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Posted inState Government

Housing, tax credits and unions: Missouri economic development bills to watch in 2025

Josh Merchant
by Josh Merchant
 The Trust Project

For the next five months, lawmakers will consider what kind of businesses to boost, how landlords will be allowed to manage their properties and whether to overhaul Missouri’s income, sales and property taxes.

These bills are only proposals for now. They could be amended — in some cases, dramatically — before they ever come to a vote. More than 1,000 bills have been proposed this year, and only a few will pass the House and Senate and get a signature from Gov. Mike Kehoe. You can find a guide to following the legislative session here.

Here’s a guide to some of the legislative proposals that could affect development, taxes and the economy.

Posted inLocal Government

As Kansas City Life Insurance flattens houses in the Valentine neighborhood, residents anxiously await what’s next

Josh Merchant
by Josh Merchant
 The Trust Project

Dozens of homes and businesses on four blocks of the Valentine neighborhood have been razed over the past 120 years, demolished one by one from 80 at its peak in 1909 to 30 at the beginning of this year.

As 2024 comes to a close, only eight still stand in the area bordered by 33rd and 35th streets, Southwest Trafficway and Pennsylvania Avenue.

“It’s like a wasteland,” said Catherine Hayes, a Valentine resident for the past 40 years.

Posted inHousing

A winter guide to Kansas City area renters’ rights

Josh Merchant
by Josh Merchant
 The Trust Project

For a renter, waking up to a broken heater or burst pipes can kick off months of negotiations with a landlord. And even when it’s fixed, improper insulation or outdated windows can let the heat out and balloon energy bills.

Some cities have rules to make sure that safety issues like heat get fixed quickly. In Kansas City, Missouri, you can file a Healthy Homes complaint to get problems fixed. In Overland Park, you can submit an OPCares request to ask a city inspector to take a look.

Here’s a guide to what the law requires of your landlord, as well as some renter-friendly tips on how you can keep your apartment warm and safe during the winter months.

Posted inLocal Government

Kansas City looking to resolve disputes over Urbavore and urban farming

Josh Merchant
by Josh Merchant
 The Trust Project

Kansas City’s effort to nurture urban farming and make fresh produce and compost available to residents has run into neighborhood complaints and zoning citations.

The City Council’s agenda for today includes action to put an end to a zoning dispute at the heart of tensions between an urban farm, its neighbors and city officials in charge of regulations that can make urban farming difficult.

Posted inHealth

Stealing from Kansas City’s poor: Thieves use bogus machines to scan EBT cards and rob food stamp accounts

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by Suzanne King
 The Trust Project

A scam to steal food stamp benefits from some of Kansas City’s poorest families picked up again this summer. Thieves installed inconspicuous gadgets at grocery store checkouts, many along Independence Avenue in Kansas City’s northeast, and skimmed the data — and dollars — right off the EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards the state issues to […]

Posted inKansas City

Missouri minimum wage election results: Proposition A passes to impose higher pay and more sick leave

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by Savannah Hawley-Bates
 The Trust Project

Missouri voters appear to have approved a statewide ballot initiative to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and require private employers to provide paid sick leave. Proposition A held approximately 58% of the vote, as of 12:30 a.m., according to a preliminary vote count by the Associated Press. Proponents of the measure […]

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