Blue River Cleanup Targets Trash, Invasive Species

A restoration project is underway along the Blue River watershed, a collaborative effort by four nonprofit partners: The Heartland Conservation Alliance, Bridging The Gap, Deep Roots, and Mid-America Regional Council. The groups signed the contracts officially in May. “The day that we got our signed contract sent to us from the city kind of felt…

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The End of the Pesticide Arms Race?

To spray or not to spray, that’s the question for farmers. Pests can be the make-or-break factor for a season’s harvest. Between 20% to 40% of global crop production is lost to pests annually, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Conventional chemical pesticides have traditionally addressed this challenge, but their…

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Hundreds of Bee Species Face Decline in Missouri and Kansas

Augochlora pura, the Pure Golden Green Sweat Bee, rests on a yellow coneflower in the MU Extension Garden at Burr Oak Woods Conservation Area outside of Kansas City on July 23, 2025. The pure golden green bee can be seen pollinating flowers from April to October. (Abigail Landwehr | Flatland)

To Tom Schroeder, every bee is a work of art.  His own words, backed up with hundreds of photos in his camera roll from the prairies and woods of Kansas City WildLands. With more than two decades of volunteering with the group, he’s become a bee enthusiast– but not an expert, he’ll clarify. “We’re the…

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Developers eye idle KCK power plant as the region pursues data center projects

Investors have offered to buy the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities’ defunct Quindaro Power Station and develop a data center on the site. (Vaughn Wheat/The Beacon)

A defunct Kansas City, Kansas, power station astride polluted land has caught the eye of investors eager to develop an energy-hungry data center. The investors have offered to pay millions of dollars for the environmental remediation of the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities’ defunct Quindaro Power Station — and then some. The Unified Government…

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Manufacturers Out of Step with Customers on Repairs

One goal of right-to-repair legislation, including measures considered in Missouri and Kansas, is to make it easier for farmers to fix their own equipment.

Would you want your livelihood to depend on your daughter’s choice of dance escorts? Don’t laugh. Nathan Proctor has heard anecdotes to that effect in his role with PIRG, a Denver-based federation of state-based public interest research groups. Proctor is the senior director of PIRG’s right-to-repair campaign, which aims to break down the barriers that…

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