Kansas City Friday Highlights: Locals Aglow Despite Dark Winter

In this post just for night owls & insomniacs we take a peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines in order to play catch up and share just a bit more reading material than so many other lesser local websites.

Check TKC news gathering . . .

Cowtown Recovery Takes Hold

Hiring picks up for some Kansas City businesses

The U.S. jobs report shows the economy is growing at a faster pace than expected. Three times as fast in January with 467,000 new jobs created.About one in four of the new jobs created were at restaurants. At Kansas City's Betty Rae's Ice Cream, where even though it's winter, they just hired new workers.This is Isabella Vides' second day at her new job.

Local College Fights Zoom Raid

'Racial, derogatory' statements interrupt Black History Month event at Rockhurst University

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Members of the Black Student Union at Rockhurst University had a Black History Month event interrupted by racist and derogatory comments on Thursday. According to the university, the BSU held a virtual event featuring local black businesses. At some point in the meeting, several individuals were able to invade the meeting.

Show-Me Pain From Gas

Spire customers in Missouri see increased bills

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- KCTV5 News received calls Friday from concerned Spire customers about their natural gas bills spiking. Last November the Missouri Public Service Commission announced that Spire Missouri customers would see a natural gas rate increase.

Rock Chalk Crashes

Kansas sees high number of vehicle crash reports from recent snowstorm

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) - The Kansas Highway Patrol's (KHP) Trooper Chad Crittenden revealed on Thursday that KHP responded to 82 vehicle crashes in the metro area since Tuesday evening. Of those 82 crashes, 76 were non-injury crashes, and six resulted in injuries. No fatalities were reported.

Kansas City Hipster Night Life Explained

Tiny, volunteer-run Stray Cat Film Center is screening stuff no other theater in town will

It's a Thursday night, and seventies electro-funk is thumping through the lobby of Stray Cat Film Center in the Crossroads. The lobby of this microcinema is styled like the Forman family den, with a Pam Grier poster on the wall and a yellow and orange floral print sofa facing a constellation of artfully arranged tube TVs.

Celebrating Redhead Celeb

Anna Kendrick Stuns In See-Through Corset Dress

Anna Kendrick is always adorable on-screen but when she is on the red carpet, she amps up the style and turns into a major stunner! The 36-year-old actress shared a photo on her Instagram page, where she has 19.8 million followers, featuring a gorgeous and fancy look she donned for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opening gala.

Prez Biden Checks & Balances

Biden signs executive order requiring project labor agreements for federal construction projects over $35M

President Biden signed an executive order Friday that would require certain federal construction projects to use project labor agreements (PLA's). PLAs set standards for wages and other conditions with a labor organization prior to a project. Biden touted the move as a way to reduce costs and improve efficiency, although some have argued that PLAs increase costs.

Former Veep Contradicts MAGA

Pence says Trump is 'wrong' to say then-vice president had the right to overturn 2020 election

Former Vice President Mike Pence called out his former boss by name on Friday, saying that "President Trump is wrong" in claiming that Pence had the right to overturn the 2020 election on January 6, 2021.

Republicans Endorse Riot

GOP censures Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, calls Jan. 6 riot 'legitimate political discourse'

WASHINGTON - Responding to demands by Donald Trump allies, the Republican National Committee voted Friday to censure two GOP lawmakers who oppose the ex-president: Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. The resolution, passed at an RNC meeting, said the "behavior" of Cheney and Kinzinger - the only Republicans on the House committee investigating the pro-Trump insurrection of Jan.

Prez Trump Sides With Truckers

Trump calls Trudeau "far left lunatic" as siege continues in Ottawa

"Our goal is to end the demonstration," Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said Friday morning, acknowledging that the extended protest has led to "a lot of unacceptable and unlawful activities." The demonstrators are "highly organized, well funded, extremely committed to resisting all attempts to end the demonstrations safely," he said.

Tech Shuts Down Political Donations

GoFundMe scuttles campaign for trucker convoy, stops release of $10-million in donations

GoFundMe broke ties with convoy protesters late on Friday, citing "the promotion of violence and harassment" on the streets of Ottawa. The announcement scuttles one of the crowdfunding company's biggest fundraising campaigns and blocks the release of nearly $10-million in donations. The decision deprives demonstrators in the country's capital of financing.

Tragic Plague Numbers Persist

US Covid death toll surpasses 900,000

Propelled in part by the wildly contagious Omicron variant, the US death toll from Covid-19 hit 900,000 on Friday, less than two months after eclipsing 800,000. The two-year total, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of Indianapolis, San Francisco, or Charlotte, North Carolina.

Iran From Nuke Showdown

U.S. restores sanctions waiver to Iran with nuclear talks in final phase

WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration on Friday restored sanctions waivers to Iran to allow international nuclear cooperation projects, as indirect American-Iranian talks on reviving the 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran enter the final stretch.

Talker Trimmed By Tech

Spotify appears to remove more than 70 episodes of Joe Rogan's podcast

Spotify appears to have quietly removed roughly 70 episodes of Joe Rogan's podcast after expressing support for the comedian, who's stirred controversy for spreading COVID misinformation. The apparent removal of the episodes, all of which were recorded years before the pandemic began, was spotted by JREMissing.

Verdict: Pr0n Lawyer Stole Cash

Lawyer Michael Avenatti guilty of taking $300,000 from porn star Stormy Daniels

Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti has been convicted of stealing nearly $300,000 from porn star Stormy Daniels, whom he represented in her lawsuit against former President Donald Trump. A jury on Friday afternoon found Avenatti guilty on counts of wire fraud and identity theft. He faces up to 22 years in prison for both counts.

Awaiting Royal Comeback

How the 2022 Royals can improve on last year's team without much effort

While the specter of a truncated Spring Training or a shortened season still looms, and though free agency and trades are frozen, many parts of the offseason are chugging along-namely, the annual organizational talent evaluation and projection system number crunching. Things are looking up for the Royals in general, which, granted, is not difficult considering their back-to-back 100-loss campaigns recently.

Best Of Luck To Old School Kansas City Baller

Former Chiefs QB wants Tom Brady's old job

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel is campaigning to replace newly-retired Tom Brady at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Cassel, who spent four seasons as Brady's back up in New England, played four seasons with the Chiefs. In 48 games with Kansas City, Cassel threw for 9,549 passing yards, 59 touchdowns and 44 interceptions.

Show-Me Fight To Fix-It

Missouri farmers support right-to-repair bill

Imagine going to an auto parts store to fix something yourself on your car and they won't sell it to you. That is what many area farmers say is happening to them.Now, there is a new push to change that with Missouri House Bill 2402.

Contemplating Cowtown Plans Tonight

7 Things To Do This Weekend In KC: February 3-6

Check out these seven things you can do this weekend in Kansas City February 3-6, 2022.

Forecast For Now . . . 

Saturday will be mostly sunny, highs near 40

Overnight lows will fall into the single digits. After a chilly start, Saturday's hill will near 40 degrees with mostly sunny skies.

And this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.