What took him so long?

The Missouri governor's last minute plan to keep the Chiefs and Royals.

But what does it mean for you to not fund hospitals, but to fund a stadium?

Is is a heck of a look.

But we are not going to get more funding by losing the economic boom that is the Chiefs in the Royals.

Also, this half hour is a British newspaper blasts Kansas City as a place people are afraid to go out after dark, the FBI sending dozens of agents to town.

Is it a Trump political stunt or a cure for what ails us?

The move comes as the city council pushes a new emergency jail as a Band-Aid fix, and private businesses are getting creative as they take matters into their own hands.

I'm.

So dystopian.

Those stories and the rest of the week's news straight ahead.

Week in review is made possible through the generous support of Dave and Jamie Cummings, Bob and Marlys Gourley, the Courtney as Turner Charitable Trust, John H. Mize, and Bank of America Na Co trustees, the Francis Family Foundation through the discretionary fund of David and Janice Francis and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hello and welcome, I'm Nick Haynes.

Depending on your perspective, it was a week of astonishing success or dumbfounding failure here to unpack what was a monumental, yet confusing and oftentimes head scratching week of news from the anchor desk at KMBC nine News Chris Katz tracking the region's top political stories for KSU.

All Brian Ellison from our Metro's newest newspaper.

Next Page Casey, Eric Wesson and former star reporter and editorial writer Dave Helling.

With just hours to go before the end of the Missouri legislative session, governor Mike Kehoe rolled out a plan this week to keep the Chiefs and Royals.

It centered on bonds and other state aid that would pay for up to half the cost of new, upgraded stadiums for the two teams.

But if Kehoe was looking for Pats on the back as the savior of the teams, it didn't quite work out that way.

These are Missouri teams.

They need to stay in Missouri for something that feels so important and so weighty.

This body should have had time to debate this and to consider it, and to look at alternative to not fund hospitals, but to fund a stadium.

Is is a heck of a look, I gotta tell you, that's that's a hard selling point for me.

But we are not going to get more funding by losing the economic boon that is the Chiefs in the Royals.

While the House approved the plan, the Senate adjourned for the year without ever debating it.

So what does all this mean?

Was that the last shot to keep the Chiefs and Royals in Missouri, and that they now heading to Kansas, Nashville or someplace else?

Brian, I don't think we know yet.

For starters, Nick I'm not sure this is the last we will hear about this.

Bill.

There are rumors in Jefferson City that the governor might call a special session to ask the the Senate to take up what the House passed, or the House would have to pass it again.

Of course, the bill has died for now, but I think this this would have created more certainty about the situation.

But even if it had passed, we still wouldn't have known for sure that there was a plan in place that would work.

So I think we're right back where we started at the at the start of the week.

I found this whole thing astounding.

Chris.

And the reason is, you know, I can imagine this in Kansas because the governors have a different party than the legislature in Missouri.

It's all Republican.

Was this I mean, not to be too pointed, but the the legislature putting its middle finger up at the governor, he comes up with this plan and they say, you know, you know, they have no time for it.

I'm going to try and resist the temptation to Monday morning quarterback this.

But I think for a lot of senators in particular, this was a package that was too much and way too late in the process.

All right.

there was some talk.

And part of the problem, too, was that the stadium funding issue got caught up with some other issues that the Senate was taking up.

All kind of at the last minute.

And so, I do think that we did get an illustration of just how heavy a lift this is going to be in a special session, which is I'm certain it will come there.

I don't think there's any question about that.

But, David, a lot of our viewers had questions about how all of the funding of this, there's no such thing as free money.

And yet they were talking about paying for up to half of the costs of either new or renovated stadiums for both teams.

Where does that cash come from?

Well, purportedly under the Kehoe bill, from the revenue generated by the clubs over a long period of time would be, in an essence, redirected to pay off the bonds on the stadium.

It's kind of star bonds light, you know, you just take the money from the teams and attribute that to the stadium rather than what they're doing in Kansas, which is taking the money from the teams and the surrounding area and putting that for the stadium thing.

Let's be clear, though, first, Nick, if there are any middle fingers being issued in Jefferson City, it's the legislature to the voters of the state because they decided to put two ballot measures that were less than a year old, back on the ballot.

That's that's the classic middle finger to the electorate.

I don't know how many middle fingers we can say this is.

Another of those middle fingers was extended to the House.

This bill was passed by the House.

But remember the House and a last minute budget move last week failed to pass one of the the appropriations bills that had been agreed to in the conference committee by both parties.

and, when they did that, it was the end of cooperation with the Senate.

