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.
-
Farmers survive by sending food to cities, and when they die their assets often leave just as fast, going to heirs living in urban areas. That financial drain helps accelerate small town decline. So, some states are working systematically to keep a fraction of that outward bound money — billions each year — at home.
-
"Justice is not rescuing Sgt. Bergdahl from his Taliban captors, in the cage where he was for years, only to place him in a cell," said his defense. But prosecutors say he must be held responsible.
-
"It was never my intention for anyone to be hurt, and I never expected that to happen," the army sergeant said during an unsworn statement at a military hearing in Fort Bragg, N.C.
-
Most years, spiny lobsters are the most lucrative commercial catch in Florida. Hurricane Irma cut this season short. Some fishermen are hoping a strong stone crab season will keep the industry afloat.
-
If you get in a car accident on a rural stretch of highway in Kansas, one volunteer firefighter says, you'd better hope it happens near a county with a well-equipped fire department.
-
President Trump has proposed spending cuts to programs that prop up rural areas that voted for him. While some policy experts bemoan that, there are rural voters who fully support those cuts.
-
Decades ago, Garden City, Kan., embraced the meat industry, and immigrants flocked there for jobs. The city worked hard to absorb newcomers, but now its economy and diverse community are in jeopardy.
-
NAFTA critics say money and jobs go to Mexico, but U.S. companies, like Kansas City Southern, do benefit. The company, built around trade with Mexico, has been hit hard by Trump's victory.
-
White nationalists were early, enthusiastic supporters of Donald Trump in the election. But the so-called alt-right has splintered since Election Day and now looks less potent than it once appeared.
-
Donald Trump has championed gun rights, but it turns out, the Obama years have been good for the U.S. gun industry. In Kansas, the prospect of a Clinton win sparked some to spend big on guns.