After years of lobbying by consumer groups and a detailed exposé of the problem published last year in The Kansas City Star, the federal government finally appears ready to require mandatory labeling requirements for mechanically tenderized beef. That’s a much-needed step, and it shouldn’t have taken this long to get to it.
Mayor Sly James’ Turn the Page KC initiative, which has a goal of getting many more students' reading proficiency up to speed by the third-grade milestone, has won national praise for efforts to raise children’s reading ability by third grade.
“Medicare says a person in a complex wheelchair can’t roll out the door to go to work,” writes Finn Bullers, an advocate for people with disabilities. “Or attend a child’s soccer game. Or volunteer to help with third-grade “Rocket Math” at school. Does that make any sense?”
A revealing thing happened in the grief-filled days that followed the massacre of helpless children and their teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Virtually every conversation about gun control, about any possible remedy for gun violence, hit a roadblock.
All arts groups aim to balance the two most vital aspects of their existence — making creative achievements that stir our hearts and minds and building audiences to ensure the show can go on well into the future.
The heavily conservative Kansas Legislature showed itself repeatedly this year to be meddlesome, callous to people’s needs and downright foolish in many instances. The new budget reflects those tendencies, and the state will have to live with it.
Jacqueline Chanda, the president of the Kansas City Art Institute, remains filled with the same hope for the present and future that her parents instilled in her during the civil rights movement. It fueled her career. That hope, with the community’s renewed push, can make the next 50 years in America the greatest of all for the arts.
Readers appreciated front-page coverage in print of the NSA/FBI Prism intelligence program, but they questioned its play relative to the day’s lead news story choice.
The great civil liberties traditions of this nation do not condone invasive sweeps of information from innocents to find the few bad guys. That debate belongs in Congress and on Main Street. It needs to happen soon, and Obama should call for it directly.
Eric Holder’s controversies are distracting a nation, which should be focusing on key issues, such as the economy, health care and immigration. The U.S. attorney general would be doing his president and the nation a great favor by tendering his resignation sooner, rather than later.
It takes money and attention to make sure the public’s investments in these fountains is not squandered. City Hall, private companies and foundations need to cooperatively focus on maintaining the fountains.
It’s up to Washington and Moscow to stop bickering so they can work to be sure a Syria peace conference takes place and produces some sort of outcome that saves the region from explosive disintegration.
Tear it down and replace it? Or keep the current terminals? But what about these questions: As passengers, will we get more flights to more destinations or cheaper fares? Will the new KCI be as convenient with more services? Is KCI currently a proper gateway to Kansas City?
The federal judiciary is in crisis. Courts lack judges to keep up with their caseloads. The current environment also discourages the most qualified people from seeking appointment. Why submit to rigorous public scrutiny when there is a good chance you will never even get a confirmation vote?
Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a a tax bill approved by the General Assembly protects the state’s future, and responsible General Assembly members should sustain his bold move.
Medgar Evers’ push for integration and voting rights in the segregated South deserves continued recognition. Fifty years after he was assassinated, he is not forgotten. A City Council resolution honoring him will be considered Thursday in Kansas City.
“Even with the dangers, there are good reasons to chase and get as close as we safely can to these meteorological monsters,” writes Dave Call, who teaches meteorology at Ball State University. “Unfortunately, chasing is still one of the best methods for weather researchers to collect data about tornadoes.”
