Well, it's frightening.

Coming up, we look at the local impact of the newly signed big Beautiful Bill.

Plus, how will you vote in the vacant Frank white recall election and kicking the can down the road yet again on the stadiums?

Kansas lead is now giving the Chiefs and Royals till New Year's Eve to show their hand.

Plus didn't see this coming his KC I about to become Truman International Airport.

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 Marlese 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.

Glad to have you back with us.

You know, we take the 4th of July holiday off and guess what happens?

All hell breaks loose.

Firstly, we've got a whole new weekend review set, and as you can see, it's more than just a fresh lick of paint.

But even more strikingly is the monumental news that's been breaking this week, helping us make sense of it all over the next 26 minutes.

As the head of the Kansas City Star editorial board of Yvette Walker at the helm of our Metro's newest newspaper, next Page KC Eric Wesson.

Tracking the region's top political news for KCUR is Brian Ellison, and he said he retired from the star, but his byline seems to be in the paper more now than when he worked at full time.

Dave Helling, Jackson County voters now have an executive decision to make.

Do they want to oust their top leader, Frank white?

The signatures have been verified, and county lawmakers voted unanimously this week to hold a special recall election a little more than six weeks from now, on August 26th.

Not about personalities or politics.

It's about ensuring that we follow the law and the Jackson County Charter and give the respect and the voices of our residents.

Let's put this into perspective first, though, Dave Helling, is this a remarkably rare moment in local politics?

Has there been a high profile election like this to oust a public memory?

It's been.

It's rare, but not unique.

You may recall about 20 years ago, Sandra McFadden Weaver, who was on the Kansas City Council, was subject to a recall, at which she won, by the way, she was reelected in that election.

The rules are a little different, Nick, in Kansas City than Jackson County, but it is very rare in Jackson County, in part because the number of signatures needed is so immense.

You need 40,000 or, you know, 45,000 valid signatures.

That's very hard to get in any recall election.

So yes, this is a historic in several ways.

You know, Eric, I saw that the peculiar mayor, in Missouri decided this week he was going to resign as there was impeachment talk.

He might be forced out of office and people resign in advance of that when it gets the serious stage and the evidence, Frank white will just say, I'm going to resign, retire early.

No, no evidence of that whatsoever.

And he's I want to say, campaigning now, even with his press release is saying that, you know, this is all about the stadiums and it's about this and feel the voter wants to be a judge.

And he wouldn't make the position available.

But I want to remind our viewers that this is this recall started long before the stadiums.

people had gotten fed up with Frank white and his leadership during a period of time.

And then they were getting their assessment, the jail, the jail.

Those are the things that people are frustrated about.

And those were the things that they signed up.

Okay.

Well, let's look at his own words.

And this is his statement this week.

This was the money line.

This whole effort is, quote, about clearing the path for a stadium deal that voters rejected, and removing the one person who stood up and said it was a bad deal for taxpayers.

Is that true, or is there more to it than that?

Is that.

Well, that's certainly what he's saying.

but it seems to me that people may care about the stadiums, but they care about their budget more so than that.

So I would say that if we had to say which was the bigger, lift here, it would probably be the assessments.

So what happens then within an election on August 26th?

This is what we're told, though there are efforts to try and possibly delay that, saying it's too challenging to put on an election in advance at that time.

But if there was an election and people voted yes to oust Frank white, is he out there?

At the end of the day, he's not out at the end of that day, but pretty quick thereafter.

as soon as the election is certified, you do not have to wait.

and the position is declared vacant immediately.

There's a process set up in the county charter for how to replace him first, initially for on a very temporary basis, by appointment of the county legislature chair.

then for the remainder of the term, by someone who has to be confirmed by the full, county legislature, by a majority vote that will serve until the end of 2027.

But even before that, though, we're told that Frank white could actually veto the measure to, have the election.

Can he do that?

Well, we'll see.

That is not clear.

There will be a judicial intervention in this entire process, in part because the election board is saying we don't have time in six weeks, potentially, to put this matter before voters.

the whether or not the executive can veto the election ordinance is not clear.

It's the process in the charter.

It's not self-executing in that way.

And so they'll have to be some sort of intervention to figure it out.

But I think it would barring a just a complete turnaround, there will be an election sooner rather than later on whether Frank white will be recalled.

