KC Currents

By Sylvia Maria Gross

Kent Van Dusseldorp gets that he's not what many would expect when they hear the description: NUDE MODEL.

As art students open their back packs and get out supplies, Van Dusseldorp sits center stage wearing a robe and flip flops. When it comes to art, diversity is what's most important, he says. When he first started, he says he was just looking for something new.

"I turned 50 and I was trying to challenge myself to not just become an old man," Van Dusseldorp said. "So I wanted to do something to put myself out of my comfort zone."

By Alex Smith

LAWRENCE, Ks. – When the Kansas City Missouri school district officially loses its accreditation on January 1, 2012, students in the district may have the option of enrolling in other district's schools. And the Kansas City district would be required to pay tuition and transportation costs for any student who does that.

Artist Romare Bearden was born in North Carolina, and he grew up in the middle of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920's. Much of his work depicts African Americans, but Bearden said his real focus was the universal human experience.

By Susan B. Wilson

By Alex Smith

Kansas City, MO – For the past month, a billboard in the Waldo neighborhood has been catching a lot of attention. It's for the local jewelry company Tivol and features two people together in a store looking at a ring. They're both men. The billboard came down on Thursday, although Tivol says it just reached the end of its intended month-long lifespan. But in that month, it has made an impression.

By Susan B. Wilson

KANSAS CITY, KS – Only about 300 people speak Bengali in Kansas City, but nearly 300 million people speak the language worldwide. Bengali is mostly widely spoken in the West Bengal section of India and Bangladesh. Since local Bengalis are tied by geography and language, the Kansas City Bengali Association was formed to help them share cultural and social activities.

By Susan B. Wilson and Brenna Daldorph

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – This story begins with a secret in the attic, like any good mystery should. Ellyn Butler is a 27-year-old graduate of UMKC with a BA in art. She's lived in an old house in Waldo for the past three years. One night in June, as the clock neared midnight, Butler and her new roommate decided to explore the attic.

Under the floorboards, they found a stash of crayon drawings, done by a child, probably more than 50 years ago.

By Brenna Daldorph

KANSAS CITY, MO – The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize died earlier this week. Wangari Maathai was widely known for her environmental and human rights work in her native Kenya. In the past 30 years, her organization planted more than 45 million trees there. But the woman nicknamed the "Tree Lady" also had roots in Kansas. Intern Brenna Daldorph tells that story.

A Lifelong Lesson in Service

By Sylvia Maria Gross and Kayla Regan

KANSAS CITY, MO – Kansas City, Missouri, councilman Jermaine Reed proposed Thursday to rename a 10-mile stretch of Prospect Avenue after Martin Luther King Jr. Reed suggested the idea at a news conference at 26th and Prospect, near the site of a double homicide on Wednesday.

By Sylvia Maria Gross and Susan B. Wilson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Kansas City Missouri school district received one more disappointing blow this week, when the state board of education stripped it of its accreditation. And that was just weeks after Superintendent John Covington resigned unexpectedly to take a job in Michigan.

That leaves families in the district wondering what kind of trajectory Kansas City's schools are really on.

Leading Up to the Loss

By Alex Smith

KANSAS CITY, MO – The City Hall, police station, and community building of Prairie Village, KS will soon have their temperatures regulated by a geothermal heating system venturing more than four hundred feet underground.

This low maintenance alternative energy system taps into the constant temperatures just below the earth's surface to cool a building in the summer and heat it in winter.

It is funded in part by a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

By Susan B. Wilson

KANSAS CITY, MO – Stop by any popular spot for singles, and you've no doubt seen the behavior in some prowling bachelors: single guys coming on strong to women with unbelievable pick-up lines, teasing and very direct eye contact. And sometimes, it works!

But aggressive flirting may also signal the potential of a sexually violent relationship, according to University of Kansas communications professor Jeffrey Hall.

By Sylvia Maria Gross and Kayla Regan

KANSAS CITY, MO – People who've served in the military in the past ten years are considered part of the 9/11 generation. This generation is made up of more than five million people who have served in active, guard and reserve units. This is the first time since the Revolutionary War that the United States has engaged in sustained conflicts with an all-volunteer military.

By Susan B. Wilson

By Susan B. Wilson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fewer kids have gathered on the Plaza the past two weekends. It's probably because of the new curfew, or perhaps school starting. Mayor Sly James said he was disappointed with local parents who dropped off their kids unattended at the Plaza. So Susan Wilson asked Amy Gragg, a social worker at the Family Conservancy in Kansas City, Kansas, "Is this fair criticism of KC parents?"