Female US Signal Corps Telephone Operators in Chaumont, France during WWI. G.H.Q. Chaumont, Hte Marne, France, Nov. 5, 1918. // Photo from the United States Army Signal Corps Representative Emanuel Cleaver announced the introduction of H.R. 4949 today, a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the “Hello Girls” of World War I. Known as the Signal Corps Female…
Abby the pitbull. // Photo by Lindsay J.C. Lack Photo Studio We teamed up with KC Pet Project to host a weekly “creature feature” on loveable and adoptable animals here in the KC Metro. This week’s local Adopt an Animal features two animals: Abby, an 8-year-old Pit Bull, and Jimi, a 1-year-old Domestic Shorthair. Abby resides at the Kansas City Campus…
Get Smart! (l-r: Frank Loose, Lisa Wertman Crowe, Marcus Koch) // Photo credit Brian Byers While the pandemic lockdown last year may have put the kibosh on the 40th-anniversary reunion show for Lawrence’s post-punk trio Get Smart!, they’re going for another attempt on Saturday, November 6, with their 40+1 anniversary show. In the interim, the band’s Facebook page has been…
Syringes of COVID-19 vaccinations are filled during MU Health Care’s vaccination clinic in the Walsworth Family Columns Club at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo. on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. // Photo by Justin Kelley/MU Health Care Prizes awarded through a vaccine incentive program offered by local public health departments in Missouri may get boosted to $100-per-person under a new federal…
Illustration by Katelyn Betz. The motto of Missouri is “Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto,” which means, “Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law.” At times, this has been aspirational at best. But those who have taken it to heart—the people that persevered through all the hardship, who led civil unrest movements, who created art, and who made…
United WE serves to advance women’s economic and civic leadership. // Courtesy of United WE United Women’s Empowerment (United WE) will welcome three national leaders during a special event at the Kauffman Center, Sept. 29. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, August 10 at 10 a.m. This year’s event will mark the 30th anniversary of United WE. The nonprofit empowers women…
Because Jodi Benson first rose to prominence as the title character in The Little Mermaid, it’s a little surprising that she has to book flights like everyone else. Sadly, she can’t swim to Kansas City for Planet Comicon at Bartle Hall from August 20 to 22, and Cinderella’s pumpkin coach is out for repairs. In the real world, Benson is…
A sign marks the entrance to the drive-through COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Shannon County Health Center on July 8, 2021. // Photo by Tessa Weinberg/Missouri Independent It seems that getting control of the coronavirus has brought front and center the question: When should an individual’s right become more important than what is in the best health and welfare of…
Garth Brooks at Arrowhead Stadium. August 7, 2021. // Photo by Chris Ortiz Over 74,500 tickets were sold to Saturday night’s Garth Brooks concert at Arrowhead Stadium—a venue record for any non-football event—and despite a recent uptick in COVID cases in the Kansas City metro, it seemed that nearly every ticketholder was in attendance. It makes sense. The Oklahoma country…
The oatmeal cream pie at The Russell. // Photo by April Fleming The most difficult items to serve in a restaurant are the ones everyone can make (or the ones everyone thinks they can make). A humble cookie rarely makes it onto a dessert menu—even on kids’ menus. Perhaps this is why we seem to be taking for granted the…
One of my favorite sports movies is It Happens Every Spring (1949) in which a baseball-crazy professor accidentally invents a wood repellent. Naturally, he puts it to good use by adopting an alias (King Kelly) and signs with the Cardinals leading them to the World Series. Spoiler alert: In the climactic final scene, with the repellent supply exhausted, he delivers…
GOEX’s brick and mortar in Midtown. // Photo by Emily Standlee Undeterred by the past year’s ups and downs, clothing and graphic design company GOEX Apparel held a grand reopening Aug. 6 at 3161 Wyandotte St. in Midtown. “We’re putting trash in T-shirts on a regular basis,” says GOEX Executive Director Jessica Ray. “We divert waste and turn it into…
David Eyman. // Photo courtesy of Dylan Kingsley On Aug. 14, 1974, 15-year-old David Eyman was murdered. He was found tied at the wrist and knees and burned alive on the boundary road between Jackson and Cass Counties around 3 a.m. There was only one suspect: Harry Funston, the police officer that found his body. After hearing about Eyman’s death,…
COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic at University Hospital. // Photo by Justin Kelley/MU Health Care On Friday morning, Aug. 6, local Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) convened over Zoom to offer urgent messages, information, and data about rising cases of COVID-19 in the region. The briefing was led by Dr. Steven W. Stites, Chief Medical Officer of the University of Kansas Health Systems….
