Steve Kraske

Need to take your mind off of the IRS today? 

On Tuesday's Up to Date, we do our best to distract you from your taxes with a visit from actress Connie Stevens. Join us as we talk with her about 1960s Hollywood, what it was like to date Elvis and how she likes acting with her daughter at The New Theatre Restaurant.

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Communities in the Kansas City metropolitan area are in shocked mourning after multiple shootings left three people dead Sunday afternoon.

On Monday's Up to Date, we talk with a local man who was at the Jewish Community Center when two people were shot about what it was like to be in the lockdown there. We also check in with KCUR's Laura Ziegler to get the latest on the alleged shooter and talk with a local pastor about how the community is responding to the deaths.

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Take a peek at the inner-workings of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, and get a look into the life of labor leader Cesar Chavez. When it’s on the silver screen, you’ve got an all-access pass.

On Friday's Up to Date, our independent, foreign and documentary film critics take a look at the latest films opening in Kansas City.

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A controversial move by Kansas lawmakers has teachers up in arms all over the state.  Steve Kraske talks with Kansas State Rep. John Bradford, who supported the change in the law, and Mark Desetti of the Kansas National Education Association.  They'll discuss how it will now be easier to fire teachers by eliminating their due-process rights and how supporters say that will improve education.  They also look at how this affects job security for teachers as well as their ability to criticize administrators when called for.

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Need to put the Spring in your step? Check out Brian McTavish's Weekend To-Do List for April 11-13.

“Miracle on South Division Street” starring Connie Stevens (Stage comedy), Dinner seating at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, noon and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, 12:15 p.m. Sunday at the New Theatre Restaurant, 9229 Foster, Overland Park, Kan. Tickets: $33 to $55

1940 was a pivotal year for Kansas City. Tom Pendergast’s rule through corruption and debauchery had crumbled, leaving the new local government to reform a city hungry for jazz and liquor.

On Thursday's Up to Date, we examine how Kansas City was different in the World War II era. On the way, we take a look at how the “Paris of the Plains” changed from a den of iniquity to the city we know today.

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The buzz around Washington is about the next presidential election— and they’re talking about Hillary Clinton. It might seem like it’s a long way off, but inside the beltway, it’s never too soon for that kind of chatter. 

On Wednesday's Up to Date, we’ll talk about that speculation with Carl Cannon, the Washington bureau chief of RealClearPolitics, and Time Magazine's David von Drehle. We’ll also take a look at some of the other issues heating up the capital this week.

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You know the Federal Reserve is important to the government, but what does it really do?

On Tuesday's Up to Date, we talk with Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George about why Kansas City has a Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. We'll also look at the history of the bank at its centenary.

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• Esther George, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City 

You’re in Washington, and you’ve got the plum assignment—covering the White House. You might get to ride on Air Force One and travel the world with the president, but is it really as glamorous as it sounds?

On Monday's Up to Date, we talk with NPR’s Tamara Keith and Bloomberg’s Margaret Talev about their experiences as White House correspondents. We discuss the challenges and the excitement of reporting on the president, and what it’s like to be in that briefing room.

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Last year was arguably the best year for the Kansas City Royals in recent memory - 86 wins put the boys in blue above .500, but just short of the playoffs.

For this hour of Up to Date we take you out to the ballpark for the Royal’s home opener and Steve Kraske introduces you to some of the people who keep the team running.
 

In the Midwest, the supply of organs for patients who need transplants to live is relatively strong.  But, that’s not the case in many locations across the country.

Currently, donated organs are distributed through local and regional networks, but there is talk of changing that system to one that basically puts everyone on equal footing.

Wash away the recent rainy weather with Brian McTavish's Weekend To-Do List for April 4-6.

Ink's Middle of the Map Fest Music festival with more that 120 bands at six venues.  Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Gary Numan performs at 11 p.m. Thursday at Ernie Biggs Piano Bar. Country Club Plaza and Westport area. Tickets: $55 three-day-pass

You can post just about anything you want on the internet, but when it comes to e-commerce, the online world is dominated by a few major players.

On Wednesday's Up to Date, we examine the corporate giants that control the online marketplace and discuss how consumers might revolt against their monopolies.

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Haroon Ullah knows the pace and color of daily life in Pakistan and the delicate balance between secular and religious culture.

On Wednesday's Up to Date, we talk with him about the struggles of an ordinary middle-class family just trying to live life in a region that's seen constant upheaval.

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If you look at America through journalist George Packer’s eyes, you’ll see a landscape where familiar staples of society, such as Social Security and privacy, are disappearing in a country-wide decline in civilization.

On Tuesday's Up to Date, we talk with the National Book Award winner about his latest book, why he sees such a bleak picture for the country and how we might make it to the light at the end of the tunnel.

