City planners are meeting with residents today for the final community summit meant to reimagine U.S. Highway 71 and the future of its surrounding neighborhoods.

Why it matters: The project, dubbed Reconnecting the East Side, seeks to address the harms created by the highway, which demolished swaths of minority neighborhoods and created one of KC's most dangerous roads.

Flashback: Kansas City's first Black city councilmember, Bruce R. Watkins, led protests against the project in the '60s, calling it "Kansas City's Berlin Wall," KCUR reported.

• Construction ultimately tore down thousands of homes and displaced as many as 7,400 residents, most of whom were Black, according to the city.
• The highway wasn't finished until 2001. In 2022, the city secured a federal grant to study revitalizing the corridor.

Zoom in: The project focuses on the southern part of 71 Highway, from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard down to 85th Street.

• City leaders say the 5-mile section, which includes stoplights and a lower speed limit, has not delivered on its intended purpose: to provide better connectivity and economic benefits.
• It now has the highest concentration of crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists in the entire city, per the 2022 Vision Zero plan, and has some of the most crashes resulting in deaths and injuries.

State of play: Previous engagement sessions resulted in three options: make the whole thing a freeway with no lights; turn it into a parkway with more lights and a lower speed limit; or return it to a city grid street that favors pedestrians over cars.

• The decisions could impact nine neighborhoods, from The Paseo in the west to Swope Parkway in the east.
• All options aim to provide more connectivity between each side of 71, so communities that were once whole can move more easily across the divide.

What they're saying: In an interactive map open to public comment, suggestions include adding sound barriers and more pedestrian bridge crossings while removing stoplight intersections.

If you go: The event today is from 5:30–7:30pm at St. James United Methodist Church, 5540 Wayne Ave.

A towering chrome heart with angel wings landed outside the Loews Kansas City Hotel on Monday, marking the first installation of the 2026 Parade of Hearts.

The big picture: The project will bring 150 sculptures to the Kansas City area as the city prepares for global attention during the 2026 World Cup.

Context: Parade of Hearts launched in 2021 in KC with just over 120 sculptures and has since expanded into a bi-state public art project built around KC's "Heart of America" identity.

Driving the news: Artist Trew Love unveiled "There's No Place Like Chrome," an 18-by-9-foot heart with angel wings that Parade of Hearts says is the largest sculpture in the project's history.

• The reflective chrome finish, designed to mirror the city, changes with the light throughout the day.
• Love said the interactive surface was inspired in part by Chicago's "Cloud Gate," giving people a way to see themselves in the piece.
• The sculpture took about four months to build, using materials such as steel, fiberglass and vinyl.

Zoom in: This year's artists are also designing with visitors in mind as KC hosts the World Cup.

• "There may be people traveling over here that don't speak English or may feel too awkward to ask someone else to take their photo, so that's why I did the mirror in the middle," local artist Nathan Bennett tells Axios.

• His design uses vintage postcard-style graphics so people can create what he calls "a modern-day postcard" to share online.

What they're saying: "I feel like a heart with wings, letting love take flight, is a perfect way to welcome all the people who are going to be staying here," Love told Axios. "Let them know what Kansas City love is truly like in physical form."

State of play: This year marks the project's biggest investment yet, including $375,000 in artist stipends.

• The sculptures will be displayed through August across more than 60 communities in Kansas City and surrounding areas on both sides of the state border.

What's next: Installations will continue over the next two weeks, with the sculptures on display for four months before being auctioned off in September.

🏒 The KC Mavericks clinched the best regular season record in the ECHL, earning the Brabham Cup for the third time in franchise history. They'll have home-ice advantage for the playoffs starting April 24. (Press release)

🎓 The University of Missouri cut school funding to five identity-based student organizations starting July 2026, including the Asian American Association and the Queer Liberation Front. School leaders pointed to a memo from the Justice Department. (KCUR)

⚾️ The Royals game today in Cleveland was bumped up from 6:10pm to 12:10pm to avoid frigid temperatures. (FOX4)

💰 Seeing ads about the earnings tax? That's because some of KC's biggest businesses and organizations have contributed a total of nearly $1 million to campaign for its renewal. (Kansas City Business Journal)

The Kansas City Zoo has a new tiny addition. Molly, a fennec fox born in February, is now out for visitors to see with parents Beshte and PJ.

Why it matters: Fennec foxes are the smallest of their kind, known for those oversized ears that help them stay cool and hunt in desert climates.

• The zoo staff says Molly is thriving, even as the species faces threats from habitat loss and the illegal pet trade.

If you go: You can now spot her in the African Kopje habitat.