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Heartland abuse survivors still fighting for the right to sue

Child sex abuse survivors in Kansas and Missouri lose the right to sue in their early 30s. Epstein's survivors want that changed.

an illustration of cut up pieces of graph paper and police fingerprints with the silhouette of a young girl overlaid on them

Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein&#x27;s abuse brought their national campaign to the Kansas City metro last month, putting a spotlight on childhood sexual abuse survivors&#x27; fight for more time to sue.The big picture: Advocates say most survivors don&#x27;t disclose childhood sexual abuse until decades later. The average age is just over 50, according to the think tank <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Child USA" data-vars-click-url="https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2020/WorkGroups/House%20Judiciary/Bills/H.330/Written%20Testimony/H.330~Jerome%20O&#x27;Neill~Child%20USA%20Child%20Sex%20Abuse%20Statutes%20of%20Limitation~3-13-2019.pdf" data-vars-content-id="0f9516dc-8266-421e-b323-a28e09b383c8" data-vars-headline="Heartland abuse survivors still fighting for the right to sue" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2020/WorkGroups/House%20Judiciary/Bills/H.330/Written%20Testimony/H.330~Jerome%20O&#x27;Neill~Child%20USA%20Child%20Sex%20Abuse%20Statutes%20of%20Limitation~3-13-2019.pdf" target="_blank">Child USA</a>, long after the civil deadlines in Kansas and Missouri.

News

Politics

When Congress approved selling the Wyandot cemetery in downtown KCK in 1906, three Native American sisters built a shack there, moved in with a shotgun, and guarded the graves for years.

Why it matters: As many as 600 Wyandots who settled the land before Kansas City, Kansas, existed are buried on that hill, and the sisters are the reason their graves are still there and not a parking garage.

Flashback: The Wyandot were forced from Ohio and Michigan to Kansas in 1843, and nearly 100 died within a year as measles and other illnesses spread. The Wyandot buried their dead on a hill the Delaware tribe had given them, years before the town that became KCK existed.

Sixty years later, the hill was prime downtown real estate. Part of the tribe had since moved to what's now Oklahoma, and a land surveyor with power of attorney for that Oklahoma group got the sale written into federal law.

Lyda, Helena and Ida Conley had grown up in KCK with family in that ground. Lyda earned a law degree in Kansas City in 1902, and she sued, arguing that the government had promised the Wyandot that land forever.

What they're saying: "Burial grounds are the most sacred thing because once everybody's gone, that's all we have left to remember them by," Chief Judith Manthe of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas, the sisters' first cousin three times removed, tells Axios.

Side view of an antique muzzle-loading rifle with a long dark barrel, wooden stock, and curved trigger guard, displayed on a clear stand against a light gray backdrop.

The famous empty shotgun. Photo: Courtesy of the Wyandotte County Museum

Zoom in: Lyda didn't wait on the courts. The sisters padlocked the gates and hung a sign: "Trespassers Beware." One of them was always inside the 6-by-8-foot shack with the shotgun.

"That shotgun was never loaded," Manthe says. "They bluffed everybody."

Police jailed the sisters, and they came back to the shack. Offered a $10 fine or 10 days in jail, Lyda chose jail, Manthe says.

Lyda argued her case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1910, the first Native American woman to do so, and lost. Congress repealed the sale in 1913, and in 1916 it set aside $10,000 to improve the cemetery.

The sisters exhibit. Photo: Courtesy of the Wyandotte County Museum

Yes, but: Lyda didn't live to see how the story ends. She was killed during a robbery in 1946. In the 1950s, Helena, then 91, told an interviewer that nobody would remember them. The Wyandotte County Museum recently found that interview.

Manthe stopped at Helena's grave on a cemetery tour last week. "I said, 'For someone that could see the future, you were wrong on that,'" she says.

The intrigue: The fight outlived the sisters. Congress authorized another sale in 1956 before protests stopped it, and the Wyandotte Nation later threatened to build a casino over the cemetery.

The Kansas and Oklahoma Wyandots have agreed the cemetery can't be used for anything else.

