The resurgent Kansas City Public Library has now established a national reputation for its free public programs featuring important historians, economists and authors.
Director R. Crosby Kemper III and other library officials today will be in Washington, D.C., to receive the 2008 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. It’s the highest national award a library can receive.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
O.J. Simpson may go to prison for the rest of his life. It's not a shocking sentence for someone who has abused the legal process.
A meal at a good restaurant can certainly be therapeutic.
But the notion that someone would stumble into an eatery and mistake it for a pharmacy strikes nearly everybody as farfetched.
That’s why it’s good to see the Missouri Board of Pharmacy agree to work with state lawmakers to resolve the dispute centering o the Smithville restaurant with the word “drugstore” in its name.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
American Idol star Clay Aiken says he's gay and you say....
That's fine.
I already knew.
By Linda Staten, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices panel
A young Marine with a big smile holds a black and white puppy by the scruff of the neck. He says, “Cute little puppy, huh?” to someone unseen, then tosses it over a cliff, apparently to its death.
By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Bristol Palin’s pregnancy resurrected memories of all the African-American girls and women I’ve known who’ve had an uncertain, unwelcomed future as unwed moms.
The reaction of the West to Russia’s invasion of Georgia has been disappointingly tame up to now.
Consider the recent emergency summit of European leaders which, despite hours of deliberations, decided merely to issue another tepid warning.
By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Board member
Baby boomers’ ability to contend with Alzheimer’s disease will depend on lessons they pick up today about the scourge.
Americans are living longer. Health officials have noted drops of more than 6 percent in stroke and chronic lower respiratory diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis. Heart disease and diabetes deaths have fallen more than 5 percent.
Labor Day is traditionally a time to mark the end of summer and fire up the barbeque.
It’s all a bit backhanded, in a way; we honor work by setting aside a day when most people can be freed from it.
Perhaps you’ve seen him, or heard about him. He’s the child actor who tells the camera, sadly, “I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer.”
He doesn’t have cancer, fortunately. Neither do two other children who make similar claims in a controversial commercial aimed at getting people to forgo hot dogs and processed meats.
Kansas City police Sgt. Bill Mahoney sees it all the time.
A vehicle moving erratically—crossing the center line, swinging too close to the curb. Slowing down then speeding up for no apparent reason.
Large-scale animal feeding farms create odors and air pollution that threatens human health.
There appears to be no dispute about this from Missouri’s Department of Natural Resources, which is supposed to regulate these operations.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
The United Way of Greater Kansas City has embarked on a well-intentioned effort to make sure the nonprofit agencies it funds are spending your money wisely.
By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
The warm weather seems to bring out this city’s true colors.
The phenomenon is difficult to spot from a fast-moving car. The people and buildings are a blur.
The resignation of Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, raises new concerns about the future course of Pakistan, one of the most important theaters in the war on terror.
Over time, the departure of Musharraf could allow Pakistan’s democracy to deepen, but the near-term outlook is deeply troubling.
By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Muslims keep trying to fit in to America, but too often they face people who push them away.
A hurtful case appeared to come from the Democratic campaign of Sen. Barack Obama.
By Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star
To all those who fear the invasion of our shores by foreign languages — I’m speaking to you, stalwarts of the "English Only" movement — seriously, you need to travel more.
Perhaps they simply have not experienced signage such as these doozies from China:
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
More people are hopping on fuel-sipping motorcycles in Kansas City and around the nation, thanks to high gasoline prices. But that also means more irresponsible and careless motorcycle drivers are on the road. No wonder fatality rates are skyrocketing.
Twice a month The Star’s Editorial Board meets with six reader advisers to brainstorm ideas for future editorial projects. The following individuals joined us in late July, offering new views and backgrounds for the fourth annual panel. Many thanks to everyone who volunteered to participate. To contact the advisers or the Editorial Board, send e-mail to oped@kcstar.com or call 816-234-4885. — Miriam Pepper, vice president, editorial page.
The Red Cross blood supply is thought to be one of the safest in the world. Yet the organization’s failure to correct significant shortcomings continues to frustrate regulators.
Earlier this year, the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration threatened Red Cross board members with criminal charges unless they met the terms of a federal court order, according to a story in The New York Times.
A mere 422 million miles from Earth, NASA’s phenomenal planet-searcher, the Phoenix Lander, is busy giving scientists valuable information about life on Mars.
No, not life now, we don’t think. But billions of years ago, there were large bodies of water, one of the key substances for life as we know it. Because of what Phoenix has been busy doing since it touched down May 25, scientists now can confirm the past existence of all this water.
By Nick Mangiaracina, Kansas City Star Contributing Writer
You would think that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report would be enough to satirize the media. Unfortunately, they have just scratched the surface of the Hubble Space Telescope-sized realm of idiocy out there.
By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Editorial Page columnist
Welcome to the Woe in the Show-Me State Bar and Grill. Pull up a stool and let us whine together.
Yo bartender! Budweisers all around. Might as well toast the king before he’s gone.
Be kind to the elderly, the disabled or veterans. This seems like a reasonable rule for society.
But a recent Inspector General’s report found that many banks are squeezing this group; seizing assets of people who are often dependent on government subsidies for their living expenses. The seizures are to cover debt. Federal law prohibits this practice.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Steve Jobs struck again Friday, discovering that Americans really are saps for the iphone 3g.
The 3,000 visitors in Kansas City over the next few days representing counties around the nation are a nostalgic group.
They remember fondly a time when the White House and Congress consulted with people like them before issuing mandates that create additional expenses and burdens for county, state and city governments.
By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist
A few observations on the news that prosecutors in Boulder, Colo., have finally and definitively cleared the parents and brother of Jon Benet Ramsey in the 1996 murder of the 6-year-old girl.
By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Few people want to talk about HIV/AIDS.
Some tireless folks try. But HIV/AIDS should be a hot topic until a cure is found.
By Nick Mangiaracina, Kansas City Star Contributing Writer
I am a liberal. I am a conservative. I am a populist. I am all of these things at one time or another but none of them all at once. It all depends on what you're talking about and how you define the terms. This piece isn't about defining terms though.
By Nick Mangiaracina, Kansas City Star Contributing Writer
With the release of Firefox 3.0 (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-rc.html) Mozilla has yet again managed to improve its browser. This time around the browser features an enlarged back arrow, a star next to the URL bar to more easily favorite Web sites, and a lot of great returning add ons . Below are some of my favorites. You can find dozens of others at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox.
