A bird sits on a security fence at the Chase County Detention Facility in 2021. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector) Jails are hard places made necessary by people like Ernest Hoefgen. Few are likely to remember Hoefgen now, but back in September 1943 the 31-year-old escaped from the city jail at Cottonwood Falls. He’d been picked up for assault, according to newspaper…
Members of Kansas Interfaith Action protest the reopening of the Leavenworth CoreCivic prison outside a Tuesday hearing at the U.S. District Court in Topeka. The case was dismissed on Thursday. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — A federal judge cleared the way Thursday for CoreCivic to reopen its Leavenworth prison as an immigration detention center, saying he lacks jurisdiction to hear…
Missouri’s Department of Mental Health building in Jefferson City (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent) A man who spent months in a Kansas City jail waiting to be transferred to a state psychiatric hospital for court-ordered treatment died on Monday. Timothy Beckmann was arrested in late September and found incompetent to stand trial due to mental health diagnoses. He was ordered into Department…
One Step Closer. // photo by Nick Spacek One Step Closer with Bleed, Ends of Sanity, and Footballhead The Bottleneck Wednesday, May 21 The best part of this whole music journalist gig is getting emails and deciding that, since your Wednesday evening is free, you’ll check out a quadruple bill of bands with which you’re mostly unfamiliar because it sounds…
Lotus Hot Pot & Grill // Photo by Nancy Le Tucked inside Gladstone’s Little Saigon Plaza, Lotus Hot Pot & Grill is serving up more than nosh—It’s offering an experience steeped in culture, connection, and comfort. Inspired by cherished memories of sharing hot pot with family, owner Hanh Nguyen opened Lotus to bring an authentic, interactive style of Asian dining…
Photo by Travis Young In an effort to keep you all abreast of the latest local music that’s not album or music video related, we present the latest installment of our irregular feature, Single Sentence Singles. We take a listen to the latest local singles to hit Soundcloud, Spotify, Bandcamp, et al, and sum them up in one sentence. Simple…
KC Sipps logo by Theodore Rosen Life in KC is pretty delicious. In fact, there is often so much going on that it can be hard to decide where to go and what to try. That’s where I come in. I’ve curated this weekly list of events, openings, deals, and celebrations to keep you in-the-know. Cheers! Something New News Bites:…
Courtesy Paramount Pictures One of the strengths of the Mission: Impossible series over the years is how it’s treated that godawful word “lore.” Most current franchises are overly focused on building such a densely-connected world of references and interconnected storylines that if you miss even one entry, you won’t understand what’s happening (for a recent example, see Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, which…
Leon Bridges. // photo by Daniel Fuchs Leon Bridges with Kashus Culpepper The Midland Tuesday, May 20 Touring in support of last year’s Leon, soul singer Leon Bridges stopped at the Midland Tuesday night to croon concertgoers into a state of bliss. Playing songs from across his discography, Bridges even dipped into two songs from his collaborations with genre chameleons…
Photo Courtesy of theRYEstudio Christina Dreiling works hard and moms even harder. In fact, we’d like to christen her as the queen of connections and campfires. (More on that in a minute.) If running an entire entrepreneurial mentoring empire sounds like a lot, that’s because it is—but Dreiling makes it look easy. For over 20 years, she’s been an integral…
Photo Courtesy of Scott Poore Creature Feature is The Pitch’s weekly profile on a local animal looking for adoption. Shelters and support in Kansas City and the surrounding region are often pushed to the breaking point, so picking one future companion to highlight is how we want to put them on your radar. But there are far more than we…
Art by Teddy Rosen There is a river of animal semen that runs right through the middle of the Kansas City region. This is because KC is part of the Animal Health Corridor—an official designation that reflects our concentration of animal health companies. Officially, the corridor runs from Manhattan, Kansas to Columbia, Missouri, and boasts “56% of total worldwide animal…
