Barkley’s newest win could be considered a wake-up call, but in a different sense. Community Coffee named the Kansas City-based advertising firm as its media agency of record, LBBOnline reports. Barkley did not issue a release, but linked to the report on its website. The move makes Barkley responsible for expanding the Community Coffee brand through paid media in key markets, according to LBBOnline. Based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Community Coffee is a fourth-generation family business founded…

The top U.S. rail regulator will hold three days of public hearings as it begins to wrap up its consideration of the merger of Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. The Surface Transportation Board said Friday that it will hold public hearings Sept. 28, 29 and 30 in Washington. Canadian Pacific closed on a $31 billion deal to acquire KC Southern in December but must win approval of the regulator to merge operations of the two smallest Class I railroads. The proposed Canadian Pacific…

Problems with the records system persist even as the estimated cost of the VA project now tops $50 billion.

U.S. Army officials will give an update on the cleanup of the former ammunition plant in De Soto that is to be the location of a $4 billion Panasonic battery plant. The Army plans a public hearing on Wednesday to discuss progress on an environmental cleanup of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant. The event will provide the public a chance to ask questions about the cleanup and discuss the possibility of forming a Restoration Advisory Board, according to the Johnson County website. The Sunflower…

An Overland Park business owner who failed to submit employees’ payroll taxes will pay — financially and with his freedom. Lance Ashley, owner of Ashley Home Care Services, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison by U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release. Along with the prison sentence, Robinson ordered Ashley to serve two years of supervised release and to pay $321,000 in restitution. Prosecutors say Ashley did not submit all of the federal…

A lineup including Thor, Tom Cruise, Elvis and the Minions lifted AMC Theatres to its best weekend of the year — and above pre-Covid levels. Leawood-based AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) said the period from Thursday through Sunday was its best of the year, both in the U.S. and worldwide. The company said global admissions revenue for the weekend was roughly double what they were for the same period last year. AMC did not disclose revenue figures, but CEO Adam Aron said in a release…