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Thank you.

Hello and welcome.

I'm Nick Haines.

Glad to have you with us again.

As we dissect the week's top local news stories.

Hopping on board the Weekend Review bus with us this week from KCUR news Lisa Rodriguez from the world of Television news reporter, Charlie Keegan from Kshb TV is with us and from the Prime time anchor desk at KMBC nine News Chris Ketz and tracking the region's top political stories for KC one News Brian Ellison.

Now, since we last sat around our weekend review table, thousands of Kansas City ins decided to get a little more exercise by taking to the streets in what some reports claim was the biggest protest action of President Trump's second term.

I think our voices matter, and sometimes it feels like all we can do is vote and mark up piece of paper every four years.

But it's when you see the amount of people that come out that support the same kind of thing that you do.

It's really empowering.

Is not about one race.

It's not about just the immigrants.

It is about us as a nation.

Now, just ahead of the protests, Missouri Governor Mike keyhole didn't skip a beat.

He declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.

But were any guard troops ever deployed in Kansas City, Saint Louis, or any of the other 30 cities in Missouri that were protesting over the weekend?

Chris.

Negative.

Yeah, it you know, the thing that I was struck by a couple of things the size of these crowds in Kansas City and everywhere, and there were certainly security concerns.

Listen.

Police in Overland Park, we're talking with their colleagues in neighboring cities, hearing some chatter about maybe a Proud Boys visit to one of the gatherings on 135th.

So I think the concern about security was certainly real.

But, thankfully it was a fairly quiet lot.

People don't know.

My youngest son is in the Missouri National Guard, so we were texting on Friday that he heard anything.

Did he get any orders?

They said that no phone calls, not even a mention of it.

But I'm wondering because of, my hos order there, though, did it have an impact on the amount of people who came out?

Is there any evidence that it might have brought down the numbers of people, or actually just those numbers?

It doesn't appear that that the announcement had any effect that that we can really tell or be sure of.

On turnout at the protest, it was a very large turnout, a peaceful protest.

And what I will say, what I've noted about this protest is that I feel like protest in general have become a little bit more professional, a little bit more organized since 2020, because people are in the practice of doing it.

They know how to, how to act.

They know how to interact with law enforcement.

And they're probably in communication with law enforcement.

And I say that probably on law enforcement end as well, despite escalating rhetoric about, cracking down on civil unrest and on protesters, I believe Kcpd is also a little more professional when it comes to dealing with protesters and not escalating to the point of violence.

Charlie, I think yeah, we all learned something from 2020 about how to handle these protests, how to not escalate them with the presence of a large police force or National Guard.

And from what I heard from people who were at the No Kings protest, that it was quite civil and people would maybe bump into somebody and then apologize immediately there.

And everybody was getting along.

Now, the Kansas City Star reported on how peculiar it was that Kehoe, the governor, would declare a state of emergency and then take a flight to Paris.

He's in France this week on a trade mission.

The emergency order is actually in place until the end of the month.

So does that mean, Brian, that lieutenant governor, who most Missourians couldn't even name, is running the show and could technically deploy the National Guard anywhere, any time, until July 1st?

Well, that's that maybe is a little unclear.

it ordinarily, when the governor leaves the state, the lieutenant governor does serve as acting governor and has all of the powers and responsibilities of governor.

When when Mike Kehoe was himself the lieutenant governor, he signed executive orders.

He extended orders.

He even appointed people to state commissions and boards.

But it appears that in this case, according to the star's reporting, there was a document signed before he left the country, that said that Lieutenant Governor Dave Wasson would not be able to exercise all of those powers and, in fact, would not be able to authorize the National Guard into action.

I'm not quite sure of the the legal status of a document like that, because the state constitution does provide for the lieutenant governor to serve as acting governor.

But apparently there were never any plans for, Washington to have that kind of authority.

as it has turned out, at least so far, the National Guard has not been activated, or has not been brought into action.

Somebody who wasn't at the parade was Mayor Quinton Lucas, or I should say, the parade, rather the protest, because he was in Europe on his own trade mission.

Somebody who was there was Kansas City Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, who says his name has now appeared on the 70 person hitlist found in the car of the suspect in them as Minnesota politicians shooting over the weekend that killed a Democratic state lawmaker and badly injured a Minnesota senator.

Was he the only area politician?

Charlie on the list discovered by law enforcement, as far as we know, at least publicly.

Yeah.

