After a meager year in 2025, Kansas City’s regional economy did better than expected in 2026, at least when it comes to adding new jobs. Growth is projected to continue in 2027 — just a bit slower. That’s the top-line takeaway from the Mid-America Regional Council’s annual economic forecast, presented this month by Frank Lenk, […]
Labor
Posted inEconomics
Moving goods is one of KC’s biggest industries. Record diesel prices make it hard to keep trucking
Ryan Schmuhl started his trucking business — Schmuhl Brothers Inc., based in Kansas City, Kansas — in 1995 with his brother Ty and two big rigs. In 2000, he estimates, a 360-mile round trip cost about $90 in diesel. He said that the same trip, on the same lanes, costs about $490 today. “I used […]
Posted inLabor
‘We are human beings’: UMKC workers take their fight for higher pay public
Belkis Cabrera has worked as a custodian at the University of Missouri-Kansas City for 16 years. Each time she and her co-workers earn a merit raise, she said, increasing healthcare costs and inflation swallow it. “We are not asking for much, just respect and enough pay to get by,” Cabrera said through an interpreter at […]
Posted inLocal Government
The good, the bad, the missing: How community benefits for new Royals stadium stack up
The 11-page ‘community impact partnership agreement’ commits at least $55 million back to Kansas City over 30 years. Here’s what the public gets and how it compares to other deals.
Posted inLabor
KC Streetcar workers vote to unionize after record summer, expansion talks
Privately employed KC Streetcar operators, maintenance workers and maintenance technicians vote 41-11 to join Teamsters.
Posted inLabor
Worker groups seek common ground on proposed new Royals ballpark
Two weeks after a public meeting broke down in jeers, Mayor Quinton Lucas invited Kansas City worker groups to talk. Here’s what they agree on — and what they don’t.
Posted inEconomics
Barfly on the wall: An inside look at a World Cup match night in a 5 a.m. bar in Kansas City
Argentina vs. Algeria filled the screens, but here’s what we saw from the table of a downtown bar on a match night and what extended alcohol service hours actually looked like.
Posted inLabor
Closing time at 5 a.m.: How extended bar hours happened for World Cup in some KC spots
Missouri loosened its liquor laws for the tournament. Then Kansas City reined them in. Here are the 16 bars that landed a 5 a.m. license and the process they went through to get there.
Posted inEconomics
Against headwinds, minority-owned businesses open at higher rate in KC
A new Kauffman Foundation report shows business creation rebounding to pre-pandemic levels, led by Black, Latino and immigrant founders. But increasing numbers are often driven by necessity, and Kansas City is falling behind the national pace.
Posted inHousing
Union group wants to bolster KC’s affordable housing by investing pension money
Union leaders say pension-backed housing projects could help Kansas City tackle affordable housing and labor shortages.