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It's time for Positively Kansas coming up.

Our audience is bigger than it ever was in the heyday of newspapers.

So no, we're not dying.

We're just transforming and delivering the news in far different ways.

More readers than ever yet, downsizing?

What's behind the big changes at Kansas City's largest newspaper?

We'll get the scoop and visit the paper's new digs.

Also, the Wichita City flag is hot right now.

You see it in various forms, just about everywhere.

Meet a local artist who's helping to stoke the popularity of this 80 year old icon, plus.

What I was doing was really rare.

I haven't come across anybody else that has a body work like I've got.

It just wasn't happening.

A Kansas soldier who captured the 1990s Gulf War in a way that's seldom been seen on film.

Find out how he pulled it off and why he published a book about the experience.

And there are no secrets with this man in the room.

Prepare to be amazed and find out why Curtis, the mentalist, is using his powers to help Kansas veterans.

I'm Sierra Scott.

Those stories are coming your way.

Positively Kansas starts right now.

It's a new home and a new beginning for one of Wichita's longest running businesses.

But the Wichita Eagle is more than just a business to the people of south central Kansas.

It's been an essential information source for 145 years.

Now, the Eagle, also known as kansas.com, continues to change with the times.

While it still dominates local news coverage.

Jim Grawes here with an inside look.

If you spend much time online, you've noticed that all news media are kind of becoming the same thing.

Newspapers are shooting and posting video stories.

TV and radio stations are posting written stories, and they're all competing for your attention on social media.

Meanwhile, their traditional means of getting you the news, whether printed papers or live broadcasts, are becoming less and less popular all the time.

So this is how Kansas's largest newspaper is responding.

Certainly there was some some sadness, if you will, about leaving that building in the memories there and all the good stuff that was done there.

I sat down in that building 20 years ago when I was in my 20s, and I've sat there ever since.

And so we all have kind of an emotional attachment to that building.

735 employees once worked here, cranking out a half million or so newspapers every week.

But times change, and so buildings and businesses must change.

As technology and trends evolve.

The Wichita Eagle, recently relocated from its behemoth 180,000 square foot building on Douglas, to this fresh, modern space in Old Town, that's about one eighth of the size.

Our papers now printed in Kansas City, and many papers are doing that across the country as as the revenues related to print have declined, they've found ways to find efficiencies.

And we've done that.

But as we've done that, obviously we've needed less space.

But while the paper isn't printed in Wichita anymore, the news is still covered and reported locally as aggressively as ever.

Newspapers and TV now compete head to head all day long for the same viewers online.

There's no waiting to report a story until the next morning.

It has to get out immediately and be shared with the world.

We're a news organization that's really on deadline 24-7 if you will, with the internet, social media platforms.

And if analytics are any indication, the Eagle is doing online news better than anyone else in Kansas.

As print readership has declined, the number of people reading the online stories at kansas.com has skyrocketed to 13 million page views a month.

So the Eagle actually has a larger audience now than it has ever had.

The two floors of the building the Eagle now occupies are configured specifically to meet the needs of a multi-platform digital news operation.

We were able to build this out to suit what we're doing now, while in our old building things are kind of cobbled together.

Lines were added here they are, or they weren't available in certain places.

So here we were able to plan down to the specific drop of where is our computer going to be, where do we need internet access, where do we need a television monitor?

And does that need to monitor the TV station?

Does it need to monitor our website?

There's also a video production studio.

Hello and welcome to our Rockstar suite at the Ambassador Hotel in Wichita, Kansas.

When feature reporter Denise Neil became a print reporter in the 1990s, she didn't imagine that newspapers would someday be producing news videos.

My name is Denise Neil and I write about food.

But the line between newspapers and TV continues to blur in the online world, and Neil says she likes it.

One thing I've definitely learned in the past 20 years in this business is to be adaptive, to change, because that's all it's been since I started.

And so at this point, change doesn't really scare me anymore.

It's kind of exciting.

Meanwhile, Eagle Management says the actual news paper is not going away, pointing out that the weekday circulation is still almost 40,000 and the Sunday circulation is nearly 60,000.

But the printed word is now a complement to what has become the core business of delivering the very latest online news around the clock, in more interesting ways than could ever be accomplished on paper.

The Old Eagle Building is being demolished to make way for a new headquarters for Cargill's meat division.

The paper is leasing its new space at Old Town Square.

Editor Steve Coffman says it was important for the Eagle to remain a part of the downtown community, just as it's been at the center of Wichita life for nearly a century and a half.

