We go on hiatus for two weeks for our membership drive and all hell breaks loose.

We hit 100 homicides.

We have to reject this.

It's terms of being anything close to being normal.

The bus service comes to the brink of shutting down, and Sun Fresh closes in on the tragic on this neighborhood.

And the Missouri attorney general resigns.

Is that newsy enough for you?

And whatever happened to that summer stadium announcement we were promised?

We have a stated objective of, being able to talk about a specific location.

I'm calling in, you know, the middle of the calendar year and that June-July period.

It's August and still nothing.

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

Week in review is made possible through the generous support of Dave and Jamie Cummings.

Bob and Marlese Gourley, the Courtney S 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.

Welcome.

I'm Nick Haines.

It is so good to be back with you.

Thank you for your patience with us, as we took a back seat over the last couple of weeks for a significant fundraising drive around here on our air.

And now that we're back, we're going to make up for it by not only bringing you the biggest news stories of the past week, but pick up some of the most impactful and downright head scratching stories we missed while we were away.

Now jumping on board the Weekend Review bus to make sense of it all is KCUR News Director Lisa Rodriguez and former star reporter Dave Helling from next page KC Eric Wesson and tracking the region's top political stories for KCUR Brian Ellison.

Now, I'm not sure this was on anyone's bingo card this week, but Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has resigned to join the Trump administration.

He'll be the new deputy co-director of the FBI.

When Trump was first picking his cabinet.

He was considering Bailey for the attorney general spot.

This seems a big step down from that.

What so compelling for Bailey to give up?

What is one of the most powerful positions in Missouri to take a job?

Well, he's not even going to be the office leader.

Brian, I think that no one is too surprised that Andrew Bailey is leaving for Washington DC.

some say that he, from the day after he was elected in 2024 to his full term as attorney general.

He's been looking for this appointment.

the reality, though, is I think he is a compelling candidate for the current Trump administration.

and its model of how they want to run a Department of Justice.

As Missouri's attorney general.

Andrew Bailey, was aggressive and, passionate about pursuing conservative political causes.

He filed legal cases against the Biden administration before Trump was elected, and has risen to the defense of the Trump administration since then.

he also spends a lot of time on Fox News, which all of which is, I think, very appealing for the Trump.

I think it's fascinating you say that because I was just reading a book called 2024 all about the 24 campaign, and actually Andrew Bailey comes up in it.

Dave.

And it said in there Trump was looking at him to be attorney general, and the reason he passed him up was because he wasn't, quote, aggressive or, quote, exciting enough.

So that's changed in the last six months or so.

Not necessarily.

I mean, his job as co deputy director, it's kind of like double secret probation.

You know it's it's it's not clear what his portfolio will be.

My guess is they've put him in place to replace Dan Bongino who is the current deputy director of the FBI.

or to put him in that stream so that he can ascend in the administration over time, because he's not going to stay in this job for very long at all.

And there are other people in the Trump administration who, for one reason or another, have angered the president.

So I think this is really just park him in a place, get him a nice apartment in Washington, DC, and then let him move up the chain.

Given the president's priority on immigration deportations, one would think that Kris Kobach would have been a more likely choice.

The Kansas attorney general.

Why is he still in Topeka?

And Andrew Bailey now moving to Washington for tainted goods?

Kris Kobach, he worked with Trump in the first administration, and it didn't turn out well.

So my guess is that, they're looking for a bit of a fresh face.

Now, Andrew Bailey will officially leave his post in Jefferson City at the start of September.

Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe hasn't let the grass grow under his feet.

Within hours of Bailey's announcement, he had picked former Missouri House Speaker Katherine Hannah Way to replace him.

What do we need to know about her?

Is she similar to Bailey?

Well, she take a very different approach to the job.

Lisa I think on its face, this is a far different person in the role of attorney general.

Catherine Hanway was former speaker of the Missouri House.

earned praise from both Democrats and Republicans when when her nomination was announced to fill this role.

That said, the Republican Party is a very different than it was in 2002 when when she was leading, when she was in a leadership role in this party, it has really coalesced around what is Trumpism?

and that's the way that that, that the House is.

So we'll see if she is the same type of leader as she was then and acknowledged for bipartisanship.

I you know, one of the complaints about Andrew Bailey was that he was filing all of these civil lawsuits, mainly against Joe Biden when he was president, and a lot of these national corporate types rather than focusing on Missouri issues, Kathleen Holloway says, no, she's going to be focused on crime, which is also my keyholes, big priority.

