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Published 07/02/2009 - 11:59 p.m. CDT

Attorney, former Kansas City Council member and potential candidate for Mayor, Mike Burke takes a break from preparing for KC Riverfest, Kansas City’s 4th of July celebration which he helped to start.  Burke stands in front of the future Christopher S. Bond bridge also known as the KC Icon Project.  Burke was one of the members of the KC Icon Citizens Advisory Committee to help select the design of the bridge.  “This bridge together with our riverfront will serve as a grand entrance to our city and a symbol of unity, uniting north and south portions of Kansas City.”
Attorney, former Kansas City Council member and potential candidate for Mayor, Mike Burke takes a break from preparing for KC Riverfest, Kansas City’s 4th of July celebration which he helped to start. Burke stands in front of the future Christopher S. Bond bridge also known as the KC Icon Project. Burke was one of the members of the KC Icon Citizens Advisory Committee to help select the design of the bridge. “This bridge together with our riverfront will serve as a grand entrance to our city and a symbol of unity, uniting north and south portions of Kansas City.” (Photo: Image by Michael McClure)

By Tom Bogdon

Michael Burke’s interest in the Missouri River goes back at least to the 1980s and his service on the Kansas City Port Authority.  That interest led to his leadership in the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial celebration in 2004, and continues with Riverfest, the city’s largest 4th of July observance that will bring 50,000 people this weekend to Richard L. Berkley Park.

“The Missouri River is beautiful,” Burke, an attorney and likely mayoral candidate, said in an interview this week. “All great cities have developed on bodies of water, and Kansas City is no exception. But most other cities would die to have a waterfront with the potential ours has.”

Published 07/02/2009 - 11:50 p.m. CDT

The American wheat harvest, the cronerstone of the midwestern breadbasket and the back bone of our economy.
The American wheat harvest, the cronerstone of the midwestern breadbasket and the back bone of our economy is pictured using an antique combine. (Photo: Image courtesy of the author)


By Cleon Rickel

OTTAWA, Kan. -- One of the most important economic stimulus packages for Kansas -- the an-nual winter wheat harvest -- is under way. And for many parts of the state, the harvest will be economically stimulating.
   

“Agriculture is the most important component of the Kansas economy,” said Bill Spiegel, wheat farmer and spokesman for the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers. And wheat is one of the most important components of Kansas agriculture, he added. “Wheat supports a lot communities, and not just small ones,“ Spiegel said.

In most parts of the state, the quantity and quality of the wheat has been good, he said. Accord-ing to the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service, at an average yield of 40 bushels per acre, the Kansas wheat crop for this year will be more than 430 million bushels.

 
Published 07/02/2009 - 11:34 p.m. CDT

Vito Labruzzo co owner of Chubby's along with his brother Nich serves up  breakfast that would satisfy a lumberjack, maybe even a drunk depending on the hour as Chubby's is open 24 hours a day.
Vito Labruzzo co owner of Chubby's along with his brother Nick serves up breakfast that would satisfy a lumberjack, maybe even a drunk one depending on the hour as Chubby's is open 24 hours a day. (Photo: Image by Michael McClure)

By Debbie Coleman-Topi

Growing up, Nick LaBruzzo never tired of watching the 1950s-era movie Hollywood Knights. In fact, he estimates he's viewed the flick, centered on the characters' adolescent pranks, more than 50 times. When opening a restaurant about 20 years ago, it was only logical that the Gladstone man would name the eatery after the movie's hang-out, a drive-in named Tubby's.

A Kansas City restaurant at 3756 Broadway owes its beginnings to LaBruzzo, and its present existence to his owner-operator sons, Vito and Nick. Hungry visitors encounter an eatery steeped in 50's decor, from the black-and-white checkered floors to the vinyl, bench and booth style seating beneath walls covered with vintage photos of movie stars and singers.

 
Published 07/02/2009 - 11:31 p.m. CDT

 Opinion by Tom Bogdon

While there has been some quibbling in the blogosphere, Star reporter Matt Campbell was right on the money this week in reporting U.S. Census Bureau figures showing the population of Omaha may surpass Kansas City, Missouri’s population in the relatively near future.

Let’s face it: Kansas City is no longer the “Paris of the Plains” that it had the reputation of being back when in the 1930s when Boss Tom Pendergast and his Jackson Democratic Club built skyscrapers and big public works projects and threw the city wide open for great music and high-rollers. Kansas City was among the 20 largest cities in the country then, ranking 17th I believe.

 
Published 07/03/2009 - 12:08 a.m. CDT

ladli_malikhwb
A striking portrait by Fazal Sheikh

  By Steve Shapiro

  

In the beginning may have been the word, but if so, the image was not far behind. We talk about the world around us using images and visual metaphors. Photography takes the connection one step further; the photographic image combines (and sometimes contrasts) the language of seeing with the language of making sense of an image. In the arresting oeuvre of Fazal Sheikh’s black-and-white photography, a small portion of which is on view at the Nelson-Atkins Museum as part of a touring exhibition curated by Joel Smith of the Princeton University Art Museum, the images are immediately familiar yet extend an air of mystery.

