
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins will have to rewrite the ballot summary for a proposed constitutional amendment a third time, because the judge ruled that it "fails to adequately alert voters" that the measure would ban abortion. -
The Democratic National Committee announced it will send people and money to Missouri, to help a referendum effort aimed at blocking a new congressional map from going into effect. -
The Unified Government could vote this week on an ordinance that would make it illegal for people to sleep outside on public and private property. But without a single overnight shelter in Wyandotte County, community groups say the crackdown will only worsen conditions for unhoused residents. -
White has served as county executive since 2016. Tens of thousands of signatures were gathered to trigger the special election, which White believes was called illegally.
Government
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Emily Brown runs a nonprofit in the Kansas City area. She is a black woman who wears her hair naturally. In 2016, she was invited to speak at a national… -
Taxpayers in Kansas City, Missouri, have a chance between now and March 3 to influence how the city spends their money.Mayor Quinton Lucas released his… -
As city and state governments across the country legalize marijuana, Kansas City’s mayor wants to make it easier to clean the slate for people convicted… -
TOPEKA, Kansas — Kansas is unmatched in its tracking of ex-convicts, resulting in more than 21,000 people convicted of sex, drug or violent crimes being… -
TOPEKA, Kansas — When it comes to cybersecurity, most Kansas counties are behind. Overall, only eight county websites end in .gov, a domain extension… -
TOPEKA, Kansas — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s transportation plan isn’t as bold as those that came before it.Since the 1990s, Kansas has spent tens of… -
Kansas is slipping to the back of the pack on some critical economic measures. In this episode of Statehouse Blend Kansas, host Jim McLean talks with… -
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas says that without focusing on basic city services in 2020, any goodwill that’s been built up means nothing.“I can say… -
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is set to release his proposed budget Thursday, and it’s roughly $3 million short of what transportation officials say… -
TOPEKA, Kansas — Wendy Couser, a former juvenile intake officer at the Newton Police Department, has always believed in the importance of consequences.…
Elections
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Across the U.S., thousands of children and young adults serve as informal interpreters for family members that don’t speak English. For kids of Latino immigrants in Kansas City, being the family interpreter is an honor and burden. Plus: Gov. Laura Kelly is again calling for lawmakers to expand Medicaid to provide health care to about 150,000 low-income Kansans. -
The Shrewsbury lawmaker recently bowed out of the Missouri attorney general’s race. Unsicker was stripped of her committee assignments and later kicked out of the House Democratic caucus because of her social media posts and association with an accused Holocaust denier. -
Missouri lawmakers will gavel in the 2024 legislative session today. But where did they leave off last year? The 2023 session had a promising start – a budget surplus meant more money to work with. In politics, though, few things go according to plan.
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As the 2024 legislative session begins, the Republican-led Missouri General Assembly is prioritizing expanding child care access and restricting ballot initiative restrictions. But the stakes of an election year could exacerbate divisions between the parties. -
Sheriff Calvin Hayden, the conservative incumbent under fire for his controversial election investigation, will need to beat a former colleague and a current police chief to keep his job for a third term. -
Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele and David Axelrod, former chief strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns, both say the country is headed toward a Trump vs. Biden rematch. -
The NAACP and the League of Women Voters are challenging Missouri's 2022 voter ID law, arguing it imposes unconstitutional burdens on the right to vote without actually achieving the stated goal of reducing fraud. Two previous attempts by Missouri Republicans to require voter IDs have been struck down by the courts. -
The Missouri Secretary of State's language for reproductive rights ballot issues has been savaged by two courts, most recently when the Western District Court of Appeals unanimously ruled his summaries are “replete with politically partisan language." Ashcroft called the lower court decisions "inappropriate." -
Unsubstantiated voter fraud claims and harassment are making it harder to be an election official in Kansas. Plus: A Louisburg, Kansas, fabricator is known for his world-class sculpture restorations.
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Nearly one-third of Kansas election officials have left since 2020 amid harassment and criticism fueled by unsubstantiated voting fraud claims. The continued scrutiny may cause additional stress in 2024.
