civil rights

A crumbling correctional facility in Hutchinson lacks air conditioning and has small cells. State prison officials say Kansas could be sued in federal court if it doesn’t build a new facility.

A new report estimates that 1.7% of Missourians over 18 can’t vote because they have felony convictions. That rate is more than twice as high for Black Missourians, who are also disproportionately incarcerated.

Kansas and Missouri police departments have paid thousands of dollars for an aggressive and discredited officer training. Plus: How some universities are tackling the issue of food insecurity among their students.

Missouri quietly restricted its policy for transgender residents to change the gender markers on their state IDs. For some people, it was the last straw. Plus: How Children’s Mercy researchers are working to make genetic testing more accessible in rural Kansas.

Edgar Springs in Phelps County has refused to pay $80,000 in damages and court costs to a woman who it banned from city hall for four years. Now, a judge has ordered the town to put a tax increase on the ballot in order to cover those costs.

Chester Owens, a civil rights activist who rubbed elbows with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is remembered for his work to desegregate Kansas City, Kansas, and to preserve Black history. He died last month at 91.

Chester Owens will be remembered as a civil rights activist, educator and historian. He’s credited with helping desegregate downtown Kansas City, Kansas, businesses, establishing a Black book store and rubbing shoulders with Martin Luther King, Jr. and other icons of the Civil Rights movement.

The hearing comes 10 years after Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer, shot and killed Michael Brown Jr., an unarmed Black 18-year-old, sparking protests and a worldwide movement to save Black lives.

Oscar-award winning filmmaker and University of Kansas professor Kevin Willmott will premiere his new documentary, "The Heroic, True-Life Adventures of Alvin Brooks," on Wednesday at the Juneteenth Film Festival at Screenland Armour.

Alvin Brooks’ life has become the stuff of legend around Kansas City. Now, a new film by Academy Award-winner Kevin Wilmott details it for the big screen.

In the '90s, a group of queer Kansas City women were fed up with harassment and housing discrimination. So they transformed 12 city blocks in the Longfellow neighborhood into a radical enclave by and for women called Womontown. Now, a historical marker will honor the area's location and significance.

The new autobiography "Show Me Justice: The Happy Life Journey of Alvin Lee Sykes" documents the extraordinary story of the self-taught legal scholar from Kansas City. Sykes fought tirelessly to re-open several unsolved civil rights cold cases, including the murder of Emmett Till.