So Emanuel Cleaver seems to be the only local representative from the Kansas City area on that list.

at 41, we reached out to Sharice Davids on the Kansas side.

We reached out to Governor Laura Kelly.

Some of the Democrats seemed to be targets, you know, but as far as we know, they're not on the list.

But look, why him, though?

What a versus a Laura Kelly or a Cherise Davids, which arguably would have very similar positions.

Sir, I asked Emanuel Cleaver, Congressman Cleaver that same question and he said he doesn't know, but that's something that he's interested in finding out why his name is on that list.

Has it changed his perspective now?

Is he not doing any events as a result of this?

Chris.

The events, continue.

But there is, added security around the congressman, at least for now.

he is planning a meeting with FBI agents when he returns to D.C. next week.

And I'm quoting reporting from Fox Four's Jonathan Katz.

And so, yes, your own sad reliance on my son's reporting here, at a moment like this.

But he's clearly concerned, and he should be.

And this is just one more chapter in what is a troubling trend.

And it's it's lawmakers and its judges.

I, it should be noted that, Missouri's fourth district, Congressman Mark Offord is asking that more money should be spent on security for lawmakers and for judges.

I you know, Emanuel Cleaver is now 80 years old.

Lisa, is that any hint that he's going to say, look, I've been doing this too long.

I don't need this this type of potential harm for me on my family.

I'm gonna I'm not going to run it again.

I think potentially, I don't know of public comments he's made about that.

He's always been, pretty tightlipped, not giving too many hints that he's nearing the end of his career.

But but what you point out is true.

He is 80 years old.

This is an increasing, increasing rhetoric, particularly against Democratic lawmakers.

but he also is at a point where he's had more power than he has had before, in Congress, at least within his own caucus.

I mean, look, this this has an impact on legislators and, and public officials, even if they weren't on the list, of this particular assailant, State Senator Dana Sykes in Kansas, the Senate minority leader, spoke this week on Casey.

You are very, very emotionally, very honestly about the impact it has on her and on her family.

She actually knew the the the former House speaker in Minnesota who was killed.

it is it is chilling.

It is, isolating.

And it puts legislators in a position not just 80 year old congressman, but but but younger ones who are in the middle of their careers to say, I don't know if I want to do this.

I don't know if it's worth it.

And that is not good for our society and our system.

What's the biggest event in town this week?

Well, the biggest crowds are expected this Sunday at the Superior Campus in Overland Park.

The former sprint headquarters site, which is playing host to the city's official World Cup kickoff party.

They're not going to be throwing free World Cup game tickets at you, but organizers are promising a sort of a mini soccer themed NFL draft style experience with food, drink, live entertainment, appearances from Kansas City's top soccer stars, human foosball, photo ops, and lots of speechifying from our top elected leaders, including Matt Quinton.

Lucas.

Can we read anything, Charlie, into why they doing this event in Johnson County?

It's usually always on the Missouri side, isn't it?

Right.

We know Fan Fest is going to be down near the one.

Yeah, one memorial.

That seems like the obvious place to do it.

So right.

What is happening in Johnson County that's getting their attention?

Could this be a trial run to say, hey, we can have thousands of people come here and they can talk pretty easily and navigate all this traffic.

What a perfect site for where the Royals might move.

Chris.

Some would say, I don't know that it's a trial run in terms of handling crowds or anything like that.

I do think that this is an attempt by the committee to sort of fly the flag, that the World Cup 26 effort in Kansas City is a more regional effort, rather than just Kansas City, Missouri specific.

And I think you're going to see a lot more of that as the year progresses.

Now, by the way, if you have to use one face, one person to advertise Kansas City to the world in advance of the World Cup, who would you pick?

The Kansas City World Cup committee has made its choice, and their first promo ad that will be seen around the planet is of Andy Reid.

I'm Andy Reid, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, and this is Kansas City.

And in FIFA World Cup here in Kansas City, it would be unbelievable.

There's a certain feeling of accomplishment when you win it all, and there's so much hard work that goes into it from a player's standpoint or coach's standpoint, and then you add the fans on top of that.

I saw when Messi came to town and and then one of his regular season games with Miami and then our Kansas City team here, the stadium was packed, and it's going to draw even more with fee for being here.

When you're talking about the world watching.

And I think that's a very, very exciting.

This is my city, my home.

This is Kansas City.

So what does it say that Andy Reid is now the face of Kansas City around the world?

And in a sense, as I say, the Chiefs are our greatest worldwide export.

