Frank Morris
Frank Morris has supervised the reporters in KCUR's newsroom since 1999. In addition to his managerial duties, Morris files regularly with National Public Radio. He’s covered everything from tornadoes to tax law for the network, in stories spanning eight states. His work has won dozens of awards, including four national Public Radio News Directors awards (PRNDIs) and several regional Edward R. Murrow awards. In 2012 he was honored to be named "Journalist of the Year" by the Heart of America Press Club.
Morris grew up in rural Kansas listening to KHCC, spun records at KJHK throughout college at the University of Kansas, and cut his teeth in journalism as an intern for Kansas Public Radio, in the Kansas statehouse.
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The government shutdown stops USDA from administering farm subsidies, raising the specter of growing farm foreclosures. It also delays a bailout President Trump had promised for farmers impacted by tariffs. -
The Trump administration's clampdown on student visas is starving U.S. colleges and universities of some of their more lucrative and high-achieving students, just as American schools have been increasingly banking on students from overseas to compensate for slumping domestic enrollment. -
President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown has many recent immigrants terrified, hunkering down and holding onto their money. That new fear and frugality is crushing small, mom-and-pop businesses in some immigrant-heavy business corridors, like Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, just as new tariffs are raising the prices of many products that recent immigrants buy. -
The U.S. trade war with China is coming at a tough time for American farmers, who are already dealing with lower crop prices and higher costs for farm necessities. Tariffs are likely to push crop prices further down, while increasing the costs for fertilizer and farm equipment. -
The USDA's Rural Development agency has provided billions of dollars each year to small towns, farmers and businesses. Now staffing upheaval and budget cuts brought on by the Trump administration may be eating into the agency’s effectiveness. -
Fighting fires has evolved, but federal safety regulations haven’t changed for nearly half a century. Now the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed new safety standards. It's great news for professional firefighters, but volunteer departments say the new rules could bog them down with expensive and irrelevant regulations. -
Solar power is the fastest growing source of electricity in the U.S., but some new solar installations are taking over productive farm ground. Scientists are trying to develop ways to get both calories and kilowatts from the same land, but that’s not as easy as it might seem. -
Several people were killed in Greenfield, Iowa, a town about 55 miles southwest of Des Moines. Severe storms and tornadoes devastated areas in the Midwest on Tuesday.
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In a tiny, remote farm town, a chef who grew up nearby runs what many call the best restaurant for hundreds of miles around. It's an effort to serve local foods and keep a shrinking town alive.
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Wild temperature swings are driving cases of trench foot and frostbite among homeless people — especially in the Midwest. As COVID surges, some people spurn shelters through extremes of cold and wet.
