Bonner Springs Offering Tax Incentives for Mattel Theme Park
BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. (KNS) - A northeast Kansas community is offering more than $200 million of tax incentives to build a toy company’s theme park in Wyandotte County. A public finance expert says those types of tax breaks are piling up for the state. The tax subsidy will help develop the $540 million Mattel Adventure Park in Bonner Springs. It will include attractions featuring toys like Barbie. The public funds mostly come from STAR Bonds, which are paid off by sales tax revenue generated by the project. University of Kansas Associate Professor Zach Mohr is an expert on public budgeting and finance. He says the park may lead to more toy purchases and sales tax revenue. But the state is already on the hook for several STAR bond projects. Like the planned stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs. “These projects are committing the state to lots and lots of money," he said. State officials have argued that STAR bonds create new tax revenue to fund the projects and do not use existing dollars.
The theme park will be built near an entertainment district in Kansas City, Kansas. That area already features shopping and sports venues, and it will be the new home of the Kansas City Chiefs. Bonner Springs pledged about $220 million of the half-billion-dollar project. Bonner Springs Mayor Tom Stephens says he expects the project to nearly double the city’s taxable property value. Construction of the adventure park is slated to begin in 2027 and the park is expected to open in 2031. That's the same year the new Chiefs stadium is set to open. (Read more about the Mattel Adventure Park.)
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Taiwanese Energy Company Will Build First American Plant in Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A Taiwan-based energy technology company is opening a manufacturing plant in Kansas. On Wednesday, Apogee Power selected Liberal as the location for its U.S. manufacturing and assembly facility. KSNW TV reports that it will be Apogee’s first facility in North America. The facility will manufacture batteries for commercial, industrial and grid-scale uses.
The company’s 20,000-square-foot facility will be located at 1600 W. Pancake Blvd. in Liberal’s industrial corridor. Once opened in summer 2026, the facility is initially scheduled to employ 30 people, with an additional 40 positions added once manufacturing ramps up. According to a company news release, Liberal was chosen in part because of its central location in the U.S. and its proximity to major highways and railroads.
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Holiday Event Combines Christmas Cheer with Environmental Project
UNDATED (KNS) — A holiday event this month turned evergreens that smother prairies into free Christmas trees. The Kansas News Service reports that eastern red cedars have become a widespread problem on prairies because humans have segmented the landscape and suppressed fire. Since 2001, Kansas City Wildlands has invited the public to events where they can chop down red cedars. Program manager Hunter Moore says that “eastern red cedars make really good Christmas trees because not only are they kind of the stereotypical kind of Hallmarky-looking Christmas tree – they also smell really, really good.” The event stopped for several years, in part because of the pandemic, but people kept asking KC Wildlands to bring it back. This year more than 500 people helped take red cedars out of a grassland at Powell Gardens. Over the years, the annual KC Wildland events have turned thousands of red cedars around the metro into Christmas trees. KC Wildlands plans to repeat the event next year.
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KC Area Shelter Dogs Get Hamburgers for Christmas
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - For the 10th year in a row, a man has delivered hundreds of hamburgers for the holidays to a Kansas City area pet shelter. KCTV reports that Scott Poore delivered 200 plain McDonald's burgers to the KC Pet Project's Swope Park location on Christmas Eve. KC Pet Project has waived adoption fees through the end of the year to give these dogs a chance to find their forever homes by the New Year.
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KPR Offers Listeners A Very Merry Prairie Journal
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) — Have you heard this year's KPR holiday variety show? Every year, KPR's Kaye McIntyre, the host of Prairie Journal (formerly KPR Presents), produces a holiday version of her weekly public affairs show. It's basically a KPR talent show featuring music, poetry and short holiday stories. Many of the staffers at the radio station play musical instruments - indeed, some are professional musicians - and they put that talent to good use during this yuletide tradition. Check it out.
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BCBS, KU Health System-St. Francis Reach Agreement
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) — The State of Kansas Employee Health Plan announced Wednesday that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas and the University of Kansas Health System-St. Francis campus have reached a contract agreement. This means that TUKHS – St. Francis campus will continue as a BCBS Network provider for plan year 2026. The two parties had been in negotiations to renew reimbursement rates before their current agreement expired on December 31. Patients at TUKHS-St. Francis had been at risk of no longer receiving in-network services at the St. Francis facilities in Topeka if a new deal wasn’t reached by the new year.
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Slot Machine Player Wins Half-a-Million at Kansas Casino
MAYETTA, Kan. (KSNT) — A slot machine player is celebrating Christmas this year with an extra half a million dollars thanks to a recent lucky streak at a northeast Kansas casino. KSNT reports that the anonymous winner claimed a jackpot prize of just over $537,000 at the Prairie Band Casino & Resort in Jackson County. The casino posted the news to social media on December 23rd. Prairie Band is one of four tribal casinos in the state and is operated by the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.
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KC Firefighters Rescue Man Stuck in the Water and Mud Christmas Eve
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — Kansas City firefighters rescued a man who became stuck in the water and mud late Christmas Eve. WDAF TV reports that first responders were called to a pond in north Kansas City (North Overland Court near Northwest Barry Road) just before midnight Wednesday after receiving a call for a water rescue. Arriving crews found a man in waist-deep water who had become stuck in the mud. Firefighters say the man has become lodged in the mud about 30 to 40 yards from the bank. Crews threw a rope bag to the victim, who was able to grab on as he was pulled to shore within about 20 minutes.
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Deadline Approaches for Royals Proposal
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) — Now that we know the Chiefs are headed to Kansas, the deadline is approaching for the Royals to make a similar decision. The same sales tax bonds the Chiefs will use to build a $3 billion stadium in Wyandotte County are also available to the Royals. Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins says time is running out for the Kansas City baseball team. “Right now, we have not heard what they have anything put together, so... we’re just going to have to wait," he said. Hawkins added that there's no chance the deadline will be extended. Indications are if the Royals jump the state line, the team wants to build on the old Sprint Campus at 119th and Nall in Overland Park.
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This summary of area news is curated by KPR news staffers. Our headlines are generally published by 10 am weekdays and are updated through 7 pm. This ad-free news summary is made possible by KPR members. Become one today. And follow KPR News on X (formerly Twitter).