What's next: Helena was wrong about being forgotten. Lyda was inducted into the Starr Women's Hall of Fame last year, and Fort Conley, a portable replica of the sisters' shack, has traveled to sites around the metro since August 2025, including Johnson County Community College's Nerman Museum this spring.

Kansas City PBS will premiere a documentary, "Lyda: Wyandot Warrior," Oct. 28 at JCCC.

Three Native sisters saved a KCK cemetery

Congress approved selling the Wyandot cemetery in 1906. Three sisters moved in with a shotgun that was never loaded and outlasted everyone.

Split image: left shows a stone cemetery entrance with steps and a sign reading "INDIAN-CEMETERY"; right shows an elderly couple in vintage clothing posing, the woman holding a small bag.

A picture of the cemetery on the left. Lyda being arrested on the right. Photo: Courtesy of Wyandot Nation of Kansas Chief Judith Manthe.

When Congress approved selling the Wyandot cemetery in downtown KCK in 1906, three Native American sisters built a shack there, moved in with a shotgun, and guarded the graves for years.Why it matters: <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="As many as 600 Wyandots" data-vars-click-url="https://www.kansashistory.gov/resource/national_register/nominationsNRDB/Wyandotte_National_Burying_Ground_NHL_FINAL.pdf" data-vars-content-id="15d3feff-e8cc-432d-b126-07e211e8b384" data-vars-headline="Three Native sisters saved a KCK cemetery" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.kansashistory.gov/resource/national_register/nominationsNRDB/Wyandotte_National_Burying_Ground_NHL_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">As many as 600 Wyandots</a> who settled the land before Kansas City, Kansas, existed are buried on that hill, and the sisters are the reason their graves are still there and not a parking garage.

History

Zero Zero Handmade Pasta started as a pandemic hobby. Now the 13-seat Westside shop has some of the most sought-after reservations in Kansas City.

The big picture: Zero Zero is KC's entry in a national trend of restaurants that stay small on purpose and let demand do the marketing, and it's working.

Flashback: Zero Zero began in 2021 as a weekly pasta delivery. Mitch Fagan, then a medical student, made the pasta at home, and his fiancée Leah Steinberg sold it online.

The orders kept selling out, and a year later they opened a Westside shop for take-home pasta and sauces.

Zoom in: Nearly everything on the plate comes from within an hour of the kitchen. The flour is stone-milled at Marion Milling in the West Bottoms from heritage Midwest wheat; the eggs come from Campo Lindo Farm in Lathrop; and the sausage is from Barham Family Farm in Kearney.

The menu has four pastas, $21 to $24, and two never change: the spicy vodka radiatori with stracciatella and Parmesan, and the lumache alla norcina with Barham's sausage, mushrooms and white wine cream.

The other pastas rotate with the season. 

Split image of a dining table: left shows two iced drinks (lemon and orange) with bread; right features a plated dessert with a white dome, orange sauce, greens, and a bowl of toasted bread.

Some delicious Hugo spritzes and appetizers to try if you get a reservation. Photos: Abbey Higginbotham/Axios 

How to get in: Indoor tables open on Tock at 9am exactly 30 days ahead.

Fagan says to have the page open before 9am and refresh the second the clock turns. A few seconds late and they're gone.

The 20-seat patio opens the morning of, usually between 8am and 9am, weather permitting. If that doesn't work, join Tock's notify list and book the second a cancellation email lands.

Once you're in, you get 90 minutes, and canceling within 12 hours costs $50 a person.

The intrigue: Getting in has turned into a group project. One woman turned to the internet after a month of trying and got dozens of Facebook replies, from refreshing the reservation page a couple of minutes early to just hoping for a miracle.

Satire account Chipotle on Main summed up the mood with a fake headline: a couple staying together only for their Zero Zero reservation.

Cozy brick-walled cafe with chalkboard menus on the left, beige booth seating, and round tables with small lamps. Four diners at a table, including a bald man in a magenta shirt near the open kitchen and brick oven.