Dave Grohl’s gigantic face. // Photo by Chris Ortiz Skip to the bottom of the piece for Chris Ortiz’s photo set from the show. August 5 marked my first return to Sandstone since I was a teenager. Yes, it has gone through some half-dozen renamings since then, but it will always be Sandstone. Telling my buddy to meet me at…
Jars of soil sit alongside Levi Harrington’s memorial marker, honoring the lives of lynching victims. // Photo by Mary Henn for clarity.] The Black Archives of Mid-America, near 18th and Vine in Kansas City, has a host of galleries—permanent and rotating—on display. Led by Executive Director Dr. Carmaletta Johnson and Museum Curator , the Archives hosts events and uses the galleries to…
This week on the Streetwise podcast we discuss rockin’ that Radkey, enjoy a reading of Bek Shackelford’s piece Confidence Man, jam to Vatican City Runaways’ track “Breakers”, and chat with Tanner Ballengee about his book “Tourorist: How I Failed to Find Myself in Southeast Asia”. Streetwise is hosted by Brock Wilbur, editor in chief of The Pitch. Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. Subscribe to the Streetwise newsletter, a weekly meditation on Kansas City news and…
The Long Goodbye (1973), Directed by Robert Altman. Shown from left: Sterling Hayden, Elliot Gould Milestone birthdays are a time both for looking back and looking forward: recognizing legacy, checking out where we are now, and thinking about what that means for our future. We’ve spent a lot of time in The Pitch talking about the promising future of Kansas…
Art by Sage Barnes. // Photo courtesy of Abi White Local artist Sage Barnes is opening his one-night-only interactive art exhibit August 6 from 7-10 p.m at 1827 McGee St. in the Crossroads. The exhibit, Show and Tell, will feature six pieces on a custom eight-foot display from Barnes’ upcoming show in New York City. People at the exhibit will…
Superhero Heart Run. // Photo courtesy of Margaret Keller Calling all superheroes! Heart Heroes Inc will be hosting its first annual Kansas City Superhero Heart Run on Sunday, Aug. 15, at Swope Park to help those affected by Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). Check-in and walk-up registration for the race starts at 9 a.m. There will also be family activities and…
Issac Yoder. // Photo from FBI affidavit Another insurrectionist from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Isaac Yoder, has just been arrested, and he is definitely a memorable one. What makes him so memorable? It’s the George Washington costume Yoder wore as he stormed the Capitol. On Feb. 26, the FBI received an anonymous tip from someone claiming to be an…
When Marvel hired James Gunn to make Guardians of the Galaxy I remember being surprised and impressed by the studio’s choice of director, because at the time, it seemed like a genuine risk. I was even more surprised with the final product, which was funny, (relatively) mature, and polished. I say this because there’s a subset of movie fans whose…
Signed 1961 Jim Golden rookie card from Topps. // Courtesy Baseball Almanac 85-year-old Jim Golden, who resides on SW 10th Avenue in Topeka, appeared in 69 Major League Baseball (MLB) games during his career. Over parts of four seasons, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Colt .45s, he won nine games, including five complete games. He also threw two…
Francisco, Lesley, and their son. // Courtesy of Lesley Reyes Lesley Reyes and Francisco Murguia are the owners and operators of Café Ollama. Situated in the western boundary of the Crossroads (523 Southwest Blvd.), they were inspired to start the café out of a desire to share their culture with the community. Café Ollama opened in March and quickly…