Yeah.

So she says, she said fit right in because Missouri has a crime problem Saint Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and the surrounding areas.

But she I guess if you wanted to go with, a borderline conservative, I think she is what I would call her one based on her relationship when she was in the house.

I think Bailey was extremely conservative, going after people who the courts had released and filing lawsuits to keep them locked up, even though the court said, let it people go.

So it's going to be interesting to see whether she changes the climate.

And it's also a major stepping stone as attorney general to be the next governor.

When you think about Josh Hawley took that job to become a senator, we had Eric Schmidt.

Well, actually, both of them were attorney generals in Missouri prior to becoming U.S. senators.

Right.

And it isn't clear, if you look in the Missouri Constitution, the most undefined job of all as attorney general, it's not like secretary of state or treasurer or other statewide offices.

It is seen often as a stepping stone for its occupant, for other jobs.

Whether Catherine Hanway is still interested in that or not, I don't know.

The governor's office presumably will be occupied for another seven years plus, so that's a long time to wait.

But Eric said something very important in terms of Andrew Bailey's, efforts to keep innocent people in jail and then his support for letting guilty people out of jail with January 6th and other things.

Catherine Hanway, if she wants to be serious about crime and that for that matter, Governor Keough, they should focus on making sure that guilty people are punished and innocent people are not.

And that may rise to the top of the agenda.

Now, speaking of people giving up their powerful jobs, did you see the announcement this week from Jackson County Executive Frank white facing the cold reality of a recall election at the next month?

In fact, he has made a big decision.

He sends out a letter to supporters declaring he will not run for reelection when his term ends next, year.

Is that an acknowledgment that he feels he can't win next month's recall election?

Eric.

Well, it's either or, but because he also said, well, I might run again, at a later date.

Okay, so it wasn't as definitive as it made it sound.

No, it wasn't, and this might be a move to get sympathy.

Yes.

I'm going to leave anyway, so don't recall me.

give me a so, will it change any votes, Lisa, that some people thinking, well, you know, it'll be gone in a year anyway.

I'll just give him the benefit of the doubt right now.

Perhaps.

I did think it was a surprising announcement to make so close to a recall election.

I think as Eric said, he saw the writing on the wall.

I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to step down before a recall election and not even face that, to begin with.

but also, I can't help but notice the humor and the hedge of.

But but I might.

This is not definitive.

I reserve the right to change my mind.

That's one case that Frank white might make if he stays in the, you know, office and faces the recall, the one argument he might make is because of the way the recall system works in Jackson County.

You don't know who the replacement is going to be.

And if you think that Frank white is bad, the next person could be even worse.

And so his argument could be, hey, you know, stick with me for another year, then you'll get your choice.

Whoever replaces Frank white, if he's recalled, will be the odds on favorite to be elected for the full term next November, which means the replacement five, maybe ten years in office.

So that's a pretty crucial decision without knowing who that person is going to be.

And that's the argument he may end up well.

And to that point, I think the the swipe in his letter where he says I may run again, he said, I may run again because I don't trust the motivations of other people who work for the Jackson County legislature or other people on the legislature.

So so I think that is exactly what this is about.

It is about raising concerns about what might come after him, whether that happens at a recall or a year from now.

Already.

What happened to those promised summer announcements by the Chiefs and Royals about their stadium plans this spring?

Royals owner John Sherman said it was the team's objective to provide a specific location, either in June or July.

Here he is at a Royals press conference back in March.

I think we have a, we have a picture of, being able to talk about a specific location.

I'm calling it, you know, the middle of the calendar year and that June-July period.

Now, Lee said, correct me if I'm wrong.

We're in August.

so this is past.

What happened?

yes, it is past and nothing.

Yeah, a lot of speculation has happened.

There's been more speculation about a site in Johnson County, more speculation about whether or not, North Kansas City is even a viable option or even in the running.

Otherwise, not a lot of action there.

I have continued to be stunned at how the Royals have handled this entire conversation, beginning years ago, promising timelines and deadlines every time they miss a deadline that they promise.

I think they lose trust.

Yeah.

And this means also that there will definitely be no public vote this year.

I mean, the deadline to get on the ballot for November is on Tuesday of next week, August 26th, which means that nobody, unless something dramatic, happens, the Missouri component local component required under the law to get the Missouri subsidies will not be known by the end of the year.