Lukas Nelson. // photo by Kylee Gregg Lukas Nelson with Payton Howie Knuckleheads Friday, May 16 Touring in advance of his debut solo album, American Romance, due out June 20, country singer-songwriter Lukas Nelson took to the stage at Knuckleheads Friday night for a preview of some of those songs, along with some favorites from his band Lukas Nelson &…
Photo Courtesy of Bud & Mary’s Multi-state cannabis brand Batch—under parent company Bud & Mary’s—is bringing new highs to Missouri consumers. The company recently introduced a few new lines of vaporizers that Missourians can get their hands on—their Signature and Flavor one and two gram all-in-one vapes and one and two gram cartridges. The brand’s Flavor vaporizers come in six…
Julia Wildstar. // photo by Serenity Shadows In the heart of Kansas City’s eclectic arts and performance scene, few shine as boldly as Julia Wildstar. Originally performing under her name Julia Reynolds, Wildstar is a performer, provocateur, and unapologetic visionary, the musician and performer has carved a space where glam rock meets burlesque. Through her theatrical performances, fearless fashion, and…
An illustration shows a grid of different jail cells with small or narrow windows, or no windows at all. (Grace J. Kim/The Marshall Project) Jails are notorious for inhumane conditions. Detainees often complain of violence, inedible food, limited programming and subpar healthcare. Lack of sunlight may be an unexpected addition to the list. But sunlight deprivation causes a myriad of…
Tommy’s Margarita at MuNi // Photo by Tiffany Watts Since opening doors in Kansas City’s Rivermarket, MuNi has been all the rage and not just for its culinary creations. If you haven’t been yet, prepare your tastebuds. I’m talking Birria Dumplings made with a cheese crust, consume, queso chihuahua, and cilantro. Or how about their Elotes Thailandeses, a grilled fresh…
Billy Long speaks during a press conference before filing for election during the Missouri Senate primary on Feb. 22, 2022, in Jefferson City (Madeline Carter/Missouri Independent) Former Missouri Congressman Billy Long denied any wrongdoing Tuesday regarding his ties to companies accused of selling fraudulent tax credits and downplayed donations from executives at those companies that he used to pay off a…
Perhaps you’ve seen an article going around on social media about hot new books to read over the summer, published in the Chicago Sun-Times. For some reason, that article told you to read a number of books that don’t exist, by authors who do, and who were both baffled by and justifiably angry about the whole situation. That article, currently…
Kohinoor // Photo by Sarah Sipple The Kohinoor Diamond is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world. It was transported across the world to various powerful, wealthy figures, and it currently resides in the Tower of London as part of Great Britain’s Crown Jewels. Replicating that feeling of luxury is a tall order, but it’s one that Jasmine…
With the current fascist-leaning state of life in the U.S., it feels like only a matter of time before someone attempts (again) to adapt Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Versions of Huxley’s 1932 dystopian novel were made in 1980, 1998 and, most recently 2020 as a notably ill-received streaming series. But for as many times as it’s been attempted, a…
Since 2013, the biggest animation juggernaut since The Simpsons has bulldozed its way into the upper echelons of pop culture. But also the lower echelons and the middle echelons. Really, it’s got its echelon game on lock. Murals of Rick and Morty’s main protagonists decorate murals in a few spots across the metro, and even single one-off episodes like “Pickle Rick” are…
Illustration by Theodore Rosen “Show Me Hate” is a running series from columnist Michael McGrady Jr. exploring the widespread harm and vast cultural/political/personal pain stemming from leaders and ideologies—along with how to turn this toxic tide for the betterment of all. Deon Johnson—bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri—told me his views on the theology of scarcity and abundance within…
The Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, as pictured September 26, 2023 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent) Over 90,000 Missourians could lose their Medicaid coverage under a proposal by Congressional Republicans to implement work requirements, according to a pair of recent studies of the plan. A Republican reconciliation bill still being negotiated in the U.S. House contains various proposed changes to Medicaid…
