News & Issues

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

Diseased brain tissue from an Alzheimer's patient showing amyloid plaques (in blue) located in the gray matter of the brain.

Where Does Alzheimer’s Treatment Go From Here?

The failure of an experimental drug that targets clumps of protein inside the brains of Alzheimer’s patients called into question one of the leading theories about the cause of the dementia.

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The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

A diet high in saturated fats and sugars can affect the parts of the brain that are important to memory. Diet-linked brain changes can also make people more likely to crave the unhealthful food.

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collage of images from stories

Flatland’s Best of 2016

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Feeling Less Than Grateful? Some People Are Just Wired That Way

Gratitude is linked to better physical and mental health. But some people are wired in a way that that they place less value on it. And quickie exercises to boost gratefulness may not pay off.

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Take 5 For Your Health

Kansas City To Rethink Bike Plan Following Harsh Audit Kansas City will reassess its approach to accommodating cyclists, City Manager Troy Schulte told the city council Thursday. His announcement came in response to a new audit showing the city failing to achieve its goals of becoming more bike friendly. [FLEX-CONTENT] The audit concluded that the…

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Andy Williams theater in Branson, Missouri. Williams died of bladder cancer

Building Life Sciences

Doctors, nurses, scientists—just some of the usual suspects that come to mind when you think of medicine. Real estate experts? Not so much. Yet, economic development pros are helping catalyze some promising developments within the Kansas City-area’s life sciences industry. One of the latest examples is a potential game-changer for the treatment of bladder cancer….

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Seminaries Part of Metro’s Secret Sauce

Religion in the United States has been in transition for decades, as the percentage of the population identifying as Christian shrinks — and particularly as the religiously unaffiliated population has exploded to nearly 25 percent. The effects have rippled through the Kansas City area’s several seminaries and colleges that offer religious education. “The cultural challenges…

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"Project Rawhide" crossed out near a storefront.

Growing Nebraska Poultry Industry Spurs Environmental Concerns

A proposal that would jumpstart the chicken business in Nebraska has some residents concerned about the potential impact on the environment and are trying to block or delay its construction. Costco, the warehouse retailer and grocery chain, plans to build a giant $300 million chicken slaughterhouse on the south side of the town of Fremont…

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How Red And Green Became The Colors Of Christmas

Victorians used a lot of different color palettes, and even put Santa in blue and green robes. Thanks to Coca-Cola, things got a lot more uniform after 1931.

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"the fourth estate"

Media: Meet Us Where We Are

I’m long overdue, but I just got around to watching the 2015 Oscar-winning film “Spotlight” this weekend. As much as I enjoyed the movie, it increased my conflicted feelings regarding today’s reliance on social media and my anger at how far we’ve strayed from traditional media. “Spotlight” was about a Boston Globe investigative team defrocking…

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