Doreen Maronde has a passion for jazz. And it didn’t stop when she left her job at Johnson County Community College. As a volunteer, Maronde continues to program two jazz series at JCCC that she originated: the Winterlude concerts offered as part of Carlsen Center Presents, and the noontime Jazz Recital Series on Tuesdays.

In 2011, Ben Gulley walked onto the stage of the Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and sang the first notes that ever graced the finished space. He performed “Nessun Dorma” from “Turandot” with then Lyric Opera of Kansas City artistic director and conductor Ward Holmquist, accompanying.

On the morning of the last day of spring, Daniel Edwards casts a hopeful look at an abandoned daycare center. High weeds and forlorn-looking play..