Kristofor Husted

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Hostess. Nordyne. Fuqua Building Systems. AP Green.

The shutdown of all these plants signaled the loss of hundreds of Missouri jobs. Now imagine if it was just one powerhouse plant that helped define a city – a city known for its innovation and production.

Before the American Revolution, before the Civil War, before Lewis and Clark came through here, a huge tree has been standing in central Missouri, growing to 90-feet tall. The beloved bur oak – which everybody calls "The Big Tree" -- has survived floods, lightning strikes and all kinds of punishments during her 350 years on the prairie. But, as Harvest Public Media’s Peggy Lowe reports, last year’s record drought was especially hard on the Big Tree.

Over the last year or so, at least 20 states have introduced bills that would require labeling of genetically modified food. The common point of contention is the pervasiveness of grains that have had their DNA altered. But some of these proposed laws – including one in Missouri – take aim specifically at genetically engineered meat or fish. And that got Harvest Public Media’s Abbie Fentress Swanson wondering: How close are we to actually eating genetically engineered animals? What she found out might surprise you.

Coming up we’ll delve into a small school district trying to get a bond passed for the third time.

But first, grain elevators across the country store billions of bushels of farm products like corn and wheat. They’re a staple of rural communities. But the dust that piles up in grain storage facilities is highly combustible – it can be six times more explosive than gun powder. Just one spark can send a blast that will shake the ground for miles.

Regional news coverage from the KBIA newsroom, including:

• Missouri House rejects Democratic effort to expand Medicaid
• Mamtek CEO makes bail
• Rep. Hartzler and Mayor McDavid call for funding to keep airport tower open

Whole Foods Market recently announced that by 2018, all products in its U-S and Canadian stores containing genetically modified organisms will be clearly labeled as such. The decision by the grocery chain -- which has been labeling some products as non-GMO for years now -- has pushed this strongly debated food labeling issue into the shopping aisle.

The real action, though, is heating up in state legislatures across the country. Harvest Public Media’s Abbie Fentress Swanson explains.

Not many of us are chemists.

This story is part of True/False Conversations, a series of in-depth interviews with the filmmakers of this year’s True/False Festival.  Find the rest of them here or download the podcast on iTunes.

When professional snowboarder Kevin Pearce crashed in the half-pipe in 2009, his life’s trajectory took a turn for the uncertain. After barely surviving a devastating head injury from the fall, Pearce’s recovery ultimately became more than just returning to full health.

Enter filmmaker Lucy Walker. In “The Crash Reel,” the Oscar-nominated documentarian opens a door to Kevin and his family as they struggle with how to handle Kevin’s injury and recovery. The intimate interactions between family members highlight the horrors of traumatic head injuries and the effects they have on loved ones.

Coming up we’ll tackle sequestration which is set to occur March 1. But first, when a large group of farmers in the Southeast banded together to sue a powerful dairy cooperative a few years ago, many hoped that the case would bring big changes to the industry. But as Peggy Lowe of Harvest Public Media reports, the recent settlement of the case involving Kansas City-based Dairy Farmers of America has resulted in some money for small farmers in the short term but little long-term reform.

This story is part of True/False Conversations, a series of in-depth interviews with the filmmakers of this year’s True/False Festival.  Find the rest of them here or download the podcast on iTunes.

For three weeks, Danish filmmaker Daniel Dencik and his film crew drifted on an old wooden schooner through the remote arctic waters of Greenland. Also on board, a group of artists and scientists studied the changing landscape of northeastern Greenland and used it to answer questions for scientific research and existential definition. Dencik’s job was to capture this age-old tradition of artists and scientists searching for truth and meaning in a rarely navigated locale. (Think Columbus and other early explorers.)

Airports in Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis reopened but passengers were told to expect several cancellations, particularly in the morning.

American Airlines flight 3215 from Columbia to Dallas was canceled this morning, but the remaining flights are scheduled to take off and arrive as planned.

Lambert International Airport in St. Louis and Kansas City International Airport both closed Thursday after a massive snowstorm hit Missouri.