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Since 1988 KRPS FM 89.9 has provided NPR News and music to the Four States Region of Kansas, Missouri Your Four State NPR news source.

Public Radio For The Four States Region of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

09/29/2025

This story is part of the My Unsung Hero series, from the Hidden Brain team. It features stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else.

When Tanya Eby was in sixth grade, her friends made a decision that stunned and devastated her.

"The girls that I hung out with for lunch and played with had held a meeting and told me that I was no longer cool enough to hang out with them," Eby recalled.

"They would be ignoring me, and I was no longer part of the group."

Eby's world was unraveling — but the loss of her friends was only part of the story. A few days later, she broke down in tears while in class, and her teacher, Mrs. Welch, pulled her into the teachers' lounge to find out what was wrong.

"And I told her about the girls. But then I told her the rest of the story," Eby said.

"And the rest of the story was, a few months prior to this happening, my mom and my stepdad decided my big brother — my anchor in life — needed to go live with my dad. So, overnight they took him and they dropped him off with my dad. So I woke up one morning and my brother was gone."

Not long after, her stepdad left too. So, when the girls at school decided they weren't going to be friends with her anymore, it was just the latest example of the people she cared about leaving without warning.

"It felt like everywhere I turned, people I loved disappeared," Eby said. "They stopped loving me and they didn't tell me why and I had no control over it."

Eby cried as she told the whole story to Welch.

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09/29/2025

President Trump says he has ordered the deployment of troops to Portland, Ore., and that he's authorized them to use "full force" to curb protests outside of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities.

It's the latest instance of Trump deploying the military to various cities that he says are plagued with crime, with federal troops also expected to arrive in Memphis, Tenn., this week.

We break down what's going on, how officials in Portland and Memphis are responding, and how this fits into a larger picture.

via NPR

09/29/2025

A company cofounded by Bill Gates will explore building a reactor in Kansas. It would generate power without emissions, but environmental groups have concerns.
One of the companies leading the charge to deploy safer, smaller, faster-to-build nuclear reactors is hoping to find a site for one in Kansas.

TerraPower, cofounded by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, began construction last month on its first power plant of this kind in southwest Wyoming as a $4 billion demonstration project cofunded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Now it is interested in building one in Kansas to generate power in utility company Evergy’s service area.

TerraPower, Evergy and state officials announced this week that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the prospects. They issued a news release featuring enthusiastic quotes from Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and both of the state’s Republican U.S. senators.

“We need to explore all available sources to power the future of our great state,” Kelly said.

“Nuclear energy is the way of the future,” U.S. Senator Roger Marshall said.

But the reaction from clean energy advocates in Kansas is mixed. The news sparked some interest in emissions-free power generation, but also concern about the price tag and whether the project would attract more data centers to the region with significant needs for electricity and water. Kansas faces water sustainability challenges.

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09/29/2025

Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick said he hopes the Trump administration rolls back its decision. When asked, Governor Mike Kehoe seemed to confuse the H1-B program with a different visa for agricultural workers.
Missouri is the temporary home to thousands of high-skilled foreign workers through the federal H-1B visa program. The Trump administration is making it harder for future workers to come to the country by adding a $100,000 fee to new visas.

Some of the Missouri employers with the most H1-B beneficiaries include Spectrum, Mastercard and Washington University, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The University of Missouri employs 91 workers who had petitions accepted or extended in fiscal year 2025.

In a proclamation signed last week, President Donald Trump claimed the program has "been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor."

Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick said he hopes the Trump administration rolls back its decision.

via KBIA 91.3 FM

09/29/2025

Hundreds of pounds of produce grown on the Richwood Valley campus in Christian County are shared weekly on the Springfield campus. Now students in Springfield are sending compostables back.
If food systems work in cycles, Ozarks Tech Fresh Harvest is doing everything right.

Ozarks Tech students grow the food, Ozarks Tech students eat it, students on campus in Springfield teach others how to cook with it even, and now, they take it back to the farm as compost.

"It's not employee driven it's students helping students at multiple different levels throughout the initiative, and that is just really really attractive to our students," explained Sarah Bargo College Director of Student Care & Engagement, mostly known publicly through OTC Cares.

Every week during the season, the Fresh Harvest program distributes hundreds of pounds of fresh produce on the Springfield campus. Bargo's team makes it available from the morning into the afternoon, and students take it.

"It is an unstaffed table. It's just free for the taking, and we've never been able to go till four p.m. Usually the produce is gone by 12 or one o'clock," she said. "On the occasion that we have any leftovers, it seems to be the green beans."

The program is in its second year. It now has a corporate sponsor. Bargo said it has low overhead, and they are quickly developing it into something sustainable. It began though, like the veggies, on the farm.

The nearly 100 acre farm on the campus of the Richwood Valley branch of Ozarks Tech, in Christian County.

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09/29/2025

The sign purported to honor a University of Missouri alum in the war-torn section of Israel.
Less than an hour before the start of Saturday's homecoming parade, MU students walking with the group Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine were told they had to remove a sign from their car decorations in order to participate.

The sign, which MSJP leadership decided to take down in order to walk in the parade, read "MU Alum Mohammed Aljamal says hello from Gaza." Aljamal obtained a master's degree in civil engineering and wastewater treatment from MU in 2016 before returning to Gaza.

This was the first year MSJP was allowed to participate in the parade, after university president Mun Choi barred the group from participating in last year's homecoming celebrations. Earlier this month, a federal judge found that Choi's decision to deny the group again this year violated their right to free speech, and ordered they be allowed to walk.

