Kansas City Today

Cassette tapes have made a comeback in recent years, and one company in Missouri is at the center of this growing trend.

Audio cassettes are experiencing a revival. And one family-owned company in Springfield, Missouri, has become the unlikely capital of this resurgence. From the Podcast A People’s History of Kansas City — Suzanne Hogan tells how this old analog format is getting new love.

Contact the show at [email protected]. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love and KCUR Studios and edited by Madeline Fox.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate

The U.S. lost newspapers at a rate of about 2.5 per week last year, many of them in rural areas. But some newspapers are trying new business models and doubling down on local news. Plus: A southwest Kansas printing press keeps local news alive in small towns across four states.

Over the last two decades, the number of newspapers in the U.S. has dropped by nearly one-third. Today, more than 200 counties are news deserts, with no newspaper at all. Rural areas have been especially impacted. But as Harvest Public Media’s Jim Meadows reports, newspapers are experimenting with different strategies in an effort to keep local news alive.

As papers around the country close and consolidate, rural Kansas towns are fighting to keep theirs in print. As Calen Moore of the Kansas News Service reports, one southwest Kansas printing press has become a lifeline for local media.

Contact the show at [email protected]. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by David McKeel and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Gabe Rosenberg.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate.

Terra Morehead, who retired as a federal prosecutor last August, has agreed to turn over her law license as part of an agreement with a Kansas disciplinary board. As a Wyandotte County prosecutor in the 1990s, Morehead helped frame an innocent man, Lamonte McIntyre, who spent 23 years in prison.

Acting on a case built by disgraced former Kansas City, Kansas, Police detective Roger Golubski, Morehead presented no physical evidence tying McIntyre to the murders. She relied upon the testimony of a witness, Niko Quinn, who later recanted. Morehead was also accused of ethical breaches in a later job as a federal prosecutor.

Kansas City Today host Nomin Ujiyediin spoke with KCUR's Peggy Lowe about why the prosecutor is turning over her law license and is expected to be disbarred. Contact the show at [email protected]. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Anna Schmidt and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Gabe Rosenberg.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate.

Just a few days after this school year started, Dave Clark, then athletic director at Wichita West High School, was standing in a hallway when a fight broke out. In his effort to stop the fight, Clark was knocked unconscious. Suzanne Perez with the Kansas News Service has the story on how the injuries he endured would end up costing him his job.

It's tough to make a living in Sylvan Grove, Kansas, and not the most obvious place to buy a restaurant. But that’s exactly what Grant Wagner did three years ago when he took over Fly Boy's Brewery & Eats.

These days, on Fly Boy’s busiest nights, Wagner says they’ll serve 300 people, more than the entire population of Sylvan Grove. KCUR's Frank Morris explores why the small town restaurant is such a hit.

Contact the show at [email protected]. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Anna Schmidt and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Gabe Rosenberg.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate.

Troost Avenue, which runs north-south through Kansas City, is known as a historical border for redlining and racial segregation. It was named after 19th century doctor and slaveholder Benoit Troost. For the past few years, community members have petitioned to change the name of the street to Truth Avenue. That plan seemed likely to pass earlier this year, until it reached a hurdle in the Kansas City Council.

Host Nomin Ujiyediin sat down with KCUR's Isabella Luu, who has been covering the story, to discuss why the proponents of “Truth Avenue” were unhappy with a change Mayor Quinton Lucas made to the proposal.

Contact the show at [email protected]. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by David McKeel and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Gabe Rosenberg.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate.

Before Oreos, there was the Hydrox, the original sandwich cookie, created by Kansas City’s own Jacob Loose. After disappearing for years, Hydrox are back on the shelf — but only if you know where to look.

Mackenzie Martin, from the KCUR podcast A People's History of Kansas City, sets the record straight.

Contact the show at [email protected]. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Gabe Rosenberg.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate.

VineBrook, which owns thousands of homes in Kansas City and across the Midwest, is selling many of its properties to pay off debts. But after years of unresolved maintenance issues, the tenants are still angry. Plus: A Kansas grandmother was unable to adopt her child from the state’s foster care system, even though she was with that child at birth.

Some property equity firms buy lots of single family homes and rent them out. Ohio based Vinebrook Homes is one of the larger companies. Many of its renters claim VineBrook neglects its properties and renters which the firm denies. Now it faces another problem. The Midwest Newsroom’s Kavahn Mansouri reports.

A Kansas grandmother won’t be able to adopt her grandchild because a judge ruled she didn’t have a bond with the kid. As Blaise Mesa of The Beacon and Daniel Caudill of Kansas Public Radio report, the grandmother said she did everything she was told to.

Contact the show at [email protected]. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by David McKeel and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Gabe Rosenberg.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate.

Greenfield Robotics, a Kansas-based company, developed robots to take on a labor-intensive process: cutting weeds down. Plus: The fur industry has a long history in the state of Missouri, and trappers want to make sure they're conserving the state's resources and traditions.

Three yellow, bug-like creatures crawl in perfectly straight lines across the dead grass of a flat, brown February field in Cheney, Kansas. These are the namesake of GreenField Robotics. Celia Hack with the Kansas News Service explores why GreenField CEO Clint Brauer is attempting to move away from the use of herbicides by way of farming robots.

More than 100 people gathered for a recent auction at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in mid-Missouri. Fur trappers from all corners of the state brought their wares from last year’s trapping season, including the pelts and glands of raccoons, otters, beavers and bobcats. KBIA's Rebecca Smith has the story of how Missourians are keeping the state tradition of fur trapping alive.

Contact the show at [email protected]. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Anna Schmidt and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Gabe Rosenberg.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate.

Brian Dorsey is set to be executed by the state of Missouri today. Gov. Mike Parson denied his request for clemency despite support from corrections officers and a retired Missouri Supreme Court judge. Dorsey was convicted of killing his cousin and her husband in central Missouri, but his defense team says the original trial lawyers had conflicts of interest.

Gov. Mike Parson, who has has not blocked an execution since he took office in 2018, denied a clemency request from 52-year-old Brian Dorsey. More than 150 people have spoken out in support of Dorsey's clemency, including corrections officers, state representatives, and even jurors from his case.

Before Parson's announcement, Steve Kraske from Up To Date spoke with retired Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Wolff, who upheld Dorsey's death sentence in 2009 but has since called for clemency.

Contact the show at [email protected]. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Anna Schmidt and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Gabe Rosenberg.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate.

Kansas City will see a partial solar eclipse today, when the moon will cover more than 89 percent of the sun. Meanwhile, southeast Missouri will get to witness the totality — when the sun is completely blotted out. The continental US won’t experience another eclipse until 2044, so this could be your last chance to see this celestial event for a while.

Up To Date's Steve Kraske spoke to Jackie Beucher and Alan Lehman, board members of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City, about why the eclipse is so special — and how you can see it without damaging your eyes.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by David McKeel and KCUR Studios and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Madeline Fox.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate