News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
Downstream
Downstream As Kansas City Grows, Rivers Become Increasingly Urbanized By: Jesse Howe Kansas City is served by multiple watersheds, the Blue River being the largest. (184,998 Acres) The watershed runs through four counties before it reaches the Missouri River. 54 percent of the watershed is in Kansas 46 percent is in Missouri Approximately 63 percent of…
Great Plains Ranchers Look To Rebuild In Wake Of Massive Fires
Gena Kirk did not realize the largest wildfire in Kansas history was closing in on the Kirk Ranch on March 6 until she got a call from her brother-in-law. After realizing that her herd was in danger, she jumped into her pickup and sped up the hill where several of her cattle were grazing. As…
Missouri Researchers Join Hunt For One Of Medicine’s Elusive Quarries: Artificial Blood
Medical researchers have made a lot of progress developing artificial versions of organs like the heart, lungs and kidneys, but one thing has stumped them: artificial blood. Blood is especially hard to recreate because it does so many things, from carrying oxygen to helping the immune system to heating and cooling the body. Now, some…
Tap List | Torn Label Barrels Ahead
Torn Label Brewing Company has been having a lot of fun with barrels lately. Case in point: Torn Label brewmaster and co-founder Travis Moore has crafted a 15-barrel batch of Barrel-Aged Long Time Comin’ for its 2017 release. However, rather than stick with a single type of barrel, the brewery created unique barrel-aged variants within the…
Keeping the Pace After the Passion
Hailee Bland-Walsh has long been an activist in the LGBTQ community. Though she has shut down traffic marching in San Francisco, it was the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., in January that was one of the “most transformative” experiences she’s had. “It was so powerful, the density of human beings in one place,” said Bland-Walsh,…
Broth-Loving Hipsters Are Pushing Up The Price Of Bones
Dear dogs of America — sorry about bone broth. Since this well-marketed take on an ancient beverage started sweeping hip enclaves like New York, Austin and Los Angeles a few years ago, it’s getting harder to find cheap bones. Unlike many food fads, bone broth seems to be here for the long simmer. As more…
Kansas City, Mo., Voters Approve $25 Fine In Easing Of Marijuana Law
Nearly 75 percent of voters approved the ballot initiative, which stands in stark contrast to current Missouri law. The change applies to people caught with 35 grams or less of marijuana.
Where Nature and Science Meet at the Farmhouse
Eleven-year-old Jamie O’Connell Case hangs out with her classmates like any other schoolgirl, but her farm time is special, when she holds her baby goats, weaves fleece, and studies the heavens, along with many things below. Nestled along rolling hills just east of Interstate 49, at the outskirts of Kansas City, Missouri, is her family’s…
Downtown KC Convention Hotel Design Connects Downtown with Crossroads
By Kevin Collison The planned $310 million convention hotel project is expected to create a better pedestrian connection between major downtown destinations as well as provide dramatic views for its guests, its architect says. “We believe that this building should be designed for the residents of Kansas City,” architect Bob Neal of Atlanta-based Cooper Carry…
Drop-In Centers In Rural Kansas Aim To Address Dangers Of Isolation
The social and health effects of isolation on some rural Kansas residents spurred three Catholic nuns to convert a storefront in Concordia into a drop-in center where women can find support and resources. Seven years after the center opened, two dozen women on average come through each day in the town of about 5,000 to…