And by the way, just a quick note for history.

He became county executive, replacing Mike Sanders.

So the very process that would be used if he's ousted from office, are there any is there anyone in Kansas City right now who is salivating over being the next Jackson County executive?

I haven't even heard of any candidates coming forward at this point to be a Democrat, by the way.

Okay.

Why why does it have to be a Democrat?

Charter requires the commission to pick someone of the legislature, to pick someone of the same party of the ousted?

I don't know if they're salivating about it, but Dan, to our water, he wants to put his hand in.

All right, there we go.

Former legislator.

Yep.

Yeah.

And Ryan McGee is rumored, although I asked him that at a press conference the other day, and he didn't say whether he wanted to or not.

He just wanted to get through this part of the phase.

But I want to say one more thing.

You know, Frank white is saying that the people this is about the stadium, but the same people that voted no on the stadium are the same people that that puts the re competition.

So you can't say that it was about the stadiums because it's really not what happens.

so if he is recalled, there has to be another election then to devote for a new executive.

Could he decide to run in that?

Well, he could, but that election will not take place until the general election, which would have occurred anyway for that position.

So so the person who is appointed and confirmed by the legislature will actually serve out the rest of what would have been Frank White's term.

So it's a it's actually a very significant decision on the part of the the charter allow, if he resigns, that he keeps his pension versus if he's voted out.

And I don't think the pension speaks to that.

There may be some legislation, but I don't think the charter itself, enacts any penalty on a recall official other than you leave office.

Okay.

Because that's one of the rumors, is that he would resign rather than lose his pension as the former county executive there is there are some different provisions in the charter, depending on whether a person leaves voluntarily or is removed from office for one reason or another.

And so that might be those those might be considerations.

He's making it into your question of whether he could run in the election in 2026.

That's not actually spelled out in the charter.

It does not appear to me from a reading of the charter, which I happen to have pages of right here, that, that, that it is actually prohibited.

Now, whether that's a wise political move for him, after all, the water under this bridge is a good question, and also might depend on the mandate.

We'll see how many voters come out and what that vote is.

That would be the only thing on the ballot.

Aren't the only going to be the people who have an ax to grind, who don't like him.

Who's going to go to the polls?

Yes.

Yeah.

That's what recall elections are all about.

But there are a lot of people angry at Frank white for a myriad of reasons, and it is difficult to envision Nick what his argument will be to stay in office.

What what is his success been?

What has he done that was a rather remarkable Royals base.

Yes, but but what has he done to make the county better in any way?

The tax situation is very problematic.

The jail we mentioned the stadiums, problem.

The budget itself is a mess.

It's hard to envision what his argument will be for retention other than, somehow they're out to get me to Eric's earlier point, though, one of the interesting pieces of this to me is that there isn't an obvious person to take his place.

No one does not appear, at least outwardly, that anyone's been jockeying for that position.

And that might be a reflection of just how much confusion dysfunction.

Choose your word there has been in Jackson County government.

Now on on that myriad of issues that Dave mentioned.

And I think that's where we we find ourselves in a position of real uncertainty even as we go into the recall election, he said.

Phil, the voter who is the lawyer pushing to have the election held on in 26, he said that he wanted the position and then he wanted a judgeship.

He didn't get a judgeship.

So then he came up and became part of the recall.

But yes, it'll be an interesting battle.

Get your popcorn and your cold drinks ready because it's going to be interesting.

In other big news this week, top Kansas lawmakers agreed to extend a massive incentive office of the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals.

The legislative Coordinating Council that makes decisions when lawmakers are out of session, voted seven to nothing to give the teams until New Year's Eve to lock in a deal with Kansas that would fund up to 70% of new stadium costs with public money.

So what does all of this mean?

We're just kicking the can down the road for another six months.

State?

Yes.

at least potentially down the road.

I do think the Royals have said for some time that they want to clarify their stadium situation this summer.

And so we're in the middle of this summer.

We'll see if they, step forward.

Now, the Chiefs said after the vote in Topeka that they need more time to work out the minute details of their, agreement, even though they've had a year to do it.

So, I think we'll have some clarity in 2025.

If you thought this whole thing is head scratching, then watch Chiefs president Mark Donovan tried to clear the air and explain what happened.

As I said, we're making great progress on both sides.

