People

A 97-year-old woman is the oldest working Kansan. Martha Smith of Vinland, Kan. has been tending the Cole Creek Library for most of the last 67 years. Her great uncle helped found the library in 1859.

Missouri and Kansas both continue to struggle with lagging tax revenue. The money trickling into Jefferson City and Topeka is so far off of estimates that both states are re-tooling approved budgets and cutting programs.

In Missouri, foster care is carrying a heavy load of the state's budget cuts. Foster cases handled by state-contracted agencies are being shifted back to state control, sometimes tripling the case load of social workers.

Kansas City, MO – Kids in the US today are 30% more likely to be raised by their grandparents than they were 10 years ago. KCUR's Ashley Powell reports on the growing trend and it's effect on grandparents, grandchildren and lawmakers alike.

A Gallup poll reveals 40 percent of Americans expressed some fear of a terrorist attack, and minorities were almost three times as likely to be very worried about an attack.

But now, KCUR's Frank Morris found - from the conservative white farming area to almost exclusively minority neighborhoods - people are now largely unafraid of terrorism, though for largely different reasons.

KANSAS CITY – Since September the 11th, almost 35,000 Americans have left normal jobs and donned military uniforms as reservists. A full one-third of them, 12 thousand troops, are college students. For these students, serving in the reserve comes with an added sacrifice. KCUR's Matt Hackworth reports there's no federal law to protect students from penalties if they're called up to serve in the reserves