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Seg. 1: Kansas City Mayor Defends Pre-K Sales Tax. Seg. 2: Is Kansas Swimmer Olympic Bound?

As Kansas City Mayor Sly James enters his last year as the city's chief executive and starts on his final projects, he's pushing for a sales tax hike to fund early childhood education.
Luke X. Martin
/
KCUR 89.3
As Kansas City Mayor Sly James enters his last year as the city's chief executive and starts on his final projects, he's pushing for a sales tax hike to fund early childhood education.

Segment 1: If approved, the proposed 3/8-cent sales tax to fund expanded early childhood education in Kansas City will be on the November ballot.

With the less than a year until he leaves Kansas City's top office, Mayor Sly James is pushing for an expanded early childhood education system to serve 4-year-olds across the city. But he wants to fund the initiative with a sales tax, something critics have questioned as that rate is nearing 10 percent in some areas. Today, we talked with the mayor about this funding model and found out why he thinks the city, not schools, should be in charge of this education initiative. 


Segment 2, beginning at 30:33: A 19-year-old from Lawrence, Kansas, continues his rise in the world of competitive swimming.

Earlier this week, Michael Andrew swam 50 meters in 21.46 seconds. Swimming insiders say he's quickly becoming one of the people to beat in the freestyle, but the Kansas native didn't get there on his own. Today, we talked with Andrew's father and coach about his son's route to the top of the ranks in international swimming and how the entire family has been involved in his training.

Copyright 2021 KCUR 89.3. To see more, visit KCUR 89.3.

Kathleen Pointer, the new intern for Up to Date with Steve Kraske, is a 2011 graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia. There, she studied journalism and women's and gender studies.
Brian Ellison is substitute host of Central Standard and Up To Date and has served in a variety of roles at KCUR since 2008. He has been acting producer and associate producer of Up To Date and was acting producer of The Walt Bodine Show. A member of the Religion Newswriters Association, he also contributes occasionally to KCUR news coverage. Even before joining the KCUR staff, he was a producer and frequent guest on Up To Date's "Religion Roundtable," as well as a committed listener and volunteer.