News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
‘Bountiful’ Jackson County Community Exemplifies Religious Freedom
The practice of changing one’s religious affiliation goes back more than a century in the family of W. Kevin Romer. He’s now presiding bishop of the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a resident of what the church calls “Bountiful: A New Jerusalem Community” in eastern Jackson County. Romer’s father was one…
Hundreds of Kansans Lost Their Apartment Due to Landlord Neglect. One Change in Law Could Help
GARDNER, Kansas — When the city of Gardner in eastern Kansas ordered Aspen Place apartments closed for unsafe living conditions last May, Candice Montgomery came home to a frantic neighborhood. She and other residents of the Gardner housing complex only had 48 hours to leave their homes. “It was total chaos,” Montgomery said. “My neighbors are everywhere, people…
Nick’s Picks | WyCo, High-Rises, Buses and More …
Kelce Retirement Announcement? What’s your big new distraction now that the Chiefs are out of the playoffs? It’s going to be a long winter for Chiefs fans after the team fails to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Now get ready for the questions: Will Travis Kelce announce his retirement this week?…
Nick’s Picks | Soccer, Signatures, Supplements and More …
Reworking World Cup Plans Now that we know which World Cup teams will be coming to Kansas City, are local officials about to redraw the game plan? While a formal announcement could come later this week, the Kansas City World Cup Host Committee is dialing up its fan projections after drawing the reigning World Cup champions, Argentina and European soccer powerhouse,…
The USDA defunded a program aimed at helping small farmers
When Makeesha Munro and her partner Travis Jones started their farm in Collins, Missouri, they didn’t expect to be traveling across the state to sell the culinary mushrooms they grow. Jones was semiretired and looking for a way to leverage their property for additional income. One night, they decided to dive into farming mushrooms. After…
Downtown KC Renaissance Seeds Congregations
As civic, commercial and residential life has blossomed in Kansas City’s Downtown in recent years, religious life has grown there, too. But that doesn’t mean it’s been easy for newly planted Downtown faith communities to flourish. “It’s been tougher in one sense than we thought it would be,” says the Rev. Troy Campbell, pastor of…
Nick’s Picks | Thanksgiving, Plaza, Betting
Kansas City shifts into festive high gear this week with the granddaddy of all local holiday traditions, the Plaza Lighting Ceremony. Members of the Kansas City Current, including Laurel Ivory and Kayla Sharples, will flip the switch on the Country Club Plaza’s more than 250,000 bulbs on Thanksgiving night. While the music and speeches start…
Nick’s Picks | Andretti, FIFA, Petition and More …
From Shutdown to Epstein Now that the federal government shutdown is over, our major news outlets need another big drama to focus on. They seem to have found it in the Epstein files. The House is expected to vote Tuesday on releasing the final documents relating to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The…
Flatland Explores Local American Revolution History in Light of Latest Burns Documentary
It was 10 p.m. on Veterans Day when the returning service members stepped onto the terrazzo floor between Baggage Carousels 5 and 6. The veterans, many from the Vietnam War era, were returning to Kansas City International on the return leg of their trip through Honor Flight, the nonprofit that takes veterans on free, day-long…
Nick’s Picks | Veterans, Mission Gateway, Big Sonia and More …
Shutdown Deal on the Way Is America’s longest government shutdown about to end? It could be over by the end of the week, after a group of eight Democrats agree to join Senate Republicans in a vote to reopen the government, at least through January. The deal comes without a guaranteed extension of health care…