Luke Ranker🚶‍♂️

‘Sponge cities’ soak up rain to help fight floods. Kansas City may become one of few in the region Places such as Minnesota and Austin, Texas, already use green infrastructure like rain gardens to absorb stormwater and keep pollution out of streams and lakes. Now communities across the Kansas City ...

Places such as Minnesota and Austin, Texas, already use green infrastructure like rain gardens to absorb stormwater and keep pollution out of streams and lakes. Now communities across the Kansas City area could get on board.
www.kcur.org/environment-...

Trump’s War on Iran Could Screw Over US Farmers The Middle East supplies a huge amount of the world’s fertilizer. Conflict in the region has sent prices soaring ahead of the critical spring planting season.

“This literally could not be happening at a worse time,” says Josh Linville, the vice president of fertilizer at financial services company StoneX.
www.wired.com/story/trumps...

“How am I going to sell my house with this crap in my backyard?” ICE wants to turn warehouses into detention centers. The suburbs are fighting back.

“How am I going to sell my house with this crap in my backyard?” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Kansas City transit agency promised free bus fare for people who need it. There's still no plan The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority will start charging people to ride the bus again in June. It promised free fares would continue for some people, but it hasn’t released a plan for them. N...

The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority promised free fares would continue for some people, but it hasn’t released a plan for them. Nonprofit providers and riders are concerned that people will fall through the cracks in the meantime.
www.kcur.org/politics-ele...

Here’s Why Trump Posted About Iran ‘Stealing’ the 2020 Election Hours After the US Attacked Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social about Iran echoed a conspiracy theory that has been circulating online for years.

The order, which has been dismissed by legal experts, falsely claims that Trump can declare an emergency based on foreign interference in elections and seize control of US elections.

www.wired.com/story/heres-...

Americans Are Leaving the U.S. in Record Numbers More citizens are replanting overseas, drawn by a quality of life made easily affordable by the U.S.’s enviable salaries.

The U.S. experienced net negative migration in 2025, with an estimated loss of 150,000 people, a trend not seen since the Great Depression.
www.wsj.com/us-news/amer...

3 U.S. Planes Are Shot Down in ‘Friendly Fire’ in Kuwait, U.S. Military Says

Three American jets were shot down over Kuwait during “an apparent friendly fire incident” while they were taking part in the campaign against Iran, the U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement on Monday.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/w...

“The high-school dropout’s path to success included a controversial Christian nationalist church & an assist from a Russian-American power broker with ties to both the Kremlin & convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein—but practically no experience with nuclear energy”
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Man Arrested in New York Snowball Fight That Police Said Injured Officers

Man Arrested in New York Snowball Fight That Police Said Injured Officers www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/n...

Kansas homeowners now carry a bigger tax burden than commercial property owners Driven by an overheated residential market and decades of commercial exemptions, a flip in the tax base means that Kansas families are paying the lion’s share for schools, roads and emergency services...

My parents were complaining during our Sunday call about their property taxes in Central Kansas. Of course I also heard them complain earlier this year, and over Christmas, and last year.
Turns out it’s largely because of commercial tax breaks.
www.kcur.org/housing-deve...

Port KC wants more power — and armed police force. Critics say it’s a ‘nonstarter’ Opponents fear the legislation would further expand the agency’s growing authority amid a myriad of controversial projects.

As it faces mounting criticism, PortKC wants to expand its authority beyond Kansas City and obtain the extraordinary power to establish its own armed police force, called port rangers.
www.kansascity.com/news/politic...

ICE took their papers—and won’t give them back Immigrants are being released from detention without documents proving their status.

Immigrants are being released from detention without documents proving their status. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

In addition to staffing up at a furious rate, ICE and CPB are acquiring a vast cache of weapons from private contractors, new data reveals. newrepublic.com/article/2069... via @newrepublic.com

Osaka city stunned by anonymous gold bar gift worth $3.6M to fix aging water pipes Osaka has received an anonymous gift of gold bars to repair the Japanese city’s aging water pipes. Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama says the donor gave 21 kilograms of gold worth about $3.6 million.

Someone should give Kansas City a gold bar to fix our combined sewer. Or build transit to the airport.
apnews.com/article/japa...

Exclusive | Spy Agency Blocks Congress From Seeing Gabbard Whistleblower Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s office rejected Democratic efforts to see all the underlying material about a foreign conversation that discussed Jared Kushner.

The Trump administration told Congress it won’t share with lawmakers the classified intelligence that led to a whistleblower complaint against U.S. spy chief Tulsi Gabbard, citing presidential claims of executive privilege.
www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

New rules could mean less parking required across much of KC. Neighbors are split New development may no longer need to provide a minimum number of parking spots in much of the city, but many residents have concerns.

