Frank Morris
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Card sales are stagnant and Hallmark just made major job cuts. While some millennials have found novelty in paper cards, the traditional cards can't quite compete with social media.
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Hundreds of Confederate memorials and markers dot the South and beyond. Even as far north as Missouri, two memorials have become flash points.
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After launching a quilt company as a desperation move, Jenny Doan and her two savvy kids have shaken up an ancient industry in downtown Hamilton, Mo., thanks in part to popular folksy video tutorials.
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Oklahoma oil is expensive to produce, so the sharp drop in prices has forced many drilling companies to cut jobs. If prices stay low, the pain could spread to the banks that finance the oil industry.
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Oil is big business in Oklahoma, and the industry has been a boon for many cities here. But there are concerns that techniques used for extracting oil are behind a surge in temblors in the state.
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Boulevard Brewing has become a Kansas City staple since its founding in the 1980s. It has many loyal local fans — and soon, a new international owner, Duvel. The deal says a lot about how the world now values a product made with a firm sense of place.
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Farm programs will likely cost the government less under any new farm bill, but the policy could be bad for the environment. Both House and Senate versions would end a big subsidy, called direct payments, that has paid money to land owners — whether they needed it or not — if they complied with certain conservation regulations. The two chambers' versions of the bill differ on how, or even if, to incent farmers to take care of their land. But both versions would stop funding to keep at least five million acres of land out of production.
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Horse slaughter is banned in the U.S., but thousands of American horses are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter every year. Investors argue restarting the practice in the U.S. would be better for business and offer a more humane end for horses that are neglected under the current model.
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New pumping and irrigation systems made it easy for farmers to extract billions of gallons of water from the High Plains Aquifer. But now, parts of the aquifer are dried out, prompting a debate over how to preserve what once seemed to be an almost inexhaustible resource.
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Gov. Sam Brownback plans to get rid of Kansas' income tax and cut the size of state government. Some lawmakers say it's a great experiment that will show that lower tax rates and streamlined bureaucracy can stimulate growth; others are concerned about overreaching.