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At Kansas City budget hearing, residents call for increased funding for housing services and unhoused residents
A majority of comments focused on increased funding for housing services, with specific demands to fund the Office of Tenant Advocate, a city agency borne out of the Tenant Bill of Rights that was passed by the City Council in December 2019.
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Coronavirus in Kansas and Missouri
What you need to know about the COVID-19 vaccine in Missouri
What you need to know about the COVID-19 vaccine in Kansas
Health Care
How the pandemic is complicating mental health services for Kansas City kids
School districts are turning to new ways of screening children for mental health issues, along with continuing to use existing frameworks from before the pandemic.
Vaccines trials need diverse participants to work. Here’s how a Kansas City trial is working with the Latinx community.
Kansas City’s AstraZeneca vaccine trial is actively recruiting racially diverse volunteers.
Bringing the COVID-19 vaccine’s ‘life-saving science’ to the Black community
The Black Health Care Coalition in Kansas City hosts virtual meetings to educate the Black community on science behind the COVID-19 vaccine.
Economics
How a local coalition is trying to improve internet access in Kansas City
The coalition operates with the vision that every resident in the Kansas City area should have access to an internet connection, devices to use the internet and the digital skills to take advantage of all the internet has to offer.
How Kansas directed COVID funds to expand broadband across the state
About 6% of the Kansas population lacks any wired broadband services at home, and internet access is particularly a problem in rural parts of the state. On the national level, about 14.5 million people living in rural parts of the U.S. lack access to broadband.
How Missouri is using COVID-19 funds to tackle internet access
The funding, announced last July, was divided among an emergency broadband investment program, primary and higher education institutions, telehealth programs, and Missouri libraries.
Environment
Fate of monarch butterfly up in the air
Citing finite resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to work on higher priority species before evaluating whether monarch butterflies should be listed as endangered or threatened.
Fish Fight: Invasive Asian carp threaten Kansas and Missouri waterways
There’s a war being fought amid the vast Mississippi River system. At stake are populations of native fish and a multibillion-dollar fishing and boating industry.
Local scientists seek solutions for Kansas lakes battling harmful blue-green algae
Blue-green algae blooms have always been a natural, and safe, part of Kansas lakes. But within the past decade, algal amounts have increased, causing health and economic woes.
Education
How universities in Kansas and Missouri were impacted by enrollment and budget shortfalls
The pandemic has presented a two-sided coin to the four big public universities in Kansas and Missouri. On one side, the dire enrollment predictions of the summer have turned out better — in one case, much better — than expected.
‘Community members are concerned’: COVID-19 cases return to college towns along with students
With the fall semester in full swing, colleges in Kansas and Missouri are scrambling to handle case spikes on their campuses.
With school taking place online, Kansas City families are still struggling to get connected
As students begin the new school year with varying degrees of remote or online learning, the digital divide has become a bigger issue for Kansas City families during the pandemic.
More Stories
To avoid a superspreader Super Bowl Sunday, officials say ‘stay home.’
Across the nation, many people are planning to stay home to watch the Super Bowl. But there will still likely be Kansas Citians gathering in large groups or at bars to watch the game — and celebrate afterwards if the Chiefs win.
For Kansas City, a Chiefs Super Bowl win is good for business
To win another Super Bowl title this year — the third in franchise history and the seventh major league sports championship to be won by a Kansas City team in the last 10 years — would not only energize the city’s already passionate fan base, but the economy as well.
Kansas City fast-food workers demand a $15 minimum wage and union
As the coronavirus pandemic upends millions of lives across the U.S. and forces many to work from home, fast-food workers have been in the vulnerable position of continuing to work and risk potential exposure to the virus.
Old computer system causes headaches for unemployed Kansans
Since the pandemic began causing unemployment to spike last year, the Kansas Department of Labor’s decades-old unemployment system has struggled to keep up with the thousands of claims filed on a weekly basis, causing case backlogs, site glitches and delays in sending Kansans their unemployment payments.
COVID-19’s fall surge cut a deadly swath through rural Kansas
By the end of the year, rural Kansas counties had actually suffered more deaths proportionally in 2020 than their more densely populated counterparts.
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