 
Published 07/02/2009 - 11:57 p.m. CDT

   

By the AFL-CIO Staff

The 437,000 jobs lost in June were spread throughout most U.S. industries, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 

Manufacturing employment fell by 136,000 in June, while employment in construction decreased by 79,000.  Job losses in professional and business services shot up in June, with the industry shedding 118,000 jobs. Retail trade employment was down by 21,000 in June.

Education and health care employment increased by 34,000, and employment in government dropped by 52,000 in June.

 
Published 06/26/2009 - 10:13 a.m. CDT

A Japanese bullet train, or
A Japanese bullet train, or "Shinkansen" is an advanced version of what Kansas and Missouri would get to allow faster rail service between Kansas City and St Louis.

By Cleon Rickel

 Both Missouri and Kansas will submit applications for federal    economic stimulus money for high-speed rail; and bot applications would help keep Kansas City’s Union Station on track to recover some of its past passenger rail glory.
   

The Obama Administration released it's guidelines for applications for the money last week and transportation officials in both states have been poring over the more-than-60-page document.

 
Published 07/03/2009 - 8:49 a.m. CDT

By Karen Land

Wherever I travel, I’m always keeping my eyes and ears open in search of two of my favorite things - new hiking paths and good dog stories.

Last weekend when I was visiting Harlowton, Montana for the Festival of the Wind I stumbled across a real find. A shirt displayed in the window of Passage Creek Design boasted a large picture of a retriever-looking mutt holding a pipe in his mouth. From the cab of my truck, I could make out the words, “Smoking Boomer.”

I just had to find out more.

 
Published 07/03/2009 - 12:16 a.m. CDT

Elle Molique

If a man’s tongue could vibrate, women would talk less.

I have to admit, my fiancé gets a little bored when I talk.  I catch his little mouth yawning, a mouth which is so sensual and luscious, and so small compared to the size of his head, as I relay the day’s thoughts as women do.  Why do women do that?  Why do we vent to men and expect an answer?  Some say it’s because that’s how we are different from men.  I’m thinking it’s a way to fill the space between orgasms.
 
Movie Reviews
Public Enemies
Published 07/03/2009 - 11:25 p.m.  CDT


Ostensibly, the new gangster drama “Public Enemies” is about the famed Midwestern bank robber of the 1930s, John Dillinger.

In fact, it’s all about Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”). His star power is the driving force that makes this handsomely mounted but emotionally barren tale as entertaining as it is.
...Read More
Cheri
Published 07/03/2009 - 10:55 p.m.  CDT

Reviewed by Russ
Simmons

Michele Pfeiffer (“Hairspray”) is an undeniable beauty. Those
distractedby her good looks sometimes forget that she is a skilled and accomplished actress.

Pfeiffer is splendid in “Cheri”, a costumer based upon the stories
“Cheri” and “The Last of Cheri” by French novelist Colette (“Gigi”). Pfeiffer is well cast as an aging courtesan
(that’s a high priced hooker to you and me) who
is wise
in finance but unwise
in love.

...Read More
Whatever Works
Published 07/03/2009 - 12:24 a.m.  CDT

Reviewed by Russ Simmons

Writer/director Woody Allen (“Match Point”) is a reluctant cynic. Although his worldview is bleak, he has sentimental streak that softens his edge considerably.

He sums up his personal philosophy with his latest film, “Whatever Works”: Anything that you can do to find a modicum of happiness in this life is okay…so long as you don’t hurt anyone.

As is usual with Allen’s films, when he doesn’t appear himself, he casts another actor in the part he would have filled. In this case, Larry David from TV’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” plays the surrogate Allen role.

...Read More
AWAY WE GO
Published 06/26/2009 - 12:02 a.m.  CDT

In some movie dictionary to be published in the future, someone will look up the word “quirky” and find a photo from “Away We Go.”

Whether that’s a compliment or a slam is entirely a matter of taste.

Director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”) takes a respite from the exceedingly heavy material he’s been handling lately by delivering a funny, offbeat comic drama about an aimless but affable couple expecting their first child.

...Read More
Featured Columnists
Hands Off Honduras!
07/03/2009 - 11:22 a.m. CDT Patrick J. Buchanan
Pat Buchanan

 PATRICK J. BUCHANAN

   Last Saturday, Honduran soldiers marched into the presidential palace, bundled up President Manuel Zelaya and put him on a plane for Costa Rica.
   

The ouster had been ordered by the Supreme Court and approved by the Congress, as Zelaya was attempting an illegal referendum to change the Honduran constitution so he could run for another term.

[Read More]
Ten Days That Shook Tehran
06/24/2009 - 11:59 p.m. CDT Patrick J. Buchanan
Pat Buchanan

Given its monopoly of guns, bet on the Iranian regime. But, in
the long run, the ayatollahs have to see the handwriting on the wall.

Let us assume what they insist upon -- that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
won the June 12 election; that, even if fraud occurred, it did not decide
the outcome. As Ayatollah Khamenei said to loud laughter in his Friday
sermon declaring the election valid, "Perhaps 100,000, or 500,000, but how
can anyone tamper with 11 million votes?" [Read More]
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