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“What’s Your KCQ?” — a partnership between The Star and the Kansas City Public Library — is focusing on downtown curiosities this week. Reader Eric Haar got the ball rolling by asking us to explain the odd-looking bit of exposed bedrock that runs along Grand Boulevard between Seventh and Eighth streets. He works in the Western Union Telegraph Building near the site and always notices how much it stands out from its surroundings.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Kansas City Public Library has earned a 5-star designation from Library Journal. Only 85 public libraries nationwide – less than than 1 percent of the total of 9,245 – attained that top-tier standing.
How far has Kansas City come in connecting residents to increasingly essential high-speed internet services? It’s a key area of concern for the Library, which has taken a leadership role in efforts to expand digital access and literacy across the metro area. New analysis indicates progress, with the proportion of households using broadband rising from seven in 10 to more than eight over a four-year period. But it also shows KC lagging behind a number of similar-sized “competitor” cities. And it points to continued concerns for lower-income residents.
Kody Willnauer was looking at Google Maps one day and noticed that roads that run north and south on the Missouri side of the Kansas City area slant to the east. That’s not the case on the Kansas side, where the roads appear to run straight up and down the screen, the elementary school teacher and Tonganoxie resident observed. The roads on the Missouri side are not parallel with those on the Kansas side.
Kansas City and haunted houses have a long history. At one time, we were considered the haunted house capital of the world. We still have what is billed as the oldest commercial haunted attraction in the country.