They're calling it the most historic week in Kansas City history.

Really a Super Bowl, a massive World Cup announcement.

And signing the biggest royals contract in Kansas City history.

Plus, the mayor delivers his State of the city address.

And before hopping on a plane for Vegas, Missouri Governor Mike Castle heads to the border, promising hundreds of National Guard troops will.

Send highway patrol down, will send resources, whatever he.

Needs.

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

Week in review is made possible through the generous support of AARP, Kansas City RSM.

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 restaurant at 1900.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hello and welcome.

I'm Nick Haines.

It is being called one of the most significant weeks in Kansas City history.

That means we have to up our game with a souped up panel hopping on board the weekend review bus this week as some of the town's biggest media personalities.

We've stolen him, at least temporarily, from the prime time anchor desk at KSHB 41 news.

Kevin Holmes is with us.

And for the first time in the history of this television station, we have 100% of Dana and Parks with us from KMBC Radio.

Dana Wright.

And Scott Parks, in my world, this is like a Super Bowl.

I believe it.

I believe in dressed up for the occasion.

Scott, This is incredibly in a suit since the last.

Funeral we attended.

Really Well, okay.

We are very honored, very honored.

I'm writing more stories in the store this week than he did when he worked there full time.

Dave Helling is here to really ooze perspective, history and context to our discussion.

By the way, Dana Wright said we all need to be wearing red today so we don't look like, quote, we shadows.

So what's your excuse, Dave?

I'm a weirdo.

That's my only excuse.

I've always been a weirdo.

I'm wearing gold.

That's good enough.

All righty.

Now, one of the biggest challenges for me is how do you tackle the big issues in the news when the only thing people seem to want to talk about is a little game going on in Las Vegas?

All righty.

I just before the show, I went to the store website and the first 20 stories on there right now are all about the Chiefs, including a breakdown of every dress Taylor Swift has worn to the team's games and a similar picture playing out across our local TV channels.

But it seems like 97.8% of the entire crews of our TV stations now in Las Vegas.

Kevin, you're the biggest deal there.

You're the main anchor on 41 and they didn't send you.

I think they were afraid I'd hit the slots on the crap machine too hard.

You know, they actually have to get some work done in Las Vegas so they can't be behind you.

Get to go, though, don't you, Dana?

Right after the show, we are going to be heading on a.

Plane out of all of my esteemed colleagues and work husband seated at this table.

I am the only one getting on a plane on Friday.

All expenses paid by the radio station, thousands and thousands of dollars.

I even brought.

I want to show you this, Tim Taylor.

I brought a little flag.

And then for the first time in the history of Kansas City, public television, look at my Taylor Swift mug that says LFG.

Can I say that in case of, you.

Know, we'll be blocking that out prior to when this goes so and Scott has to do all the work when you're gone.

Yeah, but, Scott, you know, we've had every single story about cookies.

We've had every story about decorations.

We know that Riley House is selling out of every sleeve shirt imaginable.

We've had all those stories other than perhaps, perhaps what toilet tissue Patrick Mahomes likes for 14 years before games.

We actually left anything off the table here.

If we left any stone unturned.

No, I.

Don't think so.

It's a Sherman super sort.

That's his favorite toilet paper.

But thanks for the insight.

You're welcome.

This town is intoxicated with Super Bowl fever, and I saw that, Kiran, just a minute ago.

What an incredible time to live in this town.

And and I was telling my daughters the other day, both too young to remember the 1980s where you could go to Arrowhead Stadium and sit with about 20,000 of your best friends and watch a football game.

I said, remember this time, write it down, because it won't always be like this.

And it certainly wasn't always like this.

But the biggest week in history in Kansas City, we've seen some of those stories even in the stall this week.

Well.

Yes, in part because it's not just the Super Bowl.

Of course.

We're going to talk a little bit about the royals.

Big announcement this week and another big announcement we now expect in the next couple of days.

You have the soccer tournament World Cup agreement to come to Kansas City.

And we know a little a few more details about that.

You put all of that together, Nick.

And by the way, in February, when it's cold and miserable and there's not a lot of stuff to do, that's the recipe for a lot of media attention on these stories.

I would remind my friend Kevin that there is slot machine availability in Kansas City and and craft table in Kansas City.

So if you want to gamble, head down to the river.

Mean you can go from there.

It's easier for me.

I would also say that the the economic impact cannot be overstated.

I think we had one listener and I don't know who that person was or why they were having such a bad day.

I call in and say that they've never really shown that sports teams have a big economic impact for the money that is spent on the upgrades in the stadiums.

You have to also understand the hidden sort of incalculable benefits that we're all getting from this, where all these people in Germany right now because of soccer are rooting for the cheats, the Taylor Swift effect, the people that are now looking at Kansas City to come live, spend their money work were on all these top ten lists of best places to live.

