Sometimes it’s embarrassing when a project that was meant to look patriotic starts falling apart in public. That’s about how things stand with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. This famous spot was supposed to shine for America’s 250th birthday, but instead it has been the site of criminal charges, algae blooms, dead ducks, and now a federal lawsuit. In late April, President Trump announced the plan to fix up the 2,028-foot pool, calling it “terrible” and “filthy.” For less than $2 million, he said, it could be fixed and done before July 4. It’s not clear what information he used,…
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.
At first, it was just another normal, happy night that families remember for years. June 6, 1992. High School in Kickapoo. Suzie Streeter and Stacy McCall, two girls, walked across a graduation stage in Springfield, Missouri. They smiled for pictures, made plans with their friends, and then disappeared before dawn. Sherrill Levitt, Suzie’s mother, walked off the same night. They haven’t been found at all after thirty years. The case now has a name. This group is known to most people in Missouri as the Springfield Three. But names make things sound settled, organized, and put away. This one isn’t.…
There is a certain kind of civic moment that doesn’t make a lot of noise. A quiet ordinance was introduced on a Thursday that could change how a city feels for the next few decades. There was no ribbon cutting and no crowd. That’s what happened recently in Kansas City, where a bill was introduced that would require the city to negotiate a deal that would give the KC Current $235 million in bonds and tax breaks to help pay for a $1.4 billion expansion along the Missouri Riverfront. A big number. In this case, though, it’s not as shocking…
When a place goes away slowly, one flood at a time, it’s a different kind of grief than saying goodbye all at once. That sadness has been building up in West Alton, Missouri, for more than fifty years. The town is on a bend in the Mississippi River, close to where it meets the Missouri River. The town used to be home to about 3,900 people. Today, about 360 are left. Three churches are no longer open. Some of the homes that are still standing have been put on stilts and raised above the water, as if they were getting…
Missouri has a stretch of asphalt that goes from east to west. Most people only think about it when they’re stuck in a construction delay. Interstate 70 runs from Blue Springs, which is near Kansas City, to Wentzville, which is west of St. Louis. It’s almost 200 miles long and does more heavy lifting than almost any other road in the area. And right now, the state is in the middle of the biggest project to fix up its infrastructure in a generation. The $2.8 billion Improve I-70 program from the Missouri Department of Transportation is a big deal. Five…
When Travis Stull was out for a walk in Kansas City, Kansas’s Strawberry Hill neighborhood, he saw a handwritten “For Sale by Owner” sign in a yard three blocks from his apartment. It seemed almost cute by today’s standards. He talked to his agent. They came to a house party. There was no one else there. The house was bought by him. “Because everything is so competitive, you don’t really have a lot of room to think about it,” Stull replied. He was 39 years old and trying to get his footing in a market that had been slowly moving…
When politicians go too far, it doesn’t always look like they’re going too far at first. It comes in as an amendment to an amendment, wrapped in language about how things should be done. It moves quietly through the legislature until it becomes law. That’s exactly what happened with Missouri’s Senate Bill 22. On January 23, the state’s Supreme Court stopped it. The whole bill was thrown out by the court’s unanimous decision, which was written by Chief Justice W. Brent Powell. One of the things that makes the decision worth paying attention is that it wasn’t very close or…
Watching someone make a point without raising their voice is a certain kind of satisfying. That’s Alec Schingel, who owns and cooks at St. Louis’s Robin Restaurant. He doesn’t make a fuss about it. He doesn’t need to be. Robin was named one of the Best Restaurants in America for 2025 by the New York Times. This is a list that usually leans toward restaurants on the coasts. There is a prix fixe menu at Robin, which opened in March 2025, that sounds very simple. It is based on Midwestern ingredients, seasonal rhythms, and what Schingel calls “affordable luxury.” At…
A group of kids in cleats and practice jerseys waits in line on a grass field in Kansas City on a warm June evening. A coach blows a whistle. The drills start. There’s nothing movie-like about it; it’s just kids working on their footwork, running routes, and getting their stance fixed. That’s the whole point. The 25th Kansas City Youth Football Camp is back in 2026. The camp is put on by Kansas City Athlete Training, an all-sports athletic performance center in the middle of the KC Metro. It runs from June 15th to June 18th, from 6:30 pm to…
It took four years for Kansas City to get ready for this. The flags were put up. The stadium’s name was changed for a short time. City officials held press conferences to talk about security rules, the fan experience, and how to get things done. Still, when it came time for the big game between Argentina and Algeria, with the defending champions playing and fans from around the world watching, it was something much more ordinary—traffic—that came the closest to bringing it all down. Mayor Quinton Lucas had already warned people about this. In November, he was very honest for…