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Kansas City Today
Kansas City Today
Author: KCUR Studios
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Kansas City Today is a daily news podcast from KCUR Studios bringing you all things Kansas City, wrapped up in 15 minutes or less. Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, it’ll be waiting in your feed every weekday. Hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin.
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Voters in Kansas City, Missouri, will soon decide whether to renew the city's earnings tax on wages, salaries and profits. If the measure fails, Missouri law forbids the tax from being revived, so Kansas City will need to find another source for hundreds of millions of dollars.
Captain Ahab’s preoccupation with a white whale is set to music in a new Kansas City world premiere. It’s Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick,” told in authentic, 19th-century sea shanties.
Rural communities across Kansas are losing their grocery stores, and small towns are coming up with new ways to revive them. But some of those solutions have not panned out.
Independence, Missouri, residents will vote on April 7 for their next mayor and to fill two at-large city council seats. Recent debates over tax incentives for a massive data center could factor into the races.
Health conditions like concussions and tinnitus don’t usually present externally, and patients can often feel incredibly isolated. But one University of Kansas professor is researching how music can offer relief.
Missouri lawmakers are returning from a break at the midway point of this year’s legislative session. Among the biggest issues are a Republican proposal to end the state income tax and expand sales taxes, a criminal justice overhaul, and a bipartisan bill to crack down on "date rape" drugs.
A dispute over a mural outside a hamburger restaurant in Salina, Kansas, could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Plus: Three massive bronze bison sculpted by a Missouri artist are joining the collection at the largest natural history museum in the world.
For many people, artificial intelligence and chatbots have become a part of daily life. That includes some Kansas lawmakers, who are using chatbots to help keep track of bills or gather information in a fast-paced legislative session — since they have no guidelines for responsible use of AI.
Parts of Wyandotte County have long experienced flooding from the Kansas River. A multi-year levee project is designed to address the problem, but some residents and experts say more attention must go to the impact of decaying underground infrastructure.
The federal government promised Kansas City $59 million in security funding for the World Cup, but a partial shutdown put that money in limbo — with just months before the games kicked off. Plus: Mosses are the underdogs of the plant world. Now a group of scientists is coming together to protect them.
More and more Missourians are waiting in jail for services from the state’s mental health department, which has a backlog of more than 500 people with stalled cases. Hear what mental health directors are telling state lawmakers.
Kansas lawmakers are considering restricting student protests after high schoolers organized walkouts across the state in protest of immigration enforcement. We’ll hear from three students about their experience. Plus: We'll go inside the Greenhouse Print Space, a Kansas City studio keeping hundreds of years of printmaking technology alive.
The Leavenworth City Commission voted to grant CoreCivic a special use permit to operate an ICE detention center, which will be central to President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts. The vote came despite intense community opposition and a yearlong legal battle.
A Kansas law forced a foster family to decide between asking their adopted son to move out when he turned 18, or send four younger boys out of their foster home. State lawmakers are considering a bill to make sure other foster families are not forced to make the same impossible choice.
Sometimes, after an accident, medical bills force families to give up nonessential expenses, like their kids’ sports. A local charity is helping families in that situation. We'll hear from the organization’s founder and families the group has helped.
Electricity prices are increasing and are now the fastest driver of inflation. Plus: Some lawmakers want to break up Missouri’s electric monopolies, but it's unclear if that could lower monthly bills.
Kansas City was one of many U.S. cities with laws against jaywalking until advocates realized that police were mostly handing out tickets to Black men. Here's how Kansas City repealed its ban and reclaimed the right to jaywalk.
The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority promised free bus rides for those who need it, as it brings back fares this June. But riders and nonprofits are still waiting to see how that will work. Plus: Missouri cattle farmers who contract red meat allergies from alpha-gal syndrome are suddenly put at risk by their livelihood.
On Tuesday, the U.S. and Israel continued attacks on Iran that started over the weekend. Now, President Donald Trump is saying the war may continue for weeks to come. Many Iranians and Iranian Americans are celebrating the potential for democracy in the country, but are anxious about the expanding violence.
Kansas City Council voted to relax some controversial portions of its building code that builders said made it harder to build affordable housing — or anything. Over the past few years, the city has seen a drop in new home construction compared to surrounding cities and suburbs, but the standards aren't the only reason.





Najifa Farhat's voice is a wonderful addition to KCUR reporting. I look forward to more reporting from her. Thank you.