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 EPA wants to "clarify" the scope of its oversight of water under the Clean Water Act. Big farm groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation call this a power grab that would place every ditch and mud puddle under federal regulation, forcing farmers to get permits for small trenches around the farm.
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Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency in Ferguson on Saturday and enforced a five-hour curfew. The night ended with tear gas and arrests of some protesters.
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In Harrison, Ark., residents troubled by the area's reputation as a hate group hotbed are working hard to make the town more inclusive. White supremacists say the effort amounts to "white genocide." -
The hilly, rural Ozarks have a history of attracting white supremacists, but the area's strong live-and-let-live ethic has taken a modern turn in an Arkansas town where a large gay community thrives. -
The man suspected of killing three people at a Jewish community center and retirement home is a white supremacist formerly of the Ku Klux Klan. As Frank Morris of KCUR reports, 73-year-old Frazier Glen Cross once ran a paramilitary camp in North Carolina. Cross may have been planning the shooting for months.
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The federal government just listed the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species, but states are pushing back hard, saying that restrictions could negatively impact a number of industries. -
Fred Phelps, anti-gay activist and patriarch of the Westboro Baptist Church, has died at age 84. Frank Morris of KCUR reports on the interesting past of one of the most reviled men in America.
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Six state attorneys general are suing California over its law on how hens are housed. Among those most worried: Pig farmers who fear the state will push through sweeping changes on pig stalls next. -
In April, we heard from combat veteran Tomas Young, who had suffered a gunshot to the spine in Iraq in 2004. His condition had degraded to the point that he chose to end his care and wait to die. But since then, Young had a change of heart. "I just came to the conclusion that I wanted some more time with my wife," he says. -
Emporia, Kan., was hit pretty hard when the Hostess snack cake plant shut down last year. The company that bought Hostess' business is going to fire its ovens back up, but there will be half as many jobs and they will be nonunion. Still, the news sparked an ecstatic response in this beleaguered town.