coffee

Since 1992, Broadway Café in the heart of Westport has remained a central part of Kansas City's coffee scene. Plus: Ice skaters in mid-Missouri have to drive up to two hours in order to find a rink where they can practice their sport, but these two teens aren't letting that stop them.

A decision from the National Labor Relations Board found Starbucks violated labor law hundreds of times. While workers in Kansas City wait on decisions for unfair labor practice charges of their own, they say more direct action is needed.

Since 1992, Broadway Café in the heart of Westport has remained a central part of Kansas City's coffee scene — a place where people don't just grab their drinks to go, but stay a while and even make some friends.

For almost 30 years, TableTop Game and Hobby and its sister shop Cardbord Corner Café have created a second home to a growing community of tabletop and RPG enthusiasts. For some, it's even the reason why they moved to Kansas City in the first place. "This is our tavern table," one regular says.

A gaggle of retirees, military vets, and ex-bikers gather at the Lee's Summit restaurant every morning. The men often skip the cinnamon rolls and say they mostly come for the camaraderie — plus the never-ending supply of decaffeinated coffee.

The cafe is Kansas City’s first Vietnamese coffee shop – and the only one the almost 200-year-old neighborhood has ever had.

Moved to town or just visiting? Don't worry! Read KCUR's guide to Kansas City and pretty soon you’ll be arguing about barbecue, the proper way to pronounce “Plaza,” and crazy Missouri/Kansas drivers just like the rest of us.

A narrow win means that baristas at the 41st and Main Street café can now begin collective bargaining as part of Workers United.

Workers at Starbucks in Independence said they hope to bargain for better working conditions and wage increases.

Another Starbucks store in the Kansas City area is voting on whether to form a union. But baristas across the metro say the company retaliated against union efforts by threatening their health benefits. Plus, a Kansas patient says the gene therapy research that could help him is going nowhere fast.

For Starbucks baristas — many of them young and queer — it used to be a point of pride to work for a company with a reputation for taking care of its employees. But some employees say the company's response to their unionization efforts prove otherwise.

For the last two years, the real humans of Kansas City have given us strength. They've helped us realize that when the outlook appears grim, daring to imagine a way forward isn't fanciful or naïve.