When you actually turn on a screen reader for the first time, you realize how much you’ve been taking for granted. The voice begins to read. In a calm, flat tone, the menu labels, button names, and navigation links all pour out through the speakers, describing a digital world that was always present but invisible to those who needed to know about it. It’s an odd and enlightening experience. Although screen reader support has been around for decades in different forms, regular developers, content producers, and companies creating digital products have only lately begun to give it the consideration it…
Author: Sierra Foster
Sierra Foster
Born in Kansas City, Sierra Foster writes about politics and serves as Senior Editor at kbsd6.com. She was raised paying attention to this city, not just living in it. Sierra has a strong, deep connection to Kansas City, from the neighborhoods east of Troost to the discussions that take place in the city hall halls. Sierra, who is presently enrolled at the University of Kansas to pursue a degree in Political Science, applies the rigor of academic study to her journalism. She writes about politics in Missouri and Kansas as someone who genuinely cares about what happens to the people in these communities—the policies that impact them, the leaders who represent them, and the civic forces influencing their futures—rather than as an outsider watching from a distance. Her editorial coverage encompasses state-level policy, local government, and the national political currents that permeate bi-state regional life. Whether it's a city council vote or a Senate race, she has a special gift for turning complex policy language into writing that feels urgent, relatable, and worthwhile. Sierra seldom sits still off the page. She claims that playing soccer on a regular basis has sharpened her instincts for political reporting because of the sport's teamwork, strategy, and requirement to read a changing game in real time. She's probably somewhere in Kansas City with her friends when she's not writing or on the pitch, discovering new reasons to adore a city she already knows so well.
Every legal drama has a point at which it is impossible to ignore the paper trail. For the Trump administration’s Justice Department, that moment arrived in a Minneapolis courtroom, where a federal judge looked at six grand jury subpoenas targeting Minnesota’s top Democratic officials — and said, plainly, that the evidence of political retaliation was overwhelming. The subpoenas served against Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, the Minnesota attorney general’s office, two county boards, and the mayor of St. Paul were quashed by Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, who was appointed by George W. Bush. There was little…
A certain type of legal document has significance even before it is read. With the full force of the Justice Department behind it, a federal subpoena shows that the government is keeping an eye on things and demands records and compliance. The message felt less like law enforcement and more like something else entirely when six of those documents ended up on the desks of Minnesota’s top Democratic officials earlier this year. U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz saw it that way, at least. The George W. Bush appointee used language that is uncommon in formal judicial opinions in a decision…
Patients are frequently the last to know when the FDA quietly withdraws a blood pressure medication. This story has a subtle unnerving quality. Every morning, you take your medication at the same time, with the same glass of water, following the same routine, and you have faith that the ingredients in the bottle are working as intended. A notice is then sent out a few weeks or months later. The medication wasn’t functioning as intended. It was never the case. And nobody gave you a call. Patients who were prescribed Chlorthalidone tablets, USP 25 mg, a common diuretic for high…
Opening a bag of frozen nuggets you’ve eaten a dozen times and wondering if there’s a problem with them can be subtly unsettling. After MorningStar Farms, one of the more well-known brands in the plant-based food industry, announced a voluntary recall of two of its frozen products due to possible plastic contamination, consumers across the United States are currently facing this predicament. The 10.5-ounce package of Buffalo Chik’n Nuggets and the 8-ounce package of Hot & Spicy Sausage Patties are impacted. Both have unique UPC codes and best-by dates printed on the packaging: the sausage patties have dates of July…
Finding out that the medication you’ve been taking every morning—the one on your kitchen counter next to your coffee—might not have been working is unsettling. Patients who were prescribed a particular batch of the popular blood pressure drug chlorthalidone are currently in this predicament after a voluntary recall was discreetly started on June 5. 11,460 bottles of Chlorthalidone Tablets USP, 25 mg, produced by Mumbai-based Inventia Healthcare Limited and supplied nationwide by East Brunswick, New Jersey-based Rising Pharma Holdings, are included in the recall. The 100-tablet and 1,000-tablet sizes of the impacted bottles have an April 2027 expiration date, indicating…
When the authority issuing the recall is unable to pinpoint the precise issue, it can be unsettling. Last week, the FDA quietly added nearly 190,000 packages of Great Value Hawaiian Rolls to its recall list — bread sold in four-packs at Walmart stores across 26 states. The explanation offered was that there was a “oily and sticky substance” on the packaging that came into direct contact with the food. What the substance actually was? That part remains unanswered. No pun intended, it’s the kind of detail that sticks with you. United States Bakery, an Oregon-based manufacturer and one of Walmart’s…
One type of grief does not appear on any medical bill. It’s the sadness of not being able to coach from the sidelines while watching your child play soccer. of spending every Sunday morning watching others run the trail you once owned. of discovering, at some point during the third month of recuperation, that your life has subtly decreased in ways that no physician can accurately quantify. This is known by a term in personal injury law. It’s known as loss of enjoyment of life, and you can file a lawsuit for it in the majority of states. It makes…
The corporate network of Purpose Financial, Inc., which the majority of people still refer to as Advance America, experienced a problem in February 2023. An unauthorized third party gained access, navigated the system, and took files with thousands of customers’ names and Social Security numbers. At the time, it didn’t make the front page. Seldom do these occurrences. For those whose data was stolen, however, the harm was subtle, gradual, and takes months to fully manifest. The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina received the subsequent lawsuit, Hernandez et al. v. Purpose Financial, Inc. The plaintiffs claimed…
The bright pink boxes, the glazed rings that are still warm from the conveyor, and somewhere in the background, a data breach that silently exposed the personal information of more than 160,000 employees all have an almost discordant quality. Cybersecurity headlines don’t typically feature Krispy Kreme. And yet, here we are. Following a November 2024 incident in which cybercriminals accessed and stole private employee data, including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and in certain cases, financial account information, the doughnut chain agreed to a $1,616,760 class action settlement. Neither the breach nor the consequences were insignificant. In the…