Kansas City Today

The state of Kansas is luring the Kansas City Chiefs across the state line with funding from STAR Bonds, a unique kind of tax incentive. The team plans to build a $3 billion stadium in Wyandotte County and a practice facility worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Olathe.

A new exhibit at the Nerman Museum in Overland Park packs a punch with ceramic lipsticks, guns, and colorful pastel flowers. Over her five-decade career, Kansas City clay artist Linda Lighton created sculptures that speak to some of the thorniest issues of our time.

Missouri lawmakers have passed historically expensive budgets in recent years, but next year will likely be different, according to Missouri state Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Democrat from Kansas City. The state's revenue has flatlined when adjusted for inflation, and there is no more surplus of federal money. Nurrenbern said that math means Missouri won't be able to fund all the services it has in prior years.

Native freshwater mussels do important work filtering the water in Midwest rivers. These animals are in trouble, but Kansas has a plan to help them. Plus: We'll hear from farmers around the central U.S. about what made this such a tough year, and what may come in 2026.

The Kansas City Chiefs' planned move across the state line marked an unusually bipartisan success for Kansas elected leaders. In most other ways, state politics in 2025 were marked by Republican wins and Democratic frustrations.

The year 2025 marked the start of a new governor's term in Missouri, and the deepening of Republican control of the General Assembly. As the year ended, the blame and sorrow over the state losing the Kansas City Chiefs were just beginning.

As 2025 nears its end, we're catching up on the biggest stories we reported this year. It was a hard year for federal workers in Kansas City, who weathered mass layoffs and the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Hear how that impacted workers' jobs and mental health.

2025 brought a lot of grief for governments in Kansas City, Missouri, and Jackson County: the expensive departure of the city's highest-paid official, a property tax scandal that left the county's top lawmaker rebuked, and the Chiefs' planned move to Kansas. But there's something to look forward to, too: the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

A Kansas City cookbook author gives us a glimpse of her warm kitchen this winter season. Plus, while many people go online or to the mall to shop for presents, some rural towns go all out to try and attract holiday shoppers.

A major tax incentive package approved by Kansas lawmakers will help the Chiefs build a new $3 billion domed stadium in Wyandotte County. Plus: A Classical KC contributor shares memories from Christmases past.

Kansas will end all access to hormone treatments and other gender-affirming care for transgender minors in January. To keep getting care for their children, some families are opting to leave the state entirely.

Black student enrollment declined almost 34% at the University of Missouri between 2013-2023 — and Black students there have much to say about why.

This year saw the formation of the Kansas City area's first Women's Pinball League. At 403 Club, in Kansas City, Kansas, beginners and pros of all ages and walks of life gather each Thursday for slap-saves, snacks and sisterhood.

For the first time in 11 years, the Kansas City Chiefs will not be playing in the NFL playoffs. The bad news doesn't stop there: superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes sustained a season-ending injury in last weekend's loss to the San Diego Chargers. The situation has some fans wondering if this is the end of the dynasty, or just a fluke of a season.

Next year, Kansas City's only drinking water treatment plant will celebrate its 100th birthday. It's a milestone worth applauding, for sure, but it's also a reminder that the city has only one place where it makes clean water.

In Missouri and Kansas, the secretary of state is the top election official, a partisan position chosen by voters. But to the frustration of some, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has used his authority to push certain Republican priorities, especially when it comes to ballot issues on redistricting and abortion.

In Kansas City, singles looking for love have a new way to find possible matches: live, in-person and with an audience. Can a local reimagining of “The Dating Game” lead to love in a loveless city? Plus: A disease caused by ticks is on the rise in Missouri, meaning more people are looking for alpha-gal safe ways to eat out.

This week, petitioners challenging Missouri's gerrymandered new congressional map submitted 305,000 signatures seeking to halt the law and put it up for a statewide vote. That's more than twice as many as needed. But a whole tangle of legal challenges lay ahead.

Residents of an apartment complex in Gardner, Kansas, were kicked out of their homes earlier this year when the city condemned the property for unsafe living conditions, but one change in a law could help. Plus: A Missouri researcher says "radical empathy" can help combat today's conspiracy theories, which may help when you go home for the holidays.

Kansas City found out over the weekend which countries it will host for World Cup games at Arrowhead Stadium next summer. There's even a chance two of the world's greatest players could face off here.

For the past four years, a federal program has given Missouri farmers and hungry families a boost by putting locally grown, fresh food on their tables. But the recently canceled Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement won't provide that help this year.

California startup Deep Fission says it plans to install a nuclear reactor underneath an industrial park in southeast Kansas. Plus, as the United States prepares for the 2026 World Cup, a look at how Kansas City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt helped U.S. soccer go pro.

