technology

A rash of daily newsletters for Wichita, Olathe, Overland Park and Lawrence all market themselves as community services aiming to “make local news more accessible, highlight extraordinary people in our community, and support local organizations.” They're run by NYC-based Matthew Henderson, using artificial intelligence.

The Republican senator calls big tech companies "robber barons" and says they are trying to align themselves with President Donald Trump because "they can read an election return."

President Trump's executive order that pauses the TikTok ban expires in April. In the meantime, Missouri content creators are adjusting the uncertainty and figuring out a path forward.

Tammy Buckner is a founder and CEO of WeCode KC, an organization that aims to create a more diverse tech industry by teaching technology and leadership skills to young Kansas Citians. She joined KCUR's Up To Date to for our new series "5 Questions" to discuss what music she's got on repeat, what she's reading and more.

For half a decade, the Kansas City nonprofit WeCode/KC has offered hands-on computer and coding classes primarily to Black students, to make a difference in the tech industry. Plus: A Kansas business processes film for photographers, cinematographers and even pop stars like Megan Thee Stallion.

In the last few decades, urban schools in Kansas City have not kept up with other schools in their ability to offer high-level courses in computer science and coding. The nonprofit WeCode/KC has been providing primarily minority students access to education in a variety of tech areas for five years, in an effort to address this aspect of the digital divide.

When a low-income driver in Kansas fails to pay their traffic tickets on time, it could turn the fine into thousands of dollars of debt. Plus: Some Kansas districts are scaling back on screen time for students.

Concerned about whether Kansas youngsters get too much screen time, the State Board of Education has created a task force to address cell phones and other devices in classrooms. The group will develop policy recommendations and present them to the board later this year.

WeCode KC is partnering with Kipp Legacy High School in Kansas City for the new program WeCodeThaBloKC, which aims to help youth from underserved communities break into the high-paying, in-demand tech industry.

Technologies like AI and social media are rapidly changing, impacting the content we consume and how we interact with each other. "Facing the Future," a series of talks at the Mid-Continent Public Library, aims to help Kansas Citians navigate them.

Artificial intelligence has been incorporated into the day-to-day work of many Kansas Citians. While it has the capacity to streamline tasks, cut costs and reduce the workload in mundane, repetitive tasks, AI’s rapid development is heightening concerns about content originality, production and security.

Artist Kahlil Robert Irving is a Missouri native with two solo exhibitions in museums right now. His exhibition at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park grapples with how tools and technology challenge perceptions of what we see and how we understand information.