News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
Omaha Postcard
By Kevin Collison Port KC rolled out its sketchy concept for the Berkley Riverfront a few weeks ago, but if anyone wants to see a farsighted vision realized, they should drive three hours up I-29 to Omaha. First off, Kansas City and Omaha share a very similar relationship with the Missouri River. Both towns started…
Downtown Kansas City Traffic Snarls Ahead with Two Major Bridges Closed
By Kevin Collison While concerns over closing the Buck O’Neil Bridge has been center stage in recent months, Kansas is moving forward with a project that will shut down a second major downtown bridge for two years, the westbound Lewis & Clark Viaduct. And there’s a good chance both bridges, which carry a combined 62,000…
Sale of The Kansas City Star Press Pavilion for Fraction of 2006 Cost Reflects Declining Newspaper Industry
By Kevin Collison When it opened in 2006, The Kansas City Star Press Pavilion was hailed as a major contribution to the revitalization of downtown and the latest technology in the newspaper industry. The striking 434,000 square-foot building clad in green glass and copper covered two city blocks, rising from four stories along 17th Street…
Hyundai Uses Downtown Kansas City Skyline in National Commercial–Sort of
In a weird mash-up, Hyundai is using the Kansas City skyline, with a few more buildings thrown in for good measure, in a national television commercial for its Sonata model. The spot opens with heavy freeway traffic in the foreground but there’s no mistaking the core downtown skyline in the background: One Kansas City Place,…
KC Clergy Stood Fast With Anti-War Stance
He’s 84 now, and has been retired since 2003 from his role as pastor of a United Methodist Church in northern California, but the Rev. Phillip Lawson vividly remembers all the trouble he stirred up in Kansas City in 1970 by speaking out against the Vietnam War. He went to Hanoi and, in a radio…