Kansas

With much fanfare, Kansas City was selected in 2011 as the launching site for Google's experimental fast fiber-optic network. Now, a dispute about how and where to run fiber optic lines on poles in the city is causing significant delays.

Public Architecture, a San Francisco-based organization, and Habitat for Humanity have tapped a Kansas City Architecture firm to pilot green design concepts for the new houses. This project is just one of five nationwide.

With little taxpayer investment, a dynamic Moshe Safdie-designed Center for the Performing Arts has arisen in Kansas City. Hampton Stevens says that the companies are betting on the power of the arts to attract investment and attention.

Despite major resistance for an extended streetcar line, a shorter, 2-mile downtown light rail is quite popular. Supporters say there is a sense of "urgency" behind the project, which could be built as soon as 2015.

The EPA is moving its regional headquarters from downtown Kansas City (Kansas) to a suburb 20 miles outside the city, a move which "could nearly triple transportation carbon emissions associated with the facility," according to Kaid Benfield.

Google announced that it had chosen Kansas City, Kansas as the launching site for an experimental fiber-optic network with speeds of up to 1 Gb per second.

To help pay for transportation needs, a Kansas City suburb approved a "driveway" tax based on the amount of traffic a property is expected to generate.

Urban Land Institute president Patrick L. Phillips says his hometown of Kansas City needs to mend its car-centric infrastructure and encourage denser growth in the suburbs.

Kansas senatorial candidate Charles Schollenberger calls for the creation of a Great Plains National Park on low-production farmland in order to attract tourism to support suffering local economies.

A new book looks at the environmental, energy, and social consequences of keeping cool by using air conditioners. In this 4-minute public radio interview, author Stan Cox explains how to keep cool, just in time for the East Coast heat wave.

A Catholic charity in Kansas City got a lot of requests from the immigrants they were assisting from Africa and Asia for a place to plant vegetables. The resulting hybrid of community farm/microbusiness is flourishing.

Lebanon, Kansas is the true middle of the contiguous United States. Photographer J. Bennett Fitts is documenting this Middle America, a town that has lost a lot of population over the years.

For small towns, the 50,000 population mark is a sought after goal. That amount makes it easier for towns to qualify for certain federal funding, which is why the small town of Salina, Kansas is trying to make sure its residents fill out the Census.

A profile of Kevin Klinkenberg, Kansas City urban planner and architect, talking about his love for the city and the work he's done to make it a better place.

The New York Times takes a look at Greensburg, Kansas, the tornado-ravaged town that rebuilt itself to high environmental standards.

Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs Adolfo Carrion, Jr. visited Kansas City on Tuesday to visit the site of the city's new "Green Impact Zone". The inner-city Zone will be a laboratory for energy-saving techniques.

After Greensburg, Kansas was nearly flattened by a tornado in 2007, rebuilding the town has taken an environmentally conscious road.