Brian, I think there's that is not surprising to me at all.

I think anywhere you travel in the world, people know the Chiefs, they know Patrick Mahomes, and they probably know Andy Reid.

I think it's interesting that the the what is celebrated there is the presence of soccer, not the he doesn't really mentioned the Kansas City soccer powerhouses sporting or the current.

And he mentions Lionel Messi coming to town with Miami.

But but but even so, I think Andy Reid's a recognizable figure, that it makes sense that they're pushing that out to the world.

They could have done Taylor Swift though, couldn't they?

Perhaps.

I don't know if they could if they could get her.

I'm a little surprised it was Andy Reid over Patrick Mahomes.

But still, the what Brian says is true.

The Chiefs are our most winning, most successful brand in Kansas City and most recognizable.

Yeah, and it is the one of the few, along with the weather common languages of Kansas City, isn't it?

Well, it also speaks to, I think, to the the world wide appeal of the NFL and in particular the Chiefs and Andy Reid, you know, before he came to Kansas City, he was a he was a well-known guy.

But now his brand has taken a different level thanks to Super Bowl victories.

And, well, the years in Kansas City now, when you're the smallest American city to host the World Cup and you already don't have enough hotel rooms to accommodate everyone, the last thing you want to do is tick off Airbnb owners who are going to be essential to housing.

The estimated 650,000 people arriving here for the global soccer tournament tell that to Jackson County, which this week decided to reclassify NBS as commercial properties, socking them with eye popping bills they say could force them to sell up.

Is taxation without representation.

We were never given notice.

Her annual taxes more than tripled to $6,872 per year.

That's on top of the short term rental taxes and registration she already pays to Kansas City.

Who is going to want to rent out their house for the World Cup when that's going to cause their property taxes to triple?

I think it's something that people in Kansas City should be concerned about.

I see as we end our week, Jackson County is now having a change of heart.

Charlie.

They've they've listened.

Have.

Yes.

The, county had, you know, reclassified all these homes that are Airbnbs as commercial properties, which means they pay more in taxes than a residential property.

But the Airbnb owners cried foul and got the attention of some legislators.

And they passed an ordinance this week to reclassify the Airbnbs as residential properties, which means their taxes go down, which means they can stay in operation.

Who says Jackson County lawmakers don't listen to them, right?

Right.

I mean, and there there has been a long standing tension now between Jackson County's legislature and between the executive department officials, including the assessor, who have been embroiled now for several years in conversation over the size of tax assessment.

So it's not so surprising that the legislature pushed back after the, Director of Assessment Act.

But while Jackson County is not willing to protect Airbnbs, at least through the World Cup, all bets are off after that.

But what about other businesses, one could argue that are also essential to a successful tournament.

The coffee shop says they have property assessments went up 600%.

music venue in Kansas City gets hit with a 1,100% property tax reassessment, which they described as a death sentence.

Now, I thought Jackson County had decided to abide by state orders to not raise assessments by more than 15%.

So what happened?

Or was it only, homes?

Not businesses who were part of that?

Well, the cap was limited to residential properties, and these are both commercial businesses.

still, there is some question.

Well, if we can't raise residential properties beyond this cap, are we are we handing the bill then to, commercial property owners?

I think that will be debated.

I think that's probably the next fight to happen between the legislature and the assessor in the executive.

But certainly these businesses will appeal these these, assessments.

And so there is still time for those to right a little bit, but certainly going from being appraised at $56,000 to $700,000, I don't know that that can that, that can stand as a final amount.

I think the 30,000ft view here is this this entire experience puts one more log on the fire in the effort to, turn the the the office of the Jackson County assessor from something that is appointed by the county executive to to a vote of the people.

But, Charlie, I've seen that one lawmaker at least is trying to now work with these businesses and say, let's cap them for 15% for businesses, which it makes me feel like, well, where does the money come from if you're capping it for 15% for residents, capping at 15% for businesses, where do you actually have the money to provide services for parks and recreation to the prosecutor's office, aging services?

I mean, school districts are the ones that get most of their money from property taxes.

Yeah, but this week, many a Baka legislator introduced the ordinance to, you know, put the cap on increases for commercial properties of 15%.

That'll get more discussion next week.

I've heard some debate already that it may not be legal or, possible, but at least there are some legislators trying to look out for commercial.

I was hoping we could have some good news out of Jackson County this week to report, but clearly there's still some turmoil and lots of potential protests are heading our way.

coming up next week at the Jackson County Legislature.