The Senate had no incentive to give them what they it was also fascinating to me this week is that you never saw John Sherman or he was not the press conference with them saying, this is what we want to do.

They were nowhere to be seen again.

They were nowhere to be seen.

Donovan with the Chiefs, nowhere to be seen.

They haven't said anything.

And they're debating an issue that involves them.

What are they going to bring to the table?

I think that's what people are waiting to hear.

And Mayor Lucas, of course, he was involved in these negotiations as well.

And there's an awful lot of rural versus urban going on here.

there was a state senator, a Republican from Springfield, who was quoted this past week wanting $1.2 million for a rural hospital in his district and couldn't get it.

And now the teams won hundreds of millions of dollars and you know what part of that?

If that is the case, then why would the outcome be any different?

If there is a special session that the governor calls Brian?

Well, it may not be.

I mean, that is absolutely possible.

I think one of the things that was happening, though, here at the end of the session is one of the arguments, as Chris said, was that they were just running out of time.

This was too much, too late.

They hadn't had time to process it, talk to their constituents.

A special session might buy them a little additional time.

But I think your question is Apnic.

I think this is going to be an an uphill battle for, the Chiefs and the Royals and for, for the governor who who I think did have, after all, the entire session to make this proposal and waited until the Kansas lawmakers breaking open champagne and salivating as a result of this, those last few moments in Missouri.

And as a matter of fact, you know, if the Kansas proposal was so lucrative, it's, interesting that the Chiefs and the Royals have not executed it yet.

Yeah, which suggests there are more problems with the Kansas plan than it is commonly known.

I know we've talked about the lateness of this proposal from Mike Kehoe.

It's my view that it was strategic.

It wasn't an accident that he waited to the end, because I think they wanted to push it through without details and just ram it past the legislature before anyone really had a chance to think about it.

Very similar, I must say, to what the city tried to do with the airport proposal eight years ago, which is here it is.

Don't question it, don't look at it, just approve it and let's go.

And the public has a right.

I've written this for the paper.

The public has the right to stand up and say no.

How much is the stadium going to cost?

Where is it going to go?

How much do I have to pay?

How long will you commit to staying here?

How much money are you going to put into the project?

How much must local taxpayers contribute?

None of those questions have been answered, and that's why it's has brought.

Or is it a new stadium and where stadium and where?

So none of those questions answered.

It fell for a which goes back to what Brian said.

We're none the wiser as we start this program than we were even before the tax vote last year.

Absolutely.

Now, while lawmakers did fail to save the stadium, as Dave pointed out, they did find consensus on some other massive issues you should know about before closing down the session for the year.

They put abortion back on the ballot.

Missourians will decide a new constitutional amendment repealing the one vote is decided last November, but this one would still allow abortion in cases of fetal abnormalities, rape and incest.

Why do they feel the election outcome will be different this time?

Because of those added, added differences there.

I think the Republicans are hopeful that the ballot language that they have crafted, which which I think I can simply say is mislead, it suggests that this bill actually provides abortion rights, when in fact it, removes abortion rights from the state constitution.

I think they're hopeful that that will, change the outcome of the vote.

They are also adding a prohibition on gender affirming care for minors, which is already illegal in Missouri.

But so they are hoping that will juice voters to say yes when they see that on the ballot.

That is that is the hope.

But even even that took the extraordinary move of using that previous question motion, they to break a Democratic filibuster that last happened five years ago in the Senate.

When they do that, it upsets, everybody and, creates enough drama that they actually adjourned the session just after they used it and that, votes that Missourians will now be making.

That's not this year.

No, it's scheduled for 2026.

It's no later than November of 26.

But the governor could put it on an earlier ballot if he chooses the 30,000ft question for me is what sort of penalty?

What are voters going to rise up in opposition to this?

Having already voted for this issue once before, and now they're going to have to do it again.

They've seen the legislature basically reverse what, what the will of the voters was in the past.

And, and is there a price to a political price to be paid for this?

I don't think we know the answer to that question yet, but legislatures all over the country are doing this, and I don't think it's just about abortion or really the other thing that was, discarded, which was sick leave for, Missouri workers under proposition eight that also was previously questioned, which is, an extraordinary measure in the Senate.

But, Nick, I think this vote on abortion will be more than just abortion.