Another local icon is celebrating a big year.

It's the 80th anniversary of the Wichita City flag, and the flag is popping up everywhere, due in part to artist Johnny Freedom.

His specialty is painting murals of the Wichita flag on buildings, and he's been busy.

Here are just a couple of his recent works.

Freedom's latest project is a mural facing the patio at Piatto Neapolitan Pizzeria on Douglas.

He says each mural takes about 30 hours from planning to completion, and while it does earn him some extra cash, freedom says that more than anything, it's a labor of love.

The Wichita Pride thing is, is just a matter of, you know, getting behind some cool things to flag the keeper.

All the cool local businesses that are popping up.

And so the Wichita flag and, you know, some of the symbols in Wichita aren't necessarily what make Wichita cool.

They've just kind of been, you know, the stimulation and getting things going.

Until the last few years, a lot of people who grew up in Wichita didn't even realize the city had a flag.

Well, next week, we'll tell you the story of the flag and the story of the artist who originally designed it.

He was an interesting guy.

Well, take a look at what the design means and why it's so hip right now to have Wichita's own version of the red, white and blue.

The man in this next story fought for the American flag and everything it represents.

And along the way, he chronicled what happened and captured the human side of a war that's seldom talked about these days and was seldom ever seen in this way.

Here's Jim again with that.

That brief, dramatic war of the early 90s when the U.S. ousted Iraq from Kuwait, was portrayed one way by the government and the news media.

But here's how it looked to a man who was right in the thick of the battle.

These are the first pictures on the ground 130 degrees.

Different friends of mine Ralph, me.

Best machine gunner I ever met.

It's a selfie.

Jason Auld has the faces and scenes of the Persian Gulf War burned into his memory, but he also has them captured on film in the kind of photos you won't see anywhere else.

Was I supposed to be shooting?

Not really.

Was it absolutely forbidden?

Not really either.

Auld is a McPherson native and served as a paratrooper doing military intelligence for the Army's 82nd Airborne Division.

We were the very first allied ground unit in theater.

Deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1990.

Auld was loaded down with equipment.

Large rucksacks with antennas strapped on the back, camouflage netting, night vision goggles, radios, batteries.

Typical load was well over 120 pounds and not counting rifle and helmet.

So then on top of that I carried, it was actually these two exact cameras, plus three lenses, plus a camera bag, plus a light meter.

Plus, let's say 7 to 20 rolls of film at any given time.

His official mission was to intercept enemy radio transmissions, but along the way, he was taking pictures of the war, its people and places like nobody else could.

What I was doing was really rare.

I haven't come across anybody else that has a body work like I've got.

It just wasn't happening.

I don't know of any journalists that had the same kind of access to a unit that I had.

Auld recently published a book of his Desert Storm pictures, Guy and His Machine Gun.

That's one of my favorite photos, because it's very unlike what people think of Desert Storm.

The book offers the rest of us a new look at that war a quarter century ago, and forces all to go back and face some of the demons that have plagued him ever since.

When we got back from Saudi, I didn't know it at the time, but I was experiencing PTSD, so I started drinking pretty much as soon as we got back.

And that's how I dealt with this was a long time ago.

PTSD didn't exist in the consciousness of the American military.

It was either guys who could handle a war or guys who could not handle war.

And that's how it was.

And you wanted to be in the pile of guys who could handle war.

After the war, Auld says he developed the photos, but at the same time was trying to forget about what he'd just been through.

Till like two years ago, three years ago, they just sat in a box.

I didn't do anything with them.

As soon as I got home from the war, I started drinking and I did not stop for 16 years.

But then Auld then the guys he went to war with started reconnecting.

My platoon guys that had experienced the same things I had.

We kind of trickled on to Facebook, so we really started sharing and connecting and reconnecting and, you know.

As like some sort of synergy hit.

I went back and grabbed the photographs out of the box and scanned them with a cheap flatbed scanner and put them up on Facebook and said, hey, guys, you remember this?

And they were like, blown away because they hadn't seen these photographs ever.

You know, I put up a couple of photographs that way and somebody said, hey, this needs to be a book.

And I'd had that idea in my head since I joined the Army.

This photo depicts the grim reality of war when a platoon member was killed.

This happened like, you know, very, very close to where I was at.

So the whole tone of the war changed then, you know, from just us slamming the enemy to now our guys were dying.

And that was a pivotal moment for me.

And there's this image that al says haunted him for a long time.

We came across a group of Iraqis, surrendered on the ground.

I watched them, and I was like, they're dead.