At the same time, a deadline has been set in Kansas to make a decision on both of these things by the end of the year.

That, to me, suggest that the winds are blowing in Kansas direction because they'll make up their mind.

They won't possibly know.

The teams won't possibly know the local component this year.

If it's in Missouri.

I think they're leaning toward Kansas and those negotiations are under way.

Did, John Sherman lose some of his leverage this week?

When I saw the Major League Baseball commissioner, talked about expanding the league to include Nashville and Salt Lake City, Nashville, of course, one of the big cities we talked about that could be taking the royals off our hands if we can't build a new stadium.

maybe in public perception, some leverage was lost.

But in in fact, the Royals, one thing they have not done is threatened to leave the area, and pretty consistently.

John Sherman has said he said it said it to me on Kcrw a few months ago.

One thing we're not considering is going to somewhere like Tennessee.

So if if they were planning to use that as leverage, that would be a new development.

One other quick note the people in Leawood and in the neighborhood of the Kansas proposed side for the Royals are starting to get a little antsy about the idea of a 40,000 seat baseball stadium in their backyard.

Those, you know, the people in those communities know how to organize.

They know how to get their neighbors involved.

And so you could see a real local fight, in that area, if the royals decide to go out in that direction and just to not to put a two fine of a point on it.

But all the negotiation has been so far with the state of Kansas, and the local governments are going to have to say at some point, hey, we want a piece of this, too, in terms of zoning and traffic and parking and all the other things involved.

And we've talked about a lot of deadlines as well.

If the Royals want to do this before their lease ends in 2031, I think Fox for Casey this week suggested that construction on a new stadium would have to start in fall of 2026, so there's not a lot of time to actually get this done.

There is there's lots of deadlines looming here, but they could extend their lease for five years and then play this game for the next minute that if they decide to go to Kansas, that the people in Jackson County are going to say, sure, we'll extend the lease for another five years, whatever we can do to make you happy.

I mean, there are a lot of pieces on the chessboard, which is one reason for the delay, Nick, because there are so many moving parts, so many things to be decide.

Texas just did it is Missouri next.

We're still waiting to hear this week whether Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe will bring back state lawmakers for a special session to redraw Missouri's congressional map.

President Trump reportedly wants Missouri to change its political boundaries to squeeze out Kansas City Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver.

We want to keep the House in Republican control.

So, what we look at, what we're going to do here in Missouri, will work with our leadership group and see if there's a path or something that makes sense for Missourians.

I would maintain the Democrat states, not just Illinois, but basically on the East and the West Coast.

they've been doing this for years.

Well, he seems all in.

And so what's taking him so long to decide on this session?

The question is, what's taking him so long to make the announcement?

I think it's becoming, common, common consensus that there's going to be a special session.

As Jason Hancock of the Missouri Independent has said, the only question is whether, initiative petition reform will also be on the agenda for the special session.

There's going to be one for redistricting.

We did also learn this week that there is a map already circulating, a map developed in Washington that would redraw the the districts in Missouri, a map that even Republican leadership in Missouri has not yet seen.

So that gives you some sense of how this conversation is going on.

A national level now.

And one of the things that they've said that their seven one map could turn into A53 map.

And I think that's one of the things that he's like, well, wait a minute, let's pump our brakes here and look at this thing.

But we're talking about people like Sam Graves, who is in the more rural part of the northern part of our community.

You know, he won, like with 70% of the vote.

There's plenty of leeway here.

Even if they put more Democratic voters in his district, wouldn't they?

But then you got local, races that would come into play.

Okay.

State House, that could could backfire on them.

Okay.

Well, I do think that was why they didn't do it this way back in 2022 when they redistricted at the normal time, there really was a risk of, of in a blue wave year, losing some ground in those seats.

I don't know if we're in the same environment as we were four years ago, but I do think there's a real concern there that the Republicans want to be double sure of before they take this step.

Now, Mike Kehoe seems to be keen to help President Trump on rewriting Missouri's congressional map.

Well, he also answered the call from the president to send Missouri National Guard troops to Washington, DC.

You know what?

Does that make sense?

The numbers on the ground in the district don't support a thousand people from other states coming to Washington, DC.

Well, the number of Republican governors signing on to send their National Guard troops to DC keeps growing.

We now at six is Missouri next, Lisa.

Well, Governor Kehoe has said so far he hasn't been asked directly.

So no indication that they're readying troops to send to DC.