By the way, Jackson County isn't the only place upsetting residents this week.

So is the leafy green suburb of Prairie Village, which, after weeks of tensions, greenlights a new $30 million city hole without a public vote.

Now, a vocal group of residents are blasting the council for bypassing voters on such a massive project.

Let the residents vote.

You have the power.

Make it happen.

What are you afraid of losing?

All right.

On the Missouri side, we're accustomed to big projects having to get voter approval before moving forward at a time when we are demanding transparency from government.

Why was the Prairie Village Council so adamant about bypassing voters on this one?

Lisa, I am not sure, and I think it may have to do with the specific group of privilege residents who are objecting to this that for many years, privilege could kind of go on with its business without much fanfare.

And after the zoning changes and a push for affordable housing that we've seen over in the last year, this a group of of residents of privilege coalesced to really fight back against any of those changes.

And I think this response to this project may be a direct reaction of this particularly vocal group, because in other bigger cities, and certainly on the Missouri side, as you mentioned, we're used to bond aspects of this, of this size to become to come before the voters.

And, you know, you missed out that nine recall efforts against the mayor of Prairie Village.

On top of that, Charlie, you know what?

What are the lessons here?

Why are they so adamant?

Why why does not let the public vote on it?

Well, I think that there's some trust issues between the public and the people that they elect to make the decisions for them.

They don't feel like those people are, maybe most qualified or making the decisions that they, the, you know, electorate want them to make.

but the city council says this is, you know, government one on one.

You elect us to make these decisions.

In Kansas, the law says a first class city can opt out of going to voters for bond projects of this size.

And we've made that, that we've adopted that position.

And so we're doing work.

I talked to a couple of people who live in Prairie Village.

They lived there a long time.

They're observers of City Hall and the issue of City Hall and the police department needing more space is actually an issue that they kind of were able to wrap their arms around was actually something that they felt like, at least on the surface, they could support.

Which is the ironic part about all of this not going to a public vote, but the mere fact I think that we're even having this discussion.

Yes, the Prairie Village City Council may be able to push this across the finish line, and maybe they win the battle, but maybe they end up losing the war.

And by that I mean the issue of trust.

And, I mean to to Lisa's point, I think if it weren't this issue, it might be something else.

This this particular group of opponents in Prairie Village has been activated now over the last couple of years.

They don't trust, as Charlie said, they don't trust, the, the elected city council or the mayor.

and they're going to, to probably try to stand in the way of whatever the agenda is of the council, going forward until there's some sense of either restore trust or maybe turnover in who's holding those offices.

Kansas City marks Juneteenth this week while we observe the end of slavery in America.

What happened to the city's bold and ambitious plans to give reparations to black residents?

Two years ago, the council approved a new reparations commission to work out those payments.

We even did a major town hall here about what was being planned.

Then.

Crickets.

Did we forget about it?

Lisa?

Well, certainly the committee got off to a very slow start, and they say that's because they were asked to do this work and did not get any funding to do it.

And so, members of the reparations Committee did appear on Kcrw this week to talk more about it.

They said they they do have some money now that was allocated by the city council to begin doing research into exactly what to do.

So right now, it's just in that initial stage, conversations with other cities about what they have done and real research into what can be done in Kansas City.

But at this moment, you know, two years ago when this committee was formed, we were at a moment where reparations was a more popular, a more palatable idea.

And now we're in a moment where the federal government is cracking down and saying, you cannot use, federal dollars for this kind of work.

And we're diversity and equity and inclusion and making correcting these wrongs of the past is not popular.

And in fact, we're contradicting the wrongs ever occurred to begin with.

It was just a few weeks ago on this program, Brian.

We were talking about an effort in Kansas City to change the name of Troost Avenue to Truth Avenue.

And behind the scenes, it was Mayor Quinton Lucas who blocked that, not wanting to move forward with that issue.

is has it become so politically unpalatable as an issue that they don't want conversation?

seeing this move forward?

You know, I don't know that the Reparations Commission in Kansas City would, would say that they are, they have slowed down their work or changed their work because of that kind of pressure that's happening from the national political culture.

Having said that, I think it's unavoidable to observe that that any movement in this direction, any effort to promote, justice and equity efforts is going to to face stronger headwinds today than it would have six months stronger headwinds, including potentially, that President Trump's administration may say we're going to withhold federal funding, to Kansas City if you move too far on this issue with DEA, is that a concern?

