Gonzaga is most likely winner of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, according to a University of Kansas professor’s statistical model.Jonathan Templin, associate professor of educational psychology, has developed a model that rates teams on how well they score, how well they defend, their home court advantage and their level of consistency. Templin’s algorithm ran 10,000 tournament simulations. Gonzaga, the No….
Warden Lilly Angelo and her two top officials at the Kansas City Reentry Center, one of the state’s minimum-security prisons, have been transferred as part of a shakeup, according to a letter emailed to employees Friday from the director of the Missouri Department of Corrections.Two positions, the warden and one deputy warden, will be filled by two retired wardens, according…
Frank Ancona, the professed leader of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, complained to a relative that he lived like an animal a few months before his his dead body was found next to a riverbank in eastern Missouri.A feature story in The Riverfront Times in St. Louis depicts Ancona as a sad sack who lived in…
Last month, we took a look at lawmakers currently pushing tort reform in the Missouri Legislature who appear to be motivated primarily by self-interest. State Sen. Gary Romine, a Republican, is out pushing bills that will cap damages for whistleblowers, force employer-employee disputes into arbitration (rather than the court system), and make it more burdensome to prove discrimination in the workplace….
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri answered a constituent’s concern about health care with a response that was “misleading and lacked important context,” according to the news organization ProPublica.Meg Godfrey and her husband are moving from North Carolina to St. Louis this year. Getting a jump on being an engaged Missourian, Godfrey visited Blunt’s website and typed a note in…
John PrineWith Amanda ShiresJohn Prine is a pillar of American songwriting, a lyricist with an intuition that seems as deep and old as the man himself, who turned 70 last year. The wider music community has long recognized his gifts — his music has been recorded by the likes of Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt and Carly Simon — and a…
One trait common among Kansas City’s best jazz musicians is a drive to explore. Some mesh blues-based improvisation with hip-hop or rap. Others prod jazz traditions with uncommon inquisitiveness and their own unique personalities. Singer Megan Birdsall fits the latter category: She starts with standards, drawing on jazz and well-known pop, then questions the way we recognize them, twists them…
Two months into his term, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is proving he is no ordinary politician. This is no shock: He has informed us at every opportunity, that he is NOT a politician but rather a retired Navy SEAL, dispatched here to wage war on politics as usual. What is surprising: Greitens is sleazier and more brazen than even cynical…
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback will be named the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations agencies for food and agriculture in Rome, according to a Kansas Public Radio report.If true, it’s fitting that Brownback would leave the governor’s office before his term expires. He never seemed to want the job in the first place.Before he was a governor, Brownback was a…
For a few years, starting in the late 1970s, there were movies about Vietnam veterans coming home. These films tended toward quiet anguish. Then came Rambo: First Blood Part II. That 1985 POW-rescue fantasy was about a one-man-against-the-system warrior going back to Vietnam — and retroactively winning the whole damn conflict.Where once Hollywood required about 12 years to give audiences…
Just a few months after its opening, Thai restaurant Aep (pronounced ape; 1815 West 39th Street) is stepping up its efforts. Chef Jakob Polaco has debuted a new menu, welcomed new bar manager Laura Wagner, and plans to open the restaurant’s rooftop patio soon.First, the menu: As of March 1, it has largely changed and expanded for spring, incorporating new…
Instagram handle: @adivoleti Hometown: Born in Hyderabad, India. Raised in Princeton, New Jersey.Current neighborhood: West PlazaWhat I do (in 140 characters or less): I empower parents, students and teachers to launch new education solutions, and I pound the pavement hunting for the next great education entrepreneurs.What’s your addiction? Caffé Americanos and rice, often for breakfastWhat’s your game? Antakshari, an Indian…
Night after night, the journalist’s stress dream assumes many forms. Teeth you haven’t gnarled to unsexy points in your waking life explode into powder. Elevator doors open to reveal a chasm you’re too late to avoid stepping into. You accidentally call Clay Chastain.Compared with these monochromatic chills, the dream I had last night was downright reassuring. I had approached the…
The November election may prove to be a pivotal moment for the school-choice movement. President Donald Trump selected Betsy DeVos, a longtime supporter of school vouchers, as his secretary of education. Eric Greitens, Missouri’s new governor, has promoted education savings accounts, which public school educators say are vouchers in disguise.The enthusiasm for vouchers does not match the results. Studies in…
Blake Green is genetically predisposed to grassroots political activism.Green, 35, is the oldest grandson of the late Hillard Selck, a former chairman of the Missouri Republican Party and a Republican National Committeeman for many years. Selck — who, like Green, was born in Boonville, Missouri — was one of the so-called “Dirty Dozen,” a group of Republicans who led the…
Lynn Jenkins, who represents the Second Congressional District in Kansas, announced earlier this year that she’ll be stepping away from politics in 2018, when her current term in the U.S. House of Representatives expires. Perhaps the decision has Jenkins feeling a touch lighter than others representing Kansas in the U.S. Congress. All of Jenkins’ colleagues have been too cowardly to…
In the West, the phrase Asian art typically evokes delicate rice-paper prints, robed women in minimal interiors, and sublime waves of Japanese landscapes: museum pieces. It’s no surprise that imaginative contemporary works are being made in the East. But what’s on view in Temporal Turn, at the University of Kansas’ recently renovated Spencer Museum of Art, nevertheless startles. The exhibition…
In addition to sponsoring a bill designating jumping jacks as the official exercise of Missouri, state Sen. Rob Schaaf has strong opinions about controlling opioid abuse.A St. Joseph Republican, Schaaf has clung to the belief that Missouri should not establish a prescription drug–monitoring program. Every other state has set up a monitoring system to thwart patients who may go “doctor…
Update: OK, now it can be told: Alt-J is coming. See below. (As usual, the web was a little ahead of official word.)The best summer venue in town, Starlight, has added two more shows to its lineup. British band Alt-J is set for Thursday, August 3, on the heels of news of an impending new release from the band. Tickets…
Coming in early March as it does, the annual True/False Film Festival (in Columbia, Missouri) acts as a cure for the disappointment and occasional lunacy of the Academy Awards while giving an early taste of what might populate next year’s Oscar ballot. The documentary-heavy event books filmmakers to introduce their own movies, many of which — last year’s Life, Animated comes…
JoJoJoJo was just 13 years old in 2004, when her debut single, “Leave (Get Out),” took over radio stations — and the Billboard chart. She became the youngest recording artist in history to score a No. 1 hit in the United States, a feat unrepeated since. And things could have continued on an upward trend for JoJo, were it not for…
Thursday, March 2Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) headlines the new Netflix original movie Girlfriend’s Day, a noirish comedy in the mold of The Big Lebowski, but way less high-strung and not nearly as funny. %{}%Odenkirk, who co-wrote the script, plays a laid-off greeting card writer who’s been in a creative rut since his wife left him. Through a series of…
A sinuous richness marks saxophonist Matt Otto’s tone, carrying you through sharp and adventurous solos that tell a story. Otto moved to Kansas City more than eight years ago, having spent time in Los Angeles, New York and Japan, and he brought fresh ideas to our jazz scene. One such smart notion: adding vocalist Shay Estes to a sax-piano-bass-drums quartet…
Lots of liveness this month, but that’s good, right? You need to see these artists killing it on stage, so that you can convince yourself to leave the world of your couch, Netflix and Postmates deliveries. So, watch these videos, then put on some actual pants, head out, and witness some of these artists out there in the clubs. Be…