That said, I have no, I wouldn't expect that if he were asked directly to send troops that he would refuse.

You know, he did activate the National Guard even to come to Kansas City to police that during anti Trump protests earlier this summer.

So he's certainly keen on doing that.

Yeah he could do that.

Would it be beneficial to the state.

He's got his own issues here in the state.

What do you think about Mike Parson my predecessor.

He sent lots of troops to help Texas on the border there on, you know, to try and solve the immigration question.

He was very happy to do that.

Yeah.

It's a performative, decision in a performative state in which, decisions are made by what they look like now.

They're not what they actually do on the ground.

in this case, though, if, my keyhole were to send, National Guard, forces to Washington to fight crime, he would have to explain why Missouri is one of the highest crime states in America, and particularly in Kansas City, in Saint Louis.

Why would he send troops to address a problem in the district and not to do more to address the problem here in his own state?

That's a real question he would be asked almost.

Well with Catherine Hanover as his new attorney general fighting crime, you might see more activation of forces right here in Kansas City.

You might be.

Although the attorney general in Missouri doesn't have law enforcement authority in the same way as they do in other states.

But I think Dave is exactly right.

We saw that actually happen when the governor of Tennessee sent troops and everyone said, oh, look at the crime rates in Memphis and Nashville.

They're higher than Washington DC.

Well, they could say exactly the same thing about Kansas City in Saint Louis.

Kansas City's bus crisis is over, at least for now.

There were fears we'd be starting the week with root cuts, driver layoffs and slimmed down bus schedules.

I don't know how many we're going to get to like my mental health appointments, like my probation officer promise.

I rely on the busses for entirely everything.

We've been, like, nervous as heck.

And that's.

Trying to up the bus, being cut out.

It's definitely an emotional issue, but hold the front page.

A budget deal inked with the city over the weekend, keeping the Metro's largest bus fleet afloat, but only through April.

Gulp.

What happens after that?

Lisa?

Well, that's that's a big question.

We've seen that they're going to reinstate some bus fares, but this would be for the first time since the pandemic, when it's been since the pandemic, $2 bus fares.

Now, they've said this would be they would be exceptions for people who are who have income burdens.

It's unclear exactly what those would be, how they would prove that getting on the bus there is some time getting systems back on busses to charge fares again, but the city is also counting on the Cata in the meantime to figure out a regional funding source to continue to fund the bus service beyond April.

Just maintaining the bus service as it is does not mean we have a functional trans public transit service in Kansas City, and looking ahead to major events like the World Cup, something has got to get.

So the money's only there till April, and we're bringing in hordes of people from around the galaxy to come here for the World Cup.

That's to be a bit of a challenge, right.

And it's not the only challenge.

Right?

We also heard this week that Barney Ellis Plaza won't be done in time for a World Cup.

The jail, it appears, will not be ready in time for the World Cup.

We have, we have some real challenges in these few months that are counting down.

You know, Dave, some people would view bus service in a major city just as important as, say, snow removal and, you know, picking up the trash.

It why is it become so terribly difficult to actually get it done?

Well, for a couple reasons.

First, you're exactly right.

Some people do see it as a service and that's why it was free.

But you don't charge people for snow removal because it's an important thing in an urban area.

And transportation can be argued that as well.

The problem, I think, for the metro wide solution that everyone talks about is it people simply don't ride the bus, you just don't have enough passengers.

And you can see that in surrounding counties all the time.

It's very important in Kansas City, Missouri, and other places, perhaps not as much.

Reinstating fares will not save the bus system.

It doesn't generate enough money.

No matter how much you charge or don't charge.

The future of the bus system in our area does not depend on fares.

It depends on a constant source of tax revenue to subsidize the bus.

and I think there is some effort to try and see if they can get that revenue from places other than Kansas City, Missouri.

We talked about it on our last program before we were interrupted by our own our membership drive.

Now it's closed.

It won't be strategic on this neighborhood.

It's going to be tragic.

What's this tragedy this man is talking about?

The shuttering of the city owned Son Fresh grocery store on prospect.

After an $18 million taxpayer investment over the past decade, and even had become a national news story and a new push to have cities run supermarkets, including the new mayor candidate, the leading candidate for mayor in New York.

Is this a sign that the answer was no?

Lisa, I think the answer is not in this way.

I think we've learned some lessons in this and that it's not just enough to refurbish a building and have a nice building and then ask for a grocery store, get a tenant, and then stop with your involvement.

