Government

Sheila Bair, a Kansas native who served as the chair of the FDIC from 2006-2011, is in Kansas City this week to accept the Truman Medal for Economic Policy from the Truman Library Institute. Bair said she is worried about the weakening of banking reforms, and sees a lot of risky lending happening right now.

Journalist Chuck Todd will be in Kansas City this weekend to accept a leadership award from the Poynter Institute, a journalism nonprofit. He joined KCUR’s Up To Date to discuss the midterm elections, including the competitive U.S. Senate race in Kansas and Missouri's congressional redistricting "chaos."

On Wednesday, the Jackson County Legislature overrode two vetoes from Phil LeVota, slightly increasing levies for the Community Mental Health Fund and Board of Services for the Developmentally Disabled.

University of Kansas professor Chris Koliba argues that the American social contract is fraying. He joined KCUR’s Up To Date to discuss how we got to this point and what the country can do about it.

The Trump administration has proposed eliminating a majority of its regulations for the federal early education program Head Start. The government says the changes would put rulemaking in the hands of the states and could result in higher enrollment, but local Head Start leaders worry about causing "inconsistency."

The GOP has dominated U.S. Senate elections in Kansas since the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. But Washburn University political scientist Bob Beatty says Democrat Adam Hamilton could make this November’s election against incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall unusually competitive.

The law firm deploys attorneys to 174 cities in Missouri and nine in Kansas. These lawyers act as city attorneys, prosecutors, counsel — whatever legal services the city needs.

New analysis from Ballotpedia suggests that Republicans in Missouri and Kansas could see the 2026 midterm elections break their state legislative supermajorities.

Kansas City officials are working on a new way to ban so-called “conversion therapy.” The move comes just weeks after the Kansas City Council repealed a prior ban on the discredited practice because of a Supreme Court ruling against a similar law in Colorado and a lawsuit from the Missouri Attorney General.

Historian H.W. Brands has written more than 30 books about American history, highlighting prominent figures ranging from the era of the Revolutionary War to the presidency of Ronald Reagan. He’ll be in Kansas City for an event on Thursday to discuss his new book on George Washington.

Historian Douglas Brinkley will be in Kansas City on the 23rd for the Truman Library Institute's annual "Wild About Harry" event. "We owe a lot to Truman," Brinkley told KCUR's Up To Date.

Kevin King, a former union leader, was elected as mayor of Independence on Tuesday over a city council member who supported an AI data center deal. King has never held political office before, and says he wants residents to be engaged and feel heard in city government.