They're different deals.

and once we have all the details, which is the phase we're in right now, it's literally details final definitions, exactly that we're all on the same page.

And then we'll take that information.

We'll make the decision.

Now it's all clear.

Are you any of the wiser event?

No, not at all.

Not at all.

And my goodness we've I have to wonder if there's a certain amount of fatigue that is happening.

You know, another six months.

Yes.

We want to keep our teams in Missouri.

Of course we do.

however, there is a certain amount of fatigue.

I think that's beginning to happen.

Nick, I was going to say it's really a shame that you got a new set, because otherwise we could have just replayed the tape of one of the last few times we've talked about this with no one would notice, because really, the uncertainty has been the theme and it continues to be what I do start to detect, I think, is that, the leaders in Kansas and Missouri are starting to be a little more vocal in their annoyance with how long this is taking and their frustration with the teams.

I don't know if that's going to impact the final outcome or not, but I think the teams might want to start moving toward actual proposals, or they may not have as much leverage as they think.

We may not want to watch Dick Clark's special New Year's Eve celebration with Ryan Seacrest these days, because we're waiting for the news.

That announcement on New Year's Eve from the teams, they tell us where they're going to be moving.

Right.

hopefully, they come up with something before then.

It's still the Jazz District is still a conversation.

And that would be in Missouri.

But they're dragging this on.

And I think people are becoming more and more disengaged and more and more excitement about excited about the possibility.

Now we we are getting a lot of comments from viewers, by the way, about this latest news, including from Steve who writes, if either team moves to Kansas, there will be fires all over Missouri burning their expensive merchandise.

They may say that now, but in the long run, will they see a dip in attendance?

Because Missouri side fans would no longer support the teams?

I don't, you know, over the long run.

No.

I think that most fans understand that the metropolitan area can be involved in the teams.

If one or both go to Kansas.

But I will say this, Mark Donovan seemed to indicate that the Chiefs and we assume the Royals are negotiating with both sides down to the to the specific clauses of a contract.

That means when they pick a side, someone is going to be very, very angry that they invested all this time and energy to get the team to come over, only to have the team pick the other side.

that that's a dangerous, dangerous game because you do lose, in essence, half of your constituency saying, hey, we were flummoxed by these teams, so looking for the best deal.

but I'm not sure that's the best strategy at all.

And then if they choose neither city, what city is going to want to be involved in in this?

Because there's no clarity on what needs to be done on the 4th of July, President Trump signed his marquee domestic policy bill into law.

Are we ready?

80% of Kansas's rural hospitals are at risk of closing the well, it's frightening.

50% of those hospitals are providing services, critical services.

It's pretty bleak.

I mean, we have a lot of facilities that are currently at risk of closing.

We've seen a number of them close over the last 5 or 6 years.

we expect there to be more.

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly and some of our local health leaders may not be happy, but it gained the support of all four Kansas and Missouri senators, even though some of them expressed major concerns about what it would mean to their states.

Here's what Missouri Senator Josh Hawley said before the vote.

It ought to be just a basic foundational principle.

It is wrong to cut health care for the working poor.

That's what we're talking about here with Medicaid.

This is real Medicaid benefit cuts.

I can't support that.

No Republicans should support that.

We're the party of the working class, and we need to act like a.

So he voted no.

Oh, he voted yes.

Oh, so so what changed between that interview and the vote then event?

He voted yes.

And nothing changed.

However, it's interesting because we've had some comments about it's not his fault, it's the omnibus bill.

The fault is a hundreds of pages long bill that there's nothing else you can do but vote yes or no.

I would argue that you still have a choice and you still could have voted now.

Yeah.

I mean, I think what what changed if you asked Senator Hawley or Senator Jerry Moran, is that there was this $50 billion fund added, which is purportedly to protect rural hospitals, and maybe it will help in some cases.

But but the rural hospitals themselves and across Kansas and Missouri, according to our reporting over at Casey, you are say that this isn't going to help.

It's not going to solve the problems.

Those those hospitals are already making plans to shut down portions of their operations or to to shut them down entirely based on the passage of this bill.

So, I think it's an open question whether the, the, the senators will have to pay for that politically, especially given that there is some delay.

And when it did, Jerry Moran, the Kansas senator, feel that if he voted no, he might be primaried by President Trump.

