Rural Missouri families face longer drives, riskier births as maternity wards vanish
Melanie Pierce works with many pregnant women who know they’ll have a long drive ahead of them when labor starts. One of her jobs as a doula living in Mansfield, Missouri, is helping families answer a question that may not be as fraught for women who live closer to a delivery hospital: When is it […]
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Belkis Cabrera has worked as a custodian at the University of Missouri-Kansas City for 16 years. Each time she and her co-workers earn a merit raise, she said, increasing healthcare costs and inflation swallow it. “We are not asking for much, just respect and enough pay to get by,” Cabrera said through an interpreter at […]
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It was the call Ray Dlugolecki had been dreading. And one he and other public health officials have been expecting. The assistant director at Jackson County Public Health learned on Sunday afternoon about a confirmed case of measles, not just in his agency’s jurisdiction, but in one of its own buildings. The previous week, an […]
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Kansas City Public Schools: Board Business Meeting (Aug. 26, 2026) By Masha Mackey, Kansas City Documenter These notes were produced through Kansas City Documenters, which trains and pays community members to take fact-checked notes at public meetings, strengthening transparency and accountability in local government. Summary Notes Public Comment Superintendent Announcements Legislative Update Academic Focus – “Literacy […]