Kansas City's Northeast Newscast

On this week’s Northeast Newscast, Julia Williams sat down with Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association President, Jacob Luke and Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association President Elect, Dylan Van Gerben to discuss the neighborhood’s 29th annual Scare-it Halloween event Oct. 31 and additional happenings around Scarritt. Additional discussions include current projects the neighborhood association is working on as well as a formal introduction to Van Gerben, who will step into a new role as the President of Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association in January 2025. 

On this week’s Northeast Newscast, Editorial Assistant Emily Wheeler sat down with Missouri State House of Representatives  District 19 Democratic Nominee, Wick Thomas to discuss their campaign efforts and goals for legislation. 

On this week’s Northeast Newscast, we will introduce a new series — community journalism. Julia Williams is joined in the studio with Northeast News Editorial Assistants RobyLane Kelley and Emily Wheeler to define and introduce community journalism — specifically the Northeast Community — its vitality and uniqueness from national-scale works.Throughout these episodes, past and present Northeast News staff will come together to discuss our ever-changing field and gravity of community journalism. 

On this week’s Northeast Newscast, editorial assistant Emily Wheeler sits down with outgoing District 19 Representative, Ingrid Burnett. We discuss her plans post-office as well as her thoughts on the Northeast Transformation Plan and the new proposed state mental health facility. Rep. Burnett currently represents the Northeast area of Kansas City, as well as parts of the Westside, Riverside and Crossroads districts in the Missouri State House of Representatives. She was elected to her first two-year term in November 2016 and is currently a few months shy of closing out her fourth and final term in office.

This week on The Northeast Newscast, Editorial Assistant RobyLane Kelley sat down with Gene T. Chavez — Kansas City Museum’s historian in residence — to discuss Hispanic and Latino representation within the museum and Greater Kansas City. As we kick-off Hispanic Heritage Month, we take a look at how Hispanic and Latino culture has shaped not only our area but our history. Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/aaron-paul-low/lemon-merengueLicense code: W2RAR4HHHUTK6QS5https://uppbeat.io/t/jeff-kaale/sambaLicense code: CNLNUA2N6FIXSGKG

On this week’s Northeast Newscast, we sat down with Northeast Locals Bryce Abbott and Damien Wilson CEO and COO of 3 Cross Sacrifice Championship Wrestling. Founded by Abbott a little over a year ago, this non-profit wrestling organization competes at various locations around the Kansas City Metro. Recently, team members traveled to Springfield, Illinois to face-off and raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Tune in to this week’s Northeast Newscast to learn more on 3 cross Sacrifice Championship Wrestling and how they give back to this community. 

On this week’s Northeast Newscast, Kansas City actor and playwright Terrace Wyatt Jr., joined us in the studio to discuss all things KC Fringe Festival. This year, Fringe celebrates its 20th season of highlighting arts, culture and creativity around the Kansas City Metro. From visual arts to theatre, performance and film — Fringe remains dedicated to creating a diverse, welcoming atmosphere for its vast range of creators. Terrace Wyatt Jr gives a behind the scenes look into his play “Black Man Missouri” — including the meaning behind its created acts, and his journey as a Fringe Playwright and Director. For additional information on the festival — including ticket purchase locations — visit its website: https://kcfringe.org/. To learn more about this playwright and “Black Man Missouri,” visit: https://kcfringe.org/2024-shows/terrace-wyatt-jr-s-black-man-missouri/., or follow @terr.studios on social media. 

Join us on this week’s Northeast Newscast as we sit down with Juliana Chi and Art as Mentorships’ Erika Noguera — a local, non-profit, music-driven organization. With its founding band “Making Movies” at the forefront, this program works to bring musical and artistic education to youth within the Northeast community. Chi is the event operations manager and community partners liaison for celebrate AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival, which is one of the many free events hosted by this program.  This July 27 festival will partner with Northeast Arts KC, who will host its Chalk Walk in addition to Art as Mentorship’s musical guests.  Celebrate AMERIK’ANA will be held from 1 to 8 p.m., July 27 at Concourse Park (200 Benton Blvd). For additional information on Art as Mentorship, or celebrate AMERIK’ANA Fest, tune into this week’s newscast. 

