News, Pitch

Does the city need a new, billion-dollar Kansas City International?

Steve Vockrodt — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:00:00 -0500

The city studies plans for a new KCI terminal. by Steve Vockrodt November 12, 1972, marked the middle of a terrifying 32-hour jet hijacking, one of the more remarkable such air-industry ordeals in U.S. history. A trio of hijackers, one of them a prison escapee, commandeered a Southern Airways DC-9 leaving Alabama with 27 passengers and four crew members.…

Carb stomping through a month of KC's tastiest two-handers

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:00:00 -0500

by Jonathan Bender Someone is always trying to tell us that a given year is the year of the sandwich. These clever people suggest that the sandwich has overtaken bacon, the slider or the cupcake as the new it food.…

The Tutera Group isn't getting much resistance to its plan to wall off a chunk of Prairie Village for the Medicare set

Steve Vockrodt — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:00:00 -0500

by Steve Vockrodt Brenda Satterlee's house rests on almost three acres in an ideal setting in Prairie Village. She's close to some of the suburb's better-known shops and amenities.…

Google Fiber bails out North Kansas City's fiber-optic misfire

Steve Vockrodt — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:00:00 -0500

Google hops on the Northland's dark fiber. by Steve Vockrodt North Kansas City's fiber-optic network is finally coming up for air. LiNKCity, the Northland enclave's attempt to run its own high-speed Web infrastructure, made it Missouri's fastest city until Google Fiber showed up.…

KKFI 90.1 fills an hour with news from Al Jazeera

Ben Palosaari — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:00:00 -0500

Community-radio station KKFI adds Al Jazeera to its programming. by Ben Palosaari Al Jazeera's Newshour is live on Kansas City's airwaves. The Qatari network, whose reporting was described as "vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable" by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2004, broadcasts on KKFI 90.1 at 9 a.m.…

How TIF flushed Swope Ridge to make way for soccer

Steve Vockrodt — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:00:00 -0500

Swope Ridge residents want sewers, not soccer. by Steve Vockrodt Pat Humston moved to Swope Ridge in 1968. Back then, she and her husband, Jim, liked that the neighborhood felt almost rural, though it was well within Kansas City's borders.…

With Google putting Fiber in Austin, Kansas City Startup Village confronts an uncertain future

Ben Palosaari — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:00:00 -0500

Kansas City Startup Village entrepreneurs hope to keep a good thing going. by Ben Palosaari Oh, it was a shit show," Alexa Nguyen will say later. Nguyen, a 22-year-old entrepreneur with a 3-D home-printing startup called Handprint, is recalling a recent tense meeting of Kansas City Startup Village.…

A brief history of the Chiefs' draft picks

Justin Kendall — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:00:00 -0500

by Justin Kendall The Kansas City Chiefs have been on the clock since last season mercifully ended with a 2–14 record. That's bad enough for the first overall pick in Thursday's NFL Draft but a year too late for sure-thing prospects Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III.…

A look back at the original Truman Sports Complex plans - roof and all

Charles Ferruzza — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:00:00 -0500

Looking back at what the stadiums might have looked like. by Charles Ferruzza July 11, 1968: Ground breaks for the construction of the Truman Sports Complex — Arrowhead Stadium and the former Royals Stadium. But one of the design's most distinctive features has already been nixed.…

The Wolf Creek nuclear plant might melt down - in court

Steve Vockrodt — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:00:00 -0500

The Wolf Creek nuclear plant has performance problems. by Steve Vockrodt A $25 million lawsuit by the owners of the Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant against a vendor is the latest headache for Kansas City's closest nuclear reactor. Attorneys for Kansas City Power & Light and Westar Energy claim in a lawsuit filed on April 12, 2013, in Jackson County Circuit Court that ABB Inc., in North Carolina, did lousy repair work on a transformer at the nuclear reactor in Burlington, Kansas, about 80 miles from Kansas City.…

Sporting KC's Matt Besler didn't leave his hometown to play soccer — and now soccer is coming to him

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:00:00 -0500

by Jonathan Bender The final whistle blew, and frustration spilled out of 100,000 fans. Cups flew.…

Kathy Nelson and the KC Sports Commission keep the metro's athletic calendar full

Ben Palosaari — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 22:00:00 -0500

The KC Sports Commission keeps the city's sports calendar full. by Ben Palosaari The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is packed with members of the Kansas City press, local politicians and business leaders, who mix among life-size statues of such Negro League greats as Pop Lloyd and Leon Day on March 20. The lights flick off.…

Raytown's school superintendent earns a rare victory against TIF

Steve Vockrodt — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 22:00:00 -0500

by Steve Vockrodt Allan Markley is the latest to throw sand in the gears that power local tax-increment financing. And the Raytown Quality Schools superintendent says he has good reason to do it.…

Shannon Knapp and Invicta move to conquer women's MMA

Justin Kendall — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:00:00 -0500

A woman-led women's fighting organization goes mainstream. by Justin Kendall Shannon Knapp rides the elevator to the top floor of the Aladdin hotel, in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The president of Invicta Fighting Championships has been talking about the future of her women's mixed-martial-arts organization: a TV deal.…

KCK mayoral candidates Ann Murguia and Mark Holland explain themselves

Ben Palosaari — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:00:00 -0500

by Ben Palosaari Ann Murguia Executive director of the Argentine Neighborhood Development Association (ANDA)…

Paradise Locker Meats puts heritage pigs at the center of local butchery's future

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:00:00 -0500

Paradise Locker Meats puts heritage pigs at the center of local butchery's future. by Jonathan Bender "I never thought we'd be selling chefs fat," Mario Fantasma says. In the off-white trailer that serves as his office, he glances at a framed photo of Mario Batali in which the celebrity chef is embracing Fantasma.…

Silicon Prairie News' Big Kansas City crops up

Ben Palosaari — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:00:00 -0500

KC has arrived thanks to Silicon Prairie News' Big Kansas City. by Ben Palosaari Kansas City's days as flyover country are over. Tech startups and funders and entrepreneurs have been landing here for a while now, and the latest high-profile business nexus takes place in an airport hangar.…

The Big 12 converges on KC again

Justin Kendall — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:00:00 -0500

The Big 12 converges on KC again. by Justin Kendall The Big 12 men's basketball tournament hasn't sold out yet. And that has to be a first in college-basketball-loving Kansas City.…

Three days, 58 pizza places, endless love

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:00:00 -0600

The Pitch put its stomach to the test with a three-day, 58-pizza-joint jaunt. Forty-five seconds into a minute-long plank, as your trainer counts down the time and your sweat pools under your face, you remember why you're really working out. So you can eat more pizza.…

Talking KC Fashion Week with four fascinating designers

Nancy Hull Rigdon — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:00:00 -0600

Four KC designers set the couture bar high. by Nancy Hull Rigdon In the nation's couture capital earlier this month, Teisha Barber realized that Kansas City Fashion Week had arrived. Barber, executive director of the KC event, was in New York to attend Fashion Week.…