News Stories

Royals roll out the blue carpet for entrepreneurs with campaign focused on small businesses that define KC, its fandom

Editor’s note: The Kansas City Royals is an advertiser with Startland News, although this report was produced independently by Startland News’ nonprofit newsroom. Kansas City’s hometown baseball team is coming to the plate with a new pitch as opening day nears: a marketing campaign for the Royals that puts its city, fans and inspiring local…

Made in KC reveals plans for Barrywoods shop in the Northland (and where it’ll open next)

Made in KC is intentionally growing where local demand takes it, said Keith Bradley, detailing the brand’s expansion plans that hinge on customer convenience and include a new store in a prominent Northland shopping center.  “We realized that we don’t have a strong presence in the Northland,” said Bradley, a co-owner of Made in KC…

Zach Anderson Pettet, Money 20/20, Cordell Carter II, Aspen Institute Socrates Program, Terri Bradford, Federal Reserve of Kansas City, and Donald Hawkins, kinly, at the C3KC “Fintech is Revolutionizing Banking” session

National pain points meet local solutions at C3KC; How ‘energy of the day’ can spark lasting change

Editor’s note: The Junior League of Kansas City — through its C3KC conference — is an advertiser with Startland News. Fostering conversations about the most-pressing concerns facing communities not only helps expose the best of Kansas City innovation, said Becky Haddican, it also serves as a catalyst for even greater collaboration in the future. Now in…

AI-generated bedtime stories are just the first chapter in JQ Sirls epic venture to make the publishing industry more inclusive

Every great children’s story deserves the opportunity to be published, JQ Sirls said, adding his own footnote that more people are qualified than they think to create them.  “I could put 1,000 people in one room and tell them all to write a short story about their childhood. While many of them may have a…

‘When puppets talk people listen’: It’s not just storytelling anymore for one of KC’s most beloved children’s theaters

A Kansas City arts institution known for years as the Mesner Puppet Theater is animated with new life, said Meghann Henry, detailing a mission pivot for the freshly sewn and rebranded What If Puppets. Evolution at the nonprofit has taken a turn toward early childhood education since the retirement of Paul Mesner in 2016 —…