I mean, perhaps I mean that that's the implied threat for all of the Republicans.

But anyone who thought that, rank and file Republicans in the Senate would somehow oppose the Trump bill, were really, you know, paddling up the wrong stream.

They were always going to vote for what I don't get quickly with Josh Hawley is why did he take such a politically risky position on Medicaid?

That would clearly be pointed out as hypocrisy if he voted for the bill, he could have just stayed silent on Medicaid.

Instead, he was in the New York Times.

He was on talk shows, but he said he'd made changes to it that would delay the effects of that in Missouri.

Well, but he he's talked a lot as as Brian points out, about this $50 billion fund for hospitals that says nothing about the patients.

It's about the hospitals.

That money it says nothing about the people who use Medicaid, particularly in Missouri, where it was expanded and, that that, you know, when it takes effect, it won't take effect for a year.

Okay.

We getting a lot of questions from our viewers about this.

They're confused about the impact of these cuts in Kansas and Missouri.

Richard writes, how does removing people who are physically capable of working from the Medicaid program could actually lead to the closing of rural hospitals?

Brian.

Well, I'm glad you asked, Richard.

you know, the reality is that that is a talking point that has been part of the support for cutting Medicaid.

That is not actually borne out by the facts.

KFF, had a study earlier this spring that said, that that studied Americans under the age of 65 who are on Medicaid, 64% of them are working, 12% of them who are not working because they're caregiving, 10% are not working because they've been injured, 7% are not working because they are in school as students.

In fact, only 8% of Americans on Medicaid under the age of 65, are either retired or looking for work or not, or not looking for work.

there is a really small percentage that's not who's affected the most by these Medicaid cuts.

It's a broader cross-section of people, many of whom are working Americans who happen to be poor.

Now, Carla wants to know, does this new bill really cut entitlement programs or just push more of the costs onto states?

If so, could a state like Kansas still pick up the tab for things like food assistance programs so no one has to go without?

You know, we talked to harvesters and and there's a lot of concern about this pushing down the road.

Who's going to pay for it.

and it's in their views.

It's it's nearly impossible to make up the amount that's going to be taken away.

But we have states like, from Colorado.

I see Georgia maybe bringing back legislatures to fill the hole with state money.

Any evidence you'd see a special session in Kansas and Missouri to do that?

Kansas has refused to expand Medicaid for decades.

So the idea that somehow they'll step forward to help people on food stamps is a real stretch.

And Missouri is in the same boat.

There's, in fact, Missouri is really in a bit of a pickle because they voted to the voters, as you know.

Nick put expand Medicaid in the Constitution.

And so they you'll see a lot of argument that, hey, we can't do we can't fully fund schools, we can't do roads, we can't do a bunch of other things precisely because of Medicaid cost.

I also love, by the way, some of the more basic questions we receive from our viewers this week, Diana asks, do our representatives and senators really read the bills before they vote?

And Gretchen writes, who actually writes these bills?

These are almost 1000 pages long.

Is that like Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall going into a little room and doing this?

I worked in Washington, okay, for the first part of my career, and you would be stunned to know how much national policy is determined by 23 year old kids and yellow ties.

they sit in rooms with boxes of pizza, and they draft different parts of this bill.

No legislator, no senator, no House member has read the entire document.

And sent a young, with pens in their coat pockets.

the, the people that they have, the staff and the things around them, those are the people that are supposed to read the bills and give them a summary of what it is.

They think it's divided up to between 2 or 3 people in some cases.

And they read it and they give them a summary.

One of the things about Josh Hawley, though, is he's not up for reelection for five years.

So if they're going to primary him, he would be primaried after Trump leaves office.

Yes.

So that shouldn't be a deterrent as to why he changed his mind.

we should also point out that the major health effects of this big, beautiful bill won't be felt until after the midterm elections.

They won't go into effect until about 2027.

Now, here's a story I didn't expect to see this week Kansas City now considering renaming the new location after president Harry Truman.

According to the mayor's office, Mayor Lucas has met with representatives of the Truman Library Institute about renaming the terminal after the former president from independence.

That seems to have come out of the blue.

Is the city serious about doing this, and is the idea being praised or panned this week event?

I think it's all about branding.

And the question is, is Truman more well known or recognized in Kansas City?

