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Custom Brass Instruments Made In Olathe, Petty Theft Not So Petty To Area Businesses

Sylvia Maria Gross
/
KCUR

Made In Olathe: Custom Brass Instruments
Mike Corrigan calls himself the Horn Doctor. He knows the physics, chemistry and geometry behind making music, from the unique properties of brass, copper and silver to the angle of a bend on a horn bell.

Petty Theft Not So Petty To Area Businesses
The Holiday Season is a time which brings joy to many. For business owners, that joy comes from peaks in profits. People are buying things, but they are also taking them. Theft crimes significantly increase around the holidays, leaving some business owners bracing for profits to walk out the door.

Renter Holds Art Exhibit In Foreclosed Mansion
Foreclosures have been down by about 25% in both Missouri and Kansas during the first quarter of 2012, but it’s still common for banks to take more than a year to even begin the foreclosure process.  This leaves a lot of owners and tenants in a limbo without legal guidelines. Now, a schoolteacher is using this state of limbo to create a haven for artists. 

Health Care Law Puts Free Clinics At A Crossroads
Free health clinics have long been places people turn to when they don't have health insurance or any money to pay for care. But the health law's expansion of coverage puts free clinics in uncharted territory.

Lee Langston Carries The Soul Music Torch
Kansas City vocal artist Lee Langston has been a fixture on the local music scene for the past several years.  His covers of neo-soul music have attracted a faithful audience of young urban professionals.  Langston’s “tribute” shows – celebrating the music of artists like Erykah Badu and Lauren Hill—have drawn sold out crowds. He recently assembled a musical tribute show to the neo-soul artist D’Angelo.

Local Artist’s Drawings Help Solve Crimes
You’ve probably seen crime shows like CSI and America’s Most Wanted, where artists work with victims to create a drawing that helps identify a criminal. This job is performed by a forensic illustrator.  If you’ve seen one of these drawings on the news in Kansas City, then you’ve seen the work of artist and author Lee Hammond, who lives in Overland Park.

Bucking Bulls Draw Crowds, And Dollars
The bucking bull has long been the embodiment of the American rodeo, and it takes just four seconds for a strong young bull to reap its owner as much as $50,000 in prize money.  In the past 10 years, bucking bulls have become a major industry. The price of the best bloodlines can soar to $250,000, and competitions take place everywhere from Madison Square Garden to Wyoming.

Every part of the present has been shaped by actions that took place in the past, but too often that context is left out. As a podcast producer for KCUR Studios and host of the podcast A People’s History of Kansas City, I aim to provide context, clarity, empathy and deeper, nuanced perspectives on how the events and people in the past have shaped our community today.

In that role, and as an occasional announcer and reporter, I want to entertain, inform, make you think, expose something new and cultivate a deeper shared human connection about how the passage of time affects us all. Reach me at hogansm@kcur.org.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Susan admits that her “first love” was radio, being an avid listener since childhood. However, she spent much of her career in mental health, healthcare administration, and sports psychology (Susan holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Bloch School of Business at UMKC.) In the meantime, Wilson satisfied her journalistic cravings by doing public speaking, providing “expert” interviews for local television, and being a guest commentator/contributor to KPRS’s morning drive time show and the teen talk show “Generation Rap.”
As a health care reporter, I aim to empower my audience to take steps to improve health care and make informed decisions as consumers and voters. I tell human stories augmented with research and data to explain how our health care system works and sometimes fails us. Email me at alexs@kcur.org.
Sylvia Maria Gross is storytelling editor at KCUR 89.3. Reach her on Twitter @pubradiosly.
KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and award-winning podcasts.
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