Listening Post

Crane Brewing was selected the 2016 Small Business of the Year and was recognized at the 22nd annual Raytown Chamber Celebration Luncheon held on Jan. 25. In its recognition, the chamber said this group of owners took a personal passion and turned it into a successful business. Crane Brewing has embraced the Raytown community and Raytown is proud to have the words “Brewed and Bottled in Raytown, MO” on each label. Crane Brewing was originally distributed in the Kansas City metro area and eastern Kansas. It has now available in the Missouri cities of St. Louis, Columbia, Springfield, Branson, Joplin, Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, and Tulsa and Oklahoma City in Oklahoma. It also opened a new Taproom in November. Shown at the celebration are Chris Meyers (from left), Congregation Beth Torah member Michael Crane, and Christian Coryell. For more information visit www.cranebrewing.com.

‘HEART DECO’ — Norm Ledgin is promoting his new book “Heart Deco.”

Here’s the synopsis: Max Gold has fantasized about 1930s “blonde bombshell” movie star Jean Harlow his entire life. All the world believes she died in 1937. Now it’s 1989, and widower Max — video store operator and connoisseur of cinema — is certain he has seen her. Harlow has been revived from a frozen state, he says, cured of her illness, and is back to her Kansas City roots for a quiet life under an assumed name. Naturally, he goes into hot pursuit ...

The 252-page book is available on amazon.com for Kindle or paperback. Four customer reviews have all given it five-star ratings. 

Ledgin’s bookwriting career began with nonfiction, “Diagnosing Jefferson” (2000), followed by “Asperger’s and Self-Esteem” (2002), the latter republished in France. His forays into historical fiction include “The Jayhawker” (2006), designated a Kansas “best book” during the 2011 sesquicentennial.

His mysteries, which feature a sexagenarian sleuth and piano teacher are “Sour Notes” (2009) and “Disharmony” (2016). His most recent historical fiction, “Sally of Monticello: Founding Mother (2012),” has generated an audience bordering on cult. 

In another life preceding bookwriting, Ledgin was an award-winning traffic safety specialist and a North Jersey journalist, blacklisted following House Un-American Activities Committee public condemnation of him in 1951 for opposing the manufacture and use of nuclear weapons.

Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee Executive Director Marvin Szneler was in Washington, D.C., last week. He attended the annual National Prayer Breakfast as the guest of Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder. While in Washington he also attended the AJC Muslim Jewish Council event hosted by Senators Ben Cardin and Orrin Hatch. Szneler (right) is shown here visiting with Rep. Yoder at the congressman’s office.