We're finally back.

But after three weeks, did anything really change?

I'm reliving the same day over and over.

From the stadiums to politics, we're giving you three weeks in review for the price of one.

Stay with us.

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, I'm Nick Haines.

Have you missed us while we've been gone with our extended membership drive?

That's why you saw Willie Nelson's 90th birthday concert in the slot last week, and a Pavarotti special the week before, but I hope we can be just as entertaining around this table.

What?

You may not know is that former star reporter Dave Helling is also an expert on the Beatles KCUR Lisa Rodriguez has her own multiple talents, and we already know that Eric Wesson from next KC is a fashion The best dressed man in Kansas City media, and we're thrilled to have with us this week the Kansas City Star's Kacen Bay cover Topeka, Jefferson City and City Hall in Kansas City all in the same week.

Now, as we were wrapping up our last show around this table three weeks ago now, Dave Helling asked me how would I feel if the Royals announced their new stadium decision while we were gone during our membership drive?

Well, did I have anything to worry about, Dave?

Did anything change whatsoever?

Apparently not.

Nothing to worry about because we're still waiting.

I did make some phone calls this week and talk to folks on the periphery of these discussions.

People who, one hopes would know or at least hear what's in the wind about what the royals are thinking.

And what I heard was people telling me that the finances of the stadium continue to be.

It's not so much the location is just paying for it, particularly on the baseball side.

That continues to be a concern.

And there are whispers.

Nick whispers that John Sherman, the owner of the Royals, is growing weary of being at the front of this parade and all the criticism that attaches to it.

And so he's rethinking what role he plays with the baseball club.

So whether he.

Gets back as the lead owner.

Could be could be.

So, now again, that's not confirmed.

That's not the John Sherman hasn't said that no one with the Royals has said that.

That's just what you hear from people again on the periphery.

That doesn't mean it couldn't change in the next two weeks, we might get an announcement, but it does not appear likely.

It does appear that we're at a moment where time really is of the essence right now.

I know we're going to be.

We're already starting talking about a new mayor's race.

I think Quinton Lucas is really a key player right now for the Royals in terms of financing and cutting a deal, and we're about to start a new Royals season.

So I think really right now is when we are looking at an announcement from the royals, from the city of Kansas City in a year, Quinton Lucas won't be mayor anymore.

I guess one minor update on this is, Mayor Lucas was in Arizona for the Royals spring training earlier this month.

I spoke with him after that trip, and he's still expressing optimism that there could be some kind of decision by the spring time.

But, even though we've got an April 7th, earnings tax coming up, we got the World Cup, all of these other things that are much bigger priorities right now.

Right?

Yeah.

And he's still expressing that optimism.

He did, you know, Mayor Lucas and, Jackson County Executive Phil, and sort of promoted the idea that they think they can strike a deal before Opening Day.

Lucas did caution that that might be a little aggressive at this point.

Every time you appear on the show, Eric Wesson, you keep telling us that Ashley Gates, the barbecue magnate, still has hopes of bringing it to the area around 18th and vine.

Has he given up hope now at this point?

Last Friday I saw him and that was still his vision and bringing that economic engine back into the urban core where it started.

So we could have been gone for six months and we may still be talking about it.

It wouldn't have made any difference.

Do not lose sight of the idea that whatever, the royals decide, wherever it goes north of the river or anywhere in Jackson County, that the contribution from the team will have to be substantial.

The Chiefs are spending $1 billion for their stadium.

You would expect something close to that from the Royals for a new ballpark.

And remember, if the Chiefs are building and the Royals are building at the same time, Nick, the costs of both projects will go up because the demand for labor will be bigger and the demand for materials.

So all the leases, right.

The calendar is beginning to compress the amount of money involved.

Interest rates are high.

It's just a very, very dicey time.

Speaking of that, Chief Stadium, Kansas lawmakers spent much of the week on what many of us thought was a done deal.

The new Chiefs Stadium in Wyandotte County.

But there were lots of verbal spats over what is being called a crucial vote to set up a public sports authority to take ownership of the new dome stadium, the Chiefs say.

Without it, nearly 45% of the project's funding would be subject to federal taxes blowing a massive hole in the stadium budget.

But yet, we're told by legislative leaders in Topeka want this.

None of it matters.

We'll find another way of going around it.

This whole public Sports authority deal.

We'll find something else.

This the deal is done.

