The Lawrence Times • 13th August 2021

Amber 'Chef Lady' Brown prepares to launch her latest Lawrence venture, the Pub & Hub

Brown opened the ghost kitchen last June, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a year when the food industry faced many challenges, the community kitchen gave aspiring food entrepreneurs and fellow chefs a place to get their starts and get licensed. “To start a business in the middle of a pandemic and actually be successful is insane,” Brown said. “It’s been interesting, to say the least.” Now, Brown is giving local food businesses another place to land with her newest concept, The Pub &

Kansas Reflector • 25th July 2021

'Playing and loving it': Wichita beep baseball team offers social connection for visually impaired

When Ira Mills created the Wichita Association for Blind Athletes with the help of his wife and friends, the organization had a goal in mind: get Wichita’s visually impaired residents socially and recreationally involved in their community. Since 2017, WABA and its volunteers have found numerous ways to do that, from adaptive sports to seasonal events like pumpkin patches and Christmas tree lightings for visually impaired families with sighted children. One of the nonprofit’s earliest endeavors

The Lawrence Times • 22nd July 2021

Free State High School security guard Demetrius Kemp leads by example

When Demetrius Kemp sees that someone might need help, he puts his “Superman suit” on. This instinct goes all the way back to his childhood in Alabama, when Kemp used to sneak food and even some of his clothes to the kids who lived nearby. When his mother took those kids into her home for a month, he made a decision at only 8 years old. “I just remember telling my mom that I would never watch a kid be hungry or not have toys or a Christmas,” Kemp said. “I said that a kid would never have a bad

The Pitch • 9th July 2021

Liberation Frequency: 90.9 The Bridge set 20 years of local bands free to fly

Almost 20 years ago at the University of Central Missouri, The Bridge hit the airwaves for the first time. The station made its way out of Warrensburg 12 years later, heading 60 miles down the road and setting up shop in Kansas City. Once it settled into its new digs, 90.9 The Bridge sprung to life, giving the mic to Kansas City’s local music scene both on the air and in person at live shows. The station is still doing it today and they’re loving every second of it. But for station founders Jo

The Lawrence Times • 25th June 2021

After a creative Halloween, University Place neighborhood resident plans for a festive Fourth

On the first night of October last year, a new resident showed up in University Place. A scarecrow had arrived in the Lawrence neighborhood, making its way from yard to yard. It moved during the night, and in the morning, the neighborhood children were usually the first to notice its new location. Soon the adults were just as amused by it as the kids were, posting photos with it when it finally showed up in their yard. The scarecrow’s journey through the neighborhood was part of resident Scott

The Pitch • 20th May 2021

Monarch Village provides new resource for Douglas County's individuals experiencing homelessness

The University of Kansas School of Architecture’s Studio 804 and the Lawrence Community Shelter have combined efforts to provide a new resource for individuals experiencing homelessness in Douglas County. The Monarch Village, a tiny home community of 12 units that are 160 square feet each, opens officially to the public on Saturday after an official ribbon-cutting. This follows eight months of construction and the unveiling of a prototype to a socially-distanced, masked audience in October. Th

The Pitch • 4th May 2021

Birdie Hansen of 'Gifts By Birdie' on turning a hobby into a hustle

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Birdie Hansen accidentally started a business. She began making candles as a way to pass time, and in a year of increased time at home, making sure one’s home smelled good became arguably more urgent than ever for many candle burners. Before she knew it, she’d launched Gifts By Birdie, a one-woman operation currently operating entirely online, although you can find the store‘s eccentric candles and gifts at the occasional pop-up. Hansen shares her insigh

The Pitch • 29th April 2021

What you should know about Almost Andy Reid, the impersonator who found himself in a Scientology rap video

When Matt Black was approached by people filming a music video outside of Arrowhead Stadium and asked if he was Chiefs coach Andy Reid, he smirked and said, “Almost.” That’s what he always says when he’s stopped by fans. Ever since he won a costume contest in 2018 by dressing up as the football coach, he’s been stopped for many a picture during his time as his impersonator persona. He went on to win an Andy Reid lookalike contest in 2019 and before he knew it, he was Almost Andy Reid. He’s lea

The Pitch • 16th April 2021

How the national rise in anti-Asian attacks have reverberated in KC

In March of 2020, when COVID-19 became a new and increasingly evident threat in the United States, chef Keeyoung Kim faced a combination of two anxieties. One was the uncertainty many small business owners faced about the impact that shutdowns would have on his restaurant, Sura Eats. Known for its renowned pop-ups, the Korean street food-style restaurant’s business was halted when Parlor Hall Food and all its occupants were forced to close due to COVID-19. The other was the sociocultural impac

The Pitch • 7th April 2021

The Raven bookstore opens their window to customers for walk-up service

After over a year of operating only online and through contactless curbside sales, the Raven Bookstore is returning to in-person sales again through the store’s new walk-up window. Through the new window east of the store’s main entrance, customers can pick up their online orders in-person or talk through what they’re looking for with booksellers. It will be open when the weather allows it and will remain an option for customers until the bookstore moves into its new home at 809 Mass St. This

