Alecia Taylor

Published Articles

Kansas City Star •

‘Complete chaos.’ Brothers describe Northland traffic jam as blizzard rolled into KC metro

Editor’s note: Follow live Kansas City blizzard coverage here.

Brothers Cameron and Carson Tate left their restaurant job in Liberty at 4:30, p.m. Saturday, usually a 10-minute drive from their home in Kansas City.

But the siblings were caught in Kansas City’s ice storm.

At first, they didn’t see the traffic jams that backed up Interstate 35. Half a mile into the drive, the traffic came to a standstill. There were no signs of police or responders from the Missouri Department of Transportation...
Kansas City Star •

Platte County voters passed a tax for youth mental health. Commissioners refuse to enact it

Despite voters petitioning to get a question on the ballot and then soundly approving it, Platte County may not implement a sales tax to expand mental health services for kids and teens after all.

That’s because the county commission is refusing to enact the tax that would have established a Platte County Children’s Services Fund.

In a Monday morning meeting, commissioners said they have the option to override voters’ will and not institute the tax because of a technicality in the language tha...
Kansas City Star •

Platte County’s first Black state lawmaker flipped seat last election. Will she keep it?

The last time voters in the southern part of Platte County chose their state representative, they made history.

In 2022, Democratic Rep. Jamie Johnson became the first Black person to be elected to represent a Platte County district in the Missouri General Assembly. In that election — the first after the latest round of legislative redistricting — she flipped the previously Republican-held seat with 52% of the vote.

Now, she’s fighting to keep her spot in the legislature against challenger Mik...
Miami Herald •

‘I fought very hard’: Broward schools suspends employee, mother of trans student

After months of back and forth on whether to terminate an employee of Monarch High School, Broward schools decided on a 10-day suspension at a Tuesday board meeting.

Jessica Norton, the mother of a transgender daughter who is in the center of a sports controversy, worked as the high school’s information management specialist and JV volleyball coach. Norton was removed from her job along with several other employees after an investigation was launched last November by then-Superintendent Peter L...
ESSENCE Magazine •

Sass And Shimmer: The Dazzling History Of Black Majorettes And Dance Lines

Beginning in the 1960s, young Black majorettes and dance troupes created a fascinating style of movement. This is the story of how they did it.

At historically Black colleges and universities, halftime is when audience members rush back to their seats for the real show. The drum majors are stars, of course, but sharing the spotlight are smiling, limber dancers with moves so big, even the nosebleeds can see every detail. They prance alongside marching bands, or in the stands, then run through pr

Let's get social