Local News


Federal funding in place for KC streetcar extension

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) have officially recommended that the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension to UMKC receive the full federal funding requested to build the project under the FTA’s New Starts Capital Investment Grants… more

Coping with COVID: New executive order requires COVID-19 testing in Kansas adult care facilities

Governor Laura Kelly held a press conference Wednesday to provide updates regarding COVID-19 in Kansas, joined by KDADS Secretary Laura Howard and KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman. Kelly announced she has signed Executive Order #20-69, requiring COVID-19 testing in certain adult care… more

BlueKC to extend waive of some COVID-19 costs into 2021

A select number of commercial health insurers nationwide have announced they intend to continue waiving certain COVID-19 member costs going into 2021. Members of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City are among those to benefit, Blue KC only… more

Clinical Reference Laboratory expands operations out west

Confirm BioSciences out of San Diego, Calif. has been acquired by Lenexa-based Clinical Reference Laboratory (CRL). CRL is one of the largest privately held clinical testing laboratories in the U.S., and now leverages Confirm's massive customer base in Drugs of… more

North Kansas City declines partnership with Vizient

At least one of three Kansas City metro hospitals has opted out of a statewide partnership with Vizient, a national health care performance company. First announced as a statewide partnership by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, the company is expected to… more

KU Hospital, metro seeing rapid depletion of ICU beds

During the University of Kansas Health System's daily coronavirus briefing Wednesday morning, Dr. Dana Hawkinson, the hospital's director of infection prevention and control, noted that of the hospital's 89 patients with an acute COVID-19 infection, 47 of them are in the… more

Lenexa-based Westlake Ace Hardware expands north

Westlake Ace Hardware is stocking up in Nebraska, with a deal to buy four additional stores in Lincoln. Lenexa-based Westlake said it will buy four Q.P. Ace Hardware stores in a deal expected to close later this month. Terms of… more

Snack manufacturer to build new facility in region, add jobs

Pretzel and snack product manufacturer Pretzels, Inc. will construct its newest facility in the Kansas City metro. Plans to build a state-of-the-art production facility inside of VenturePark in Lawrence, Kan. is expected to produce a large quantity of new jobs.… more

Kansas City to see Amazon cloud expansion in 2021

The expansion of Amazon technology services to businesses and customers across the U.S. is part of an effort by the company's subsidiary Amazon Web Services Inc. to expand use of its cloud-based data center tools. E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. is… more

Waddell & Reed headquarters construction to continue

Waddell & Reed broke ground earlier this year on an 18-story headquarters at 1400 Baltimore Ave., though a recent sell of the company and  planned 2021 acquisition could throw off its local relocation plan. The breakup of Waddell & Reed… more