And I shot some photographs of these guys.

And I felt really, really, there was some sort of line in my head that I didn't even know that I'd stepped across.

So when I shot those photographs, I was like, that's it, I'm done.

I'm not shooting those photographs anymore.

Auld says he shifted his focus to capturing candid shots of his comrades that still have an impact 25 years later.

Like this photograph here.

Donnie, guy climbs the mountains.

He's doing well in his life.

Married, lives in Europe.

And I remember the day I posted that photograph to Facebook for the first time.

Donnie messaged me back and he thanked me, and he said, for the first time in as long as he can remember, his kids think he's cool.

And his wife kind of understands.

And without those photographs, that doesn't happen.

Now he's taking pictures once again, shifting his focus to the realities of life after war.

This gentleman I met at the PTSD event over the weekend.

He's got three bronze stars, a silver star, three purple Hearts, and a Legion of Merit and survived the Tet Offensive.

I mean, it's an incredible portrait of survival.

It's a look into the world of the American soldier through the lens of someone who lived it and continues to live it.

This is a life of battles that don't end when the fighting does.

And Jason Auld hopes his photos tell the story in ways that mere words never can.

Auld also takes photos of everyday Kansas life and beautiful landscape scenes.

You can see more of his work by clicking on the link on the Positively Kansas page at KPTS.org.

Also, if you have any story ideas for us, please send me an email at positivelykansas@kpts.org.

Now back to Sierra.

I'm here with Curtis, The Mentalist.

I'm so excited because I've seen you with your act numerous times.

I still can't figure out how the heck you do it.

Well good.

It makes it fun.

And I want to bust you today.

A lot of people think that you get help.

I am not going to help you.

In fact, I'm going to try to make you not be successful.

Fair enough.

That's fine.

I really want to see that happen.

That's good.

But one of the things that I want to talk to you about before we start into this is how do you become a mentalist?

How old were you?

Well, I actually started as a regular magician when I was really young, and, I got into entertainment.

Young.

I liked comedy, I liked storytelling, I liked acting, magic was kind of a part of that.

But I found the magic is kind of what kind of fit me a little bit better.

And, so over the years, and I've worked professionally since the 80s and, I just kind of gravitated into mentalism.

Now, mentalism is a whole branch of the art of magic that exists all by itself.

And, and I'm fascinated with the psychology of why things work, why the mind tricks itself.

You know, I don't claim to be psychic.

I don't claim to have powers or anything like that.

What I do is all through some sort of psychological perceptual manipulation we call it.

The ability to kind of manipulate what people will think and what they think they see.

So, how did I start it just kind of evolved that way, I guess, over time.

You know, I think it's so interesting because I've been in rooms and it's so fun to watch people's response to you.

Is that what you get a kick out of?

Because it's so funny to watch people go, how do you do that?

Absolutely yes.

And it's not even so much for just the wow factor.

It's a kind of a it creates a personal connection with people you can't get doing anything else.

I mean, how often have you been with a friend or a relative and they say something that you were thinking and it kind of connects with you?Everyone kind of has an innate ability to want to be understood by other people.

And so when a total stranger says, I see that you're thinking of this, I see that you do this for a living or whatever, it kind of.

Now sometimes it's creepy.

But I like the element that it helps me to connect with people better because I just like people.

And, if you're in this business and you don't like people, then I think you're in the wrong business.

I was gonna say.

Okay, well, let's do some mentalist.

I don't want to call it tricks is a really not tricks.

No, no.

Well, in a general sense, we call them effects.

Okay.

I like to just think of them as demonstrations, because they're not always a surefire thing.

You know, this is kind of a me reading you, kind of thing and trying to size things up.

What we'll do is.

I Think I'm in trouble.

Ive got it, I just brought I've got a couple of magazines, from out there.

I want you to just.

This is a time in popular science.

I want you to just pick one of those.

Whichever one you want, you can keep, and I'll take the other one.

Okay, I like time.

Time, okay.

So we'll just find a, random page and what I'm going to do, actually, I'm going to just thumb through like this.

You shouldve told me I needed my glasses.

I hope I don't have to read anything.

Okay.

Well, yeah, maybe I should have.

I'm going to thumb through.

Just say stop wherever you like.

Stop.

43, turn to page 43.

Okay.

See, this is where I'm in trouble.

I'm at 30 something, you know, 43, 40.

How weird I was at 43.

Okay, now hold it up where I can't see it, I can, in fact, we'll just use your magazine.

I was going to try both of them, but what you did just on that page, are you on what page or you on your on 40, 43, 44?

