News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
New Power & Light District Mural a Sky-High Tribute to Kansas City’s African-American Cultural and Sports Heritage
By Kevin Collison Alexander Austin has worked on some big canvasses as one of the city’s preeminent street muralists, but the new assignment he’s executing in the Power & Light District is taking him to an even higher level. As in working up to 80 feet above street level painting a mural over a half-football…
Messenger Coffee Sending Savory Aroma of Roasting Beans and Baking Bread to Grand Boulevard
By Kevin Collison The intersection of 17th and Grand will soon become the most irresistible olfactory zone in downtown Kansas City with the arrival Oct. 21 of Messenger Coffee Co. Matt Matsch, CEO and managing partner of Messenger, and his partners have converted a former car dealership at 1624 Grand Blvd. into what they hope…
ULI Experts Recommend Holding Off on North Loop, Focus on Improving Highway 9 and Independence Avenue Instead
By Kevin Collison The North Loop freeway that divides the River Market from the rest of downtown won’t be going away anytime soon if the advice of a panel of national urban planning experts is followed. Bottom line, there’s too much easily developable land already available downtown to make it cost effective to redevelop the…
Beans Add Healthy Fiber And Protein To Gluten-Free Pastas
Pastas made from starches like rice are a boon for those with celiac disease and wheat allergies. The downside: Many spike blood-sugar levels. What to do? Look toward bean-based options.
KC Startup 101 | The Business of Beer
Our Facebook Live series, #KCStartup101, sits down with Calibration Brewery, Callsign Brewing, Colony KC, The Big Rip Brewing Company and Cinder Block Brewery in North Kansas City to discuss the business of beer. Hear from the roundtable as these gentlemen talk honestly about the good and the bad of being in the business of beer….
Apartment Development at 27th and Troost Near Hospital Hill Receives Nod for Tax Incentives
By Kevin Collison Construction is expected to begin this fall on a $24 million apartment project that will replace a vacant, decrepit block at 27th and Troost with 182 market-rate residences. The new development is next to the Beacon Hill neighborhood and a major market will be employees and students at the nearby Hospital Hill…
Denver Postcard: Cost of Millennial Utopia, Downtown Apartments Cost Over 50 Percent Above KC
By Kevin Collison During a recent visit to old friends in Denver, I got a kick out of their 20-something son’s T-shirt. On it was an image of the retro-wooden, highway sign you see crossing the border: “Welcome to Colorful Colorado.” Beneath it read “No Vacancy.” It was telling of the huge growth boom going…
Crossroads Academy Wants to Open Permanent High School in Historic Attucks School in 18th & Vine Jazz District
By Kevin Collison The Crossroads Academy hopefully has found a new permanent home for its downtown high school, the long-vacant, historic Attucks School in the 18th & Vine Jazz District. The charter school has submitted a bid to the city to buy the old building at 1815 Woodland Ave. If accepted, it could ultimately house…
This Once-Obscure Fruit Is On Its Way To Becoming PawPaw-Pawpular
In the Deep Run Pawpaw Orchard outside of Westminster, Md., Donna Davis is showing me how the pros eat a pawpaw. She jams her thumbs into the fruit’s soft green skin and splits it open, innards oozing. “Just suck out the flesh,” she instructs, slurping up the yellow meat. “They can [taste like] a cross…
Christianity Faces Another Tempest
As the world marks the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation in October, lots of Kansas City’s Protestant churches know that today they’re in another major theological upheaval. This one isn’t as violent (yes, the Protestant Reformation turned viciously violent for decades) as the one in 1517, but it may be as…