Every political story has a moment when the mood subtly shifts—not with a dramatic speech or a vote that makes headlines, but rather with a room full of people who have come to the conclusion that remaining silent is no longer an option. When Gwen Grant took the microphone in a conference hall last November and said something that was equally measured and urgent, it may have been that moment for Kansas City. “The call-to-action today is for radical resistance to fight to save democracy.” It’s the type of statement that sounds like campaign slogans when taken out of context.…
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.
In late June, a certain kind of silence descends upon a statehouse. The lawmakers have returned home. The hallways have a subtle scent of cold coffee and carpet cleaner. Employees move freely throughout the building, something they don’t let themselves do during a session. It may appear as though nothing is happening to an uninformed observer. That would be an incorrect impression. The current events in Kansas, including discussions in private offices, phone calls between party operatives, and legal wrangling that hardly ever makes the evening news, could potentially shape the state’s government for a generation. The strategy meetings held…
This campus is not ostentatious. Engineers are not transported between glass towers by shuttle buses. For a while, it seemed like a problem that Kansas City’s tech scene didn’t make as much of an announcement as San Francisco’s. It’s beginning to resemble a feature. Kansas City remained comparatively stable during 2022 and 2023, while coastal tech markets experienced widespread layoffs, valuation collapses, and the unique kind of panic that follows years of easy money. The area did not crater during the pandemic tech boom, but it also did not spike like Seattle or San Francisco did. That kind of stability…
In Liberty, Missouri, there is a house that appears somewhat more upright than it did a few years ago. The front door ramp is brand-new. The handrails are firmly in place. It doesn’t appear to be a headline. It appears that someone was concerned enough to arrive on a Saturday morning with tools, and that is essentially what took place. For twenty-five years, Rebuilding Together Kansas City has carried out this kind of low-key, unglamorous work. No product launches, red carpet events, or viral moments. Just lumber in pickup beds, volunteers wearing work gloves, and families who would have otherwise…
Before a single brick is laid, a certain kind of urban optimism emerges. The blocks that surround Kansas City’s Washington Square Park still appear to be the same as they have always been: a somewhat neglected area of the city, anchored by Union Station and Crown Center, with an abandoned office building sitting in silent indifference nearby. Nothing screams change. However, discussions taking place within the Royals’ front office, city hall, and neighborhood associations indicate that this area is already, at least in people’s perceptions, something completely different. A proposed ordinance that would start formalizing the city’s commitment to a…
The steady, focal point of America’s World Cup moment was supposed to be Kansas City. Geographically, it was ideal—it was close enough to Boston, Dallas, and the coasts to support several national teams. There, England established a camp. Argentina did the same. The Netherlands did the same. For a short while, this Midwestern city seemed to be hosting something truly historic when the flags were raised at Swope Soccer Village and the signs read “The Home of England.” Then Friday night arrived. The England national team’s equipment vanished somewhere between Florida and Kansas City. Not a bag or two of…
The neighborhoods of north St. Louis are far from the Supreme Court’s marble steps, but what transpired in Washington last month had a significant impact on Missouri. The court’s 6-3 decision to declare a Louisiana congressional map to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander resolved more than just a Deep South case. It sent a signal that reverberated all the way to Jefferson City, where Republicans in Missouri have spent the better part of two years watching the legal landscape change in their favor. The current configuration of Missouri’s 1st Congressional District has been in place for many years. For the…
Record-breaking events in track and field have a certain quality that makes them seem both inevitable in retrospect and utterly unexpected in the moment. That kind of momentum was something that Ahmad Hardy was familiar with. The Missouri running back, who broke the Mizzou single-season school record by rushing for 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns in a single season, didn’t have a lot of hype behind him. He was doing it consistently, repeatedly, and with the silent accumulation of yards that most people didn’t notice until the total became unavoidable. In college athletics, records typically fall in this manner. Not…
Witnessing someone develop into the person they have always envisioned themselves to be is subtly amazing. Not in a cinematic sense. Not in the manner of a podium speech. Just in the typical, unyielding, patient manner that real life occasionally permits—when the circumstances coincide and the individual in question refuses to blink first. For Kansas City, that person is Matt Besler. Besler was the type of child who, depending on the season, participated in every sport while growing up in Overland Park. Baseball in the spring, basketball in the winter, and soccer in the fall. As a result, his dreams…
When the work stops, a certain kind of silence descends upon a river town. Not quiet and serene. The other type: deserted shops, an overly broad main street, and a diner where regulars still frequent, but primarily to reminisce about the past. By the early 2000s, that was the silence that had descended upon a number of small Missouri River towns. Industry had shifted. It had been followed by younger people. All that was left was a river that continued to flow and a populace that needed to make decisions. The Missouri itself has always been a complex entity. It…