You can pick one of those.

You wanna do 44?

It's up to you.

Ill give you 44.

44 okay.

Take a look at that page.

and don't really focus on pictures.

I want you to find some text in there.

Find a word.

A word.

Can you read words?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Find a large word.

Not like a the or and or like, kind of a longer word and get it in your mind.

Is this something you can picture?

Is that a word that's like a visual.

Yes.

Okay.

And you can put the put the magazine down.

So I want you to just focus on that.

This is just a way of kind of helping you generate a random thought.

Okay.

I do random thoughts a lot.

You do?

Should be good at this.

Okay.

do you have, I want you to focus on what it looks like and focus on even the word itself.

I'm not picking up on too much quite yet, is it?

I'm getting an s. Is it?

Start with an S?

No.

is there an S in the word?

Yes.

Okay.

Let's see, what does it.

What is it?

Start.

I'm getting a different.

I'm getting an E close.

No, it is a vowel.

It is a vowel that starts with a vowel.

but what does it start with?

U. U.

Okay, so that's kind of a it means it's some kind of an unusual word of some kind.

I'm still getting kind of a vague picture.

I tell you what.

We'll get back to that in a minute.

I'm gonna.

Here's what I wanted to keep.

Keep that in your mind.

Okay.

We're going to do what helps me sometimes is to kind of close out my senses.

It helps me to visualize mind readings about visualization.

So.

And this is what I decided to do.

We've got some duct tape here that you examined before.

Yes.

That's a real tissue.

That's real duct tape.

and some coins.

These are just solid American silver dollars.

Oh cool.

I want you to take a, piece of tape here, if you would.

We're going to actually duct tape my face.

We're going to blindfold me.

Here's what I want you to do.

Isnt that going to hurt coming off?

It will.

It will hurt coming off a little bit.

That's, you know, suffer for my heart.

Okay, gotcha.

Take the coin and just place it right in the center of the tape.

Okay?

In a way, the where tape is exposed all the way around, just like that.

Give it a good squeeze.

Okay got it.

And we're going to start with, we'll start with mine.

I didn't know it's going to be an assistant today.

What?

What's my pay?

What I want you to do.

Well, you said you're going to try to fail me.

Here's your chance.

Okay.

Here's my chance.

I want you to take, take this piece of tape.

I want you to put the coin right over my eye.

And in a 45 degree angle, I want you to just.

Oh, I feel bad.

Mash that down right across me.

Close up my eyes.

Okay?

No, you don't be afraid to hurt me.

Just give it a push, okay?

Give it a seal.

Like, seal it with your fingers.

Oh my gosh.

Best you can.

Okay.

Do the same with the other one on my left eye.

Okay.

so we got this all in.

You're convinced this is sealed in everything?

Oh, yeah, there's no doubt.

Seriously.

Now.

Again, I'm trying to make him fail.

Right.

So we got the sealed off, and like I said, it kind of helps me hype my other senses to where I can do certain things.

I asked you before we started this together, a bunch of random objects, I found some really bizarre.

Remember, you're in a TV station, so objects here are bizarre.

Okay, can we clear the table a bit?

I feel our stuff still here.

Just kind of move this around.

What I want you to do is grab one of the objects.

Okay.

And I'm going to just.

And I did not show him, trust me.

And they are bizarre.

I just told that.

I told her to.

Theyre bizarre.

Put some objects in a box.

I didn't want to see them, I want.

The more bizarre and random, the better.

Not like a stapler.

No, I did not.

So they went in the studio, grabbed a bunch of random objects.

And what this is, is a demonstration, as I was telling you before.

Effect of of what psychics call second sight.

and that's the ability to use other people's vision to tap into their brain to see things, so.

You might be in trouble because I my brain isn't.

Your brain isn't working?

I was gonna say.

I want you to take the object and just kind of stick it between my hands.

Okay?

And, and I'm.

And I'm not going to try to touch.

I need to wave my hands around.

So you.

Are you holding it there?

Do you have something?

Okay.

I'm going to keep over this way and into the object.

Wow.

This is.

You're right.

You didn't just get something.

This is kind of a large object, I think, It's heavy.

kind of like, kind of almost like a gun if you of sorts, kind of getting that kind of a shape where it's pointed, you're, it seems like you're holding like a pistol grip of some sort with a no, this is, it's got a trigger, but it isn't a gun.

It's heavy on the end with a pointer.

I would think that this is something like a drill or an electric screwdriver.

Oh my gosh!

How in the world?

We tried to.