Inside. Don't let the empty tables fool you. They were filled within two minutes. Photo: Abbey Higginbotham/Axios

💭 Abbey's thought bubble: I lost the 9am race for my birthday dinner after 30 seconds and booked lunch instead. The lumache and the gricia were cooked perfectly al dente, the sauce clung to every noodle, and I still had enough to take home.

My only gripe is the room. Limited seats means you're sharing elbow room with strangers, but that's the tradeoff for a place this small.

If you go: Lunch runs Friday through Sunday from 11am to 3:0pm, and dinner runs Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm to 1opm.

The tiny pasta shop everyone in KC is chasing

Zero Zero Handmade Pasta has 13 seats and one of the most sought-after reservations in KC.

Two bowls of pasta on a light wooden table by a window: left gnocchi with grated cheese, right creamy fettuccine with mushrooms, topped with cheese; a "Happy Birthday" card in the background.

Definitely better than the Kraft Mac & Cheese I make at home. Photo: Abbey Higginbotham/Axios

Zero Zero Handmade Pasta started as a pandemic hobby. Now the 13-seat Westside shop has some of the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="most sought-after reservations" data-vars-click-url="https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/openings-closings/article302526189.html" data-vars-content-id="714f9ad8-6d72-4d0b-845a-c4d097e2c2f8" data-vars-headline="The tiny pasta shop everyone in KC is chasing" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/openings-closings/article302526189.html" target="_blank">most sought-after reservations</a> in Kansas City.The big picture: Zero Zero is KC&#x27;s entry in a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="national trend" data-vars-click-url="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/small-trendy-new-york-city-restaurants-are-in-high-demand" data-vars-content-id="714f9ad8-6d72-4d0b-845a-c4d097e2c2f8" data-vars-headline="The tiny pasta shop everyone in KC is chasing" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/small-trendy-new-york-city-restaurants-are-in-high-demand" target="_blank">national trend</a> of restaurants that stay small on purpose and let demand do the marketing, and it&#x27;s working.

Food and Drink

Things to Do

Don't let the 80° October days fool you. Kansas City's leaves should hit peak color in only a few weeks, according to a map on Explore Fall.

Why it matters: KC's leaves will look like that for only a week or so. Miss the window and you're looking at bare branches until spring.

Zoom in: The map has the metro's leaves hitting their brightest between Nov. 5 and 10.

That's a few weeks behind the rest of Missouri, where color usually peaks around mid-October. State foresters say central and northern Missouri got enough rain this year to expect strong color.

It lines up with the Kansas side. The Kansas Forest Service says the northeast corner of the state peaks from late October to early November, and the trees to look for are white oaks and maples.

Zoom out: Fall color is expected across most of the country by mid-October, and it's sweeping south from there.

On Oct. 16, the brightest color is projected across the northern Rockies, the Upper Midwest and northern New England.

By Oct. 30, a broad band from the central Rockies to the East Coast should be at or near peak.

By Nov. 6, much of the northern U.S. will be past peak, with the strongest color shifting south.

Yes, but: Weather could scramble the timeline. A strong El Niño could raise temperatures and delay some peak colors, according to the National Weather Service.

Drought can mute colors, but the KC area is mostly drought-free right now, so that's one worry you can skip.

State of play: If you've looked out your window lately, you already know most trees are still green. 

The Missouri Department of Conservation's latest KC report says cottonwoods, walnuts and elms are showing the first touches of yellow, and the sunflowers and goldenrods are still going in ditches and plantings.

Those brown honey locusts you've seen along some streets? That's a webworm outbreak, not fall.

If you go: The Department of Conservation's pick is a drive along Highways 45 and 224, which follow the Missouri River northwest toward Weston and east toward Lexington.

In town, Loose Park and Cliff Drive both get good color.

For a view, Weston Bend State Park's overlook is about 40 minutes north.

If you want to make a day of it, Baldwin City's Maple Leaf Festival is Oct. 17 and 18.

💭 Abbey's thought bubble: Weston at peak is the move. The overlook, then a stop downtown for a drink.