How do you put a figure on that And I don't think you can.

Well, certainly John Sherman has and it's $2 billion.

And we're talking about, you know, giving a lot of money and tax revenues to help support these teams, baby bills.

All right.

We're going to talk a little bit more of that on the program, too.

If the Chiefs win, by the way, on Sunday, some of our metro's biggest school districts have already announced there will be no school on Wednesday.

Mayor Quinton Lucas says they're planning the largest victory parade in city history on Valentine's Day.

Now, I know kids will be happy to get the day off, as will many area workers, but florists are freaking out.

Kevin, This is the busiest business day of the year.

Other than the 49 hours, are they going to be the biggest losers?

I don't think if the chiefs win.

I don't think so.

I just think things will be delayed or you may get your bouquet of flowers a little earlier.

They're asking folks to kind of move that delivery to February 13th, which makes sense that that area where the parade will be, it'll close early in the morning.

So it's hard to make those 4 a.m. 5 p.m. delivery.

So you have to be patient if you got to get your delivery on Valentine's Day, maybe that night.

And you know a lot about these parades because if the Chiefs win, you are having to have one of the busiest days of your life.

Because I think you mentioned before the show this is a 15 hour day.

You have to talk about everything that's happening there.

Oh, yeah, bright and early.

You know, this is the only time I remember 5:00 rolls around twice, will be there around 5 a.m. and we'll be there throughout the parade, which should end sometime in the afternoon, then deliver the evening news to you with the smile.

Scott I was just going to say you mentioned the florist and Dana and I didn't know this until a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about the possibility of a parade on Valentine's Day.

And a gal who works in the floral business said, you have to remember two of the largest distributors of flowers in Kansas City are located downtown.

And it would be impossible for them to go and get those flowers when downtown is shut down, when the parade is going on.

I think they will be impacted.

To Kevin's point, though, or early or have them delivered late.

Are you getting coalescing?

And we've already got we've already got learning loss on both sides of state line and now the school districts want to take another day.

Off, You know, but I do think the parents are grateful that they got a little bit of early notice.

I have a friend who has an elementary age child and she said, you know, I work, I'm a single mom.

I have to have notice.

So I applaud the city for saying, look, we're going to call school now.

We're going to parade things in place now, but please buy your flowers early and then go support the local businesses downtown a couple of nights later.

Now, to be fair, too, when it comes to flowers, flower men, we are last minute.

So as soon as the parade is over, a lot of folks may walk up to the flowers and buy their flowers.

They really may happen.

And in terms of the schools, there's a district that's going to have a make a big year for 29th.

In addition to that, some of them have already built in snow days.

So they may burn this as such.

So all hope is along.

Thank you.

Thank you for the context on that, Kevin.

That's why you're on the show.

You know, a huge victory parade will capture lots of amazing footage that can be used in campaign commercials ahead of that April 2nd stadium tax election.

Did the Royals also find something else to sweeten voters with this week?

It's a story being talked about nationally After years of complaints that the royals aren't investing enough in a competitive team on the field, team owner John Sherman announces the biggest deal in Royals history A $288 million contract for Bobby with Junior, easily the longest and richest contract in club history.

Dave Helling, is it cynical to believe this is about blunting one of the biggest complaints about the royals?

They simply can't compete with.

Cynical at all.

And in fact, I think that there was a conscious decision to try and wrap this up and get positive headlines about the team before going to the electorate.

One player, though, doesn't make a competitive team, though, Kevin.

But you have to spend money to make it and he is the centerpiece of something that could be exciting and even just, just something you can stomach to watch.

You know, this team is third in the third worst in attendance.

You have somebody like this who is what, second in the league.

Last year, what led the league in triples by 30 home runs, 97 RBI.

This brother could be the centerpiece of the generational talent.

The argument coming, as always, as you know, was why should we give money to the royals when the royals won't invest their own money in their team?

And this is the counterargument.

We are investing in the team now.

You invest in us and it's pretty smart political strategy.

I think it was the Queen scout, wasn't it?

That said scared money don't make money that right now make money.

It sounds about right.

I can imagine her saying that sounds more like Meghan Markle.

Are you confusing the two?

Okay, speaking of Jon Sherman and that announcement, he is finally ready to put us out of our misery after delaying a decision about where they plan to build the new ballpark, it looks like he's now ready to reveal all.

In a news conference with reporters, the royals owner says he will make the announcement, quote, meaningfully ahead of early voting for the upcoming stadium tax.

Well, guess what?

Early voting begins next week.

February 16th is when military voters can begin sending in absentee ballots for the April 2nd election.

While the royals have floated several locations for its new ballpark, we've heard from multiple sources that the team has settled on a stretch of land next to the Power and Light district.

It would include parts of that iconic lost Kansas City Star Plus pavilion building, which would be demolished to make room for it.

Is that still the thinking?