Running a grocery store is an active, involved endeavor that also does not involve a lot of profits there.

And so I think, there was a lack of thought about security and maintenance and operation there.

So I'm not saying that the city couldn't do it.

I think there's a lot of serious conversations about whether it's a wise investment, and that there are many other things to consider besides just refurbishing a building.

Well, some people would say, well, they spent $18 million on this thing.

I saw the mayor this week saying that was money well spent.

Yeah.

And Lisa is right.

They put the money in the store, but not with the operator.

And I think people have that confused and thinking that community builders got $18 million.

The problem was, where did all the money go?

Then it went to building the building.

Okay.

I think community builders got $750,000 out of 1.2 million.

That was promised to them, and when they got to 750,000, they were so far behind that it just ate that up immediately.

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 since we last met around this table, Kansas City hits a grim milestone 100 homicides.

The latest victim, a 14 year old boy.

We have to reject this.

Its terms of being anything close to being normal.

No parent, no grandparent should be outliving their children.

It's back to school in Missouri.

Kids have more to worry about than the pain of getting up early and no longer permitted to use their cell phones at any point during the school day.

It's part of a new law signed by Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe.

Worries over insane heat as Casey prepares for the World Cup, a Casey Curran game was delayed 3.5 hours due to unrelenting temperatures this week, some questioning why the game was even played.

Thousands of Ku fans get to see their new football stadium for the first time.

It's being juiced by the largest donation in college sports history.

And have you seen the backlash over male NFL cheerleaders in Kansas City?

It pumps a run to the history books.

Apparently, the Kansas City Chiefs have multiple male cheerleaders.

When the franchise started here back in the 60s.

Nice to go back to history on that one.

So what was the big story we missed?

One of those are something completely different.

Lisa City Manager Mario Vazquez was on Kcrw just this week and just sprinkled a little detail into the conversation about another project that won't be completed in time for the World Cup, which is Barney Alice Plaza.

Now, we may have been optimistic in thinking that it could be pulled off in time, but knowing that we won't have a park over 670 as was once promised, we will not have a refurbished Bernie Alice Plaza in the middle of downtown for a huge event.

That is a lot of things not getting done in enough time.

A lot of things where we may be mid construction, during the World Cup.

And so there's a big question about what else is not going to happen.

What else are we not prepared for when it comes to this.

And let's hope that 120 degree temperatures during that period of time means we will have a World Cup.

Brian.

To play a midnight.

Yeah.

You know, Nick, I would I would mentioned the cell phone story that you mentioned there in your in your package of stories.

it may not seem like the biggest story that the state has told school districts that they have to ban cell phones.

and in fact, we did hear this week that a lot of school districts are secretly pleased that they can fall back on.

Well, it's a state law.

So we have to tell you this, but but the reality is it's another example of state regulation, getting into things that used to be the exclusive terrain of local school districts and local municipalities and, to the degree that that is part of a conservative agenda as well as a progressive one in other places, is a significant ongoing development.

Eric Murray Woodard is now the new combat director.

He's working behind with, six month delay and the county giving combat the money that they need to operate for the nonprofits and for the past ten days, the heat in Kansas City has been totally disrespectful.

Dave.

The star had an amazing story on Thursday, Wednesday, and Thursday about someone firing a bullet into the offices of the Kansas City Chiefs, and into the office of coach Andy Reid while Reid was in the office.

Apparently, according to the story, a shooting that remains under investigation by the Kansas City police.

That's important on its own terms.

But the Chiefs are also talking about moving their headquarters and the idea that someone could shoot a bullet into the coach's office might give them impetus to move it somewhere else and play into this whole discussion we just had about where the stadiums will go for both the Chiefs and the.

Do you know what I found fascinating about that story?

You know, it happened 14 months ago or 15 months ago.

Why did it take the media 15 months to get it all?

Why did the police hide it for that long?

Yeah.

Or why the Chiefs didn't talk about it.

You know why.

But so there are many unanswered questions.

But it's an important story.

It has, again, on its own terms of relevance, but it's also relevant to the discussion over where the team is going to go.

And on that, we will say a week has been revealed courtesy of Casey, Lisa Rodriguez and Eric Wesson from next page Casey.

Casey was Brian Ellison and news icon Dave Helling, and I'm Nick Haines from all of us here at Kansas City PBS.

Be well, keep calm and carry on.