© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Up To Date

Seg. 1: Powell Gardens Fights Cattle Feed Operation. Seg. 2: Legacy Of Activist Lucile Bluford.

Horace Patterson
/
LaBudde Special Collections
Lucile Bluford has been called the "matriarch" and the "conscience" of Kansas City. This photo of her was taken in 1946.

Segment 1: Lone Jack animal feed operation expansion concerns Powell Gardens.

Nearly 7,000 cows might be moving next door to Powell Gardens, and the botanical garden is worried. Located three miles from the gardens on Highway 50, Valley Oaks Steak Company was approved for a permit last month. The permit will allow the feedlot and slaughtering plant to expand from its current 950 cattle up to 6,999. Powell Gardens is seeking an administrative appeal of the decision to grant the permit. Today, we heard the arguments for and against the expansion of the feed operation. 

Segment 2, starting at 24:55: Remembering Kansas City Call editor and local activist Lucile Bluford.

When Lucile Bluford went to enroll for her first day of graduate school in 1939 at the University of Missouri's School of Journalism,  the school revoked her acceptance when they saw she was a black woman. Bluford responded with a lawsuit to desegregate the school, sparking her lifelong fight for social justice. During her long tenure as a writer, editor, and publisher for the Kansas City Call, the activist gave a voice to the city's black residents, and fueled the fight for women's and civil rights. We talked about the journalist's life and the legacy she left to Kansas City.

When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.