On this week’s Northeast Newscast, we bring the first component to a new feature: Between the Avenue. Combining written, audio and photographic elements, we delve into issues present beyond Independence Avenue — within the Northeast community. Alongside Fourth District-at-Large Councilman, Crispin Rae, we address the illegal dumping epidemic within our neighborhoods. Illegal dumping includes the unauthorized discarding of materials and items on vacant public lots and properties. However, Kansas City is actively working to combat this crisis through its new docket, which hones in on stricter enforcement and penalization. For more information on this docket, and additional developed regulations surrounding illegal dumping, tune in to this week’s Northeast Newscast. To see further aspects of this “Between the Avenue” feature, look out for the July 17 edition of the Northeast News. 

On this week’s Northeast Newscast, we revisit our business spotlight podcast series with Kelsey Goff — community outreach and marketing coordinator for Essig Family McDonalds.  Essig — a family company — owns Northeast’s own McDonalds location at Independence and Hardesty. Community engagement, a pivotal concept for Essig, led the company to assist Whatsoever Community Center at 12th and Ewing, following its boxing-equipment robbery.  Tune into this week’s newscast for all things McDonalds on Independence and Hardesty. 

This week, The Northeast News sat down with Co-Founders of UNESCO Creative Cities Kansas City, Dr. Jacob Wagner and Anita Dixon-Brown, to discuss Creative City Kansas City’s two kick-off events next week. A Return to UNESCO: A United States Dialogue, a conference focused on the United States return to UNESCO. Then, June 24 to 28, Creative City KC hosts the Foresight Film and Music Workshop — which will focus on fostering new business growth, developing youth workforce skills and creating a sustainability path of culture and heritage through the Arts. 

Join us in welcoming Glenn North to this week’s Northeast newscast. North serves as director of inclusive learning and creative impact at Kansas City Museum. With over 20 years of museum experience, he brings his vast knowledge of culture and education to this community. An institution, which opened to the public in 1940 — this museum prepares for its upcoming Juneteenth celebrations. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865 — the day General Gordan Granger, and U.S. Union Army, announced in Galveston, Tx., the freedom of all enslaved African Americans, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Author and founder of Black Archives of mid-America INC —Horace M Peterson — played a pivotal role in Kansas City’s earliest African American heritage remembrances, which span decades. North highlights Horace, as well as the museums’ screening of the film “Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom,” June 16.  RSVP required for screening. For more information on museum-hosted Juneteenth events — or Kans

This week’s podcast wraps up our neighborhood series of podcasts, as we sit down with Paseo-West Neighborhood Association President, Evie Craig.The Paseo West neighborhood is bounded on the north by Independence Avenue, on the west by I-70/35, on the south by 12th street and the east by The Paseo.The Paseo West neighborhood is an eclectic mix of roughly 85% business and industrial properties and roughly 15% residential properties. Currently under way on The Paseo, is a huge, residential revitalization project of  Jazz Hill Homes’ buildings between 12th and 14th along the west side of The Paseo Boulevard. When complete, the project will provide nearly 200, newly renovated and remodeled, affordable housing units.The Paseo West Neighborhood Association meets at 9:30 a.m., the fourth wednesday of every other month. The next meeting will be June 26th. For more information, visit the Paseo West Neighborhood Facebook page. 

Sit down with the Northeast Newscast with Michaelbushnell and Lykins Neighborhood Association Vice President Diana Graham. The Lykins Neighborhood is transforming with improved housing and accessible green spaces in Lykins Square Park and the 9th & Van Brunt soccer facility, enhancing residents' quality of life. Diverse, with nearly 20 languages spoken at Whittier Elementary, the area is bordered by Independence Avenue, the Kansas City Terminal Railroad, and Benton Boulevard. The Lykins Resource Center at 715 Jackson Avenue offers resources for homeowners, renters, immigration issues, technology, and various classes. Redevelopment includes affordable housing and new townhomes. For more information on the Lykins neighborhood and how you can get involved, stop by the Resource Center during business hours or visit the neighborhood’s website at: https://www.lykinsneighborhood.com/. 

