News & Issues

Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.

Nick Haines

Nick’s Picks | A Dozen Stories to Watch This Week in KC

Here’s your look at the week before it happens. From politics to pop culture, from the Symphony to sports. Here are 12 stories to keep an eye on this week.

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Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced on Thursday that she has vetoed legislation to redraw congressional boundaries.

Kansas Governor Vetoes GOP Congressional Map, Calls for Bipartisan Compromise

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday vetoed a GOP-drawn congressional map that would divide the Kansas City metro and place Lawrence into a rural district that stretches to the Colorado border.

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Regional Skate Park, Artworks, Could ‘Enhance’ New Buck O’Neil Bridge

By Kevin Collison Creating a regional skate park beneath the approach ramps to the new Buck O’Neil Bridge is among the ideas in a report prepared by a group tasked to enliven what’s now a bland infrastructure project. Work is well underway on the $220 million replacement span that will carry US 169 traffic over…

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Sign on a mirror reads: hemp engineered manufactured products

‘Highway to Hemp’: Building, Making and Dreaming Big with Hemp Fiber

Manufacturers are finding new ways to make sustainable products using hemp fiber.

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River Bluff Brewing Opening Soon at Second and Main

(Editor’s note: River Bluff Brewing will officially open March 5) By Kevin Collison River Bluff Brewing, the latest addition to the greater downtown microbrewery scene, expects to open in mid-February on a cozy street near the Town of Kansas Bridge at the foot of Main. “We feel like with Second Street, we’re in the heart…

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Fran Marion is a leader in the Fight for $15 movement

Feeling the Effects of a Widening Wealth Gap

A recent study from WalletHub ranked 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of wealth gaps by ethnicity. When you add it all up, Black families are still getting the short end of the stick nationwide.

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The long-vacant historic City Workhouse Castle opened in 1897 to incarcerate petty criminals and vagrants.

Boutique Hotel Proposed for Historic Workhouse Castle on Vine

By Kevin Collison The ruined former City Workhouse Castle built in 1897 to incarcerate petty criminals and vagrants would accommodate a far more upscale clientele as a boutique hotel in a new redevelopment proposal. The massive limestone curiosity at 2001 Vine St. near the 18th & Vine Jazz District and 23 acres of nearby property…

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The long-vacant historic City Workhouse Castle opened in 1897 to incarcerate petty criminals and vagrants.

Boutique Hotel Proposed for Historic City Workhouse Castle on Vine

The ruined former City Workhouse Castle built in 1897 to incarcerate petty criminals and vagrants would accommodate a far more upscale clientele as a boutique hotel in a new redevelopment proposal.

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Investigators search through a highway construction site, Nov. 29, 1988, in Kansas City, where explosions shattered windows over a 10-mile area and killed six firefighters.

Security Guards May Have Been Involved in 1988 Explosion that Killed 6 Kansas City Firefighters

Newly released government documents involving a 1988 arson fire that killed six Kansas City firefighters affirm the guilt of five people who were convicted of the crime but also find that two other individuals may have been involved.

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Pembroke Ward Parkway Campus Completes $52M Expansion

By Kevin Collison Pembroke Hill has completed a $52 million expansion of its Ward Parkway Campus that includes a new athletic center and a dining hall illuminated by windows featuring striking sculptural screens. The new 53,000 square-foot Bellis Athletic Center replaces the aging Pierson gymnasium and expands the private school’s ability to host athletic and…

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