It'll be about the, use of the initiative and petition procedure in the state of Missouri, because if, in essence, abortion is repealed, no one will ever want to go to the trouble of gathering three 400,000 signatures to put another measure on the ballot, knowing that they have to fight the battle again 18 months later?

That's happened twice now, or will have happened twice.

I think that's a real trap.

As Dave points out, they did repeal.

Then in those last moments, the measure guaranteeing paid sick leave that voters approved in November.

But did the $15 minimum wage component survive?

Yes and no.

Okay.

the the the wage will continue to increase to $15 as the bill called for.

However, it then also called for it to be then adjusted, you know, to consistent with the cost of living.

So as inflation goes up, the wage would have continued increasing.

That provision was removed in the action that the Senate approved.

Before moving on, I should also point out that lawmakers banned cellphones in schools in one of their last acts before heading home for the year, just a distraction that they probably don't need.

I don't like it because I'm on my phone.

I want to be able to like, text my friends.

And so, Eric, test scores are just going to go up right now.

Skyrocket in Missouri.

I know in Kansas, school districts have been doing this voluntarily.

Yeah, I don't think it's a good idea.

considering the climate in some of the schools.

You know, something could break out in the school.

I want my daughter and my son to be able to text me and let me know.

Hey, we got a shooter in the school, or we got something going on in the school, so I. I don't like it myself, but my kids know not to be using their cell phones during a class.

In other news, this week a British newspaper blasts Kansas City as a place people are afraid to go out after dark.

The Department of Justice is sending dozens of FBI agents to town.

How about more than 30 in all?

A good chunk of this, however, relates to those initiatives in terms of how you get employees out of Washington.

I'm not here to celebrate taking employees out of out of D.C. it's not what I ran for, but I am always happy to have help.

I thought it was curious that you didn't exactly see Mayor Lucas, welcoming this particular move with open arms.

is there an advantage to having more FBI agents and fewer.

Sure.

But will it make a difference?

I think that remains to be seen.

What will they do?

sharpened pencils, run and get coffee and donuts.

Maybe, they want them to be doing technical things and helping with technical things like forensics, evidence and things like that.

But one of the things that I thought was most disturbing was representative Mark offered, and he was on one of the committee meetings, and he was like, the reason why crime is out of control in Kansas City is because of the liberals.

So let's look at civics 101.

The state of Missouri is controlled by Republicans.

They make the gun laws, the other things as they run the police department.

So if there's an issue, then let's not make it political.

Let's make it.

How do we work together to address the crime?

But it is true, though, that homicide has gone up.

We are now gone 12% up on last year from 56 as we record this program right now.

So it is on the way on even the city Council is acknowledging that they want to now, you know, even though voters earlier in this year passed a new jail, they now they don't think is going to come fast enough.

They want an emergency jail that will be perhaps made out of trailers, to try and fix the problem now.

But Facebook, the mayor was on Sunday and he said, shootings are down.

I think it's like, 150 less shootings.

Maybe that's because police are responding quicker or they're getting better medical attention.

It comes, by the way, also, as area businesses are taking matters into their own hands.

The Country Club Plaza introducing armed security patrols this week.

I think it's smart.

You want to protect the businesses, protect the people.

The majority of the people we spoke with think having armed guards in this area is a good thing.

Jenny Lang says she doesn't understand why people think that guards would be bad.

Are they worried it's going to make it look like it's unsafe?

Because there's reality of life we live in today?

What reality do you want to pretend like you feel safe?

We're under surveillance downtown Anton's restaurant on Main Street has invested heavily on a new alarm system that's unsettling customers and other area businesses for surveillance.

So dystopian.

Anytime you walk or drive, we're under surveillance.

It was yelling at us.

Just that we were, you know, being watched.

Apparently, we have a lot of weddings here.

David Epstein is the owner of Toms Town Distilling, which is directly across the street from the parking lots.

We have seen our weekday sales gone, go down, and, I attribute that 100% to to that we're under surveillance.

But that does speak, though, Chris.

It is kind of amusing, but it does speak to the frustration of businesses that they are willing to dip into their own pocketbooks to go to these lengths at this point.

And we've talked about this before.

People in Kansas City increasingly don't feel safe.

They don't feel like they can go out for for a meal or for lunch or to shop or whatever.

And, and I think that is, increasingly one of the biggest challenges that the city faces and will continue to face for perhaps months, maybe years to come.

I think one of the issues that I heard were people were talking with the mayor's Facebook Live.

Were were these people trying that they're hiring has security guards.

And then I get back to the ground rule of all of our problems as far as public safety goes, people want to hear from the chief of police.

