Millions of summers ago, Kansas City was beachfront property: oceans, rain forests, palm trees and giant ferns. Not to mention a strange array of giant creatures — mastodons, mammoths, grizzly-sized sloths — stomping through town. Fast forward to the start of summer 2015 when the Linda Hall Library opens a new exhibition — “Paleo Kansas City” — to invite visitors to go back three hundred million years to see the fascinating fossil remains of life when Kansas City’s home was on the paleoequator. Admission is free.

U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Mark Warner (Va.) today introduced legislation to reduce the number of underutilized federal properties, which could save taxpayers $9 billion over the next 10 years. U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Rob Portman (Ohio),

U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Mark Warner (Va.) led a bipartisan coalition of 11 Senators in introducing legislation to establish a new infrastructure financing authority to help states and localities better leverage private funds to build and maintain the nation’s outdated infrastructure

More than one in five school-age children in the U.S. live below the poverty line, according to the latest Department of Education report. In Missouri, that's nearly 22 percent of children under 18

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill this week joined a bipartisan coalition of nine Senators to introduce legislation to establish a new infrastructure financing authority that would help Missouri better leverage private funds to build and maintain the state’s outdated infrastructure, without the use of federal tax dollars.

Soon after U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill called on the Department of Housing and Urban Development to halt evictions on 12,000 Americans at risk of being removed from their homes, the agency announced that it would do exactly that, giving lenders a new option that could allow for widows and widowers to remain in their homes

According to the USDA, leaders from 34 countries gathered in Memphis for the 10th annual Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)* Rural Development Conference to discuss international strategies to address rural development in the 21st century. Topics discussed include, creating jobs, building infrastructure, expanding access to health care, and making diversified rural investments. The theme of this year’s conference “National Prosperity through Modern Rural Policy

Each month, the community can get together and enjoy a night to socialize and dine together presented by the 50 Plus Department of the Johnson County Park & Recreation District. There is no cost for these events, but participants are asked to bring an item to share. To find this program in the JCPRD’s Activities catalog and online listings, browse first under 50 plus and then under special events.

With help from the residents association, Connecting for Good has installed a small PC lab and free Wi-Fi Internet at Glanville Towers. The ten story facility is located at 730 Nebraska and is operated by the Kansas City Kansas Housing Authority and is for low income seniors and disabled individuals. The network bring free Internet to all 108 apartments at Glanville Towers.

Spencer Fane is pleased to announce that Rita D’Agostino has joined the firm in its Kansas City office as Of Counsel in the Governmental Affairs and Real Estate practice groups

Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) and Congressman Sam Johnson (R-Texas) today introduced legislation to prioritize the use of federal transportation funding to repair deteriorating roads and bridges rather than to landscape the acreage along the crumbling roads

Mark Maschger knows a business opportunity when he sees one. As the market has shifted rapidly in favor of sellers, he recognizes this as the perfect time to open a Help-U-Sell® Real Estate office. Help-U-Sell® Real Estate is the national leader in set-fee real estate brokerage, and a sensible alternative to the traditional percentage-based commission model

St. Jude Dream Home Builder Summit Custom Homes hosted a floor signing event for the 2015 Dream Home at Chapman Farms on May 21. Summit employees and representatives from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital gathered with city officials, local trade partners and sponsors and patient families to tour the nearly-complete luxury home and leave their mark on the home by sharing best wishes and signing their names

Lora and Michael Gallion were lifelong renters and living on a fixed income. The only houses the couple could afford were run-down spaces that were almost uninhabitable.

EPA has selected the communities of Kansas City, Mo., and St. Louis to receive a total of $900,000 in grants from the Agency’s Brownfields Program to assist with the environmental assessments of contaminated brownfields properties, a key step in paving the way toward their cleanup, redevelopment and sustainable reuse