politics

This week, petitioners challenging Missouri's gerrymandered new congressional map submitted 305,000 signatures seeking to halt the law and put it up for a statewide vote. That's more than twice as many as needed. But a whole tangle of legal challenges lay ahead.

People Not Politicians, the citizen-led campaign seeking to overturn Missouri’s newly passed congressional map, must submit signatures to the Secretary of State this week. If accepted, the gerrymandered map will be blocked from taking effect before the 2026 election.

A survey from the National Academy of Sciences suggests most Americans now believe in at least one conspiracy theory. A Missouri researcher says the key to bringing those believers back into mainstream society is leading with empathy.

Republican former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu will be in Kansas City next Monday for an American Public Square event. He joined Up To Date ahead of his visit to discuss his time in office, working across the aisle and the first year of the second Trump administration.

The U.S. House will vote Wednesday to reopen the government. U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, who represents Kansas City, opposes the plan because it fails to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that would make insurance more affordable for residents.

KCUR, Generation Listen and the Kansas City Public Library recently convened a community forum to explore the complex issue of redistricting in Missouri and Kansas. Up to Date host Steve Kraske moderated a panel and took questions from the audience, as experts and reporters addressed the practicality, constitutionality and legality of the plans.

Voters around the Kansas City area went to the polls Tuesday to vote on issues critical to their local communities. The metro area saw city council upsets, a win for the four-day school week, and a history-making new mayor, among other results.

Kansas City ended free bus fares and saw a grocery store shutter. Both issues showed up in the New York City mayoral race, where conservative outlets used the city's policies to attack leading candidate Zohran Mamdani.

Prairie Village will see turnover on the city council after November’s election. Four of the six incumbents whose terms are up are not running again. Chi Nguyen, who represents Ward 3, and Greg Shelton, who represents Ward 5, joined KCUR's Up To Date to reflect on their terms and the recent controversies that have shaped the city.

Two Kansas state representatives — Democrat Brandon Woodard and Republican Laura Williams — will be speaking at a panel on bipartisan public policy work at the Dole Institute of Politics on Wednesday.

As part of the celebration of the Jewish New Year, Jews take part in a ritual aimed at casting off the previous year's sins. On Wednesday, an activist group that supports the liberation of Palestinians gathered to urge Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, a United Methodist pastor, to support a bill that stops the sale of some arms to Israel.

Thousands of students in third-grade classrooms across the county participated in this year’s Constitution Day mock trial to learn about civics, but the event got its start in Olathe.