Kansas City Front Page - Kansas City News Today

Kansas City News Today
Kansas City Front Page is a weekly news publication, with daily updates, spotlighting attractions, events, business and hospitality in Kansas City.

Kansas City Front Page

Kansas City News

Power & Light District

Truman Sports Complex

KC Fountains

KANSAS CITY NEWS TODAY - Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Unemployment Predicted to Rise in Metro Areas in 2009
KANSAS CITY, MO, (PRNewswire-USNewswire), January 20, 2009 - Unemployment will rise to above 10% in 70 metros, including the recently booming Riverside-San Bernardino, and in long struggling Detroit and Cleveland. Los Angeles, Denver, and St. Louis will be among the 105 metros with joblessness above 9%. And 297 metros will see jobless rates rise by more than one percentage point in 2009.

The Kansas City area ranks No. 25 among U.S. metropolitan areas for estimated job loss in 2009, according to a report released by The U.S. Conference of Mayors and The Council for the New American City.

The report, "American Recovery and Reinvestment: The Role of Metro Areas," prepared for the United Stated Conference of Mayors and the Council for the New American City, estimated that the Kansas City area will lose 20,100 jobs between the fourth quarter of 2008 and the fourth quarter of 2009, putting its unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2009 at an estimated 8.5 percent, up from 6.6 percent a year earlier.

Shrinking GDP

Real GDP growth is expected to have dropped nearly 5.6% in the fourth quarter of 2008, its worst performance since 1982.
The near-term outlook is not good either, with another 5+% drop in real GDP slated for the first quarter of 2009
The recession, which began in December 2007, is expected to last 18-24 months, longest in the post-war era, with the second largest peak-to-trough drop in real output.
A return to solid growth is at least a year away. Growing unemployment nationwide
Employment fell nearly 500,000 per month in the last four months of 2008, and we expect similar losses through the first quarter of 2009.
December marked the 12th consecutive month of job cuts, and the cumulative payroll decline now stands at more than 2.5 million. We believe that is just halfway to the total job loss anticipated during this cycle.
The unemployment rate has jumped to 7.2%, reaching a 15-year high. We see the unemployment rate rising above 9% by early 2010, the highest level since the early 80s.
Through the six months ending in November 2008 (the most recent data point), 41 states suffered payroll cuts, led by Arizona and Georgia.
Forty-nine states have experienced unemployment rate increases in the last 12 months, 36 of those by more than one percentage point.

Metro areas are essential to national economic recovery

The nation's 363 metropolitan areas are home to 86% of U.S. employment and 90% of wage income. They are the key drivers of the nation's economic performance. Without the economic recovery of metro economies there can be no U.S. recovery.
The unemployment rate will rise above 8% in metro areas this year, and above 9% in 2010. We project that 85% of the job losses during this recession will occur in metro areas; and 83% of unemployed workers in the nation reside in metro areas.
Metro areas contribute 90% of the production of goods and services that make up Gross Domestic Product. Investment in metro areas lowers the costs of doing business, stimulating further business activity and economic growth.
94% of U.S. economic growth over the next 20 years will occur in metro areas.
The Recovery and Reinvestment Plan can best achieve its goal of jump-starting the economy and setting the stage for strong future economic expansion by explicitly targeting metro areas. That is where there is pain now, where there are productive resources ready to be put to use, and where public investment can have the greatest bang for the buck.

Scholarships Available for Low-Income Residents
KANSAS CITY, MO, (PRNewswire-USNewswire), January 20, 2009 - For the second year, the City of Kansas City, Mo., Youth Advocacy Office, a division of the City Manager's Office, will help administer a scholarship grant program funded by The Port Authority of Kansas City, Mo., and area casino gaming operators.

The scholarships will serve city residents living in households that have a total annual income of 80 percent or less of the median income of city households.

Scholarship applicants must be 17-25 years old, pursuing educational opportunities at an accredited or certified college, university and vocational/technical school and have a high school diploma or GED equivalent.

Scholarship applications, along with a high school transcript or GED certificate, a 300-word essay, a letter of recommendation from a teacher, counselor, employer or clergy member and the most recent IRS tax forms of all members of the household are due by May 1. Scholarship applications are available at http://www.kcmo.org/youth or at the Youth Advocacy Office on the 25th floor of City Hall, 414 E. 12th St.

The scholarships will provide a minimum of $1,000 per academic year and can be used for tuition, books, room and board and activity fees.

Scholarships are renewable if recipients remain full-time students, stay in good academic standing with the institution attending and continue to live in a household that has a total annual income of 80 percent or less of median income of the city, defined as:

People per household

One - less than $29,416
Two - less than $37,713
Three - less than $46,010
Four - less than $59,209
Five - less than $70,146
Six - less than $79,197
Seven - less than $89,380
Eight - less than $99,562
Nine or more - less than $119,173

For more information, visit www.kcmo.org/youth or contact Thalia Cherry, youth advocate for the City Manager's Office at (816) 513-1378.

Kellogg Company Announces Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Peanut Butter Products
KANSAS CITY, MO, (PRNewswire-USNewswire), January 20, 2009 - Kellogg Company has announced a voluntary recall of certain Austin(R) and Keebler(R) branded Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers and select snack-size packs of Famous Amos(R) Peanut Butter Cookies and Keebler(R) Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies because the products have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

The American Peanut Council hasjoined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in urging consumers to postpone eating products made with peanut butter pending information about which products contain ingredients produced by a plant in Blakely, Georgia. Products from that plant have been linked to salmonella contamination in Minnesota, Georgia and Connecticut. Retail peanut butter brands on grocery shelves are safe and need not be avoided. Consumers should visit www.fda.gov for a list of affected products in the days ahead.

"While approximately 99.9 per cent of peanut butter and peanut paste in America did not come from the Blakely plant, consumers must err on the side of safety until the FDA finds out exactly which products are and are not affected," said Patrick Archer, President of the American Peanut Council. "This is the best way to ensure continued confidence in the safety, quality and nutritional benefits of American peanut products."

The FDA has traced one likely source of salmonella contamination to a plant owned by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), where the company manufactures peanut butter and peanut paste, a concentrated product consisting of ground, roasted peanuts. PCA has announced a voluntary recall of all peanut butter produced at the plant on or after August 8, 2008, all peanut paste produced on or after September 26, 2008, and 21 lots of peanut butter produced on or after July 1, 2008.

While none of this product was sold at retail to the general public, some of the peanut butter and peanut paste manufactured by PCA is used as ingredients in products such as cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream. Some of the peanut butter is also distributed in bulk for further manufacturing into products containing peanut butter and to large institutions, such as nursing homes and hospitals.

For more information about PCA's recall, please visit www.peanutcorp.com. PCA has set up a toll-free hotline number 1-877-564-7080 to answer questions.

ConAgra Foods, Inc., has announced that none of its products that contain any peanut- or peanut-based ingredients are associated with the federal government's ongoing salmonella investigation. This includes all of the products the company makes under its branded product lines, including Peter Pan Peanut Butter, as well as the products made for its food service and store brand customers. Neither ConAgra Foods nor any of its suppliers purchase any ingredients from the Peanut Corporation of America, which is linked to this salmonella investigation.

Additionally, ConAgra Foods is not among the 30 companies that have been asked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to consider holding or recalling their peanut-containing products due to this ongoing salmonella investigation.

The Kansas City Front Page is owned and maintained by the Moore Design Group for the sole purpose of disseminating news and information about the Metropolitan Kansas City area. Text or graphics may not be copied, rewritten or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission. For more information, contact editor@slfp.com All rights reserved world wide © 2007 - 2009 Moore Design Group.