Prime Healthcare Services, a national chain based in California, intends to acquire St. Joseph Medical Center and St. Mary’s Medical Center.

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Nico Johnson cites one play, in particular, that he hopes signifies his improvement since a disappointing rookie year.

A group of artists is looking to turn two of the 500 empty lots in Kansas City’s Ivanhoe neighborhood into community gathering places. The artists, in partnership with the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Center, hope their initiative, called Lots of Love, will spread throughout the city. Thanks to a similar effort, a lot already has been transformed in the Marlborough neighborhood.

For years, UMKC’s Bloch School struggled for dollars and recognition as it sought to join the nation’s elite business schools. That all changed in 2011 when UMKC vaulted above Harvard, MIT and Stanford in rankings for innovation management research, on the heels of Henry Bloch’s $32 million gift to the school for a state-of-the-art facility. But behind UMKC’s rise to No. 1, a trail of exaggerations, misstatements, selective science and nondisclosures raises questions about the validity of the rankings.

President Barack Obama promises yet another speech on the economy this week in Kansas City. Voters sense speeches aren’t enough. For all the blather from Democrats and Republicans, the public knows politicians are locked in a 20th-century argument over 21st-century challenges.