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The Musical Bridges program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music aims to give more arts opportunities to young people in the urban core of the city.

On Tuesday's Up to Date, we talk with a MacArthur Fellow who's done a similar thing in Detroit.

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If the police staged a massive raid on your house, complete with assault weapons, you’d want to know why. But finding that out in Kansas is tricky and costly. 

On Monday's Up to Date, we look at a KSHB-TV investigative report on the problems local residents have had getting police records open in the state.

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You’ve heard of the man, his plan and that canal: Panama. Well, it’s been 100 years since its construction, and the waterway is getting a facelift.

On Monday's Up to Date, we talk about a new local exhibit that explores that century of innovation.

Guest:

• Alberto Aleman Zubieta, former CEO of the Panama Canal Authority
• Lisa Browar, president of the Linda Hall Library

Becky Blades found herself bubbling over with advice for her daughter, but she knew bombarding her daughter with life lessons wasn't the best way to go about sharing it.

On Friday's Up to Date, we talk with Blades about how, in writing down this advice with a good dose of humor, she created the book Do Your Laundry or You'll Die Alone.

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• Becky Blades, author of Do Your Laundry or You'll Die Alone

​Listener advice:

Fred Phelps has been a lightning rod of controversy for decades. The late head of the Westboro Baptist Church, who famously picketed funerals of American soldiers and LGBT people, died Wednesday.

On Friday's Up to Date, we discuss the quandary media organizations have faced: How do you decide when events like this are truly newsworthy and when you’re just giving hate groups free publicity?

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Get that spring into your step with Brian McTavish's Weekend To-Do List for March 21-23, 2014.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City: “La Boheme” (Classic opera by Giacomo Puccini), 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, 1601 Broadway, Kansas City, Mo. Tickets: $90 to $160 

Saundra Hayes is a resident of Manheim Park situated on the east side of Troost in Kansas City.  In this edition of 90-Mile View, Saundra and Steve Kraske talk about the effects the Green Impact Zone has had on her neighborhood and what it will take to keep the momentum built by the project going.

If you want drama, the story of how we developed atomic energy has it. From the novelty of X-rays to the destructive power unleashed in Hiroshima, to a major energy source — all the up and downs are there. 

On Thursday's Up to Date, we talk with an author who has traced the details of these events and many in-between to construct a history of the atomic age. We look at how scientists managed to get from Marie Curie’s discovery to the Manhattan Project and beyond. 

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Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill visits Kansas City on Wednesday and Thursday as part of her 'McCaskill on Main Street' tour.  

She’s fresh off a big legislative win in the Senate where her version of a bill dealing with sexual assault in the military won out over a competing measure.

In the second part of Wednesday's Up to Date, Steve Kraske talks with Sen. McCaskill about sexual assault in the military and her opinions on progress made as part of the Affordable Care Act.

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Threats to sovereignty along the Black Sea, lots of discussions about spying … it all brings back memories of the Cold War.

On Wednesday's Up to Date, we talk about one of the most notorious incidents of that period. When Russia shot down the U-2 spy plane, pilot Gary Powers became the international face of a mission gone wrong. His son joins us to talk about that event.

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Russia’s incursion into the Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula has sparked a reaction across Europe. The region voted over the weekend to secede to be part of Russia, but the European Union, the United States and others have called that vote illegal. 

The idea of a gender war is nothing new, but what has changed is who’s winning: It's the girls.

On Monday's Up to Date, psychologist Wes Crenshaw joins us to talk about the switch and why it’s happening. We’ll look at how lower graduation rates and grades from boys are affecting this trend.

We’ll get a teen perspective on what we can change to help boys regain equal footing.

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This year’s Middle of the Map music festival will take place April 3-5 at many locations in and around Westport. For the next several weeks, our “Local Listen” segment will focus on musicians from the Kansas City area who will be sharing the stages with regional and national artists.

It seems like we depend on machines for nearly everything we do, and a whole new breed of mechanical wonders is invading Kansas City this weekend for the 2014 KC Regional First Robotics Competition. 

On Friday's Up to Date, we talk about the competition that's attracting more than a thousand high school students who have designed their own robots.

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It's been a quiet winter in Warsaw, Mo., where the Osage River empties into Truman Lake.  The bitter cold had even the hardiest inhabitants staying indoors.  Now this little town on the lake is showing the unmistakable signs that the "season" is about to begin.

In this installment of 90-Mile View, newspaper publisher James White tells Steve Kraske what stories The Benton County Enterprise has been covering.  Then White describes one of the sure signs of Spring, the start of the spoonbill fishing season and an accompanying aroma.

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