Reason that there is a concern about taxability of the proceeds is not necessarily because there is or isn't a sports authority in their kids because it has to be publicly owned.

That's the concern no matter what the structure is.

What the Chiefs won't tell you or don't tell you is that the other great benefit of having a publicly owned stadium is they don't owe any property taxes in on it.

And in Wyandotte County, the property tax levy for a $3 billion stadium would not be cheap.

So they've pushed pretty hard on this.

There is concern about the Chiefs seat at the table, voting seat on the authority that makes you the landlord and the tenant at the same time.

That was Senator Mike Thompson, the former Fox Weather man said that this is like the fox guarding the henhouse.

Yes.

And and so you're getting criticism from the right, but you're also getting it from Cindy Hauser on the left, who's running for governor.

It'll be an interesting dynamic in the Senate with, by the way, just a couple of days to go.

But I think their most important part of this endeavor is going to be the community benefits agreement.

Once they get through with the financing, they still have to address.

What's the benefit for Wyandotte County voters and taxpayers?

Rather, when this project comes into existence.

Now, since the last time we sat around this table, an FBI probe is sending shockwaves through the corridors of Kansas City city Hall in Kansas City, according to news reports.

Mayor Pro Tem Rihanna, Paul Shaw and her husband, Kansas City Public Works Director Michael Shaw, are at the center of a public corruption investigation.

Now, isn't she considered to be the frontrunner to succeed Quinton Lucas as the next mayor of Kansas City?

Bring the park, Shaw as as, Mayor pro tem, certainly has one of the highest profile and most name recognition of the people who have announced so far.

And so an FBI probe is not a great look.

Still, there's a lot we there's more we don't know than what we do know about this.

There's no wrongdoing that has been confirmed so far.

And, the sources that have spoken to media outlets who have, who have been anonymous so far, although I trust I trust the star and I trust case in sourcing on this have said that there is they were asked about a wide array of things, not just Raina Park Shaw and Michael Shaw and their activities.

So could it be really unfair then, to be so damaging her reputation in this way, when the FBI has said absolutely nothing and it could be about something completely different?

I think that, you know, whether it's fair or not, you know, the politics of this, it's there's so much that's unknown about what this investigation is, is like what the exact target of the investigation is that, yeah.

I think that that's still something that we're working to figure out.

But we do know is that, there have been multiple city employees, former city employees that have been interviewed by the FBI at being asked a wide range of questions, all of them sort of centered around the mayor pro tem, but also contracts and donations throughout the city.

The mayor pro tem, though, has already held fundraisers.

She's been the most visible candidate for mayor.

And that race, of course, is just, you know, a year away.

Is there any evidence that some people are now distancing themselves from her, or that she's considering dropping out of the race?

I don't think she's going to drop out of the race as, my last conversation with Tara.

But I think people are going to be leery about what's going on with it until something is finalized.

I think our biggest thing, if she does stay in the race where she's going to raise a lot of money is for public relations, because this is just a bad look.

Even though you don't know what the FBI is looking for, you know, they go in looking for oranges and find apples and oranges and grapefruits.

So it's been a very interesting, concept for a couple things to keep in mind.

We don't know the specifics, of course, of this.

A wide ranging probe, if you will, at City Hall.

But in some ways, the federal government is always keeping an eye on places like Kansas City, Missouri city government.

They get tips all the time.

Nick, when I worked at City Hall, there were always rumors of the FBI calling this person or that person about some concerns and what I was told years ago was to keep in mind that what looks bad politically, potential conflict of interest, is not necessarily illegal or can yield a case that's provable in federal court.

So we need to be a little bit skeptical is not the right word, but just a little bit leery of condemning anybody based on these early rumors, because it may look bad, but they may not be something that violates the law.

And for $201 worth of campaign contributions, is that enough to have such a, large probe go into effect of what you're actually looking at.

As the story plays out?

Jackson County Sheriff Darrel Forte is now apparently considering a run for mayor.

If Shaw were to drop out of the race, does he become the front runner?

I think Darrell Forte is a really interesting candidate.

He certainly was.

He was the police chief to.

The police chief.

He has name recognition.

He has a law and order background.

But also being police chief means you have a lot of history for people to cite.

Good and bad people can look at the crime rate during his tenure.

He did not have, a tenure that didn't have bumps in the road as well.

