Can The Buzz Of Bees Predict Success For Farmers?
See a bee; hear a buzz. That is what researchers studying the declining bee population are banking on. A new technique based on recording buzzing bees hopes to show farmers just how much pollinating the native bee population is doing in their fields. Vegetable and fruit growers depend on pollinators to do a lot of…
Gather & Grow & Other Weekend Possibilities
Get away from the city this week and discover life on the farm with Gather & Grow this Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. The third annual benefit for Boys Grow features food from chefs Howard Hanna, John Smith, and Ted Habiger, alongside beers from Brewery Emperial (the new downtown brewery that counts Habiger among its…
Tech N9ne to Kickoff New Indoor Concert Venue in Crossroads this September; First Foray Outside Nashville for Operators
By Kevin Collison A couple of veterans of the Nashville concert scene are opening a new indoor venue in the Crossroads called The Truman, and have chosen a local music icon to kick off their series, Tech N9ne. Chris Cobb and his partner, Josh Billue, have a good feeling about opening their first venture outside…
Downtown Kansas City Convention Hotel Project Gets New Investor and Operator; Groundbreaking Expected Oct. 1
By Kevin Collison The long-planned Kansas City downtown convention hotel has a new flag and welcome infusion of cash from Loews Hotels, a New York-based luxury hotel operator. Attorney Mike Burke, principal at KC Hotel Developers LLC, says Loews has agreed to invest a “substantial” amount of equity in the 800-room project and operate the…
Sloshies Wants to Help You Adult Your Way into Summer
There’s a new way to get your brain freeze. “Sloshies: 102 Boozy Cocktails Straight From The Freezer” was published last week. Author Jerry Nevins, one of the co-founders of Snow & Company, wrote the cookbook designed to bring the frozen cocktail experience to your kitchen with recipes that instruct you to either use a freezer-safe…
New Spokes Peddles Beers, Bikes and Bites in Downtown Kansas City
By Kevin Collison Downtown Kansas City is on a roll, and one of its latest new businesses is spinning a blend of bicycles, beers and good food, a combination that’s proved popular in other cities including Denver and Minneapolis. The new Spokes opened five weeks ago at 1200 Washington St., one of the first retailers…
Five Things to Do This Weekend
Get Crafty Generally, it’s a good idea to be suspicious of anything that adds an extra “e” to the word “fair.” That pseudo-Olde Englishness just reeks of pretension. Make an exception, however, for the Kansas City Maker Faire at Union Station. In an age when most of us are surrounded by technology we don’t understand,…
Building From Within
It took three years and two superintendents, but in 2013, a band of Kansas City Public Schools parents achieved the unthinkable: the reopening of an elementary school in a rapidly contracting district. The school was Hale Cook, which began with kindergarten and first grade in borrowed space at Hartman Elementary, at 81st and Oak streets….
Could Drones Help Save People In Cardiac Arrest?
AED-carrying drones beat ambulance times to the sites of previous cardiac arrest cases in a rural area of Sweden, a study finds. But this has yet to be tried in real emergencies.
Tap List | Tom’s Town Collaborates With Torn Label
In the true spirit of craft, Tom’s Town Distilling Company head distiller Rob Vossmeyer has created a Belgian quadrupel-based whiskey with the help of Torn Label Brewing Company. Available in limited quantity, the unique whiskey is part of The Pendergast Machine series. Vossmeyer envisioned The Pendergast Machine series, named after “Boss” Tom Pendergast’s political organization,…
Urban Core Group Offers Inside Look at New Pickwick Plaza Apartment Project in Downtown KC
The Urban Core Group is holding its monthly get together June 28 at East9, aka the historic Pickwick Plaza apartment project. The new development transformed what was once a hotel, bus station and office complex into apartments geared toward millennials. Maybe you can take a spin on the huge turntable that once spunned buses around?
Indianapolis Postcard
Commentary by Kevin Collison Indianapolis is considered one of the smarter cities in America when it comes to revitalizing its downtown so a recent Father’s Day weekend visit provided an opportunity to check out at least some of the goods and compare it with what’s been happening in Kansas City. We visited White River State…
Downtown Kansas City Apartment Boom Fueled by Return to Walkable Living
By Kevin Collison Apartment construction in metropolitan Kansas City is hitting levels not seen since before the Great Recession with more than 5,000 units expected to be completed by the end of this year. Many of those projects are going up in downtown Kansas City and similar places such as old Overland Park where developers…
‘Supersizing Urban America’: How U.S. Policies Encouraged Fast Food To Spread
A new book examines how federal government policies made it easier for minorities to open fast-food franchises than grocery stores. Today the landscape of urban America reflects this history.
Let’s Put a Priority on Doing Good Work
Society does a real number on us regarding what the “important” professions are in the world. As with many beliefs we are indoctrinated with, they’re not always true. That’s why when I look at the budget threat to the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s theater department, including the potential cut of four more faculty members, I…