The 29th annual showcase for the George Caleb Bingham Academy of the Arts, which culminates the month-long arts academy sponsored by the Independence School District Foundation, is 7 p.m. Thursday at Truman High School.
Fireworks sales have started at many fireworks tents around Independence, and in a few days sales begin in Grain Valley and Blue Springs. Cities also have varying times when residents can set fireworks off.
The American Baseball Coaches Association presents a Rawlings Gold Glove award for defensive prowess to nine high school players across the nation. And Cooper Callahan, the Blue Springs South High School junior shortstop, who happens to be The Examiner’s 2025 Baseball Player of the Year, is one of the winners.
Blue Springs South baseball coach Ben Baier is a man of few words. When he praises one of his players, it’s heartfelt, sincere and backed with the type of conviction that can only come from a man who cares deeply for his guys on and off the field.
Independence FireFest organizers say this year’s annual event Saturday outside Cable Dahmer Arena will have representation from around the country. The Independence 76 Fire Company, a non-profit group that restores and displays vintage fire service vehicles, hosts FireFest, and this week it also hosts the annual convention for the Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America.
The city of Independence will indeed add $400,000 to funds for dangerous building demolitions, but that money will not come from marijuana sales tax funds.
Independence’s Parks and Recreation Department sets aside some funds for maintenance needs at the city’s historic sites. But for now, after a city bond issue narrowly failed in April, large capital expenditures for the Bingham-Waggoner Estate and Vaile Victorian Mansion are in a holding pattern.
Two recent economic snapshots suggest that the region’s economy, like the national economy, continues to move ahead but businesses and consumers are pulling back some as they expect higher inflation among other worries amid the tariff flip-flops and other uncertainties coming from Washington. Eight times a year the Federal Reserve posts its Beige Book reports, a summation of observations by business owners and others across the country.
With funds from marijuana sales tax revenues, the city of Independence wants to boost code enforcement and dangerous building demolition efforts. During City Council meetings last week to discuss the 2025-26 fiscal year budget, Community Development Director Tom Scannell said his department plans to use $400,000 from marijuana tax revenues toward building demolition, which would be a notable increase from about $68,000 total spent the past two years.
The annual Strawberry Festival at the Vaile Mansion, the largest fundraiser for the non-profit group that cares for the Victorian-era home in northern Independence, is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.