8+ hour, 29+ min ago (1339+ words) BARTON COUNTY " The problem sounds easy: Kansas has too few houses for sale, especially in small, rural communities struggling to attract young people and new businesses. The simple answer is to build more houses. But those in real estate say this shortage has been years in the making, and it may take years and creative thinking to emerge from it. "We've been under-building for decades," said Mark Tomb, vice president of governmental affairs for the Kansas Association of Realtors. "We're just not building enough homes." If all goes as planned, efforts in Barton County may offer a blueprint. The county commission has tapped economic development funds and other resources to help housing developments in three communities. "If we were to announce one housing development in one city, it would be a big deal," Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson said. "In this case,…...

3+ day, 8+ hour ago (475+ words) Every holiday season for nearly a century, thousands of tiny lights sparkle across Kansas City's Country Club Plaza. They're illuminated every Thanksgiving, in a ceremony broadcast on TV and featuring live music, circus performers and local celebrities. On Thursday evening, members of the Kansas City Current, fresh off a record-breaking season, will flip the switch. But that won't be the first time the Plaza's famous lights have been lit this week. The neighborhood conducts a test run every year ahead of the public ceremony, you just have to stay up really late " or wake up really early " to catch it. At 2 a.m. on Wednesday, a handful of Kansas Citians trickled into the Plaza to see the lights get turned on for the first time " away from the noise and crowds, and without the hassle of navigating traffic and finding parking. Downtown…...

6+ day, 8+ hour ago (848+ words) Overland Park and Lenexa have agreed to use tourism tax dollars to help fund a new, temporary bus service that will connect the two cities to Kansas City International Airport during next summer's World Cup. Last week, both city councils approved an agreement with the Board of County Commissioners to operate a free express bus transit line connecting KCI to Lenexa City Center and the Overland Park Convention Center. The effort will cost $2.6 million, with $2 million of that paid for by a federal grant administered through the Mid-America Regional Council. Both Lenexa and Overland Park agreed to chip in $200,000 each to make up the difference, along with another $200,000 from the county, which is expected to approve its portion soon. The service will tentatively start on March 1, 2026, and end on Nov. 30, 2026. During that time, all bus rides from the airport to…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (477+ words) The Republican secretaries of state for Kansas and Missouri signed a memorandum of understanding to exchange voter registration information in a bid to identify people who failed to cancel registrations after moving from one state to the other. Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab and Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said the partnership would enhance voter roll maintenance by "securely" sharing personal details on 1.87 million registered voters in Kansas and 4.13 million registered voters in Missouri. Two organizations dedicated to advancing voter rights expressed skepticism the two-state agreement would do much to strengthen election security. Neither secretary of state offered an estimate of the number of people in Kansas and Missouri who might have active registrations in a state where they used to reside. Hoskins said Missouri engaged in rigorous voter registration maintenance in accordance with state and federal law,…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago (1290+ words) The invention of the Reuben sandwich is grilled in controversy. One theory states that the first Reuben sandwich was created for Reuben Kulakofsky in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1925, during a weekly poker game, he asked the chef of the Blackstone Hotel to make him a sandwich, and this was the result. The second theory is that the sandwich was created in New York in 1914 by Arnold Reuben, who owned a delicatessen, for a Broadway actress who came in late at night. Either (or both) theory could be true " but for us, there's a more important question. Where in Kansas City serves the best Reuben? A traditional Reuben contains thin-sliced corned beef (a brisket brined with salt and spices), Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, Thousand Island or Russian dressing, and is served on grilled rye bread. But over time, traditions get remade, and we…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago (851+ words) There aren't many benches at bus stops around the Kansas City metro. At most stops, riders have to wait for their bus between 15 minutes to an hour in the rain, heat, snow or frigid cold with no place to sit. Sunrise Movement KC, a climate activist group, is trying to change that. The group has been placing DIY benches at bus stops around the metro. Jacob Antolini, an organizer with Sunrise, said the group has installed more than 20 benches since it started the effort last fall. But the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority keeps removing them. Antolini said the DIY benches were started as a tangible and quick way for people to take part in the group's transit activism. Sunrise Movement KC has also advocated for regional transit funding, as well as fast and frequent bus service. "The real impetus…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago (560+ words) Geomagnetic storms brought the northern lights to much of the U.S. on Tuesday night, painting the sky in vibrant hues of green and pink. The Aurora Borealis was spotted in a large swath of states, including Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Washington state. Northern lights were visible as far south as parts of Florida and Alabama, a relatively rare occurrence that highlights the severity of this week's storms. "Well, we had activity tonight " a lot of geomagnetic storm activity," Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center, said in a video on X. A geomagnetic storm happens when charged particles from the sun's atmosphere interact with the Earth's magnetic field. In addition to creating dazzling displays of color, such storms can disrupt technology on Earth, from…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (944+ words) Across Missouri and Kansas, nearly 1 million people have been left without food assistance in November, as the government shutdown drags on and benefits were held in limbo. After weeks of uncertainty, Kansas released full SNAP benefits to residents on Friday, while Missouri plans to release benefits " either full or partial payments " later this week. The release of SNAP benefits for the month of November comes amid ongoing court battles playing out between President Donald Trump's administration and some states, which sued the federal government to get benefits paid out. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food stamp program, told states like Kansas that paid out full benefits that doing so was "unauthorized" and that they needed to recover the payments made out to residents. The Trump administration appealed a federal judge's order to pay out full benefits, and the…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (957+ words) The Kansas City Chiefs put out a request for proposals to design a new stadium on the Kansas side of the state line with Missouri and are negotiating for land near the Kansas Speedway, according to two reports from Kansas City area talk show hosts. Pete Mundo of KCMO talk radio broke the news that the Chiefs contacted multiple firms regarding a new stadium to be built at Interstate 435 and Interstate 70. He said the news was confirmed by several sources. Mundo stressed that the RFP didn't mean the Chiefs had selected Kansas as the location for a new stadium and added that his "gut" said they would stay in Missouri. On Monday, Kevin Kietzman said on his podcast that the Chiefs are in negotiations with NASCAR and the state of Kansas to acquire land just west of the Kansas Speedway....

3+ week, 2+ day ago (473+ words) If you're flying out of Kansas City this weekend, be ready for delays " and possible cancellations. The Federal Aviation Administration announced that it will reduce air traffic by 10% at many major airports starting Friday. The move is an effort to keep U.S. airspace safe during the ongoing federal government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, which has caused widespread shortages among air traffic controllers. Kansas City International Airport is not one of the 40 airports expected to be subject to direct cuts, but travelers could still feel the impacts, according to the Kansas City Aviation Department. Thirty-two of the 40 airports on the list are served nonstop from MCI by passenger airlines, according to a KCAD statement. The KCAD says it's committed to keeping disruptions to a minimum. "Flyer safety and efficiency are of the utmost importance for the department and staff are working…...