Kansas
Kansas food experts outline problems of waste and access at inaugural summit • Kansas Reflector
WICHITA — Food experts in Kansas say food waste is a growing problem in the state and solutions to food insecurity may lie within local connections.
ICT Food Rescue executive director Stephanie Merritt, in a presentation Wednesday at the inaugural Kansas Local Food Summit in Wichita, said food waste and food insecurity are two concerns that go together. Merritt’s organization gathers edible food that would be wasted in the Wichita metro area and redistributes it to 16 nonprofit organizations, including homeless shelters and recovery homes that serve people suffering from food insecurity.
More than 30 other Wichita-area groups are on a waiting list to receive food products from ICT Food Rescue. The agency was established in 2016, and Merritt said the nonprofit now features an Upcycle Kitchen housed in a church where an in-house chef reuses mail-delivery meals and fresh ingredients for clients in need. More than 50 volunteers “rescue” food every 48 hours from about 50 participating restaurants, nurseries, markets and caterers, Merritt said.
Last year, Merritt’s group collected more than 205,000 pounds of food, equal to about 171,000 meals. In the past 90 days, Merritt said her team has conducted almost 1,500 food rescues across the Wichita area.
“We’re offering a solution to food waste in our area,” Merritt said. “If you don’t live it, then you don’t see how big of a problem this is.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2022 more than 10 million households across the country were considered food insecure. USDA statistics indicate about 30-40% of the nation’s food supply is wasted. Merritt said that is partly because of confusing labels on food products.
Consumers have a difficult time understanding the difference between an expiration date and a “best buy” date on food, as those labels are not government-mandated but are instead a food industry addition most often used to indicate freshness. Merritt said even she, as executive director of ICT Food Rescue, still gets confused by the dates printed on food products. She said dairy products make up the biggest food group wasted in Wichita and the state of Kansas, in part because of misunderstood labels.
Kansas State University Research and Extension agents held community roundtables around the state last autumn to discuss food challenges and needs. Across 14 different roundtable discussions, agents discovered Kansans want fresh, local food options available in local grocery stores, farmers markets and restaurants. They also learned that residents want stronger connections between food suppliers and their neighbors.
University of Missouri food systems professor Mary Hendrickson said the state of Kansas has changed in the last 40 years from a predominantly wheat-producing state to one that produces more corn and soybeans, mostly intended to be used for cattle feed.
“A lot of agriculture in Kansas is oriented toward large, globalized, consolidated chains,” Hendrickson said. “But there’s a lot of folks concerned about what that means for their communities, for their ecologies, and for their livelihood, so that’s when we start to talk about the alternatives.”
Hendrickson said the alternatives include ICT Food Rescue and other organizations that assist food-insecure residents. In Kansas’ rural and frontier communities, Hendrickson said, overall food security may involve “thinking big” on topics from water use and soil health to bolstering local partnerships.
She said food needs look different in rural parts of Kansas, where “food transactions” regularly include bartering for products or services. Enhanced partnerships across communities and organizations can help alleviate food insecurity, especially in sparsely populated regions, she said.
“We are sowing the seeds right now for what the future is going to look like,” Hendrickson said.
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Another round of storms is forecasted to hit Kansas Sunday night.
Right now, severe thunderstorm watches are in place for several counties.
Some parts of our viewing area have already seen the effects of these storms. Reports that have come in are listed below, as well as a live blog that will be updated as more storm reports are released.
- 2.5″ hail – 7 miles southwest of Wauneta, Nebraska
- 3″ hail – 12 miles north-northwest of Max, Dundy County, Nebraska
- 2.25″ hail – 10 miles north of Max, Dundy County, Nebraska
- 3.2″ hail – 12 miles north of Max, Dundy County, Nebraska
- 3″ hail – 12 miles north-northwest of Max, Dundy County, Nebraska
- 1″ hail – Stratton, Hitchcock County, Nebraska
- 1.5″ hail – 3 miles west of Stratton, Hitchcock County, Nebraska
- Tornado – A potential weak Tornadic Debris Signature may have been observed – 13 miles north of Brewster, Thomas County, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas City Symphony and Michelle Cann Perform Uplifting Concert Featuring a Variety of American Styles and Voices. – KC STUDIO
A rich variety of American musical composers and works graced the stage of Helzberg Hall Sat., June 20, as the Kansas City Symphony performed its season ending program. It was no surprise that an American-themed concert was planned a mere two weeks before the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. What was more surprising, yet very welcome, was the nature and diversity of the musical voices included on the program.
Guest conductor Peter Oundjian opened the evening with the music of Joan Tower, a Grammy Award winning contemporary composer whose music we don’t hear often enough in Kansas City. Her Suite from Concerto for Orchestra is a distillation of music from the larger Concerto for Orchestra and was commissioned by Oundjian and his Yale Philharmonia in 2025. It is a dramatic and technically challenging work with a complex harmonic language, at times tonal but with free use of dissonance.
The music was also intense and unrelenting in its pace and excitement. Oundjian had total control over the score, effectively cueing and expressively anticipating the powerful rhythmic content. Just when you thought the music couldn’t get any faster, louder and more intense, it did, driving to its exciting conclusion. The ensemble delivered a very convincing performance.
Florence Price is a 20th-century African American composer who earned significant regional attention during her lifetime but was not universally known. Her music is receiving much more attention in the 21st century since many unknown scores were discovered in the attic of her summer house in 2009. Scholars and performers are just now coming to grips with her work: the first scholarly biography was published in 2020 and a collection of scholarly essays on all aspects of her music was just released in March of this year.