The bottom line: Put down the phone in early November. The trees look better in person than on your feed.

When KC's leaves will finally turn

It's still 80 degrees, but Kansas City's leaves should peak between Nov. 5 and 10.

Map of the United States showing 2026 predicted fall foliage by color: green for little color, yellow low, orange moderate, dark orange high, red peak, brown past peak. Major cities labeled.

Infographic titled "2026 predicted fall foliage progression"; four US maps show leaf color progression from Oct 16 to Nov 6, using green-to-brown scale from little color to peak across the country.

Don&#x27;t let the 80° October days fool you. Kansas City&#x27;s <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="leaves" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2026/09/26/fall-foliage-mapped-peak-colors-2026" data-vars-content-id="bdfbbc73-d692-4fa5-8520-dc5d617f06a3" data-vars-headline="When KC&#x27;s leaves will finally turn" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2026/09/26/fall-foliage-mapped-peak-colors-2026" target="_self">leaves</a> should hit peak color in only a few weeks, according to a map on <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Explore Fall" data-vars-click-url="https://www.explorefall.com/fall-foliage-map" data-vars-content-id="bdfbbc73-d692-4fa5-8520-dc5d617f06a3" data-vars-headline="When KC&#x27;s leaves will finally turn" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.explorefall.com/fall-foliage-map" target="_blank">Explore Fall</a>.Why it matters: KC&#x27;s leaves will look like that for only a week or so. Miss the window and you&#x27;re looking at bare branches until spring.

The clock is running out on apple season around Kansas City, but four nearby farms still have trees to pick and cider donuts coming out of the fryer.

Why it matters: Apple picking at these farms typically ends by Halloween, according to their websites, and the next crop won't be ready until late summer.

This Weston farm packs around 17,000 apple trees onto 50 acres, and USA Today's readers ranked it among the nation's 10 best in 2019.

Its dozen or so varieties range from the tart Jonathan to the sweet EverCrisp, which the orchard calls the last one on the tree.

The bakery presses cider and fries donuts with the same apples visitors pick.

If you go: The orchard is open 9am to 5pm daily. Admission is around $10 on weekdays and $18 on weekends, and apples are priced by weight on the way out.

This KCK orchard has more than 6,000 apple trees, and a wagon hauls pickers out to them.

The orchard also serves cider donuts and apple cider slushes.

If you go: Cider Hill is open 9am to 5pm Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5pm Sunday. There's no entrance fee.

This Edgerton farm planted its first apple trees in 2018 and grows them on trellises.

Its 20-plus varieties include Ludacrisp, which the Ohio family that discovered it nicknamed "Juicy Fruit."

If you go: Picking days change weekly, so check the farm's Facebook first. A half peck costs $15 and a peck costs $25.

No KC apple roundup is complete without this mill, even though you can't pick apples there. It has pressed cider since 1977.

Visitors can watch cider get made in the Pressing Barn, and the mill sells its own limited-release Orchard Blend hard cider.

New this season: The mill collaborated with Boulevard Brewing for new limited edition Old Fashioned Hard Apple Cider.

If you go: The Country Store, which sells fresh cider and donuts, is open 8am-6pm Monday-Saturday and 9am-6pm Sunday.

The bottom line: Grab a bag while you can.

KC apple spots to hit before the season ends

Apple picking around Kansas City usually wraps up by Halloween. Here are four farms near the metro worth the drive, from Weston to Louisburg.

Illustration of 4 apples and 1 apple core in a line

The clock is running out on apple season around Kansas City, but four nearby farms still have trees to pick and cider donuts coming out of the fryer.Why it matters: Apple picking at these farms typically ends by Halloween, according to their websites, and the next crop won&#x27;t be ready until late summer.

Abbey Higginbotham

Featured stories

Three Native sisters saved a KCK cemetery

KC apple spots to hit before the season ends

Heartland abuse survivors still fighting for the right to sue

The tiny pasta shop everyone in KC is chasing

When KC's leaves will finally turn