Kansans turn to 'loan closets' for expensive medical equipment
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What is the overall focus of today’s Kansas City Today episode?
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This is Kansas City Today. I'm Nomi Nauji Adin. Today is Thursday, September 17th. Coming up, with rising medical costs, people are turning to medical loan closets for help. They lend out donated items like wheelchairs and walkers at little or no cost.
This stuff is stupidly expensive. Medical equipment is awful, awful expensive. And if you have to make a decision whether you eat dinner or you are mobile in your home, most of the time you're gonna choose dinner because food is light.
We'll hear how these groups are helping people maintain their independence. But first, some headlines. The Kansas City Royals stadium funding plan is banking on tax revenue that wouldn't exist without the new ballpark. Casey War's Noah Taborda reports city leaders hope that new money pays back construction costs.
The city plans to borrow $510 million for the stadium and spend another ninety million on infrastructure, according to the Economic Development Corporation plan. Half the increase in sales and earning taxes generated in the district would go toward this for twenty-three years. So would several of the city's taxes plus a new sales tax of up to one percent for thirty years. These sources would cover an anticipated $382 million, while the rest comes from state money and redirected taxes, as well as gaming, parking, and surrounding development. City Council still needs to approve the plan before it takes effect.
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe has issued an executive order requiring law enforcement to purge flock license plate reader data after thirty days unless there's an ongoing investigation. KC War's Sam Zeph has more.
Kansas ACLU Executive Director Micah Kubik says opposition to license plate reader data collection and sharing cuts across political lines.
This is an issue where folks are coming together across political perspectives and are saying that they want their privacy protected, they want their rights protected.
In just the last week, Parkville suspended using Flock cameras, and Lee Summit now requires departments that want access to its Flock data to agree in writing to certain conditions.
About 200 Missourians gathered at the state capitol yesterday to demand a moratorium on AI data centers. Kansas City teacher Claire Barkley spoke at the rally. She says AI is harming students on multiple fronts.
Ар чіл новис футюче уромент, the job market, the economy, демократі. They feel it deeply and they look to the adults in their lives to not blindly or gleefully sell out their future for a little bit of short-term profit.
Other demands at the rally included health and environmental protections and a ban on tax incentives for data centers.
How are rising medical costs affecting Kansans’ daily lives?
A family is suing Kansas City private school Pembroke Hill, alleging a teacher sexually abused their daughter. Casey Ur's Jody Fortino reports.
The lawsuit alleges former teacher Michael Jones groomed and sexually abused a fourth-grade student on school property during the 2021-2022 academic year. In a statement, Pembroke Hills said it took the allegations seriously when it first learned of them in 2024 and placed the teacher on administrative leave. The school said an internal review, as well as an independent investigation by a state agency, determined the abuse allegations were unsubstantiated. The family's lawsuit also accuses Pembroke Hill of negligence, and says administrators knew that Jones faced allegations of inappropriate conduct at a previous school.
Kansas City officials allocated sixteen million dollars to affordable housing projects this summer. KCUR's Salisa Kalakal highlights one of them.
$800,000 from the fund went to an affordable housing project called Urban Thirty Eight that serves people with federal Section 8 housing vouchers. Emmett Pearson is president of Community Builders of Kansas City, the nonprofit developer that oversees Urban Thirty Eight.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the overall focus of today’s Kansas City Today episode?
0:00–3:04
2
How are rising medical costs affecting Kansans’ daily lives?
3:04–6:19
3
What are medical loan closets and how do they work like a lending library?
6:19–7:41
4
How does the Wichita Medical Loan Closet help families with feeding tubes and nutrition?
7:41–9:08
5
Why are wheelchairs, walkers and other equipment so expensive, and who supplies them?
9:08–10:26
6
How are loan closets expanding to rural Kansas and what challenges do they face?
10:26–11:11