Soloist Michelle Cann has been an active proponent of Price’s music for the past ten years. In a conversation a few days before the concert, I asked her what attracted her to the composer. She answered “Her musical language has such an amazing mix of styles that fit so well together. Also, there is something visceral and powerful in her music.”
Cann, in her Kansas City debut, compellingly demonstrated the power of Price’s music in a performance of the Concerto in One Movement for Piano and Orchestra. While the title says it is in a single movement, there were three sections that seemed like independent movements. From the outset Cann employed a warm legato tone. Technically adroit, she exhibited the chordal and dreamy passages, travelling up and down the keyboard. Oundjian maintained a good balance between orchestra and soloist. There were a few intonation problems in the upper strings near the end of the first section.
The second section was slow and lyrical. Cann played the music, which sounded like a spiritual, with a heartfelt sensuous tone. She was joined by oboist Kristina Fulton in a lovely duet throughout the movement. The exciting finale was based on an African American Juba dance, featuring strong syncopations and a rollicking sound. It is clear that Price’s music represents an important part of America’s musical legacy and deserves much more attention, and, of course, many more performances and recordings.
As a performer, Cann has it all: passion, expression, technique, sensitivity and extraordinary musicality. She demonstrated it next in George Gershwin’s audience favorite, the Rhapsody in Blue. Cann and the orchestra played with alternating bluesy fervor with free rhythm and technical precision, and the audience responded with an excited ovation. As an encore, she wowed the audience with a set of high-powered jazzy improvisations on Rachmaninov’s Prelude in C-sharp Minor by African American pianist Hazel Scott.
The concert ended with Dvořák’s classic Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, “From the New World.” At the beginning of the concert, Oundjian assured the audience that this, too, is an American work, “since it was written on East 17th Street in Manhattan.” Conducting without a score, Oundjian elicited a dramatic reading of the composition in response to his impassioned direction. The opening movement featured a rich romantic sound, although occasional attention to detail seemed lacking, with some issues in synchronization, balance and transitions in tempo. The occasional slips were forgiven in the exquisite second movement. Matthew Lengas played the famous soulful English horn theme with supple grace and beauty.
This work is quite a showcase for an orchestra. All sections are featured throughout the composition; many soloists are highlighted and there are regular contrasts in mood and tempo. The performers responded persuasively, especially in the explosive finale.
There is one more performance of this program on Sun., June 21at 2 p.m. at the Kauffman Center. The Kansas City Symphony will also present a European Tour Send-Off Concert on Friday, August 21 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets and more information about these events and the 2026-27 season can be found at www.kcsymphony.org.
This concert was reviewed on Saturday, June 20, 2026.
Kansas
Salvador Perez attended the Ecaudor-Curaçao match at Arrowhead. So did other royals — from the Netherlands
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Royals captain Salvador Perez, along with teammates Starling Marte and Carter Jensen, attended Saturday evening’s World Cup match at Arrowhead Stadium.
So did some other royals!
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands began Saturday by cheering the Dutch past Sweden in Houston.
The monarchs ended the day by watching Curacao make some history against Ecuador in Kansas City.
The small island nation of Curacao is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and that makes King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima the heads of state. So, after a quick flight north Saturday, the royal couple dutifully swapped out their bright orange scarves of Het Oranje Legioen they wore to their earlier match with bright blue ones for The Blue Wave.
Curacao, the smallest World Cup team in population and size, made its tournament debut last Sunday in a 7-1 loss to Germany. But it bounced back from that defeat to earn a 0-0 draw with La Tri and earn its first-ever point in the tournament.
“It is an extra-special World Cup because we have both the Netherlands and Curacao,” Willem-Alexander told RTL-TV. “So we have twice as many teams to cheer for. A great opportunity to cheer on both the Blues and the Oranges. All in all, it will be a special World Cup for me with two teams, and I naturally hope they go extremely far.”
The Netherlands moved one step closer to the World Cup knockout round after a 5-1 win over Sweden.
Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo scored two goals apiece to help coach Ronald Koeman’s team bounce back from a disappointing draw in its opener and move atop Group F. The Netherlands concludes group play against Tunisia on Thursday in Kansas City.
Curacao is still alive, too, after Eloy Room made 15 saves — one off the World Cup record — to earn a draw with Ecuador. It concludes Group E play on Thursday against the Ivory Coast in Philadelphia at the same time Ecuador is playing Germany in New York.
It is quite rare for sitting monarchs to come through the area. Queen Ann of Romania attended the dedication of the Liberty Memorial, which is where Kansas City is holding its World Cup FanFest, in the 1920s, while King Gustav XVI of Sweden made a stop in the small Kansas town of Lindsborg when he was passing through the Midwest in the 1970s.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
-
World4 minutes agoVideo: First Round of U.S.-Iran Talks End, Mediators Say
-
News11 minutes agoVideo: California Governor Declares State of Emergency for L.A. Warehouse Fire
-
Lifestyle43 minutes agoTop 5 Pixar movies, ranked by listeners : Pop Culture Happy Hour
-
Technology56 minutes agoCold Court’s debut EP is an infectious, glitchy genre mashup
-
World59 minutes agoUS military conducts strike on another vessel carrying alleged narco-traffickers, killing 2
-
Politics1 hour agoCollege sports sees pivotal moment as Senate looks to move legislation on NIL, transfers across goal line
-
Health1 hour agoDad jokes may be good for your brain in one surprising way, experts say
-
Sports1 hour agoWhere In The World Cup Is Jameis Winston?
