Aviva Okeson-Haberman | KBIA

Aviva Okeson-Haberman

Seg. 1: Fall Drinks | Seg. 2: Best Italian Food

By , & • Sep 13, 2019

 Segment 1: Fresh cocktails for a new season.

As summer winds down, two mixologists join us to share their favorite autumnal cocktails.

  • Brock Schulte, bar director at The Monarch Bar
  • Jill Cockson, owner of Swordfish Tom's

Segment 2: The best Italian food in Kansas City.

Our food critics recommend their favorite Italian dishes across the city, from classics like spaghetti and meatballs, to experimental plates of carrot pesto or bone marrow.

Missouri U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley Sees Social Media As Anti-Conservative, So He's Taking On Big Tech

By • Sep 12, 2019

In a scathing letter to Facebook this week, Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, along with three of his Republican colleagues, renewed his criticism of the social media giant, saying the company censors conservative voices.

It’s Hawley’s latest call for more government scrutiny and regulation of tech companies stemming from concerns like data privacy, internet addiction and censorship. 

Seg. 1: Greeting Card Diversity | Seg. 2: Light Pollution

By & & Melody Rowell • Sep 5, 2019

Segment 1: Making greeting cards more diverse.

Cards are about relationships. So if none of the greeting cards on the shelf represent the person you're reaching out to, or the occasion you're celebrating, it won't feel quite right. Hallmark's trying to make more communities feel "seen" in the greeting card aisle.

Seg. 1: Gay Softball | Seg. 2: First Fridays

By , , & • Sep 4, 2019

Segment 1: The Gay Softball World Series comes to Kansas City.

As the Gay Softball World Series gets under way here in town, the Kansas City Royals host their first ever official Pide Night at the K. 

Baseball-Loving Kansas City Businessman Buys Royals

By & • Aug 30, 2019

A Kansas City businessman will buy the Royals, the Major League Baseball team announced Friday.

John Sherman, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, is leading a group of local investors to buy the club from David Glass, 83, who has owned the Royals since 2000. 

Seg. 1: Emmett Till | Seg. 2: Boys Who Dance

By & & Melody Rowell • Aug 28, 2019

Segment 1: The way we remember Emmett Till is still rooted in race and geography.

A KU professor who thought he knew the Emmett Till story was shocked by what he learned when he traveled to the Mississippi Delta for himself. That sent him on a journey to try to sort through the tangled threads of this haunting history. 

Segment 2: Men and boys in ballet speak out.

Instead Of Expanding, A Cattle Feedlot Near Powell Gardens Shut Its Doors

By • Aug 19, 2019

A cattle slaughterhouse and feedlot near Powell Gardens says has closed instead of keeping up a drawn-out legal battle over its planned expansion.

Seg. 1: Jordan Reeves | Seg. 2: Harry And The Potters

By & & Melody Rowell • Aug 15, 2019

Segment 1: A thirteen year old with limb difference writes a book with her mom.

Jordan Reeves was born without the bottom half of one arm, and she's spent the thirteen years since then proving that she can do anything, "except monkey bars." She invented a prosthetic limb that shoots glitter and looks like a unicorn's horn and she's founded a nonprofit. Now she and her mom are out with a new book.

Seg. 1: Distilleries In KC | Seg. 2: Best Restaurant Snacks

By , & • Aug 13, 2019

Segment 1: New distilleries revive the past, with a twist.

Why was 9th street, in the West Bottoms, once known as the "wettest block"? Why did a spirits industry thrive here in the 19th century and then fade even before Prohibition? And what's it like to ride the slide at the new East Bottoms facility for J. Rieger & Co.?

Black Kansas City Residents Have 'Lost Faith' As Disparity In Traffic Stops Worsens

By • Aug 2, 2019

Elyshya Miller’s son was 13 when she gave him the talk: racial profiling and what to do if the police approach him. 

It was a common occurrence, Miller said, because for about 15 years, her family was the only black family in her Blue Springs subdivision. 

Missouri Rep. Rebecca Roeber Dies; Ex-Educator From Lee's Summit Pushed For Charter School Expansion

By • Jul 30, 2019

Missouri state Rep. Rebecca Roeber, a Republican from Lee's Summit, died Tuesday in her sleep. 