And I might argue that there are a lot of people who don't know where Kansas City is.

so I'm not quite sure what that that's going to, to take, but I think, it would be all the branding that's been done, the new airport, all the things that we've seen in the last couple of years would be undone to some degree if they would rename it, I would say St James International Airport.

well, we can't now because they have the pavilion at the convention center named after 2 or 3 things named after him.

You know, they could do that.

I would vote for that.

If yes.

Just just quickly.

First of all, if they named Sly James the airport for Sly James, I'm leaving town and I'm just not.

But, because of his involvement with the airport.

But there is a clue that maybe there's a fear that the Chiefs or Royals will leave the Truman Sports Complex, which is really the most major thing named for Harry.

Yeah.

and that there then needs to be a substitute for Truman of a significant stature, substantial stature.

And that's why this talk is it doesn't need a name, but it doesn't need a name at all.

I'm just thinking I was looking and you were a world traveler.

You know, I airports all the time going to different places.

You think about Denver, Orlando, Los Angeles.

They don't have special names.

They're just the city name.

Moreover, the cities where the where there is only one airport and it is named after someone I'm thinking of, like New Orleans.

Or you don't probably remember who that's named after the if, unless you need it to distinguish from some other airport, like maybe Bush Airport in Houston or Reagan Airport in Washington, DC, if it's the only airport in town.

I don't think people know the name anyway.

So this is the there may be lots of reasons to do this or not do it, but how it's going to be publicly known, I don't think is going to be great.

Mayor Lucas could kick the can down the road.

The next mayor comes in and name it after him.

That's true too.

But I did see they trying to do this in advance of the World Cup coming to town, which is going to be in June of next year.

So that not too much of a delay on this.

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?

For the first time since May?

Abortions resume in Kansas City after a judge clears away the last rules blocking the procedure.

Meanwhile, the ACLU files a suit to remove an abortion ban from appearing on next year's Missouri ballot.

The group says the questions language is deceptive.

Eight years after his capture, he's finally heading to court.

The man charged with killing six men on the Indian Creek Trail has finally been declared competent to stand trial.

Not sure why she felt obliged to make a public announcement, but Kansas Governor Laura Kelly says she's divorced her husband after 40 years of marriage.

Overland Park says yes to Black and Veatch, a unanimous council vote this week to give $250 million in tax breaks for the company to build a new corporate headquarters.

Hickman Mills ousts its superintendent and brings back a familiar face to run things former boss Dennis Carpenter.

You can finally keep your shoes on at KCI as the TSA drops its nearly 20 year old security rule.

And if you're salivating over Bucky's opening its first Kansas City store, you're going to have to chill your heels.

Construction.

Now push back.

So is its opening now planned for 2027?

It's going in near the speedway in Cascade.

You did you pick one of those stories or something completely different?

I have to say those are some great choices, but I have to go back to the big beautiful Bill, because now that it's been passed and now we've been talking about health care, Medicaid, what else is in that bill?

And we're going to begin to see a lot of ripple effects and for example, renewable energy and how it's going to affect that.

I think there's so many stories yet to come.

What else is in the bill?

Eric, the superintendent for the Hickman Middle School District, has had a pretty rocky road with the board there.

I was surprised to see them, especially after the whistleblower answered information.

I was surprised to see him wait this long to do, oust him.

So I thought that was interesting.

And then bringing Carpenter back in, that had kind of a rough road with them there for a minute as well.

But it's a new board now, so things might be pretty smooth.

Brian, I think the abortion rights case in Missouri, the restart of abortion procedures being offered in, in Kansas City is a very significant event.

Judge Jerry Junge ruling for a second time that, those procedures can begin again.

But let's not miss the other part of that story.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has announced that he will again appeal that decision.

It will surely end up before the Missouri Supreme Court.

The last time they ruled on technical grounds.

This time, they're going to have to consider the merits.

Vicky Schmidt, the Kansas insurance commissioner, has announced her plans to seek the Kansas gubernatorial nomination in the Republican Party.

That's getting to be a very, very, very crowded field.

Schmidt, by far as the most moderate, potential candidate for that office.

And she is a statewide winner as insurance commissioner.

So she'll have some support.

And on that, we will say a week has been reviewed courtesy of the head of the star editorial board of Ed Walker.

And Casey was Brian Ellison from next page, Casey, Eric Wesson and local 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.