Kansas City could take its biggest & boldest shift yet away from its notorious history of car dependency & support more walkable development. But the proposal to change city rules around what some see as scarce — parking — is drawing mixed reactions from neighbors
www.kansascity.com/news/local/a...

Historic building on KC streetcar line will house lofts, ornate commercial space - Kansas City Business Journal The historic Peck's Plaza building at 11th and Main could sell for a 74-unit apartment conversion.

New investors headed by Exact's Caleb Buland soon will buy the George B. Peck Dry Goods Building, aka Peck's Plaza, at 1044 Main St. for $30 million. Plans call for 74 apartments, 13,134 sq ft of lower-level commercial & 3,053 sq ft of residential amenity space.
www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n...

The United States appears to be preparing for war with Iran — and Trump hasn’t rallied the country like his predecessors.
www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Exclusive | Trump Administration Considers Action Requiring Banks to Collect Citizenship Info A potential executive order would enlist banks in the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown.

WSJ - Trump administration considering a possible executive order or other action that would require banks to collect citizenship information from customers. www.wsj.com/politics/policy/t...

As Trump pushes voting restrictions, states have a rarely used option to push back • Stateline President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are trying to impose a proof-of-citizenship voter registration requirement through a proposal called the SAVE America Act. Blue states would have a m...

As Trump pushes voting restrictions, states have a rarely used option to push back stateline.org/2026/02/20/a...

Palantir’s Move to Florida Is About Keeping Workers Trapped Data analytics company Palantir’s abrupt announcement that it is moving to Florida comes just after the state’s lawmakers boosted corporations’ legal power to prevent workers from leaving for competit...

Data analytics company Palantir’s abrupt announcement that it is moving to Florida comes just after the state’s lawmakers boosted corporations’ legal power to prevent workers from leaving for competitors. jacobin.com/2026/02/pala...

This economic idea transfixed Wall Street and Washington. It may be a mirage. Massive investment in AI contributed “basically zero” to U.S. economic growth last year, Goldman Sachs has calculated.

Massive investment in AI contributed “basically zero” to U.S. economic growth last year, Goldman Sachs has calculated.

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Even in New York, Reporters Face Prison for Criticizing Israel An alarming current attempt to use spurious accusations of antisemitism to attack press freedoms wasn't recently carried out by the Trump administration. It was at the hands of Manhattan’s liberal dis...

An alarming current attempt to use spurious accusations of antisemitism to attack press freedoms wasn't recently carried out by the Trump administration. It was at the hands of Manhattan’s liberal district attorney, Alvin Bragg.
jacobin.com/2026/02/wilk...

Trump Administration Live Updates: ICE Whistle-Blower Calls Training for New Agents ‘Deficient’ and ‘Broken’

“Without reform, ICE will graduate thousands of new officers who do not know their constitutional duty, do not know the limits of their authority and do not have the training to recognize an unlawful order”
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02...

As the guy who wrote the book on zoning abolition, I'd like to go on record as saying: if you can use zoning to stop the concentration camps, fucking go for it.

MAGA Senator Deletes Post After Realizing He Compared ICE to Cartel Mike Lee really thought he cooked with his initial post.

Mike Lee really thought he cooked with his initial post. trib.al/WvEPaf0

Why Tariffs Aren’t Shrinking the U.S. Trade Deficit Exporting countries are sticking to their economic models, frustrating U.S. hopes that levies can fix imbalances.

President Trump’s tariffs are cementing global trade imbalances, with the U.S. trade deficit in goods reaching a record $1.24 trillion in 2025.
www.wsj.com/economy/trad...

Supreme Court to Weigh Oil-Industry Effort to End a Major Climate Suit

The Supreme Court announced it had agreed to hear a major climate lawsuit in which the oil industry is claiming it shouldn’t be sued in state courts over its role in global warming. The outcome could have wide bearing on dozens of other lawsuits around the country.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/c...

Metadata Exposes Authors of ICE’s ‘Mega’ Detention Center Plans Comments and other data left on a PDF detailing Homeland Security’s proposal to build “mega” detention and processing centers reveal the personnel involved in its creation.

Comments and other data left on a PDF detailing Homeland Security’s proposal to build “mega” detention and processing centers reveal the personnel involved in its creation.
www.wired.com/story/metada...

Wichita disregards internal report on critical gaps in fire stations and staffing Wichita Fire Department leaders created a detailed plan for improving fire service and safety. City Hall put it on a shelf.

Wichita does not have enough fire stations or firefighters to meet national standards for fire protection in wide swaths of the city. Officials knew about the problems for years but failed to address them, a Wichita Eagle investigation has found.
www.kansas.com/news/politic...