Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/tag/kansas-city/)
Farmland in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Nebraska are among the nine states in the country that sell 50 percent of the U.S. agriculture products while netting nearly $100 billion in total produce sales, according to U.S. Census data.
Kansas City and St. Louis have reaped millions of dollars in homeland security funding through the federal Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). Kansas City's allocation is on the chopping block as Congress looks to save money throughout the budget. The UASI debate highlights philosophical divides over how homeland security money should be spent. This is the first of an ongoing series examining homeland security spending in Missouri as the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches.
A couple years ago, Missouri's grain industry was rocked by two business insolvencies that saddled farmers with millions of dollars in losses. Regulators and the farmers themselves share blame for a system that had begun to operate loosely. Both sides say they have learned their lesson and have tightened up their procedures. But is it enough? Two years after the business collapses, reforms are still unimplemented.
Three Kansas communities with a combined population equal to that of Lawrence are at risk of exposure to a chemical that can be 100 times more lethal than carbon monoxide. The substance is hydrofluoric acid, which is used to make high-octane gasoline, and according to worst-case estimates that oil refiners in El Dorado, McPherson, and Coffeyville have provided to federal regulators, an accidental release could expose more than 92,000 nearby residents to dangerous levels through a toxic cloud. Within range are schools, residences, hospitals, and recreation areas.