Despite the run-in with parade organizers, MSJP president Lily Dunn said the club's inclusion is a sign of progress.

"I think the fact that we're at the parade at all is a step in the correct direction, but we're also taking a few steps back," Dunn said. "This may be one leap forward, but it's been like three steps back, to basically hear from the alumni association that they do not care about their Palestinian alumni."

New this year, participants in the parade were required to adhere to an established theme. Several activist groups were excluded from the parade under this rule. This year's theme, "Celebrating Black and Gold," required groups to align with the stated goals of the parade — among them, supporting MU athletics and celebrating alumni.

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09/29/2025

Mayor Cara Spencer said is shocked that Montgomery would float taking over the city's jail while he doesn't fulfill the debated duties of his office.
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer is pushing back on Sheriff Alfred Montgomery's bid to take over operations of the city's jail, saying he's neglecting the duties his office already has — including transporting detainees to medical appointments.

"Our incarceration facility is so critically important," she said. "Making sure that that is run well, run responsibly, and run by somebody who has experience doing that work is just so critical to the well-being of the folks in our custody and to the safety and well-being of our citizens as a whole."

Montgomery has repeatedly floated the idea of his office assuming control of the City Justice Center, most recently in a written statement after a court hearing last Wednesday in attempts to determine if the Board of Aldermen can define his office's responsibilities.

via .LouisPublicRadio

09/29/2025

The Trump Administration asked states to find the lowest-cost option in the latest program to build broadband infrastructure in rural areas. That opens the door for more types of technology, which some worry could be less reliable in the long-term.
Rural life is what makes southeast Oklahoma a great place to live, according to Kris Bailey.

"We have small communities, which I love. Beautiful country. We have a lot of timber industry. A lot of farming," she said. "I mean, of course I'm a little biased, but I think it's a beautiful part of the state to live in and to raise your family in."

But in parts of this rural corner of the state, it can be hard to get high speed internet.

Bailey works as a family and consumer sciences educator, connecting farmers and other rural residents to educational resources through the Oklahoma State University Extension. But even the extension office in Choctaw County has slow connectivity.

"It still is not good enough for us to upgrade our phone systems to an internet-based phone," she said, "And that's what we're really needing in that office."

via Harvest Public Media

09/29/2025

Hispanic Route on September 27 was the fifth event in this year’s Hispanic Music Festival. It started with a block party in the afternoon at the Pritchett Pavilion that featured music and dance performances from local talent, a food truck and vendors.

The Hispanic Music Festival is hosted by the Pitt State Music Department in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. It was organized for the first time last year by Isaac Hernandez and Frida Herrera.

Reporting by KRPS's Raegan Neufeld

09/29/2025

Three people were killed and five wounded in Southport, N.C., on Saturday night when police say a gunman attacked a bar from the water, driving his boat up alongside an open-air dock-front bar and opening fire.

Nigel Edge was arrested Saturday on charges including first-degree murder in what police are calling a premeditated attack.

The suspect fled the scene, motoring his boat toward the Intracoastal Waterway. Half an hour after the shooting, at 10 p.m., "the Coast Guard observed a single individual matching the description of the shooter loading their boat at a public boat ramp," said Southport Police Chief Todd Coring.

The attack took place at the American Fish Company, a bar and live-music venue. Police are asking anyone who witnessed the shooting to contact them.

"Our prayers are with the families and the victims of this tragedy," Coring said at a press conference Sunday morning.

"A lot of the victims in this case appear to be not members of our community, but just people who were here on vacation," said local District Attorney Jon David. He said one of the wounded victims was "clinging for their life."

David said he arrived at the scene around 11 p.m. on Saturday and "saw with my own eyes the horror which has occurred in this case."

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09/29/2025

The top four leaders in Congress are scheduled to meet with President Trump on Monday afternoon at the White House, just ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government and avoid a shutdown.

The Oval Office meeting with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is set to occur ahead of an expected Senate vote on a short-term stopgap bill.

House Republicans narrowly passed a continuing resolution earlier this month that would fund the government through Nov. 21. That measure failed in the Senate because of Democratic opposition. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the chamber; they need 60 votes to pass the legislation.

"We are resolute in our determination to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican health care crisis. Time is running out," said Jeffries and Schumer on Saturday in a statement regarding the White House meeting.

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09/29/2025

The new map breaks the Kansas-City-based district of Democrat Emmanuel Cleaver into three in an effort to make it more Republican-leaning.
More than two weeks after it passed the Missouri legislature in a chaotic session, Gov. Mike Kehoe has signed a new congressional map into law.

"We believe this map best represents Missourians," Kehoe said in a statement released Sunday after an event that was closed to the media. "Missourians are more alike than we are different, and our values, across both sides of the aisle, are closer to each other than those of the congressional representation of states like New York, California and Illinois."

The map redraws Missouri's eight congressional districts to make them more winnable by Republicans. The former congressional map contained six safely Republican seats and two safely Democrat seats.

The new map divides the former 5th Congressional District, which encompasses the Kansas City area, into several districts. The map aims to oust current U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver.

Missouri is one of several Republican-led states that have or are considering redrawing their congressional districts mid-decade.

The effort is led by President Donald Trump in an attempt to add Republican House seats in the 2026 midterm election. Historically, the midterm election is worse for the president's party.

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