I think that is a concern.

Yeah.

The we've already seen the federal government make some changes on transportation projects and other ways that Kansas City gets some money.

So probably toeing the line a little bit here and walking carefully.

This was going to be a heavy lift even two years ago.

And now that the politics of the politics of everything has has changed so much, this is really an uphill battle.

I have to say.

Somebody who follows these things and we did that reparations town hall, even those other cities who were talking a good game of it, including in California, as have slow walking this as well.

So it's not unusual here, right?

It's it's a nuanced conversation about reparations.

It's not a simple issue.

It's not just a matter of we're going to make these cash payments.

And that's the issue.

and so we're not in a good time for having nuanced conversations about anything.

Now, 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?

This was a shocking sight.

A close shave in Johnson County as a plane crashes on top of a building at the Johnson County Airport, Paradise can now be found in Casey K. It's 5:00 somewhere.

The new Margaritaville Hotel and Resort finally opens to guests at the site of the former Schlitterbahn Water Park.

Help wanted a new chief's mascot.

Casey Wolf, also known as Dan Me, is retiring after 35 years in the furry suit and sometimes it's the little things that get people excited to suit Trader Joe's coming to Kansas City, this one close to the Ikea store near I-35 in Merriam.

No announcement yet on the opening date.

All right, Lisa Rodriguez, did you pick one of those stories or something completely different?

Oh, man, I was I was torn because it is so hot out today.

But I actually went with, On Monday, Kcrw hosted a town hall listening session with Republican Congressman Mark Alford.

one of the few town halls with a Republican congressman that we've seen in recent months and took a lot of effort to put together on our end.

very there had moments of contention, moments of protest outside.

But ultimately the congressman did answer questions.

Did, have an engaging interaction with the audience?

And ironic as well, that it was a partnership with a public radio station and the congressman who just the week before had voted to defund.

Yeah.

And so he deserves a lot of credit, because a lot of, representatives these days are sort of running for the hills.

They're not doing these things.

So the fact that he stood there and took those questions does have some tip of the hat.

this week, Charlie, what did you put down?

I went with Margaritaville.

Yes.

You were a parrot head.

I'm assuming that.

Okay, maybe a little.

Okay, but I think it's a bigger story about development in Western County, which has been hinted as maybe an option for the, Chiefs or Royals or the team.

And we heard Mayor Tyrone Garner there and unified government say that.

Why not?

County is open for business.

And this is a good, proof that we can get things done using Starbucks.

Yeah.

And what I liked about it also, again, this was on the site of the ill fated Schlitterbahn Water park.

But they had that huge tragedy there and something positive coming out of that development.

Chris.

Dan, there's Casey Wolff.

yeah.

For me, Casey Wolff has become, really an iconic, image and symbol of the Kansas City Chiefs.

And Dan Mears really brought that character to life and has and he's done such a wonderful job.

He just lost his wife also recently.

And so, congratulations to Dan on a wonderful career.

And certainly our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

As you and I, a long time host, it's nice to see somebody doing their job for 35 years.

I was kind of amazed at that.

And I legacy as Brian, you know, Lisa and I should really compare notes because I also was going to talk about Mark Alford hosting a town hall with Casey York, a bunch of Trader Joe's and stuff.

I'm going to mention one other thing, which is, for the Kansas City Royals, who had a terrible week last week but have, have come back, with a sweep of the Texas Rangers.

But but most importantly, their their star young rookie player, Jack Leone, hitting his first home run and his second home run in the same game.

he has the potential to be a really big star for a long time for this team.

So this week could turn out to be very important.

All righty.

On on that we will say a week has been reviewed courtesy of KCUR'S, Lisa Rodriguez and Channel Nine's Chris Ketz from Kshb channel 41 news Charlie Keegan and Brian Ellison of KC News One Before we leave you, we want to let you know that Kansas City PBS is bringing star Power to its next big project.

Bradley Cooper is known for his movies less well known is his lead role as a full time caregiver for his father.

He's now produced a documentary for PBS on caregiving.

And next Thursday night at seven, you can see what he's been working on, and we'll talk with local caregivers and policy makers about what is arguably the most demanding, unpaid job in America.

We're calling it the Invisible Army Caregivers in Casey.

It's Thursday at seven here on Kansas City PBS.

As I like to remind people, Bradley Cooper is not going to be there, but I will.

I'll be back also at the same time next week for week in review.

Until then, from all of us here at the station, be well, keep calm and carry on.