We keep hearing from the mayor.

The mayor is an elected official and a politician.

He is not an expert in crime.

Why aren't we're hearing from the expert in crime, which is supposed to be our chief?

Well, next week, because the mayor won't be here.

He's going to be in the Middle East.

He has now been invited to speak in gutter.

and the a government there is paying for the whole trip.

Well, good luck with that one.

I will, I would pass on that trip if I was him, but he knows better.

I think it's several other mayors are going to be going on that trip as well.

Mayors do travel for economic development trips, and that's this is an example of, of being being courted by, by foreign leaders and trying to drum up business for the city.

whether it comes at on the tail of the president's trip to the Middle East, which makes it sort of extra interesting.

But but the truth of the matter is, Kansas City has a lot going on.

And any time a mayor makes this kind of trip, they have to weigh very carefully whether how it will be perceived and what the impact of that might be.

Thousands of, Kansas City fans cross over the Bond Bridge every day.

But he was a real man.

In fact, the youngest governor in Missouri history, he served nearly a quarter of a century in the United States Senate.

Kit bond died this week at the age of 86.

What is his biggest legacy, Dave?

Well, brick and mortar in Kansas City.

I mean, you can just drive around town and point to almost any big building and say Kit bond had some role as a member of the Appropriations Committee in obtaining federal money for that project.

You know, Kit bond came from a time when the senator from a state felt that his or her responsibility was to bring home the bacon.

That was one of the most important things that a an elected representative would do.

And that's no longer the case.

But in his day it was, and he was the best at it.

To piggyback off a day from Lynnwood and Prospect at 35th and prospect, the senior housing development there by Palestine Church.

Him and Reverend Abell were like buddies, and anytime he wanted a project, he would go to them.

He had a great relationship with black pastors in the urban core.

he's a throwback to when the how the Senate used to be run, where people of different parties were not afraid to reach across the political line and cut deals, for, you know, the, the betterment of the people that they were serving.

And and don't forget, before those 26 years in the Senate, he was governor two terms.

he was first elected at age 33 to the as the Missouri governor, which is pretty remarkable to think.

Absolutely, in today's context, lost an election his next term and then came back and won again to serve a second term.

That's pretty remarkable.

As just a quick story, in 2008, John McCain came to Kansas City campaigning for president.

He gave a speech down at Union Station, and I was able to interview McCain after that speech.

The presidential candidates did that back then.

And, McCain had railed against earmarks in his speech.

We're spending too much money.

We're not going to do this anymore.

And I said, well, Senator, you know, Kit bond is one of the greatest proponents of earmarks and local spending.

Well, that's my problem.

Kit bond is an idiot.

And he said me and that I was going, whoa, John, you're giving the Missouri senator some grief.

And as it turns out, the next day, John McCain had to call Kit bond and apologize for what he told me.

And that's what.

So Kit was pretty, pretty into the spending of money in local areas.

And he will lay in state next week in the Missouri State Capitol.

Last week we reported out Kansas City is sinking under the weight of paying out legal settlements to disgruntled former employees.

Now that price tag is on the rise again.

The Kansas City Star reporting that the Christian Andersen whistleblower case against City Manager Brian Platt will now cost taxpayers $1.4 million.

That's 50% more than before.

But Brian Platt, of course, is now out the door and there's a new man in his seat.

Mario Vasquez becomes the city's first Latino city manager.

What difference will we now see in how he serves us, and how services perhaps are delivered in Kansas City?

And wouldn't it make any difference?

Think he'll go along just to keep the ship afloat for the next two years?

and in addition to that, you probably within the next two years, I have Brian Platt's lawsuit against the city as well.

that's that's coming.

And that's going to be one of those where you get some popcorn and a Coke, because they're going to be.

That's going to be an interesting lawsuit.

What would you think would be the biggest difference between Vasquez and Brian Plant?

Brian.

Well, to talk to the city council members who, who supported him 11 to 2 in that vote.

I think they do care about that commitment to development, to the continued economic growth of the city.

But I think they also care about morale at City Hall.

That that I think is is what they're hoping will be the biggest difference that under Brian Platt, it seems that there was a great deal of trouble with maintaining the morale among city employees and respect for the highest levels of of the city, under Mario Vasquez.

He apparently has great relationships with the people.

He supervises great relationships with council members and they expect morale to be much better.

And I think the fact that Vasquez got the job was probably a little bit of a surprise to some people, but the for public consumption answer to the question why?

Vasquez?

