KC Currents

By Susan B. Wilson

By Susan B. Wilson

Kansas City, MO – KC Currents is bringing you the stories behind some different Kansas City landmarks, curiosities and architectural anomalies in the new series "What IS That?"

In this installment, KCUR's Susan B. Wilson asks about the statues of three mariachi players on the corner of 17th and Summit, on Kansas City's Westside.

Hear other stories and suggest ideas for the What is That? series on the KC Currents page.

By Susan B. Wilson

Kansas City, MO – Dating violence among teenagers is a touchy and often overlooked subject. But a domestic violence shelter in Johnson County has developed a play to educate teenagers about the issue, and it's receiving some national attention.

By Alex Smith

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Sometimes when we hear about flooding in our area, it's easy to get a little leery about what's coming out of our facets. That's especially true when the tap water tastes a little different than usual. Could there be sewage or pesticides leaking into our water supply? Is it safe? This week, Alex Smith investigated.

A Matter of Taste

By Alex Smith

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – During the last 20 years, there's been a kind of quiet war going on. It's over who sells books and how they do it. In the early 90s, most book selling happened in small, locally-owned stores. But the rise of giant retailers and then Amazon.com threatened many of the small stores with extinction.

By Susan B. Wilson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A unique voice in Kansas City sports commemtary will be leaving town this week. Joe Posnanski was born in Cleveland, went to high school and college in North Carolina, and came to Kansas City in 1996 to be a sportswriter for the Kansas City Star.

Then in 2008, Posnanski became a senior writer at Sports Illustrated, and this year, he decided to move with his family back to North Carolina.

Kansas City, Mo. – Every New Year's Day, the 15-day Dakar race begins. The first race took place in 1979 and went from Paris to Dakar, Senegal. Today, it winds through 6000 miles of mostly deserts in Argentina, Chile and Peru, and it involves motorcycles, cars and trucks.

By Michael Crane

Belton, Mo. – Rod Richter has been interested in bees since his childhood. A firefighter by trade, Richter is a part time beekeeper, with emphasis on the word keeper. He is not a bee exterminator but a bee re-locator.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Spring is here, and Kansas City teens are gathering--once again--in large numbers on the Country Club Plaza. The Kansas City Police Department was hoping to prevent what happened last April, when some 700 to 900 teens were involved in what was called a "flash mob." Fights broke out, patrons were intimidated and one teen was beaten up.

The police formulated a crowd control plan, city officials met with teenagers to brainstorm activities.

Prairie Village, Kan. – Ever pass something that catches your eye while you're driving around or walking? Something that makes you turn you head in wonder as you pass by? It might an architectural anomaly, an unusual object, artwork, or a storefront?

KC Currents will be exploring these curiosities in a new occasional series we're calling "What IS That?" KCUR's Laura Ziegler has this first installment about a sacred space in the heart of Prairie Village, Kan. It's a shrine to the only horse bred in Kansas to win the Kentucky Derby.

Kansas City, Mo. – Kansas City's alterative weekly newspaper The Pitch recently changed owners. Village Voice Media sold the paper to the small newspaper chain SouthComm based in Nashville, Tenn. Last month, the paper named Scott Wilson, previously the paper's copy editor since 2001, as the new editor. KCUR's Susan B. Wilson sat down with Scott Wilson to talk about the recent changes.

Kansas City, Kan. – Half of all Latino immigrants in the United States send money home. More than 20 billion dollars a year go to Mexico. Last week, the Mexican Consulate unveiled a new financial tool will make it easier for residents of Kansas City to send money to a small town in Michoacan, Mexico.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – This past week, UMKC held a luncheon to honor some of its most accomplished alumni. Among the group was a man Kansas City hasn't seen much since he graduated over 40 years ago. Dr. Mutuku Mutinga has spent most of his life combating insect-borne diseases in his native Kenya, but he credits his years in Kansas City with giving him the tools he's needed to carry on the fight.

While he was in town, Dr. Mutinga told his story to KCUR's Alex Smith.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On Friday (April 29, 2011), Governor Jay Nixon vetoed a bill that would modify the Human Rights Act, and make it harder for workers to sue for discrimination. He said that modifying the Human Rights Act would scale back protections that took decades to gain.

"Making it easier to discriminate against people with disabilities, or cancer, against women, older workers and minorities, against those of different faiths and ethnicities will not help us create jobs or become more competitive in a global economy," Nixon said.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – At the end of the month, Kansas City's animal shelter will temporarily go back to be managed by the city, after two years of operation by a private contractor. In 2009, veterinarian Dr. Wayne Steckelberg won the contract to run the shelter, which was renamed Half Way Home Pet Adoptions.

As recently as last year, the privatization of the shelter was considered a success. But complaints from volunteers and a staff member led the city to reconsider.