And, and we also see the Jackson County Detention Center opening this week, without cooperation, without a Kansas City municipal jail as part of it.

So there is there's a lot to cite to good and bad.

So he's certainly an interesting candidate, certainly has name recognition.

But it's not it's not a death.

Sure thing.

I talked to him this morning, at a ribbon cutting and opening of the county jail, and he he was.

Tap you as his communications.

That's in the.

Campaign right.

Now.

He says he really doesn't have an interest in it because of the way the governing structure is being able to work with his city council.

Even though there are potholes currently going on where people are getting phone calls asking about candidates.

And his name is mentioned as one of.

Them, I think whoever's doing the push poll just do that in there just to see.

But he assured me today that he has no interest in running as of today.

No tomorrow might be something different this afternoon, but this morning when I talked to him, he had no interest in wanting to be a part of city council.

We haven't had somebody with a law enforcement background be the mayor of Kansas City, but we certainly saw that in Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.

Tyrone on came from law enforcement.

How did that work out for him?

Well, not well for him.

He spent a four year, one term at the head of the Unified government and then decided not to run again.

And there is a tradition in Kansas City of going for civilian leadership of the city council.

So it's not surprising, perhaps, that, Sheriff Forte is backing away.

But again, caution, we're very early in this process and a lot of people and a lot of names that we've never heard before, or at least not prominently, are probably looking at the race.

It'll be another six months before we really get a sense of what the field will be.

All right, well, speaking of running for office while we were gone, one of Kansas City's best known religious leaders announced he was weighing up a campaign to be the next US senator from Kansas.

Adam Hamilton, pastor of church of the Resurrection in Leawood, said he would embark on a listening tour of the state before considering a challenge to Republican Roger Marshall.

Well, he's now back from a nine city road trip that's taking him from Dodge City to Russell, Kansas.

Is he in or out or still on the fence?

Kason, we haven't seen an announcement yet.

I do think that it is one of the most interesting storylines in this election season.

It's a real test of whether you can, take your, you know, personal, your very popular personal brand and transition that into votes.

And there's still an open question of whether, you know, if he does run, whether that takes votes away from Roger Marshall, whether that takes votes away from a popular Democratic candidate because he's saying he's right.

He would run as an independent.

It's a certainly an interesting storyline.

We had an independent run before that was Gregg Allman back in 2014.

He was the businessman from Johnson County.

Lots of money cleared the field of the Democrat in that race and ran against Pat Roberts.

All right.

How did he fare?

Not well.

Although at the time there was a suggestion based on polling that he had a real chance to beat Pat Roberts, particularly when Chad Taylor, who was the Democratic nominee from the primary, decided to get out of the race, which, by the way, as you'll recall, touched off legal challenges from the Republicans trying to keep him on the ballot.

But they failed in that regard.

So it was a Greg Orman versus Pat Roberts race.

And yet Orman lost by 1011 points, in part because Nick, his whole campaign was based on the idea that I'm an independent, that I'm not one of them.

Well, that'll get you somewhere down the road.

But at some point people start saying, okay, well, you know, what's your position on taxes and spending and national defense?

And he really didn't have good answers for any of that.

Pat Roberts had been around forever.

It wasn't close.

I think Adam Hamilton is a different candidate than Greg Orman was.

Roger Marshall is a different candidate than Pat Roberts was and is not universally, lauded as well.

So it's, I think, his case and set a really interesting candidate and I think one that caught us by surprise.

I don't think we were expecting.

But would people be willing to vote for an independent candidate when there are multiple Democrats in this race?

And isn't Sharice Davids the Kansas congresswoman, still considering the race case?

She's still considered a likely candidate.

We still very somewhat of Hamilton have not seen her actually jump into the race.

But yeah, I mean, just going back to Hamilton very briefly.

I think that, you know, he weighed in on, the shooting of Alex pretty like from the pulpit there.

There have been a lot of, like, sort of controversial issues that he's weighed in from the pulpit.

It'll be really interesting to see whether he jumps into this race.

Well, Adam Hamilton, of course, will follow in the footsteps of Emanuel Cleaver, who went from the pulpit to politics, first as a city councilman, then mayor of Kansas City and then congressman.

But at age 81, is Congressman Cleaver about to rejoin civilian life?

Just a few days ago, a Jackson County judge ruled that Missouri's newly congressional map is constitutional, which means Cleaver will have to campaign, it seems, in a totally reconfigured seat, which would see him lose a big chunk of Kansas City and be forced to represent huge parts of rural Missouri right up to Jefferson City and Columbia.

