As in any war, the first and last casualties have something in common. Both are tragedies.

A Georgia company that plans to open a distribution center in Olathe will bring more than 160 additional jobs to the area. Accelerate360 will locate a 455,000-square-foot distribution center in the Lone Elm 716 building in Olathe. The facility, at Lone Elm Road and 167th Street, will create 167 new full-time jobs in the next three years, according to a Friday release from the Kansas Department of Commerce. The project represents a capital investment of more than $31 million, the announcement stated. Accelerate360,…

A federal office will bring back 500 jobs in the Kansas City area months after a massive layoff. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will restore 500 jobs for operations centers in Lee’s Summit and Overland Park. USCIS laid off approximately 1,000 people at its National Benefits Center locations in the metro area last year. The federal office said it made the cuts due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its own budget situation. The National Benefits Centers process immigration paperwork.…

Spirit Airlines will provide another path to the Florida beaches from Kansas City. The airline announced it will add nonstop service from Kansas City International Airport to Pensacola, Florida, beginning June 11. Spirit will offer flights on the new route on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Previously, Southwest Airlines provided the only service between KCI and Pensacola, and that was a seasonal flight, according to the KCI website. The move comes a week after Spirit tweeted that…

Quest Diagnostics’ purchase of some lab operations of a St. Louis-based hospital system will bring a positive result for Lenexa. Quest announced this week that it will acquire the outreach laboratory services business of Mercy. In a release, the parties did not disclose the price of what they called an all-cash asset transaction. The deal calls for testing associated with outreach lab services now conducted at 29 Mercy labs and two independent clinics to move to Quest’s laboratory in Lenexa…

A pilot project will test turning Kansas City streetlights into charging stations for electric vehicles. The federally funded project is aimed at finding ways to serve drivers without ready access to charging in a home garage or driveway. Plans call for installation of chargers on 30 to 60 streetlights this year, Energy News Network reports. Metropolitan Energy Center is leading the project, whose partners include the city, Evergy Inc., University of Missouri S&T, National Renewable Energy Lab,…