Latest Stories
‘The people demand mustard’: This stained glass artist dipped into corn dogs (and hungry shoppers ate it up)
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. LAWRENCE — Selling holiday shoppers on stained glass corn dogs was unexpectedly easy, said Darleen Schillaci; adding mustard and keeping up with buyers’ appetite, however, proved the meatiest challenge. The…
Skip shopping and shipping: Your guide to last-minute, KC-made gifts you can still get in stores
Forget naughty and nice: one Kansas City-pieced business has a puzzling present for each person on Santa’s “weird and mellow” list. Locals can still find them on KC-area store shelves — while they last. Birdie — a sister company to Stefanie and Tim Ekeren’s popular Kansas City Puzzle Company — packs each eye-catching box with…
One issue cuts across all political lines: How it could be the antidote to a divided America
Entrepreneurship is a way to unify the United States at a time with great political division, said Victor Hwang. “It’s an issue that cuts across party lines,” explained the founder and CEO of Right to Start. “And it’s something Americans really care about.” Hwang, previously an executive at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, recently published…
Small biz makers worry Trump tariffs could be ‘recipe for recession’; Economists, farmers share concerns about trade war
An enthusiastic smile spreads across Katie Mabry Van Dieren’s face as three small groups of new customers flow into her Brookside Plaza shop — a space filled as high as the Shop Local KC owner can reach with colorful, off-beat, and functional goods and gifts from Kansas City makers. “We smelled something wonderful from outside…
Five ways to (finally) kickstart your financial plan
Editor’s note: The perspectives expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. The following is a paid thought leadership piece from Chris Malmgren, The Ferguson Smith Cohen Group at Morgan Stanley. For many people, the idea of long-term financial planning may seem like that dentist visit or home repair project you keep putting off: You…
Sustainable data center near downtown KCMO to help power capacity with $143M investment
Kansas City is building on its reputation as a hub for partners looking to tap into a region rich with infrastructure built for the future, said Steven Anthony, announcing the grand opening of another major, sustainable data center in KCMO. Edged — a vertically integrated global platform of on-demand data centers with operations designed to…
Potato Potatas grows the business of comfort food from the ground up (and in a pot pie)
Two years ago, Trine’ce Brown took note of restaurant chains like Chipotle and Qdoba, and wondered why there wasn’t already a fast-casual potato bar concept. She decided to start her own — but taking small steps, first working out of a Northland kitchen commissary, the Culinary Center at the Mid-Continent Public Library, starting in May….
KC2026 team hires cybersecurity, explosives expert for key World Cup ops-planning role
In its latest high-profile move, the team behind Kansas City’s 2026 World Cup planning has tapped a former U.S. Secret Service special agent — notably the veteran of a years-long United Nations General Assembly assignment — to lead KC2026’s safety and security efforts. Kyle Postell already has led critical infrastructure protection efforts, conducted comprehensive vulnerability…
Why Kansas City’s startup community should rally behind local news
Editor’s note: The perspectives expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. Stephanie Campbell is CEO of The Beacon, a nonprofit news organization covering Missouri and Kansas, and a member of the KC Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, Kansas City PBS/Flatland, and Missouri Business Alert. Tulsa just landed…
How KC’s most iconic new art installation became this season’s must-have holiday ornament (plus where to find the 14-inch version flying)
“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a jazz bird in a pear tree,” sculptor Willie Cole said in a singsong voice. The artist behind “Ornithology” — an eye-catching and newly iconic installation suspended within Kansas City International Airport since its new terminal’s debut in March 2023 — this fall…
