Local notes

KCTV general manager The corporate owner of CBS affiliate KCTV looked outside the Kansas City area - but within its ranks - for a general manager. The new GM, Kirk Black, has been running Meredith Corp.'s CBS station serving the Flint-Saginaw, Mich., market since 1998. He replaces John Rose, who along with nine other KCTV employees took a recent early-retirement buyout offered by Meredith. Before joining Meredith, Black was vice president and general manager of television station WIBW in Topeka. Black, 34, a native of Cleveland, graduated from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Flint-Saginaw is the country's 64th-largest television market, according to Nielsen Media Research. Kansas City is 30th. Meredith, based in Des Moines, Iowa, is a diversified media company that publishes books and magazines and owns 12 television stations. - Aaron Barnhart/The Star Birch Telecom Birch Telecom Inc. has received an additional investment of $26.3 million from current investors, including $25 million from an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Birch's largest backer. The Kansas City-based telecommunications company announced that it had received the additional funding this week. In March, Birch officials said the company had commitments for the investment, which it says will fully finance its current business plan. On top of the money from the Kohlberg Kravis Roberts affiliate, the latest investment round has $1.3 million from other current investors. The affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a New York buyout firm, invested $110 million in Birch beginning in 1999. In March the firm invested an additional $75 million and said it would invest up to $30 million more by July. Birch officials said this week that other current investors contributed $3.7 million in April and May of this year. In the past year, the company has raised $105 million in private equity and $70 million in debt. - Suzanne King/The Star Hospital agreement St. Luke's-Shawnee Mission Health System has completed a management agreement with Cushing Memorial Hospital in Leavenworth. Cushing, a 74-bed hospital with 350 employees, will pay an annual fee to St. Luke's-Shawnee Mission for consultation and management support services. "Cushing Memorial Hospital and St. Luke's-Shawnee Mission Health System have enjoyed an excellent working relationship for many years," said Don Sipes, the health system's vice president for regional services. "This management agreement brings our relationship closer. Together, we will now be able to maximize the opportunities that the partnering of a large health system and a fine community hospital offer." - Julius A. Karash/The Star @ART CAPTION:Black @ART:Photo