Apartment Tenants In Grandview Consider Expanded Crime-Free Additions To Lease

By • Jul 28, 2019

Grandview, Missouri, is hoping to decrease crime at apartments through a partnership with police and local apartment managers.

Key to the program: By signing a new lease addendum, a resident could be evicted if a guest in their apartment commits a crime. Also, the Grandview Police Department would inform apartment management if the resident is arrested. 

Jackson County Detention Center

By & & Melody Rowell • Jul 17, 2019

The Jackson County Detention Center has been a contentious topic in city and county politics, with a lot of the public debate focused on questions of funding and space. But conditions for inmates, most of whom are awaiting trial, continue to be concerning for those who know the facility.

Since Voters Approved A $5 Cap On Gifts, Lobbyist Spending On Missouri Lawmakers Dropped 94%

By • Jul 11, 2019

Beyoncé tickets. Pricey steak dinners. Royals games. 

Lobbyists used to be able to spend thousands in an effort to influence Missouri lawmakers. Voters approved a $5 dollar limit on gifts for lawmakers in November. A KCUR analysis of data released this month by the Missouri Ethics Commission shows there’s been a 94% decrease in spending from the 2019 to 2018 legislative session. 

In this year’s session, lobbyists spent less than $17,000 on lawmakers. That’s a significant drop from the about $300,000 spent in the 2018 session. 

Missouri’s New Bond Rules ‘A Small Part’ Of A Push To Change The Criminal Justice System

By • Jul 2, 2019

Criminal justice advocates in Missouri hope that new statewide rules will keep poor defendants out of jail because they can’t afford bail.

But one Kansas City public defender is concerned that poor defendants will have to stay behind bars before trial due to the cost of electronic monitoring devices.

Help Wanted: Two Of Kansas City's Missouri House Seats Will Soon Need To Be Filled

By • Jun 28, 2019

There’ll likely be a special election in Missouri this fall to fill three Democrat-held House seats, two of which represent Kansas City. 

Reports of Financial Exploitation Increasing as Missouri’s Population Ages

By & Kyra Haas • May 29, 2019
Kyra Haas / KBIA and Columbia Missourian

Ken and Beth Bristow were trusting people.

So when a man calling himself “Allen Bobby” responded to their Craigslist ad to sell a digital piano the retired couple from Nixa took him at his word.

The couple expected $550 for the piano, but Bobby sent a cashier's check for $2,050. When the Bristows asked why, he said he wanted them to cash the check and purchase Walmart gift cards to pay the movers who were picking it up.

He said he wanted pictures of the cards with their security codes. That was strange, but the Bristows went along.

How Missouri's Senate Passed a Restrictive Abortion Bill Overnight

By • May 16, 2019
A triptych of legislative photos.
Jason Rosenbaum, Rachel Lippmann and Missouri House Communications

Abortion opponents in Missouri have cleared the biggest hurdle to restrict access to most abortions — Senate approval. A bill passed in the Senate early Thursday morning bans abortion as early as eight weeks into a pregnancy. But the bill also saw some last-minute changes, under threat of a filibuster.


Missourian: House Plan to Remove Student Health Fees Could Endanger Campus Care

By & Columbia Missourian • Apr 18, 2019

House Bill 575 has gotten plenty of attention because it would allow the concealed carrying of guns at previously banned places like college campuses.

What’s gone largely unnoticed is that the bill would also have a major impact on how universities fund their student health centers, putting some at risk of closing, a higher education advocate said.

Public universities would no longer be able to charge each student the fees that fund student health centers. Students who are able to prove they have health insurance wouldn’t be forced to pay the fee.

Senators Consider Slashing State Budget, Eliminating State Jobs

By • Apr 10, 2019
KBIA/file photo

Senators are considering making cuts to the $29 billion budget passed by the house in late March as revenue reports are coming in lower than projected.

The Senate Appropriations Committee met Tuesday to review the budget line by line. Senator Denny Hoskins proposed saving money by eliminating around 200 state full-time positions that haven’t been filled for over six months.

