Fifty tiny wooden buildings, each about the size of a large living room, have been erected on a cleared area of Kansas City land. Twenty feet in length. 240 square feet. Enough to breathe, sleep, and feel like you belong for the first time in a long time. You can see something quiet going on when you drive by this developing neighborhood. Not a ribbon-cutting ceremony or a government campaign. Something made by hand, primarily by veterans, for veterans. There’s a feeling that when community stops waiting for permission, it truly looks like this. A large portion of this work…
Author: Sierra Foster
Sierra Foster
Born in Kansas City, Sierra Foster writes about politics and serves as Senior Editor at kbsd6.com. She was raised paying attention to this city, not just living in it. Sierra has a strong, deep connection to Kansas City, from the neighborhoods east of Troost to the discussions that take place in the city hall halls. Sierra, who is presently enrolled at the University of Kansas to pursue a degree in Political Science, applies the rigor of academic study to her journalism. She writes about politics in Missouri and Kansas as someone who genuinely cares about what happens to the people in these communities—the policies that impact them, the leaders who represent them, and the civic forces influencing their futures—rather than as an outsider watching from a distance. Her editorial coverage encompasses state-level policy, local government, and the national political currents that permeate bi-state regional life. Whether it's a city council vote or a Senate race, she has a special gift for turning complex policy language into writing that feels urgent, relatable, and worthwhile. Sierra seldom sits still off the page. She claims that playing soccer on a regular basis has sharpened her instincts for political reporting because of the sport's teamwork, strategy, and requirement to read a changing game in real time. She's probably somewhere in Kansas City with her friends when she's not writing or on the pitch, discovering new reasons to adore a city she already knows so well.
A few hundred people gathered outside Cox North Hospital in Springfield on a steamy August morning. Government representatives, executives in the healthcare industry, deans of universities, and nursing students with signs identifying the professions they wanted to pursue were all present. At a groundbreaking ceremony, Gov. Mike Kehoe was also present and referred to what he was witnessing as a “trendsetter.” However, that day’s launch wasn’t exactly typical either. At its home base, Cox North, the Alliance for Healthcare Education, a collaboration between Missouri State University, CoxHealth, Ozarks Technical Community College, and Springfield Public Schools, began construction on a $15…
Many people in Kansas City have spent decades learning to live around rather than with a particular stretch of highway. Bruce R. Watkins Drive, also known as U.S. Highway 71, slices through the East Side of the city like an unhealed wound. It has never been just a road for the predominantly Black communities on either side. It has served as a barrier, a source of pollution and noise, and a constant reminder of choices made in the past with little input from those who had to deal with the fallout. The city now has a new strategy. It’s also…
Most people drive by the mural off Independence Avenue and Van Brunt Boulevard without giving it a second glance. Painted in vivid colors, folk dancers honor their Mexican ancestry. Phyllis Hernandez, a native of Kansas City, created it. She recalls receiving a canvas and a set of oil paints from her parents when she was twelve years old. She carried that memory with her for many years. She eventually opened a gallery as a result of it. Sala de Arte, which translates to “art gallery” in Spanish, is located in Kansas City’s Historic Northeast in a comfortable storefront at 4828…
Millions of Americans use their medical portals in a similar manner to how they check the weather: fast, carefree, and confident that the information they enter will remain confidential. When emails about a lawsuit settlement involving Allina Health started to appear in inboxes throughout Minnesota and beyond, many people did what most people do when they receive unexpected legal notices: they nearly deleted them. Over the past few weeks, a straightforward and pressing question has been circulating through Facebook community groups and Reddit threads: is the Allina Pixel Settlement legitimate? In a nutshell, the answer is yes. Why that matters…
Seeing someone speak for three and a half hours only to have it cut down to sixteen minutes—and not just any sixteen minutes, but ones that, according to her attorneys, were pieced together to tell a story she never agreed to tell—causes a certain kind of frustration. That’s the main accusation made by Tyra Banks against Netflix, and it’s a serious one. Banks sued Netflix, directors Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy, and EverWonder Studio for defamation on June 13, 2026, in the Central District of California. Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, a documentary series the streamer released in…
Being accused of something monstrous while doing something commonplace is a unique form of cruelty. Nicholas Cupp was seated next to his thirteen-year-old daughter on a connecting flight from Atlanta to Newport News, Virginia, in December 2019. She was afraid. Turbulence struck the aircraft. He encircled her with his arm. It would take years of court proceedings and incalculable personal harm to start unraveling what transpired next. After observing the exchange, Cheryl Thomas, a flight attendant for Delta, came to the conclusion that something illegal was taking place, seemingly with enough conviction to take action. She informed the flight captain…
Human behavior has always been compressed into cramped, unpredictable spaces on cruise ships. Thousands of people gathered on a floating resort, navigating cramped hallways, packed buffets, and never-quiet casino floors—it’s a recipe for minor conflicts that occasionally escalate into major ones. At first glance, one of those stories is the lawsuit that Colleen Parson, a resident of Florida, filed against Royal Caribbean Cruises. A parked mobility scooter causes a woman to trip. She fractures her wrist. She files a lawsuit. However, if you take a closer look, the case becomes something to consider more thoroughly. The incident is said to…
A cold storage warehouse on South Los Palos Street caught fire on a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of June. It sounds like a manageable sentence. contained. such as something that is published by Friday and appears as a line item in a report from the fire department. However, the Lineage Logistics facility in Boyle Heights is still on fire five days later, smoke is spreading throughout Los Angeles County, and the entire situation seems to have exposed a number of vulnerabilities that the city wasn’t ready to discuss in public. Approximately 85 million pounds of frozen food are kept…
Observing thousands of cyclists leave Clapham Common at six in the morning is subtly amazing. London is always busy, not because it’s unusual, but rather because everyone traveling south on Sunday morning did so voluntarily and primarily for someone else. That’s the problem with the bike ride from London to Brighton. Anyone who has done it doesn’t need much explanation. To those who haven’t, it doesn’t require much persuasion. More than 14,000 people participated in the 2026 edition of the British Heart Foundation’s London to Brighton Bike Ride, which took place on June 21. The 54-mile route winds through Surrey’s…