KNDY News Podcast

KNDY News Podcast is regional news at its plainest: a forecast, the headlines and a word from the sponsors. The dated news episodes open with the KNDY weatherology forecast for northeast Kansas and southeast Nebraska. Staff meteorologist Jennifer Vujicic gives the highs, the overnight lows and the chance of storms, then ends on the current temperature. Next, Mid-America Network News runs through the state headlines, and Stephanie Austin signs off the segment. The stories are specific and close to home. A Brown County couple arrested after a search warrant, a two-vehicle crash in Osage County blamed on wind, an off-duty Lawrence police officer who died: these are the kinds of stories the newscast carries. Topeka's year-end homicide total gets its own report, and so does a district attorney's announcement that a young child's death has been ruled a homicide. Policy news sits next to the crime and traffic stories. Kansas regulators approve a new transmission line in Reno County. Republican lawmakers override Governor Laura Kelly's veto of House Bill 2333, and Senator Roger Marshall worries about a possible downgrade of Irwin Army Community Hospital at Fort Riley. Lighter material turns up as well. One episode carries an ABC News segment about McDonald's working on energy drinks and restaurants struggling to hire dishwashers. The same episode has a feature on Lost Nation, Iowa, where Jim Schrader, the town's longtime mayor, gives his theory of how it got its name. The commercials stay in too, so a newscast can end on a pitch for trailer hitches or a Sammy Kershaw concert. The Public Affairs episodes work differently. In one, Katie Jeter of KNDY's Public Affairs Program visits with Nebraska State Senator Myron Dorn about the Legislature's 60-day session and the budget adjustments it has to make. Dorn describes the bills that have taken up his time, from changes to the state's cattle brand area to how long-term care funding is calculated. He also considers how a bill passed by Congress affects Nebraska's budget. Property taxes come up as a long-running rural concern, and he closes on the importance of keeping rural hospitals in place. Another Public Affairs episode records the ceremony at the Hollenberg Pony Express Station and State Historic Site, where Kansas designated its Pony Express Historic Byway. There, Lieutenant Governor David Toland says Kansas is in a golden era, and Bridget Jobe, Director of Kansas Tourism, calls it a day to celebrate. Pony Express riders carried a proclamation from Governor Laura Kelly for the occasion. For the forecast and the headlines, start with the dated news episodes. For state policy at a conversational pace, from someone who votes on it, go to the Public Affairs conversation with Senator Dorn.