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.
Old computer system causes headaches for unemployed Kansans
Posted inHealth
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.
Posted inHealth
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.
Posted inHealth
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.
Posted inEnvironment
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.
Posted inEconomics
Pandemic unemployment assistance is ending, leaving millions without help
Millions of Americans who have lost their jobs in the last nine months have relied on pandemic unemployment programs. But those unemployment programs are now expiring.
Posted inEconomics
Struggling to survive in a pandemic, Kansas City’s restaurants are closing down
Faced with a pandemic that has lasted for most of 2020, dozens of independent restaurants in Kansas City have closed their doors.
Posted inEducation
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.
Posted inHealth
This holiday season, Kansas Citians are seeking rent and utility assistance more than food
With the COVID-19 pandemic, more people in the Kansas City area are reaching out for assistance with rent and utility payments than in the past.
Posted inJournalism
The Beacon plans for regional growth in 2021
The Beacon will launch a Wichita newsroom to begin publishing this summer, and expand its news operations in Kansas City.