Does that spell the end of Cleaver's political career case?

I think there's still two very important variables to this entire situation.

We're still waiting on to pretty in my opinion, monumental court cases.

The first is, the Missouri Supreme Court is poised to rule on whether lawmakers legally were even able to hold a amid mid-decade redistricting, legislative session.

The other one is whether the map will be paused ahead of the 2026 election.

That goes back to this this referendum campaign where campaigners are seeking to strike down that map at the ballot box.

So I think decisions in those two cases will really be the big test of whether, Cleaver can hold on to the seat or whether it's going to be an uphill battle during this.

So just because a Kansas City judge, Jackson County judge ruled this way doesn't mean that's the end of the story, then?

Certainly not.

I think these two big, decisions loom.

And then, you know, we see who what names surface to to challenge Cleaver.

I think he's still easily the most recognizable name in the race.

But it certainly if this map, stays in place ahead of the election makes it a much more difficult race for him to win at a point where many people are are eyeing and waiting and counting down.

As we've asked many times on this program whether he will run again.

Is he getting worried?

Eric, is there any evidence to suggest?

He says, you know, I don't need it anymore.

I'm going to retire.

No, I hadn't heard that from him or his campaign.

I think his campaign is looking at Republicans who are working behind the scenes to help him in those rural areas where he has no base because they've done this before.

They took him down to Warrensburg and other places in rural Missouri, and he's still won.

So I think he's looking at you know, getting those Republicans, even though they voted for it, a lot of them didn't want to, but they didn't want to upset the Trump administration and not supporting them during the redistricting.

So but it'll be interesting if they do keep this map, whether Mark off or will be able to keep his seat, because I think, Because he mayor he will have all of Kansas City that is in his district that is west of Twist Avenue.

He will have the corridor.

What we always have called the corridor where, they there are a lot of Democratic votes, typically, and b, they turn out a lot more than perhaps any other part of Kansas City.

And so you put those things together?

Yeah.

If I were, Mark offered, I'd be a little nervous about it.

And just to fill out the deck here, they're still counting signatures on the petition to put this on the ballot.

And they almost certainly this week will go over the minimum required.

And that triggers the whole discussion about whether or not the map is put aside.

While we're waiting for that, Lisa mentioned.

Yeah.

Lucas and offer it would be a good race.

That could still happen now, after years of planning and construction, as Lisa mentioned a little earlier in the program, that $370 million Jackson County Detention Center finally opens this week.

Planning for it, built on the site of a former mobile home park, began in 2019.

The new jail was designed to ease overcrowding at the county's downtown lockup, which was more than 40 years old.

But if you remember it, in an ironic twist, we were told last fall that the new 1000 bed facility would be at overcapacity the day it opens.

Is that still the case, Eric?

I think they're going to be close to capacity, if not overcapacity, when it opens up.

So it's going to be interesting how they trim it down.

And now we've got a big tough on crime mentality in Jackson County.

Lisa I also notice from Casey Wall that they also lost the Jackson County Detention Center director.

The person who's going to be leading it just resigned too.

It does prompt questions about what's going on behind the scenes that that that she would resign just ahead of the opening.

It does look like she's found a place in Kansas City where.

We're.

So.

Yeah.

So she'll still be in the detention center sphere.

But it is interesting for the jail to open without kind of a strong set.

Leader just connecting the dots again.

The Jackson County sheriff that also oversees the detention center, is thinking about potentially becoming mayor of Kansas City.

Who's going to be left over there?

You know, I said we always look at bewildering stories that are head scratchers.

That seem to be a head scratcher for many of our viewers.

This week, the Kansas City Symphony exploring plans for a new 4000 seat performance venue on the plaza or should I say, just a block south of the shopping district on land next to the Kansas City Plaza Library?

What are they done with the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts?

Dave.

First, a tip of the cap to my colleague Melinda Henneberger, who broke this story.

She got a tip.

And on our Substack.

It was the only one that didn't break this.

Yeah, exactly.

There is a lot of head scratching going on because this doesn't, at the surface level anyway, make a lot of sense, in part because the expense to build a new hall would be enormous.

You would have to raise the money from private sources at a time when private sources are being asked, as you well know, Nick, to supplement other media outlets and other things in the Kansas City area, that's going to make it difficult.