I think he just won the interview.

He showed authenticity, and he also showed, a very strong handle of how City Hall works, a department's process is, that 11 to 2 vote wasn't a if we go through the tape.

Eric, a few weeks ago, you said Kimiko Guillermo was the front runner.

What happened?

I think she talked herself out.

Okay.

All right.

I think she was originally, 13.

Oh, and I think as time went on, she pretty much talked herself out of it.

Just just quickly.

He's got a lot of work to do.

The stadium thing.

We've talked about the jail Borealis Plaza, all the other projects mentioned here and the mayor's race and can't write World Cup.

And the mayor's race in Kansas City is about to begin because, the mayor is a real lame duck.

And so, people will be stepping forward.

Vasquez's job will be an issue in that race.

So it's going to be a complicated.

And who is the perceived frontrunner in the race for mayor to replace Quinton Lucas?

I don't think the frontrunner has gotten in the race yet, I think.

Are you willing to announce on the program today?

Right now, Crispin Ray is in that you have Brandon Park show in it.

Crispin Ray is raising money now, but I don't think the next mayor's in the race yet.

All righty.

When you put a program like this together every week, you can't get to every story grabbing the headlines.

What was the big local story?

We missed the Chiefs heading to Brazil.

The NFL announcing the team's week one game will be overseas in Sao Paulo against the Chargers next month.

Kelsey Jam canceled Travis Kelce says he just wants the time to make next year's event even bigger.

Wyandotte County now inking a deal with Amazon to begin drone delivery.

Last week, Amazon confirmed it was working with Kansas City, Missouri on a similar project.

We would be the biggest city in America to get them.

Kansas announces another mega development deal right next to the new Panasonic plant in DeSoto look promising a nearly $1 billion expansion of its animal health facility.

Governor Kelly says it's the second largest private investment in Kansas history.

Johnson County also feeling the pressure over crime, the county commission voting to put a public safety bill on the ballot in November and hardened criminals in a maximum security Missouri prison are getting the Netflix treatment this week.

While it may sound implausible, they're from the quilting circle at making quilts for local foster children.

The documentary has been gobbling up film awards.

The Quilt Is is available now on Netflix.

We all like poetry, but we try to display Push Me on the outside.

When I do this.

I don't even be in her.

Did you pick one of those stories or something completely different?

A little bit about the Chiefs.

the the schedule came out for 2025 on Wednesday night, and I couldn't help but but think at least five of the first eight games in the 2025 season for the Chiefs are in prime time.

The Chiefs are about to are the subject of a documentary that is widely talked about, that is coming on to Disney and ESPN.

Bottom line, the NFL loves them, Chiefs Dave, the mayor and other members of the City Council are taking a look again at the problem of vacant lots and vacant houses in the Kansas City area.

Almost 18,000 according to the last, an official, unofficial census.

That's always been a challenge in Kansas City.

Vacant lots are weedy and dangerous and become dumping grounds if they can get a good handle on that problem, it'll help Kansas City a lot.

Eric, we're talking about three jails, and I'm confused about all three of them.

A, temporary jail, the a floor to police station and a big jail.

I'm confused.

Which one are we going to be doing at City Hall?

And Catherine Shields had her going away.

Her and her husband had her going away celebration.

This past week, they moved to Virginia.

Catherine Shields has been a staple in politics in Kansas City ever since I can remember.

Yeah, the former Jackson County executive.

Never mind the councilwoman.

Yes, Brian.

a sad story and but but, perhaps a fitting ending to the story of Roger Lipski, the, police detective who, was to go on trial but took his own life, before that trial began.

We.

Casey, you are found the, the the death report from, state investigators.

Who who reported that it turns out, he was planning his suicide, quite a bit in advance.

He had a gun.

Nobody still, knows exactly how he got it, but he wrote letters to, lots of people around his life.

right up to the last hour.

He was on his way to the courthouse, turned around, drove back to the house, died by suicide.

It's a sad ending.

but, of course, also an ending that may not bring any additional closure to the victims.

who who he put behind bars.

Thank you.

Brian, on on that.

We will say our week has been reviewed courtesy of Channel Nine's Chris Katz and Eric Wesson of Next page.

Casey from cakewalk, a Brian Allison and news icon Dave Helling.

And I'm Nick Haines.

No show this week as it's all hands on deck for celebration at the station as we head into a memorial day weekend.

We'll see you in two weeks.

Until then, from all of us here at Kansas City PBS, be well.

Keep calm and carry on.