He gave one example where cutting nine positions would save about $300,000, which is about 20 percent of the total state positions that have been vacant for six months or more.

Missouri Bill Could Waive Penalty for Late Taxpayers

By • Mar 14, 2019
Meiying Wu / KBIA

Missouri lawmakers want to waive penalties for taxpayers who pay their bill late because of confusion over withholdings.

But the legislature likely won’t be able to pass a bill before the tax season ends.

At the House Special Committee on Government Oversight meeting Wednesday, representatives heard a bill that would waive the late fee for taxpayers who establish a payment plan with the Department of Revenue. It would only apply to this tax season.

Governor Parson Promotes Bond Package for Infrastructure

By • Mar 1, 2019
Nathan Lawrence / KBIA

Governor Mike Parson toured three bridges in Mid-Missouri Thursday to promote his $351 million bond package to repair 250 bridges.

Parson said infrastructure, specifically bridges, and workforce development are his two top priorities this year. 

“As we keep traveling across the state of Missouri we realize that there’s some serious problems with our infrastructure in the state and that we have to face the fact that we have to figure out how we’re going to deal with this.”

Off the Clock - True/False Conversation With Filmmaker Avi Belkin

By & • Feb 28, 2019

The True/False Film Festival is here and KBIA has been talking with filmmakers and artists.

Aviva Okeson-Haberman spoke with the director of Mike Wallace is Here, a documentary that examines the legacy of the legendary 60 minutes anchor.

Director Avi Belkin says he wanted to examine the life of a man who shaped broadcast news today. 


A Roe v. Wade challenge could be coming. Will it come from Missouri?

By & Columbia Missourian & Anna Lewis & Caitlyn Rosen • Feb 22, 2019
Aviva Okeson-Haberman / KBIA

With multiple abortion-related bills on the table for the 2019 session, some are raising questions about the possibility of a future legal challenge or an eventual Supreme Court hearing.

“In order to get Roe versus Wade changed, we need to push it further than we’ve pushed it in the past,” Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, said.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler Calls On Missouri Legislature to Pass Prescription Drug Monitoring Bill

By • Feb 20, 2019
Nathan Lawrence / KBIA

Missouri congresswoman Vicky Hartzler is renewing her calls for the state legislature to create a prescription drug monitoring program.

Hartzler spoke with hospital administrators from Boone Hospital Center Tuesday about their work addressing the opioid crisis.

Boone County participates in the Saint Louis County Department of Public Health Prescription Drug Monitoring Program but Missouri doesn’t have a statewide monitoring program.

Decade After A Motorcycle Crash, Dennis Thompson Keeps Riding

By • Dec 17, 2018
Olivia Gerling

Dennis Thompson’s Harley has a 131-inch motor and no muffler. Thompson says he built it to be “loud and proud.” The jet black Harley almost vibrates from the sound.

While it’s a noise Thompson associates with freedom, this motorcycle almost cost him his life.

“I'm tough. You know, I was in the army and I ain't afraid of nothing,” Dennis said.

After Thompson left the army, he became an aviation mechanic in St. Louis. He was very independent, and he says he spent his free time fishing, hunting, biking and chasing girls.

Afternoon Newscast for December 11, 2018

By • Dec 11, 2018

Regional stories from the KBIA newsroom, including:

Afternoon Newscast For December 4, 2018

By • Dec 4, 2018

Regional stories from the KBIA Newsroom, including:


Afternoon Newscast For November 27, 2018

By • Nov 27, 2018

Regional stories from the KBIA newsroom, including:


Columbia City Council Discusses Next Steps After Mike Matthes’ Resignation

By • Nov 26, 2018
Aviva Okeson-Haberman

Former Columbia City Manager Mike Matthes will receive more than $166,000 in severance pay. Matthes resigned from his post last week.

The City council voted Monday in a unanimous decision to approve the mutual severance agreement which gives Matthes a lump sum equal to his yearly salary and compensation for all accrued vacation and holiday leave, totaling almost $180,000.

Mayor Brian Treece said the severance package is consistent with Matthes’ employment agreement.

Pages