And then it is to some degree redundant with the Kauffman Performing Arts Center.

It does, I think, under the surface suggests there is some tension between the symphony and the people who run the.

What do you think that we don't know.

But they could do that.

They couldn't do it.

The Kauffman Center.

Perhaps, to to Dave and Melinda and, for breaking this because Kcrw hasn't been able to confirm it.

And the symphony is not talking at all yet, but it would be a much larger space than what is available at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts.

So.

So I have a lot of questions.

I'm eager to hear from the symphony on this.

I'm eager to hear from the Kauffman Center and see are they is the symphony selling out to all of their performances?

Is there a need for a space that is this much larger than what they have?

And what I will say is, is beautiful.

At the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, and I'd love to hear from musicians, in the symphony as well.

One benefactor of this whole, experience, if it happens, would be the Country Club Plaza.

Now you've got 4000 people who will be looking, perhaps to have a restaurant meal or go shopping right next to the plaza.

That's going to help them.

You know that will help them tremendously.

And they need some help tremendously as well, with something to create some foot traffic coming into that area.

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?

Kansas City turns green, and our World Cup committee breathes a big sigh of relief as the federal government finally releases the long delayed cash we've been counting on to secure the tournament.

The first detainees start filling beds at the new Ice jail in Leavenworth.

Opponents of a $150 billion data center in independence, Missouri, are hoping a judge rules this week on their bid to block the project to a public referendum.

City leaders argue it's too late to stop the facility.

And it's March Madness not college hoops, but the weather.

From ice, snow and hailstorms to record breaking heat all in the same week.

All righty, Lisa, did you pick one of those stories?

So something completely different.

And it's been so newsy.

All of those stories are so worthwhile.

But I picked something different.

Faculty and staff at CU in an informal straw poll in overwhelmingly voted no confidence in their chancellor.

That was reported by KCRW's, Sam Zeff this week.

That is following, news that CU Athletics, will have a budget deficit of about $15 million and that the that QS is planning to pull from their general fund and tuition to pay student athletes.

So a lot of questions about finances at the University of Kansas right now about transparency.

And clearly faculty and staff are unhappy about it.

Eric, what did you put down?

Well, you know, Gwen Grant, the president and CEO of Urban League, announced her retirement this week.

City council, is.

It to run for mayor?

No.

Okay.

I don't know.

She appointed, City Councilwoman Melissa Robinson as the CEO.

Oh, that's going to take over.

Heir apparent.

And also the city of Kansas City did something really strange.

They created a community public safety, committee to go along with all the other things that they're doing.

And it just looks confusing throwing all of these darts against the wall for public safety.

What exactly will they do?

Thank you.

Kason.

Yeah, I picked something that that is sort of poised to be one of the most seismic, seismic, ballot measures in Missouri history, which is, the the overhaul of the initiative petition process.

A Missouri judge this earlier this month rewrote that ballot question, finding that the question was misleading.

If you think about some of the most, like, hot button ballot issues that have been in Missouri, whether that's abortion rights, whether that's, the increasing of the minimum wage, that's all gone through Missouri's initiative, petition process, Medicaid expansion.

Correct?

Yes.

And I don't want to.

Yes.

And that that ballot measure would make it virtually impossible for any of those issues to have passed on the ballot.

So that's something we're going to be following pretty closely.

I don't think we're completely, clear on Missourians will have enormous choices on the ballot this year.

Initiative petitioned abortion will be back on the ballot.

Income tax elimination potentially that ballots going to be.

It's going to take everybody two hours to vote.

My unreported story, just quickly, Nick, is, as part of the discussion on the Sports Authority bill in the Kansas Legislature, the representative of the Kansas Speedway said, hey, we'd like to be a part of this, too.

Maybe the Sports Authority could acquire the speedway in part because then we wouldn't have to pay property taxes when our current deal expires.

And, that was interesting.

And this week, legislator, moved an amendment that would limit the authority to the football team, only it passed.

The speedway is out.

And on that we will say, week has been reviewed courtesy of Casey Wahls, Lisa Rodriguez and the stars case and Bayless from next page, Casey, Eric Wesson and news icon and mister Kansas City stack on Substack, Substack, Dave Helling a lot of S's there.

And I'm Nick Haines from all of us here at Kansas City PBS.

Be well, keep Calm and carry on.