COMMENTARY
October 24

Sen. Marco Rubio gets back to his Missouri roots

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, in Kansas City today, has a Midwest connection. How the Cuban-American wound up at Tarkio College could be titled: Yes, you, too, can graduate high school with a 2.1 grade point average, attend a financially doomed college, yet one day be considered as a vice presidential pick and command people to fork over $10,000 for a photo with you.

COMMENTARY
October 22

Mitt Romney’s case to women is well short of convincing

Is Mitt Romney the type of man who is respectful in a woman’s presence, but wholly different when he gets back with a huddle of guys? Like many politicians, he holds certain women in places of honor. No arguments there. But it’s not clear that he will have all women’s interests in mind when it counts.

COMMENTARY
October 12

An unlikely hero stands up to the Taliban

Watching videos of Malala Yousafzai speaking about her desire for education, it’s hard to know how much her motivation to stand up to the Taliban came from within and how much was prompted by her equally outspoken father, who operates a school for girls. But this is clear: She is a child raising herself far beyond her years to meet horrible realities.

COMMENTARY
October 14

Plans for former St. Francis Xavier School worry neighborhood

The plan to demolish the shuttered St. Francis Xavier School and replace it with a five-story complex for Catholic college students has been an emotional ride for residents of the 49/63 Neighborhood Coalition. So until the city officially says the rezoning meeting for Nov. 6 is canceled, many opposed to the project aren’t taking the date off their calendars.

COMMENTARY
October 10

City Hall change leads to trouble

Midtown’s Volker neighborhood has city planners, a developer, an architect and even a few doctors from the nearby University of Kansas Hospital in its sights. Residents are outraged that what they believed was a plan to restore an aging home has turned into a proposal for what detractors describe as “a cheap motel.”

COMMENTARY
October 8

Web firms must do more to protect kids’ privacy

Everybody can agree that the privacy of children needs to be protected when they use the Internet. The question is, whose responsibility is it? Regulators and Web-based companies don’t agree how to do it, and their battle is being waged through the Federal Trade Commission.

COMMENTARY
October 7

Conquer taboos to deter suicides

In January, the metro area joined a nationwide network by chartering the Greater Kansas Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Board members of the organization have reached out to area districts, contacting administrators and counselors. Phone calls are not returned. Letters are never answered.

COMMENTARY
October 1

Ending race-based slots would not serve justice

In October, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a case challenging the sliver of consideration the university gives to race and ethnicity when deciding whom to admit. It is already being billed as “the case that killed affirmative action.”

COMMENTARY
September 26

Carried away by ‘open carry’

Overland Park is the latest city falling to a national push for guns carried openly in public places. The folks behind this fervently believe that more people with guns strapped to their sides makes a safer society. Statistics beg to differ.

COMMENTARY
September 24

To those ‘born on third base,’ wealth comes easily

The 2012 presidential race, perhaps more than any other in recent history, needs to be about why some people are doing far better than others in this country. It’s not all about hard work and perseverance. It’s about whether our political system is structured to spread opportunity or to preserve it for the few.

COMMENTARY
September 23

Todd Akin is no friend to American women

One day out from the deadline to drop his name from the Missouri ballot, Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, continues to push the fantasy that he is a friend to female voters. This is despite new (and old) evidence proving the contrary.

COMMENTARY
September 19

Google puts KC in digital divide spotlight

Congratulations, Kansas City. “Digital divide” is now a common reference. Kansas City’s first run at signing up people for Google’s high-speed Internet has put the issue, and our efforts, in the national spotlight. We’re the case study. Time to steel for the challenge the term defines.

COMMENTARY
September 10

A memo to Republicans: Demography is destiny

I will venture to make a controversial prediction: The future of America looks like the people seated at the Democratic National Convention. America’s past — or at least the gauzy idealization of it that some hold dear — resembles the racial and ethnic makeup of the crowd gathered at the Republican National Convention.

COMMENTARY
September 9

A powerful 9/11 memorial emerges in the Heartland

For more than a year, a group of firemen, architects, landscapers and businessmen has worked with a 5,600-pound beam from the World Trade Center to create what should become one of the region’s most respected memorials to the 9/11 attacks. On Tuesday, a ceremony will dedicate the first phase of the project.

Mary Sanchez
September 5

Hungry kids caught in political ideology

Before he lit up the Internet with comments on rape, Todd Akin was slamming efforts that feed hungry children. His dismissive thoughts on school lunch programs were overshadowed by his far more appalling statement on “legitimate rape.”

COMMENTARY
September 3

Will Republicans succeed with Jim Crow lite laws?

Old Southern political bosses of the Jim Crow era would have winked with delight at the ingenious ploys of their latter-day successors in the art of voter suppression. Republican legislators in dozens of states have devised a number of schemes to deny the rights of hundreds of thousands of Americans to vote.

COMMENTARY
September 2

Church rallies help to revive historic Katz Drug building

Redeemer Fellowship, an interdenominational church in midtown, purchased the the historic Katz Drug Store at Westport Road and Main Street at auction last year. Church leaders envision a monthly market in the old Katz building, a place to showcase local merchants and artists.

COMMENTARY
August 30

Troost is where east/west divide trips up Google

Google is poised to stumble into Kansas City’s racial past, entangled in the historic boundary between black and white that is Troost Avenue. Sept. 10 is the day of reckoning. That’s the day after Google’s deadline for people to pre-register for its ultra-fast Internet service.

COMMENTARY
August 27

Todd Akin’s gaffe offers unflattering glimpse of GOP attitudes

The elephants are now in full stampede away from U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, but only because his insane remarks about “legitimate rape” have been noticed. Bad move. Now as the GOP faithful gather in Tampa, Fla., the party will be forced to deal with the fact that its vice presidential candidate is one step away from Akin on abortion.

COMMENTARY
August 26

Lines show that many immigrants are willing to be legal

Sunday at the Guadalupe Center, several hundred people waited in line, hoping to qualify for a short-term fix to their illegal status being offered by the Obama administration. The scene was indicative of the reaction nationally. The heady response clearly demonstrates their desire to play by the rules.

COMMENTARY
August 22

Kansas wrong to sanitize food’s journey to table

Paul McCartney, a prominent vegan, narrates a video by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that includes undercover footage from slaughterhouses. PETA wants to show the video at the Kansas State Fair, but fair officials have gone too far in trying to restrict the video's content.

COMMENTARY
August 20

It’s time for the American middle class to get wise

The media love to cover politics as a horse race, and part of that is slicing and dicing the electorate into constituencies. Lost in this blather is the fact that the middle class is America’s largest voting bloc. It can assert its will in this election. But first it needs to get wise.

COMMENTARY
August 19

Todd Akin is showing all the wrong attitudes

Last week, U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin swiped at the federal program that feeds millions of hungry schoolchildren. On Sunday, he spoke dismissively about rape victims. Gaffes are one thing. All politicians verbally misstep. But these remarks showcase Akin’s ideology.

COMMENTARY
August 15

Google’s freebie to schools is in danger

That cute little rainbow rabbit might hop on past without delivering the free, ultrafast Internet your neighborhood school, library or police station was hoping to score. So the civic-minded are becoming pitchmen for the bunny to take advantage of the freebies Google is dangling.

COMMENTARY
August 13

Christian conservatives work the victim hustle

Sikhs murdered at their temple in Wisconsin. A Muslim mosque burned to the ground near Joplin. The nativist paranoia behind terrorism like this echoes through mainstream politics and culture, with right-wing media personalities and elected officials promoting the idea that Christians are somehow victims of religious discrimination.