This week we sit down with Chris Ross, Operations Manager at Custom Truck One Source located on the site of the old Armco steel plant. Custom Truck was founded in April of 1996 with a one-acre site on Manchester Trafficway in the Blue River Industrial District. The company moved to the old Cummins engine plant on Gardner Avenue in December of 1996. In 2005, after multiple floods along Gardner Avenue, Ross found buildings on the south side of the old Armco site. The family pulled together, renovated the initial building and in Ross’ words, “it just kind of took off,” after that.  Over time, more property was acquired and the company continued to grow and Ross credits much of the company’s growth and their continued success to divine providence and a strong family work ethic. “We have been blessed, it's been a lot of hard work, a lot of stress, pain, but the end result has been phenomenal, it literally changed our lives and really the lives of people we’ve brought around us and I think the Northeast area,”

Join us in a conversation with Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association President  Jacob Luke.The Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood, named after Reverend Nathan Scarritt, a Methodist missionary and educator, traces its origins to 1845 when Scarritt traveled from Lebanon, Illinois to Fayette, Missouri, founding Central Methodist University.The Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association (SRNA) was chartered on September 18, 1986. Its boundaries are Chestnut Avenue (west), Jackson Avenue (east), Independence Avenue (south), and the Cliff Drive Scenic Byway (north).SRNA has hosted events like Historic Homes Tours in the 1990s and 2000s, attracting over 1,500 visitors. The annual Scare-It Halloween event on October 31 draws up to 5,000 people, featuring decorated homes along Gladstone Boulevard.The neighborhood includes two National Register Historic Districts, featuring over 150 historic properties along Gladstone and Benton Boulevards, including the recently renovated Kansas City Museum.President Jacob L

Welcome to the Northeast Newscast. Step into the vibrant streets of the Sheffield neighborhood with host Michael Bushnell and Sheffield Neighborhood Association President, Mark Morales, as they uncover the heart and soul of the Sheffield neighborhood. Nestled between Independence Avenue and Hardesty Avenue, Sheffield boasts a rich history shaped by the now-closed Sheffield/ARMCO Steel plant, once a beacon of employment for locals. Join us as we discuss the neighborhood's upcoming projects and past successes. This podcast is the fifth installment of our neighborhood podcast series. 

This week The Northeast Newscast sits down with Indian Mound President Jimmy Fitzner to talk about some of the activities and challenges the neighborhood organization is tackling. Indian Mound is the largest of all the neighborhoods that comprise Historic Northeast, bordered by Independence Avenue on the south, Gladstone Boulevard on the north, Belmont Blvd. on the east and Jackson/Sunrise/Elmwood on the west.Indian Mound is one of Northeast’s “newer” old neighborhoods with development beginning in the early 1900’s and progressing through the 1940’s post-war period.The neighborhood is home to a very active neighborhood organization that embraces their diversity and is quickly becoming known as a burgeoning arts enclave.Some of Indian Mound’s better known assets are historic Budd Park, the Indian Mound that overlooks the Missouri River Valley, one of Kansas City’s oldest Jewish cemeteries and of course, the neighborhood can lay claim to at least half of the infamous Independence Avenue “truck-eating” bridge. 

This week we sit down with Kansas City Museum’s Director of Inclusive Learning & Creative Impact Glenn North and discuss his upcoming Reader’s Theater production at the Arrow Rock, Missouri schoolhouse as part of the Voices of Arrow Rock series. Entitled “Consumate Showman” it is written by North and features New York based Actor and theater owner Darryl Reuben Hall, the piece profiles the life of champion cakewalker, Arrow Rock native and later Kansas Citian, Joseph “Doc’ Brown from his time in Arrow Rock through his rise to prominence as the premier cakewalker in the country. 

Welcome to this week's Northeast Newscast where we sit down with outgoing Independence Plaza Neighborhood Council president Cynthia Herrington in a stream of consciousness and honest conversation about vulnerable issues in the neighborhood.The Independence Plaza neighborhood, part of Historic Northeast, exudes history and charm. Originally developed in 1876, it defied critics and thrived. Once home to industrial tycoons, it transitioned to a diverse, middle-class community, featuring Victorian and modern homes. Residents are engaged with the Independence Plaza Neighborhood Council, enjoying amenities like three city parks. Its proximity to downtown offers access to culture and entertainment. The council drives initiatives for art, sustainable development, and more. Explore further on their social media: https://www.facebook.com/ipnckc/This is the third installment of our neighborhood association series.