Mark Wiebe

Freelance reporter, The Beacon

Mark Wiebe is a freelance journalist and former reporter for The Kansas City Star. He lives in Roeland Park, Kansas, with his wife Anne and calico cat, Cooper.

News

Kansas City faces a new economic 'border war' as sports and stadium deals loom

Mark Wiebe

The Kansas City region contributes to Kansas and Missouri economies in big ways, despite interstate competition that has fueled massive government giveaways and tempts the Chiefs and Royals to jump the border. Will a fragile truce hold as the weight of the World Cup bears down?
Housing & Development

Why does Kansas City struggle with public transit? The state line makes everything harder

Mark Wiebe

A patchwork of counties and cities huddled around the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers makes it harder to develop affordable, efficient public transit in the Kansas City region. Transit funding decisions get handled within each jurisdiction, with little or no coordination between them, and the KCATA has no power to levy taxes.
Politics, Elections and Government

Kansas City is defined, and held back, by the state line more than any other American city

Mark Wiebe

The Kansas-Missouri border splits Kansas City, and divides the metro region more evenly, and sometimes problematically, than any American metro region cut in two by a state line.