NASA Engineer Bringing Mars to KC
Kobie Boykins is coming to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Boykins, though, is no artist. He’s a mechanical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and plays a key role in the agency’s exploration of Mars — including work on the rover Curiosity, landed on the planet’s surface last …
KC: More Blueblood Than Redneck
When a real estate website Movoto issued a list of the Most Redneck Cities in America, Kansas Citians were shocked to find our town ranked number two in the nation. As the Star reported yesterday, Kansas City, Missouri, was named the second most redneck city in America, behind only Atlanta, … Read More ⇒
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NBA Player Comes Out
NBA center Jason Collins just became the first openly gay athlete in a major North American sport. If you need a reason why that matters, consider that there are millions of young people across the country and around the world who are confused about their sexuality. Some of them are … Read More ⇒
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In Kansas, Anything Is Now Possible
This week Governor Brownback of Kansas signed a bill directing the KU Medical Center to establish a Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center. Though it doesn’t provide any funding, the bill mandates that the university establish a center to research adult stem cells, as an alternative to embryonic stem cells. KU … Read More ⇒
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Vaccinations help protect all children
As parents, we strive to provide a happy and healthy life for our children. Today we are able to do even more for our kids by protecting infants and children from 14 serious diseases through vaccination. Although the United States has the safest, most effective vaccine supply in its history,some … Read More ⇒
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Crowdfunding Abounds in KC
Crowdfunding is exploding in popularity. According to an industry report, online fundraising through websites including Kickstarter and Indiegogo more than doubled last year, with $1.6 billion raised in North America alone. In 2012, that number is expected to exponentially grow. A good chunk of that cash will be raised in … Read More ⇒
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Expanding Medicaid is the right thing to do for all Missourians
Rarely are state legislatures handed an opportunity to materially impact the lives of their most marginalized citizens in a good way. Missouri is presented with such an unparalleled opportunity right now. On June 28, 2012 the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act but it also held … Read More ⇒
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Don’t like the media, buy your own — if you are rich
The Koch brothers apparently plan to follow Rupert Murdoch’s pattern of buying and controlling the message that the media put out. Charles and David Koch, billionaires based in Wichita, are exploring a bid to buy the Tribune Co.’s eight newspapers, The New York Times reports. The libertarians, who are radical … Read More ⇒
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Economic disparity still hampers black success
Gwendolyn Grant dismisses any notion that we’ve entered a post-racial period since the nation elected and re-elected its first African American president. In the last 50 years, black men and women have gained freedoms and risen to civic and business heights that were once unimaginable. But Grant, president and chief … Read More ⇒
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Colleges can go too far with branding for cash
Colleges and universities hurting for cash can go too far in getting donors to give money for the right to attach a name to a building or other stuff on campus. What then would be out of bounds? Public trash cans? Trees? Bathrooms and individual stalls? Sidewalks? Bike racks? Already … Read More ⇒
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Change planned for KCI hits speed bump
Kansas City area residents don’t like the changes proposed for Kansas City International Airport. Petitions filed Sunday with the city clerk’s office signal a formal challenge to turn the 1972 airport into a one-terminal facility. Generations have grown up with the convenience that the three-terminal KCI system offers, and they … Read More ⇒
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Shame on unpatriotic gun bills of Missouri, Kansas lawmakers
The Boston Marathon bombings last week brought out a cooperative spirit among federal, state and local law enforcement authorities to help solve a case of international significance. Meanwhile, Kansas and Missouri lawmakers last week took shameful and embarrassing actions that made them look unpatriotic, virtually spitting in the face of … Read More ⇒
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Disturbing superbugs prevalent
Meat consumers should be alarmed. More than half of the samples of ground beef, ground turkey and pork chops picked up from supermarkets for testing in 2011 by the federal government contained salmonella, E. coli, campylobacter or some other antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to the report “Superbugs invade American Supermarkets.” The … Read More ⇒
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Seat belt law change great for Kansas City
For safety’s sake, buckling up should be the rule for everyone in vehicles in Kansas City. Thanks to the City Council’s action this week, it’s now the law. No longer will Kansas City police have to wait until motorists are caught breaking another traffic law for officers to pin drivers … Read More ⇒
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Why Senators Roberts, Moran and Blunt aren’t listening to you
After hopes of even winning a rational debate in the U.S. Senate on gun safety fell apart on Thursday, a woman leaving the gallery said of the senators, “Who do they think they represent?” Good question. Not the 80 to 90 percent of Americans who support modest measures such as … Read More ⇒
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Gun lobby too big to fail
The Obama administration was sent into full retreat, cursing the gun lobby for winning the latest effort at gun control. The National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers, like some banks in the United States, have become too big to fail, and President Barack Obama and other gun control advocates are … Read More ⇒
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Forum to Launch at Middle of the Map
For the second year, Ink’s Middle of the Map festival is offering more than music. Tonight the Forum begins. Sort of. There’s a party, anyway. The intellectual stuff is Thursday and Friday, April 18-19 Held in the Crossroads, at the Officeport+Stageport complex at 208 West 19th Street, the Forum features … Read More ⇒
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The U.S. Senate’s cowardice on gun safety
The U.S. Senate’s handling of a gun safety package was cowardly and contemptible. With a series of procedural votes, most Republican senators and a handful of Democrats opted Wednesday afternoon to not even debate modest gun safety measures. They included a bipartisan bill to close the loophole that allows people … Read More ⇒
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Plaza, KC Zoo, Power & Light will survive recent troubles
In less than 24 hours earlier this month violent incidents brought negative attention to three Kansas City institutions. Despite the many naysayers out there, here’s what the problems didn’t do: Badly damage the futures of the Country Club Plaza, the Kansas City Zoo and the Power & Light District. The … Read More ⇒
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Interest in Hale Cook school bodes well for KC district
When enthusiastic parents knock on a closed Kansas City school’s doors wanting the building reopened, district officials should roll out the red carpet to welcome them in. The surrounding southwest Kansas City community’s interest, led by a nonprofit group Friends of Hale Cook, is prompting Kansas City Public Schools to … Read More ⇒
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Guns must stay out of kids’ hands
It’s easy to say that kids shouldn’t play with guns. But a lot of people apparently aren’t getting that memo. A 6-year-old girl was shot in her lower leg apparently by her 14-year-old cousin in the waiting room of a Mission chiropractic office on Tuesday, The Kansas City Star reports. … Read More ⇒
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Roadwork creates misery for Kansas City commuters
People traveling northbound on Interstate 35 from Johnson County into downtown Kansas City faced miserable stop-and-go traffic this morning. Road crews were out making repairs after an unexpected failure of an expansion joint on Tuesday. The gash in the highway before Broadway caused work crews to reduce the flow of … Read More ⇒
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We won’t cower in fear after Boston
I ran the Boston Marathon on Monday and I expected to experience pain. I did, but it wasn’t the kind I’d expected. At 2:50 p.m., I’d just passed the 25-mile mark, when I heard a loud sound, which I learned later was the first of two explosions near the finish … Read More ⇒
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Let’s quit rewarding hospitals for mistakes
As polarized as we are over health care and how to pay for it, I’m pretty sure we can agree that hospitals should not be rewarded financially for bungling surgeries. But it happens, according to a study published Tuesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers studied records … Read More ⇒
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Kansas school standards should do more to include people of colors’ contributions to history
The Rev. Ben Scott is right to be concerned over changes in Kansas school standards not doing enough to include the contributions of people of color to this country’s history. The Kansas State Board of Education approved new history and social studies standards for public schools. They emphasize critical-thinking skills … Read More ⇒