In Kansas City, 96% of the people who are chronically homeless live outdoors — the highest rate in the country. That means that nearly all people who have experienced homelessness for at least a year — or repeatedly over three years — are out on the streets. This population is considered chronically homeless due to […]
Whom do I call when a homeless person is in crisis?
Posted inEducation
Hickman Mills schools meet its performance goal, but Missouri moved the goalposts
The district scored higher than 70% on its state performance report, but Missouri wants more data before it changes accreditation.
Posted inState Government
Child hunger rose 6%, and it isn’t clear what Kansas lawmakers will do
From 2021 to 2022, the number of Kansas children who didn’t know where their next meal would come from grew by 37,000. The rise in food insecurity shows up at food banks across the state. Aundrea Walker, the executive director of Just Food, said 30% of the people it serves are under 18 years old. […]
Posted inLocal Government
Kansas City looking to resolve disputes over Urbavore and urban farming
Kansas City’s effort to nurture urban farming and make fresh produce and compost available to residents has run into neighborhood complaints and zoning citations.
The City Council’s agenda for today includes action to put an end to a zoning dispute at the heart of tensions between an urban farm, its neighbors and city officials in charge of regulations that can make urban farming difficult.
Posted inEducation
What Kansas City Public Schools will do if voters pass the district’s first bond in 58 years
The $474 million plan includes adding a new middle school in the former Southwest High School building and moving career and technical education programs into Central High School.
Posted inHealth
Stealing from Kansas City’s poor: Thieves use bogus machines to scan EBT cards and rob food stamp accounts
A scam to steal food stamp benefits from some of Kansas City’s poorest families picked up again this summer. Thieves installed inconspicuous gadgets at grocery store checkouts, many along Independence Avenue in Kansas City’s northeast, and skimmed the data — and dollars — right off the EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards the state issues to […]
Posted inKansas City
How Kansas City plans to automatically remove lanes from dangerous roads
Correction (Nov. 27, 2024): This story has been corrected to reflect that North Chouteau Trafficway is not on the list of proposed road diets and Paseo Boulevard is still in the study phase. A small portion of Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard and 23rd Street are in the first batch of diets. If you’re driving to […]
Posted inKansas City
How to request a crosswalk, speed hump or stop sign in Kansas City
You’re haunted by the sounds of squealing tires and crumpling metal interrupting your breakfast or waking you up in the night. Maybe you’re convinced a stop sign or a speed bump could make things safer.
Brace for a fight with City Hall and the need to think like a traffic engineer. But it is possible to change things.
Posted inState Government
Kansas lawmaker Chris Croft ‘so stinking excited about the possibility’ of dissolving school boards
The Kansas House majority leader wants to dissolve school boards. He’s been studying state law to find a way to do that. “We can dissolve the school board. You can do it by petition,” Rep. Chris Croft said in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “I am so stinking excited about the […]
Posted inEducation
Kansas City Public Schools reports more kids in classrooms — for the third year in a row
Growth in the Northeast and among English language learners is driving the increase.