Seriously Jim Grawe came with me.

We tried to pick out the most bizarre things that you would never how would you know that would be in a TV station?

Okay.

Give me another.

Let's try it again.

It's all right.

I think I'm getting good warmed up.

Okay.

Yes, Ill say you are.

So let me know when you've got something there.

Got it.

You got something here?

Okay.

Keep, keep focused on what it is and important that you visualize it.

Look at it directly.

Are you looking at it?

Oh, yeah, I'm picking up.

Oh, okay.

I see this is kind of long and skinny.

and dark, like a dark color with, numbers and letters on it, like buttons.

It would probably like a remote control or something.

How in the world do you do this?

It's just what I do.

I know you can't see.

I push the tape down.

It's just what I do.

So you want to try one more?

Okay, we'll try one more.

One more.

Okay.

So I know you have a number of things I didn't have you, like grab.

No.

But tell you how many a specific amount or anything.

You said a few, I said three, I got three.

And also I'm looking away, too.

I'm kind of wanting to make sure I'm not even pointing that direction.

Let me know when you've got something.

I've got it.

You've got it, okay.

Got it.

I'm getting this is something kind of smaller.

This is, I think the think this is this is sharp.

This is sharp, and it's like a teeth on it of some kind.

It's, and it goes like this.

Is this like a kind of, piece of pair of pliers?

Or maybe, it's close.

It removes staples.

I think it's a staple remover.

Oh, my gosh, that's unbelievable.

Oh, I am picking up on something Sierra.

Okay, I'm picking up on something else.

What?

You had a picture in your mind a minute ago.

You had a picturing something big like I can see the sky.

Does that make sense to you?

Yes.

Like see like stars?

Yes.

And planets.

How do you do this?

I think here the word was a word you were thinking of universe?

Is that what you were thinking?

Yes.

How do you.

How do you do that?

How do you do that?

It's on page 44 seriously.

I'm gonna I'm gonna.

That is unbelievable.

Go ahead and take this off.

Now, if I don't have any.

If I don't have any.

And I did not help you.

Any eyebrows.

I don't have any eyebrows.

I just it's because I if I look astonished, it's because I have no eyebrows.

So hold on.

Here we go.

Oh, that's gotta hurt.

I push that down so I know it.

Oh!

It's bright in here.

again now.

Yeah.

How did you do that?

So.

Universe right there.

Universe.

So I don't know, it's just, it's what they call real mind reading.

So if we want to see you in action, because, like you said, you do a lot of corporate events, but you also do events where the public can come see you.

Yes, I do, I do have, new show at the live at 205 Performance Theater, on which is also the home of the loony bin comedy club.

Plays once a month.

but the dates are never quite the same.

We had originally scheduled it for the first Saturday of every month, but we had to, we had to change that up due to my corporate schedule.

You can go to mastermindshowwichita.com, for updates on that.

The loony bin, website.

I'm not quite sure what that is.

I think it's wichita.loonybin.com.

and, so, and I also occasionally do fundraising events for the Kansas Honor flight.

And I'm a volunteer with them.

My wife and I have sponsored vets before.

I do some of the media relations and, shows for them.

and so occasionally if you go, look at the kansashonorflight.org, which, you know, is about veterans, that take veterans on the honor flights back to the memorials in Washington, DC.

I'm, I'm an active part of that group, because I love doing things for charity fundraisers where, the entertainment is more than just entertaining.

It's for a cause to where people come together and try to promote and help it, and so and that's.

I enjoy those type of things.

I appreciate all you do.

Thank you for taking your time to be here.

I've seen you many times.

Sacrificing my hair.

Yes, Im so sorry!

I tried not to do that.

Thats alright.

Anyway, if you want to look up Curtis the Mentalist, you can go to our website KPTS.org and we'll have a link for you.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for having me.

Well, you don't have to be a mind reader to know we're working on more interesting stories for next week, including this one.

I think he would be thrilled that his legacy is carried on in this flag today.

This Wichita artist died almost 50 years ago, but his work has probably never been more famous than now.

Find out how Cecil McAllister ever came to designing the Wichita flag, and why his best known work is suddenly so popular.

Also, retail is changing so fast as the internet gets more active and you just you just have to keep thinking of what's next.

Food trucks are all the rage these days, but what about fashion trucks?

While there's at least one making the rounds across south central Kansas, we'll find out why this unique approach to selling women's clothing could be the next new trend.

I'm Sierra Scott for those stories and many more on the next Positively Kansas.

We'll see you then.

Thanks for watching.

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