Commentary |Walls That Unite

One morning in June 2007, I stopped by the construction site of a Habitat for Humanity house in the 3700 block of Flora Avenue and noticed that work had come to a temporary halt. As I explained soon after that in a Kansas City Star column, someone at the site had noticed that something didn’t…

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Why You Should Care About ‘Big Ag’ Companies Getting Bigger

Protestors rally in Colorado.

Five of the six biggest companies that produce and sell seeds and chemicals to the world’s farmers are pursuing deals that could leave a market dominated by just three giant, global companies. They say getting bigger means bringing more sophisticated and innovative solutions to farmers faster, but opponents say consolidation has irreversible downsides. Dow and…

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Take 5 For Your Health

the start of the swimming portion of a triathalon

For Some Ironman Triathletes, Kansas City Is Like Training In Hawaii For a handful of triathletes training in a pool at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas, simply swimming laps is too easy. Instead, they’ve got their legs constricted so their arms do the work of dragging their bodies through the water. Kansas…

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Low Wheat Prices Could Hit Kansas Rural Economy Hard

A man standing in front of his farm equipment.

This year was a very good year for growing wheat, but that means it could be a very bad year for wheat farmers. There’s a glut on the global wheat market and prices for winter wheat – which is grown all up and down the Great Plains, from Texas to North Dakota– wheat prices this…

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