For over 10 years, the Tribune and Times has served as a primary media source for Cass and Bates counties. In addition to news, sports and other information of interest to its readers, the paper serves as the weekly paper of record for several communities including Harrisonville and Peculiar.
Founded in April of 2017 as the Harrisonville Star, the paper quickly made the transition to a regional publication serving cities throughout southern Cass County. In 2019 the paper began serving Bates County as the news outlet in Adrian and northern parts of the county. The name was changed to The Tribune to show its bi-county service area.
In the summer of 2022, the 140-year-old Pleasant Hill Times ceased publication, but the subscribers were brought to the Tribune. As a tribute to the last pre-20th Century publication in the county, the name Times was added to the masthead and the Tribune and Times was born.
The paper provides community news from throughout its coverage area, but not just as a news aggregator of social media posts and press releases, but provides extensive coverage from a group of professional, veteran reporters. In the four years the Tribune has been eligible to compete in the Missouri Press Association’s “Better Newspaper Contest,” the staff has won 28 awards, including seven first place honors.
The Tribune and Times is actively involved in its communities, serving as a sponsor for a number of charitable events. The paper is also an active member of the Harrisonville Area, Peculiar, Pleasant Hill and Adrian chambers of commerce.
The Tribune and Times has about 2,000 weekly paid subscribers and as well as an extensive retail sales area for its print product. Using the industry standard of 3.4 readers average for a “purchased” paper, the circulation of the Tribune and Times easily exceeds 10,000 readers weekly. The paper recently began more aggressively serving the communities with a digital product: tribuneandtimes.com. Although still establishing its footprint, the digital product has averaged over 7,200 unique visitors to the site each week. Additionally the traffic on the newspaper’s Facebook page is approaching 18,000 views weekly with over 3,500 followers and growing.
The paper was founded by Pat Thomas and the original office was a single room in the back of the Harrisonville Chamber of Commerce. The paper moved to its current location at 305 W. Wall Street, Harrisonville, in March of 2020. The paper also has an office at 9 W. Dakota Street in Butler.
dennism@tribuneandtimes.com
Dennis Minich was hired by Pat Thomas to serve as a reporter when the Harrisonville Star was founded. Minich is an experienced news writer having over 45 years in the profession. He started his career at several Kansas City-area publications including the Kansas City Kansan, Raytown News, Prep Sports, the Olathe Daily News and the Daily Star-Journal in Warrensburg, He also had stories published in a variety of publications including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News.
Minich came to Harrisonville in 1991 to serve as a full-time member of the staff of Cass County Democrat-Missourian. He was with the paper for for nine years, including two as the editor. Minich left the Democrat-Missouri to serve as editor of the Johnson County (Kansas) Sun Publications. He also served as a writer for “Ingram’s Magazine.”
From there he went to The University of Kansas Hospital where he worked in the public relations office for nine years. While there, he was invited back to serve as a columnist and featured writer for the Democrat-Missourian.
When Thomas died, following the founding of the fledgling Harrisonville Star, Minich was approached by a group of area businessmen to keep the paper going and The South Cass Tribune was born.
Minich’s writing has been widely recognized. His first award was in 1987 when a series of articles he wrote as a freelance writer won second place nationally in sports writing from the Suburban Newspaper Association.
During his career, Minich has amassed 32 awards in the Missouri Press Association’s “Better Newspaper Contest.” Among those, he has won 14 awards as a columnist, including three first places for best humorous columnist and one for best serious columnist. He has also won a first place for best editorial. Among his other first place wins were best health story, twice; best story about history, news feature or series, sports feature and best coverage of COVID-19. He also won an honorable mention for humorous columns from the National Newspaper Association.
Paige Gustin, a native of Pleasant Hill and a 2021 graduate of Pleasant Hill High School was hired in a full-time role. She will cover city and school beats, as well as general assignment reporting.
Following high school, Gustin attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where she graduated in May 2025 with a BA in journalism. While in college she was a reporter with the college’s newspaper, The UA Traveler.
Gustin’s family have resided in the Pleasant Hill area for over 200 years. She said she enjoys pop culture, music, as well as anime. She notes she is fully caught up on the show “One Piece.”
She said, “'The Tribune and Times' has been my local paper growing up, and being able to contribute to my local news is something that I am very passionate about.”
Chloe Fischer is a journalism student at the University of Colorado after attending two years at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. There Fischer worked for the school's Roo News.
Fischer serves in various capacities at the Tribune and Times as a reporter, photographer and designer.
She is a native of Nixa and graduated from Nixa High School in 2024.
In her free time Fischer enjoys dance and photography. She also enjoys spending time with friends, family and her cat, Pebble.
While in high school, Fischer was managing editor of the yearbook as well as photo editor of the school magazine, Wingspan.