Ingram's November 2022

I N T H E N E W S

Tidbits of Business News from Around the Region

MISSOURI BUCHANAN COUNTY Fiber Expansion

Study Set for I-670 Cap Hometown HNTB will conduct the preliminary design and environmental analysis services for a proposal to create the South Loop Link, which would fill the space between the Central Business District and the Crossroads by building a cap over Interstate 670. Supporters hope to push the $170 million project into a fast track for completion ahead of the FIFA World Cup games in 2026, creating a 5½-acre park and space linking the two sections of Downtown between Wyandotte Street and Grand Boulevard, with I-670 traffic in the tunnel below. Adieu, Nutter After seven decades of promoting The American Dream, James B. Nutter & Correspondent News Updates from the Capital cities

Co. has announced that it is exiting the mortgage business and will sell all its assets. Nutter Home Loans stopped originating new loans in late October, and a workforce that had reached 125 will be laid off.

High-speed broadband options in St. Joseph will be getting a $50 million boost as Savannah-based United Fiber expands its fiber network for a city with 36,000 customers. The expanded network will offer phone and television services, as well as Internet, extending the company’s footprint in northwest Missouri.

PLATTE COUNTY Southwest Expanding

Proponents of a new terminal design at Kansas City International Airport had long argued that a better facility would boost f light options, and the biggest tenant, Southwest Airlines, is fulfilling that prophecy: It has announced new nonstop flights come next spring after the new facility opens in early March. They include direct flights to Albuquerque, and Indianapolis, plus additional flights starting in April to Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Diego

CASS COUNTY Max Keeps Adding

Harrisonville-basedMaxMotors Dealer- ships, one of the region’s biggest and fast- est-growing companies, has acquired HMH Autosport of Lee’s Summit, extending its reach across the region with a 14th location.

CLAY COUNTY End of a Cerner Era

Washington | VA Hits Brakes on Legacy Cerner System The Department of Veterans Affairs will extend by an additional six months the delay it imposed for upcoming deployments of the Oracle Cerner electronic health record system until next June to address issues with its functionality. Secretary Denis McDonough had announced in July that VA would pause deployments until January 2023 to ensure that the system’s issues had been resolved. During VA’s subsequent investigation, additional technical and system issues were identified, including challenges with performance, such as latency and slowness, problems with patient scheduling, referrals, medication management, and other types of medical orders. Jefferson City | Parson Signs Historic Tax Cut Gov. Mike Parson has signed two pieces of legislation that came out of the recent special session of the General Assembly, setting in place historic income tax cuts and extending key agriculture tax credits for a minimum of six years. Among other things, the tax measure reduces the top individual income tax rate from 5.2 to 4.95 percent, which should lead to a 5 percent decrease in the tax liability of most residents. It also eliminates the bottom income tax bracket, exempting the first $1,000 of earnings from income taxes, and allows an additional .15 percent top income tax rate reduction to 4.8 percent when net general revenues increase by $175 million. Topeka | Jobless Rate Ticks Back Up The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate inched up slightly in September to 2.6 percent, state labor officials say, a small increase from the August rate of 2.5 percent but a year-over-year decline from the 3 percent figure in September 2021. Labor Secretary Amber Shultz said the state’s jobless rate continued to be lower than it was before the onset of the 2020 pandemic. Total nonfarm payroll employment, which includes private sector and government employers, increased by 500 from August, while private-sector jobs increased by 1,600 over the same span. Government jobs fell by 1,100. Labor officials said the largest gains came from manufacturing and trade, transportation and utilities industries.

Nearly 30 years after Cerner Corp. est- ablished its headquarters in North Kansas City. The company that acquired it is vacating the 1.53-million-square-foot prem- ises. Oracle Health has announced that it will dispose of all but the newest Innovations Campus assets in the region. That includes the Clay County headquarters purchased in 1994 and the former Marion Labs site, Cerner’s Realizations Campus in south KC, with 606,000’bof Class B office space. Last year, Cerner placed its 605,000’ Continuous Campus in Wyandotte County for sale. Royals chairman John Sherman has issued a letter outlining the goal of building a Downtown stadium after half-century of playing at Kauffman Stadium in the Truman Sports Complex. It didn’t specify a site, but did suggest a $2 billion price tag, which he said would not include additional taxes on Jackson County residents. Further attempts to renovate Kauffman, he wrote, would likely cost as much or more than a new facility, without generating the economic benefits of a Downtown location. JACKSON COUNTY Royals Pitch New Stadium

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Kansas City’s Business Media

November 2022