Government Stories

Melissa Roberts, the Enterprise Center in Johnson County, and Bek Abdullayev, Super Dispatch

Immigrant entrepreneurs need path to US now, GOP senator behind Startup Act says

Editor’s note: The following story on Jerry Moran’s Startup Act is part of a three-part series on the potential for immigrant or foreign-born entrepreneurs to help reshape Kansas City’s startup ecosystem. Read a warning from a leading Kansas City tech CEO about coming challenges within the local talent pipeline here. Check out a feature on…

Startup stakeholders: Opportunity zones could prompt culture shift on redevelopment

Startup community stakeholders think opportunity zones in some of Kansas City’s poorest areas could work, but only with collaboration between the government and private sector. A number of low-income communities in Kansas City are eligible for designation as opportunity zones — areas in which investors may defer paying capital gains taxes over a certain period…

Ashley Hand

Letter to the editor: Former KC innovation officer weighs in on new short-term rental law

The following is a letter to the editor written by former Kansas City, Missouri, chief innovation officer Ashley Z. Hand in response to a recent series of Startland articles focused on Kansas City’s new short-term rental regulations. All opinions in the commentary are the author’s alone.  I find it interesting that there is no discussion…

City gave into fear, failed the test on innovation with Airbnb vote, councilman says

Kansas City’s move Thursday to prohibit short-term rentals in large portions of the city sent a clear message to entrepreneurs with disruptive ideas and technology, Quinton Lucas said: “Not In My Backyard.”   “I don’t know why a city that has so many innovators and that’s buzzing, that’s exciting — and frankly doesn’t always have…

Sharice Davids, Starty Pants Podcast

Starty Pants podcast host Sharice Davids making bid to unseat Rep. Kevin Yoder

Americans have an intergenerational responsibility to leave society and the country better than they found it, Sharice Davids said. The startup founders she interviews for her Starty Pants podcast understand that duty, she said. “When I think about entrepreneurship, I think of the risk taking and forward thinking of people who are trying to address…