Regional

Council Approves $72.8M for Buck O’Neil Bridge

The city council in Kansas City has approved $72.8 million to pay for the replacement of the Buck O'Neil Bridge, which connects Downtown to north of the Missouri River. It is being paid for by a mix of bond issues… more

Best Buy Furloughs Hourly Employees

National electronics chain Best Buy, which operates eight stores in the Kansas City Metro area, is furloughing 51,000 hourly employees and nearly all of its part-time workers. The retailer switched to curbside-only business on March 22, due to COVID-19, and… more

UMB Busy Processing Loans After PPP Stoppage

The Small Business Administration yesterday announced that its $349-billion Paycheck Protection Program has been wiped out. But at least one area lender is seeing an increase in loan allocation. UMB Bank has recently processed 3,000 applications totaling $1.4 billion. "It’s… more

White House Rolls Out Three-Phase Reopening Plan

President Donald Trump has released a three-phase advisory plan for states to reopen the country. For states to start reopening, the policy says, there needs to be  downward trajectory of COVID-19 cases over a 14-day period, the ability for hospitals… more

Johnson County Hospital Beds Near Capacity

A regional report by the Johnson County, Kan., government says that 88 percent of 2,339 area hospital beds in nine area hospitals are in use. When looking at intensive-care unit beds, the report found that 47 percent of those are… more

Ingram’s 2020 Health Care and Insurance Industry Outlook

In late March, a sign appeared in front of our AdventHealth Shawnee Mission’s medical Center in Merriam. It read, simply, “Heroes work here.” It was not, says the health system’s CEO, Sam Huenergardt, an exaggeration.  “We’re fighting a war against… more

In the Belly of the Beast

Years of mission trips around the world have exposed Dr. Gary Morsch to health-care delivery that would be considered abysmal by American standards. The standards, though, have been rewritten by the COVID-19 crisis. By the halfway point of a two-week… more

KC Fed Encourages Shrinking Digital Divide

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City recently launched a program called the Employer Laptop Challenge, a community development program that encourages companies and other organizations to donate used computers and other devices to nonprofits, schools and firms that refurbish… more

Commerce Bancshares Paying Out Dividend

Kansas City-based Commerce Bancshares is paying dividends to shareholders still, despite challenges posed to the economy due to COVID-19. The company just declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share for common stock, and payments are expected to be paid… more

A Record $601B in CRE Loans Closed in 2019

Before COVID-19 hit, the commercial real estate lending market was sure on a strong run. A record $600.6 billion of commercial real estate and multifamily loans in 2019, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) 2019 Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance… more