Kansas City News Blog

Cyclists are gearing up for public meetings of the city's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this week. At stake: funding for safe streets that accommodate commuters on two wheels, as well as motorized traffic. Check out Let's Go KC for the meeting locations tonight and Wednesday.

Our favorite hometown patriot, Tomas Young, was the subject of a documentary that's become one of the most hard-hitting, gut-wrenching indictments of the war in Iraq. If you haven't heard about "Body of War" yet, uh, you clearly haven't been reading The Pitch. Catch up with a screening at 7 p.m. Wednesday, hosted by KU's Iraq Veterans Against the War, at the Lawrence Public Library.

When New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina, residents of the Lower Ninth Ward were determined to resurrect their district even stronger than before. Green-minded architects, like Bob Berkebile and his firm BNIM, have partnered with the Holy Cross neighborhood to rebuild as a national example for energy efficiency and carbon-neutral living. In an Historic Green effort, they've rallied volunteers from around the country to join the project. Berkebile will tell you more at a Thursday night fundraiser at the Arts Incubator that starts at 6.

Speaking of being green, the City of Kansas City has been trying to promote itself as one of the most environmentally friendly regions in the country. We're not quite there, yet. But city staffers, like Dennis Murphey, have been working with business and civic leaders to curtail our noxious greenhouse gases. Find out the latest progress, how to get involved and what the city's budget woes might mean for local eco-efforts at a Climate Protection Plan meeting Friday at 2 p.m. at the Discovery Center.

According to organizers of a Saturday protest in Lawrence: "The sometimes violent resistance against Israel, the police cars burned in Oakland, and the universities occupied in Greece are attempts to reclaim space and autonomy that are the responses to years of aggression, racism and domination." With the aim of raising awareness and expressing their anger at the repression of cop-patrolling, military-hungry societies, activists are holding a "March Against State Sponsored Murder" starting at 7 p.m. at South Park on Saturday.