Kansas City News Blog

This week: Support the Healthy Hawks by donating old bikes and play equipment for kids in a pediatric unit; get some real facts, instead of protest-sign slogans, about Mexican immigrants' impact in the Midwest; recycle bunny-ear TVs instead of sending them to the landfill when the digital shift finally happens; and celebrate Juneteenth in a KCK neighborhood with a proud history of liberating slaves.

Healthy Hawks, the pediatric obesity research group at the University of Kansas Medical Center, is holding its second annual bike drive on Monday. Clear some space in your garage by bringing bikes, trikes and other outdoor play equipment to KU Med's Miller building between 6:30 and 10 a.m. If you fancy yourself a cycle mechanic, the Hawks could also use your help from 1 to 4 p.m. to make minor repairs to the bikes collected. For more info: 913-945-6708 or mmijares@kumc.edu.

On Tuesday night, the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO convenes it's monthly meeting at 6:30 at the Firefighters Hall at 6301 Manchester.

It's also the ACLU2sday Monthly Mixer. Mingle with lovers of civil liberties (and bring a craft project if you've got one to get in on the "Create your own reality" theme) from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Shane Evan's Dream Studio at 711 East 31st Street.

The immigration debate is high or rhetoric but often low on facts. Get grounded in reality when Rob Paral, a research fellow at the American Immigration Law Foundation and the University of Notre Dame, presents his new study "Mexican Immigration in the Midwest: Meaning and Implications" from noon to 2 p.m. on Thursday in UMKC's University Center Room 117. The luncheon, hosted by The Cross Border Network and UMKC's Institute for Labor Studies, costs $20 for adults, $12 for students. Call 816-235-1470 to RSVP.

Friday is D Day for those old TVs with bunny ears. If you're not getting a converter box and tossing your no-longer-functional sets, don't leave them on the curb or bag them up for the landfill. Check this list of area locations and recycle them, instead.

The Missouri side has hogged the headlines when it comes to downtown investment, but there are promising, grassroots developments in the heart of Kansas City, Kansas, too. Check it out when the stretch of Minnesota Avenue, between 6th and 8th streets, is packed with gallery openings and street performances during the Downtown KCK Street Festival on Friday from 4 to 9 p.m.

Last month, Kansas became the 31st state in the nation to recognize Juneteenth, a day marking the delayed liberation of slaves in Texas nearly three years after the signing of the emancipation proclamation, as an official state holiday. The Quindaro neighborhood in KCK is getting in on the June 19th anniversary a little early with a celebration Saturday at Big Eleven Lake from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. To compete in the BBQ contest check in at 6:30 a.m., otherwise the parade starts from 7th Street and Quindaro Blvd at 10 a.m.