A fast food item can inspire a certain kind of loyalty. Not the novelty items, like limited-edition mashups or products meant to become viral on social media for a week. The little things are where true devotion is found. Warm flour tortillas, melted cheese, and beef chili. That’s all. The Taco Bell Chili Cheese Burrito is that. And nothing else on the menu is comparable for a particular type of Taco Bell enthusiast. The burrito originated in the 1990s, when it subtly gained popularity among those seeking a filling meal without going overboard. It was not ostentatious. It didn’t have…
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.
For over three years, anyone entering a Grill’d restaurant on a Tuesday could have noticed the posters by the counter offering something straightforward and uplifting: purchase a burger, contribute to the planting of a tree. It sounded like the kind of insignificant, painless gesture that lessens the guilt of having a fast-food lunch. This promise is now the focus of a federal court case, and it turns out that the discrepancy between what customers thought and what actually occurred is much greater than most people would have predicted. This week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission declared that it has…
Recently, there has been a lot of talk about AI models, and GLM 5.2 has it. This past week, Z.ai released the model with a fairly specific pitch: long-horizon coding tasks, the kind that require hours of work as opposed to a single, brief exchange. On the surface, it’s not an ostentatious promise. However, it’s the kind of promise that truly counts for anyone who has witnessed AI coding agents lose focus midway through a challenging task. A million-token context window is the headline feature, which may seem abstract until you take into account what it permits. According to reports,…
In June, Soldier Field doesn’t typically smell like country twang and barbecue smoke. But that’s precisely what happened for two nights this past weekend. On Friday, June 19, and Saturday, June 20, Morgan Wallen’s Still The Problem Tour visited Chicago, turning the lakefront stadium—usually home to the Bears and a good deal of football nostalgia—into something more akin to a stadium-sized honky-tonk. At 4:30 p.m., gates opened early, and tailgate lots began to fill up even earlier. The parking lots outside had already transformed into a sort of pre-party, complete with coolers, lawn chairs, and the unique energy that builds…
The fact that Dollarama, a chain founded on the principle of never overcomplicating anything, recently entered the loyalty point market seems almost fitting. It’s not ostentatious. Free trips to Cancun are not promised. It merely rewards consumers for purchasing birthday cards and dish soap that they would have purchased anyhow. This week, the Bank of Montreal revealed that Dollarama has joined Blue Rewards, the loyalty program that took the place of Air Miles following BMO’s acquisition of it in 2023. As long as their purchase exceeds $20, customers with a linked BMO credit card can accrue points at more than…
It’s the kind of information that sticks in your memory. A silver Toyota Corolla struck an 81-year-old Buderim woman as she entered a designated pedestrian safe zone on Townsend Road. The car didn’t really stop. The woman was taken to Sunshine Coast University Hospital with injuries that, thankfully, weren’t life-threatening after the driver stopped momentarily, turned around, and drove west, according to the police. The Forensic Crash Unit is still seeking witnesses as of this week, and the driver has yet to come forward. A hit-and-run involving a person of that age in an area designed to safeguard pedestrians is…
Bunnie Xo didn’t introduce the subject gently. She told listeners that she owed them an explanation on the Thursday, June 18 episode of her podcast Dumb Blonde. She then gave one in fragments, as people do when they’re still working through something. She is divorcing Jelly Roll. In some way, they are still carrying a child together. Hearing someone say it aloud is unusual, and this contradiction is likely the reason the video went viral so quickly. Listening to how she presented it, it’s clear that she placed very little blame. She repeatedly emphasized that there would be no cheating.…
The list of 11 shows that Netflix has canceled so far in 2026 is a study in contradictions. Tens of millions of people watched some of these series. Others hardly made an impression. Some ended on cliffhangers that their authors were never able to resolve. What unites them is a cost equation that Netflix operates covertly, season by season, frequently with little public explanation, rather than quality or even popularity in any straightforward sense. The most obvious example is probably the Boroughs. The sci-fi drama about a retirement community concealing something sinister beneath it, which was created by Jeffrey Addiss…
The solstice’s predictability has an almost comforting quality. Earth continues to tilt on schedule regardless of how bizarre the news cycle gets, and this Sunday, June 21, it reaches the point in its orbit that gives the Northern Hemisphere its longest day of the year. The precise time is 08:24 UTC, which translates to 4:24 a.m. on the East Coast, 9:24 a.m. in London, and a much more refined 1:24 p.m. in Pakistan. The solstice is actually a precise moment, the moment the sun reaches its northernmost position in relation to Earth, despite the common misconception that it is just…
When the forecast begins to use terms like “amber” and “mid-thirties” in the same sentence as June, a certain kind of incredulity descends upon England. On Friday, the Met Office issued an extreme heat warning for parts of south Wales as well as the southwest, southeast, and east of England. Forecasters are fairly direct about what’s in store: widespread effects on people, infrastructure, and the routine of everyday life. It runs from early Monday through the end of Tuesday. In one briefing, meteorologist Max Deakin made it clear that the south might see low, even mid-thirties temperatures by next week.…