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FEATURED STORY
One month into the new airport terminal, KC has questions
As Royals look to build a new $2 billion stadium, Kansas City service workers want to see employee protections
Bill Thompson cooks at a fast-food restaurant, shares a car with his wife and helps care for an older family member. He’s got a lot to manage, but Thompson has found time to attend “listening sessions” that the Kansas City Royals have organized to discuss plans for a new downtown ballpark. “We want to have…
What does the NFL Draft mean for Kansas City?
Football excitement in Kansas City won’t be over once the confetti gets vacuumed up after the Chiefs victory parade on Wednesday. In a little more than two months, Kansas City will host the 2023 National Football League Draft, an extravaganza that organizers predict will draw more visitors than any single event in the city’s history.…
Driving while poor: Project GreenLight wants to help drivers reinstate their licenses
In a city like Kansas City, car ownership is rarely a choice. For decades, the city has been planned around driving. Walkable neighborhoods are scarce, sidewalks are crumbling or nonexistent in some areas of the city, and access to public transportation can be spotty. But owning a car is not cheap — or easy. From…
Breaking down the new KCI terminal’s $1.5 billion budget
The opening date for Kansas City’s new airport terminal is Feb. 28, and the public will get the chance to see the city’s costliest infrastructure project at an open house on Feb. 18. Serious conversation about a new terminal began a little less than a decade ago, and the road to the terminal’s opening has…
Pawsitive impacts: Program aims to break generational cycles of poverty through pet grooming
In 2018, Ashley Stillings was living in Hope House, a homeless shelter in Lee’s Summit, with her three children. Her husband had received a 12-year prison sentence and she found herself her household’s sole provider. Stillings was working as a waitress when she came across a flier stating that pet groomers can earn $20 an…
Kansas City’s new airport terminal promises a completely different user experience
Construction of a gleaming new $1.5 billion terminal at Kansas City International Airport is nearly down to finishing touches. Kansas City residents voted by an overwhelming margin in 2017 to go ahead with the largest infrastructure project in the city’s history, trusting in promises that the new terminal would create a much-improved passenger experience and…
How investments in Black businesses can help close KC’s racial wealth gap
When Denisha Jones launched her business, Sweet Peaches Cobblers, in August 2020, it was just her, her husband, her mom and her sister in a community kitchen — taking orders, making the cobblers and doing deliveries. Now she has a team of individuals helping her sell cobblers in stores and at events and festivals across…
Rideshare drivers in Kansas City’s gig market want more protections from companies
April Shabazz began driving for Uber full time this summer. The job wasn’t new for her. Rideshare driving had been her side gig for three years, along with work as a tax preparer. Shabazz, a member of Stand Up KC and the Missouri Workers Center, likes Uber’s flexible schedule. It enables her to work around…
The fight for a living wage in Kansas City no longer stops at $15 an hour
For years, Kansas City workers and organizers have fought to increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The demand was front and center recently when workers at the Taco Bell fast-food restaurant on Wornall Road in Kansas City’s Waldo neighborhood held a walkout over claims of poor working conditions and low wages. “We…
To attract more developers, Kansas City changes its affordable housing ordinance — again
Just 19 months after passing a new housing ordinance aimed at requiring developers to offer “extremely affordable” housing, the Kansas City Council has decided it hasn’t worked. On Aug. 18, the council voted 9-4 to change the ordinance, with council members Heather Hall, Brandon Ellington, Eric Bunch and Andrea Bough voting no. Now there is…
Some Missourians impacted by COVID-19 can get thousands in housing assistance
If you’re a Missouri homeowner who has been financially set back due to COVID-19, you may qualify for up to $50,000 to help pay for your mortgage. And if you’re a renter who has also been impacted by the pandemic, you may qualify for thousands to offset rent and utility payments — including back payments…
At the first Kansas Starbucks to unionize, workers still fighting for ‘bare minimum’
On Aug. 1, wage increases and an improved benefits package went into effect for Starbucks stores across the nation — but not for any of the stores that have unionized. The next day, workers at the 75th Street and Interstate 35 location in Overland Park went on strike, protesting this exclusion and unfair labor practices. …
Despite free bus fare, many workers using RideKC confront obstacles along their commutes
In 2020, Kansas City became the first major U.S. city to offer free bus fare through a three-year program called ZeroFare KC.
KC Goes Tech provides training — and earning potential — to the people
In Kansas City and across the country, there aren’t enough workers to fill middle-skills jobs, which require at least a high school diploma but not a four-year degree. According to the latest data available from the National Skills Coalition, in 2018, 52% of U.S. jobs require skills training beyond high school. But only 43% of…
Tax assessors are out measuring your front lawn. What exactly are they up to?
Owners of all of Jackson County’s 301,000 residential and commercial properties are expected to receive a visit from property tax assessors in 2022. Data collectors from the tax assessment office, clad in bright vests, will be measuring property lines and asking homeowners questions about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and whether the basement or…
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