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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 NEWS TODAY - Sunday, October 21, 2007 Bank of America Charitable Foundation Awards $1 Million Grant to Support New Gallery at Union Station KANSAS CITY, MO (SLFP.com), October 21, 2007 - Union Station Kansas City has announced a $1 million grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation to support renovations to the facility and help fund the soon-to-be- built 15,000 square foot state-of-the art exhibit gallery to host national and international one-of-a-kind exhibits. The gallery will be located on the Station's lowest level, currently an undeveloped area that was used for handling luggage and parcel post when the station operated as a major passenger rail hub. "Bank of America has been a loyal and dedicated supporter of Union Station for many years," said Andi Udris, president and CEO of Union Station Kansas City, Inc. "They stepped forward at a time when few other private funders in the community would, and have continued to increase their financial support of our organization each year since. Now once again, with this wonderful grant, they are demonstrating their real commitment to ensuring Union Station remains one of Kansas City's greatest community assets featuring world-class exhibits and programming." The project cost is $5 million. Nearly $3.5 million has been raised so far. Other contributors to the gallery are the Hall Family Foundation, the Sunderland Foundation, the Regnier Family Foundation and the Courtney S. Turner Charitable Trust. Union Station also announced the first exhibit on display in the new space will be the international blockbuster Bodies Revealed. Bodies Revealed has traveled throughout the world and will make its United States debut in Kansas City next spring. Bank of America will serve as the presenting sponsor of this exhibit. Bodies Revealed is a highly educational exhibit featuring 20 real human bodies, as well several organs. The exhibit tells the story of the miraculous systems at work within each of us every second of our existence. Rooted in the historical precedent set by such great anatomists as Vesalius and da Vinci, each full body specimen is dissected to best reveal the function of a complete anatomical system and to show that system's relationship to the body as a whole. 
Missouri Department of Transportation's Adopt-A-Highway Program to Plant Missouri WildflowersKANSAS CITY, (SLFP.com), October 21, 2007 - The Missouri Department of Transportation's Adopt-A-Highway Program, which involves volunteers picking up trash along state highways, is now offering groups the option of adopting roadsides solely to plant Missouri wildflowers. While some groups have been planting flowers, trees and shrubs all along as part of their beautification efforts, this new option will encourage the growth of wildflowers native to Missouri, such as coreopsis and purple coneflowers. MoDOT is joining with Grow Native!, a program sponsored by the departments of Conservation and Agriculture, on the effort. "The goal of the Adopt-A-Highway program is to keep our roadsides clean and attractive and what better way to do that than to plant native wildflowers along the way," said MoDOT Director Pete Rahn. "This option takes the program one step further and hopefully will spur new adopters to join the cause." Over the program's 20-year history, more than 100,000 volunteers have picked up thousands of bags of litter, mowed hundreds of roadside miles and planted countless flowers, shrubs and trees. Currently, there are 3,772 groups in the program that have adopted 5,281 highway miles. "If MoDOT had to do the work of these volunteers, it would cost about $1 million a year and keep our maintenance staff from doing other needed work," Rahn said. "That's money and resources we can put toward road improvements instead." Texas started the first Adopt-A-Highway program in 1985, and Missouri was one of the next states to follow suit in 1987. Four groups that were among the first Missouri adopters are still in the program: Viva Cuba Beautification Committee, Kiwanis Club of Mountain Grove, the City of North Kansas City and the W.E. Sears Youth Center in Poplar Bluff. "We adopted because it was a great opportunity for community service for our program," said Donna Nichols, facility manager for the W.E. Sears Youth Center. "We stayed in the Adopt-A-Highway program for 20 years because we made a commitment to keep our adopted section clean." Businesses, civic groups, non-profit organizations, families and individuals make up the program's adopters. MoDOT recognizes the helpers by posting a sign with the group's name at each end of the adopted highway section. Because MoDOT is responsible for maintaining 385,000 acres of roadsides along 32,000 highway miles, the agency is always looking for additional adopters, Rahn said. "We have many active groups in our program, but we also have a lot of ground to cover, literally," Rahn said. "I challenge Missourians to double our current number of adopted miles and make Missouri an even cleaner, more beautiful state." Anyone interested in adopting a highway can call MoDOT toll-free at 888-ASK-MODOT (275-6636) or visit modot.org. Nixon Adds Identity Theft Incident Report to Web Site JEFFERSON CITY, (SLFP.com), October 21, 2007 - Consumers who are victims or identity theft often face a frustrating and time-consuming process when trying to clear their name and repair their credit history. Attorney General Jay Nixon, whose office has a role in mediating consumer identity theft cases, is making it easier to expedite the process through a new feature on his Web site, the Identity Theft Incident Report. The new form, which can be found at ago.mo.gov, is for law enforcement to fill out and submit to the Attorney General's Office when a consumer files an identity theft complaint with them. The information on the form can then be used by the Attorney General's Office when mediating an identity theft claim between a consumer and a business. "When a victim attempts to have charges on a credit card that were run up by the identity thief removed by a business, the victim needs a police report and affidavit to substantiate the fact that they were indeed the victim of this crime," Nixon said. "We hope that having this convenient form on our Web site for law enforcement to access and send to us will expedite the process." Nixon reminds consumers who believe they may have been victims of identity theft to call the Attorney General's Identity Theft Hotline at (800) 392-8222 to file their own report, or visit the Attorney General's Website at ago.mo.gov to download a complaint form.   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 Moore Design Group. |
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