The Pitch • 1st April 2021

City officials discuss prioritization of Kansas City's biggest bond package

Kansas City’s joint Transportation & Infrastructure and Finance City Council Committee raised questions during yesterday’s meeting about the city’s infrastructure priorities. The $800 million General Obligation bond package was voted on and approved in 2017 with the intention of putting those funds toward infrastructure improvements like building and road repair, flood control, and increased ADA accessibility over the course of two decades. The committee met this week to discuss this year’s pla

The Pitch • 25th March 2021

Mayor, city leaders announce new initiatives to provide affordable housing to homeless Kansas Citians

Over 100 blighted properties in Kansas City will soon be transformed into homes for those experiencing homelessness. Through the Land Bank Dollar Sale program, the city will sell redeveloped homes for $1 given that property owners fully rehabilitate the homes, which will then be made available to anyone in need of housing. An open forum at 6 p.m. on April 1 will allow members of the community to provide input on the project. The meeting will take place both in person on the first floor of 4400

The Pitch • 22nd March 2021

How serving the community looks different for nonprofits in a pandemic

Beginning in mid-March of 2020 and spanning out over the course of the following months, one might recall a dramatic pandemic-induced pet boom in the United States. Throughout the last year as COVID-19 made its way up in numbers, many Americans wanted furry companions for the unprecedented circumstances to come. The KC Pet Project saw the effects of this almost immediately. The nonprofit shelter’s early adoption special resulted in almost 500 adoptions in just two or three weeks, while the rest

The Pitch • 16th March 2021

Live music took a bow last year. Here's where it went.

A year ago, alongside cover band Lorna Kay’s One Night Stand, Fritz Hutchison played what would later become his last live show for the foreseeable future. It was March 13, 2020- Friday the 13th. For those who are superstitious, Friday the 13th typically brings a sense of foreboding or doom, but that usually goes away after the day ends. This time it didn’t. A string of canceled shows for the next week would follow, but Hutchison didn’t know that yet. He just knew something was off. “You coul

The Pitch • 2nd March 2021

After losing both parents to COVID-19, the mayor's sign-language interpreter knows her work is more important than ever

Sign language interpreters are trained to remain neutral in their message delivery. When Mayor Quinton Lucas paused during his State of the City address to acknowledge and honor interpreter Michelle DeMartino for her work and resilience, it reminded her that she was human. DeMartino had lost both of her parents to COVID-19 just days before. In that moment of recognition, she put her hands together and asked them for help. “They knew how much providing equal access and equal opportunity meant

The Pitch • 18th February 2021

With Barrel of the Bottoms, local comedy is doing more than scraping by

In the West Bottoms of the Kansas City sits an eclectic space that many Kansas Citians have performed in and laughed in. Comedian Stephen Taylor and his friends created that space roughly two years ago and named it Barrel of the Bottoms. Taylor runs the space with friends Cary McRoberts, Dane Vedder, and Ryan Riggs. They began recording podcasts and later host events like open mic nights. It’s still there, but things look different there these days. The COVID-19 pandemic threw the Kansas City

The Pitch • 11th February 2021

Lawrence donut baker and Awake the Dead pop-up owner talks ghost kitchens and starting over

When Rachael Ulbrick thinks of donuts, she thinks of love and happiness. This fond association is part of what originally created iconic Lawrence restaurant Wake the Dead Breakfast Bar almost four years ago. When the restaurant closed its doors in the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19 regulations and Ulbrick’s breast cancer diagnosis, she was met with two reactions from the community: sadness and anger. Now Ulbrick is cancer-free and back to making donuts. “Wake the Dead” made its return in Octobe

The Pitch • 8th February 2021

Sara Greenwood wants to build a greener Kansas City

St. Louis native and current Kansas City resident Sara Greenwood knew when she was in college that she was passionate about environmental studies, but she did not quite know where to put that passion. “Honestly what I do today didn’t exist as a profession when I was in school,” Greenwood said. “I kind of fell into it, in a lucky way.” Founding Kansas City-based Greenwood Consulting Group and becoming the area’s only green building consulting services specialist is only part of what Greenwood “

The Pitch • 6th February 2021

We may not be shoulder to shoulder, but this year's Super Bowl celebrations will live on

David Epstein, founder of local distillery Tom’s Town, remembers what it was like to be in Kansas City this time last year as the Kansas City Chiefs headed into the Super Bowl for the first time in fifty years. He calls it, in one word, “revelatory”. “I think it pivoted Kansas City to an understanding that it’s really more than just a sports town,” Epstein says. “It’s a pride in where we’re from, how we conduct ourselves, and what we’re saying to the rest of the world.” In early 2020, weeks be

The Pitch • 20th January 2021

Updated: Meet the local rapper behind the newly-legendary Sen. Josh Hawley diss track

Following Sen. Josh Hawley’s misguided support of rioters on Jan. 6., Kansas Citians and Americans alike chose a wide variety of ways to call him out. Some privately ranted to friends. Some took to Twitter. Walter Edwin, also known as the Popper, hit the studio. The Kansas City-based rapper, with the help of friend and producer Mill Clinton, released noteworthy diss track ‘Letter to Josh Hawley’ Wednesday. The song brilliantly compiles the ways Hawley has recently embarrassed himself against a