The number of women over 40 having babies is increasing nationwide, even as the overall birth rate declines. Plus, a nonprofit food distributor created its own free marketplace to tackle hunger across the country.

This week, victims of disgraced Kansas City, Kansas, Police Detective Roger Golubski and other social justice advocates marked one year since Golubski died by suicide on Dec. 2, 2024. That was the day his federal trial was to begin on charges that he violated the civil rights of several women through rape and kidnapping.

Sports betting became legal in Missouri this week. It marks the end of a years-long effort that came down to a statewide vote, and will likely transform the sports industry throughout the state. Plus: Lesser prairie chickens used to roam across Kansas and the Great Plains by the millions, but now there's only a few thousand.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, passed a revised version of its public camping ban — which includes lesser penalties for first time offenses than the initial proposal. Kansas City, Kansas Police called the measure “dignified,” but opponents worry it will criminalize homelessness.

Every year just before the holidays, Scouting America troops across the country collect food items for local pantries, right off our front porches. It's an effort started 40 years ago from here in Missouri.

On Thanksgiving, families will have plenty to debate: politics, football...and pie? Americans also have strong opinions on whether to enjoy pumpkin or sweet potato pie on Thanksgiving. Plus: Holiday get-togethers are on the way, and if you're looking for fun things to do, you might consider a new card or board game.

More than 650,000 people could attend the World Cup in Kansas City next summer, and all of them will need a place to stay. That's why the Kansas City Council is changing its rules around short-term rentals to make it easier for residents to host visitors.

For years, the Missouri Department of Corrections was not actually keeping track of the people who died in state prisons — with partial counts, missing names and flat-out wrong information being standard procedure. That is, until a Marshall Project reporter started asking questions.

Since purchasing the Country Club Plaza more than a year ago, the Gillion Property group has increased its security and made cosmetic repairs. Now, the company plans major construction that contrasts with the Plaza's storybook atmosphere, and asking a Kansas City agency for $1.4 billion in tax breaks.

In rural Medicine Lodge, Kansas, Sarrah and Kyle Miller were sued last month by their local medical clinic for $230 in unpaid medical expenses. Their story is part of a new pattern. Kansas hospitals have filed thousands of lawsuits against their rural patients in recent years, including many for less than $500.

Kansas City officials are waging a war against graffiti, scrubbing surfaces clean only to see them tagged again the next day. Businesses and hotels are fighting back to send the message that downtown is a welcoming, thriving and safe place.

A longtime resident of Columbia, Missouri, remains imprisoned in Texas more than a month after he was detained by federal officers. Owen Ramsingh is a green-card holder who immigrated to the U.S. as a child, but he's now facing deportation due to a drug conviction from when he was a teen.

Now that the government shutdown is over, tens of thousands of furloughed civil servants are back to work in Kansas City. But that doesn't mean all is well. KCUR spoke with a Social Security employee who answers the 1-800 line about her experiences working without pay.

An Independence museum for artwork made out of human hair recently closed its doors for good. Hear the story of the final days of Leila's Hair Museum. Plus: Missouri families have to navigate tough food decisions after getting alpha-gal syndrome from ticks.

The tickborne illness alpha-gal syndrome affects what you can eat. For those who contract it, mealtime becomes a minefield. Plus: American agriculture depends on foreign workers, but President Donald Trump's immigration clampdown is shrinking a farm workforce that many say was already too small.

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history appears to be near an end. But weeks without paychecks and cuts to SNAP benefits put many Kansas Citians in desperate situations — and turning to local support systems like food pantries, mental health services and utility assistance programs.

A Kansas City historian is preserving the stories of Mexican Americans who served during Vietnam. The new oral history project is titled "In Their Own Words: Mexican American Vietnam Era Veterans."

As the government shutdown drags on, what's the experience like for federal workers — not just the thousands who have been furloughed, but those left behind to carry on the work without pay? KCUR spoke with an IRS customer service agent about her experiences working through the shutdown, and her worries for the future.

A Kansas City therapist started a walking group in a disadvantaged neighborhood that aims to make sure everyone can keep up. We'll take a Friday stroll with the “Marlborough Unstoppables." Plus, a 1962 plane crash heading to Kansas City killed eight crew members and 37 passengers — in what turned out to be the country's first jet bombing.

A major breach of the KCKPD has revealed a list of alleged officer misconduct for the first time, including allegations of sexual harassment, excessive force, false arrests and more. Even still, some accusations of misconduct by known corrupt cops, such as disgraced former detective Roger Golubski, did not make the list.