News & Issues

Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.

McCaskill listening

PBS NewsHour: McCaskill launches investigation of opioid drugmakers

This morning from PBS NewsHour, read how Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, is taking on manufacturers of top-selling opioids to find out whether these drugmakers are creating a cycle of addiction instead of preventing it. See Flatland’s coverage of opioid addiction in the area and read additional health coverage. McCaskill launches investigation of opioid drugmakers…

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Listening With Respect: Discussion Tackles Century-Old Issues

This year’s 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation raises two questions, in local terms: What, after all this time, still divides Kansas City’s Protestants and Catholics? What common ground is marked by the Venn circles of beliefs and practices of these two huge branches of Christianity? Leaders of my own congregation, Second…

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Corn Belt Farmers Wary As Leadership In Washington Shifts

As President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Agriculture, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, goes in front of the Senate, it bucks a recent trend of Midwest leadership at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And it is making many in the farm country of the Midwest and Great Plans a little leery. Coupled with the…

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Why More Farmers Are Making The Switch To Grass-Fed Meat And Dairy

Advocates of grass-grazing cattle say it’s better for the environment and the animals. But there’s another upside: Grass-fed meat and dairy fetch a premium that can help small farms stay viable.

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Plan Calls for Historic Kansas City Star Building to be Sold and Redeveloped

By Kevin Collison The owner of the Kansas City Star has a tentative agreement to sell the newspaper’s headquarters at 1729 Grand Blvd., a downtown landmark since 1913 where a young Ernest Hemingway once reported. McClatch Corp., the owner of The Star, has reached a “handshake agreement” with a developer who wants to convert the…

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