Scott It.

Is.

And you go back to the previous conversation.

I think the signing of Bobby Witt Jr is huge because a week ago, if they had not done this a week ago, I would have thought there's no way that Jackson County voters would ever get behind a new ballpark for the Kansas City Royals.

Let's be clear, however, naming the site for the stadium is just part of the equation.

They can tell us where they're going to put it downtown.

We still don't know how much it's going to cost or how much the royals are going to pay or how much the state might pay or what the timetable is for construction.

And most crucially, in my mind, we do not have such extended leases with either club that guarantees they will both be here for the length of the tax.

Those are all important questions that remain to be answered.

We need these stadiums, but you have to tell us what we're voting on, how much it's going to cost for all of the reasons Dave just mentioned.

But the South's slavish devotion to sports, though, doesn't that trump all of these other calculations, the nitty gritty details of taxes and so forth?

Well, I think when you're talking about the chiefs, yes, I think it trumps it.

But there is a lack of support in this town for the Kansas City Royals.

I went to two games last season and I was alone.

And if if they were to put a chief's tax on the ballot and then a royals tax on the ballot, the chiefs would pass and the royals would fail.

But here's the deal.

It's all about location, location, location.

If it's in downtown, you can build around there.

Businesses will definitely reap the benefits as well, and it's more viable.

A lot of folks will go there you see it.

This this has been set in several cities.

Not to challenge you, Kevin, but just simply regarding the economic development around a stadium, where is the Truman sports complex?

It's been there for 40 years, 5050.

So Rebecca Ferguson there.

And I mean, there's a Taco Bell, an empty hotel and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which.

Also shows why it doesn't work out there, at least not for baseball.

Well, but it's a fair question, and I don't know that I'm agreeing with it, but it's a fair question to ask.

If the businesses follow the teams, why is there a Taco Bell and a gas station?

There's nothing out there.

Why look downtown?

No, there already is something in place to start with versus out along I-70, the Truman sports complex.

Well, like you said, you can get a hot sandwich other than a Taco Bell or Burger King.

This now the Chiefs broke their silence about what renovations they want at Arrowhead Stadiums if this tax passes.

Team owner Clark, Kansas is creating a better fan experience inside and outside.

The stadium was high on the agenda.

But guess what is not on the priority list a roof or a dome to keep fans toasty during those brutal Winter games.

Clark Kent says he's a big believer in playing football outside, which he thinks gives the team an advantage.

Do you think the fans would agree?

Without question.

You look at some of your cities like Kansas City, like Baltimore, Green Bay, that's not even Chicago.

Well, sometimes.

But though that snow, that weather, it really gives you a home field advantage.

Now, the problem is Kansas City will never host a Super Bowl.

Yes.

Without a dome.

Now, that's the question.

Is it worth that tradeoff?

Final four.

Look.

But they also want to have sort of year round events.

They I mean, and you could do that.

You could have the sort of Taylor Swift's of the Worlds and the Beyonce days in January, if they had a.

Roof to look at what just happened in Buffalo where they asked the fans to come and bring your own shovel and dig out from underneath the snow.

So if we're going to do it, why not do it?

You don't renovate the kitchen without putting in new countertops, put a roof on the thing.

If you were ever to do it.

Now is the time when when this city is so Chiefs centric, you could you could get away with it.

So why aren't they doing it?

Then they fell apart, I think because voters rejected a tax for a roof on the stadium in 2006, Jackson County had said, No, we don't think a roof is important without a roof, though.

You're talking about a stadium that gets used ten, 12, 14 times a year, about once a month for a $1 billion taxpayer.

But you could have all those plants there all year round.

You can, but you've had Taylor Swift there, and I've seen concerts, but by and large, it's you know, you use it roughly once a month during the year.

That's a lot of money.

That's why it was surprising to me that that car cut said the roof is pretty much off the table for those who think that somehow the other things he put on the list are definitive.

What improved the fan experience of?

Yeah, I mean but how, what how much when and by the way what role will the soccer tournament play and talk about that.

Yeah I mean you ask the question and I'll try.

All right I know, I know there's a lot of hype about the World Cup coming to Kansas City, too.

But to borrow the words of Will Ferrell in the movie Anchorman, did it just become a huge deal?

This week, Kansas City punching above its weight in landing, not just a couple of early round games, but six matches, including a highly coveted quarter final game.

Get ready.

For the greatest FIFA World.

Cup ever.

This is more than just a match in a way.

This is really something transformative for Kansas City.

Here's a had earned it.

And we are going to be so ready to showcase Kansas City and our region and deliver the most incredible experience for everybody who comes penciling.

June 16th, 2026 in your calendar.

That's when the World Cup will roll into town, and I'll be here for 26 days, ending July 11 with a quarter final match.

That's an awful long time.

Wouldn't that, Scott, make this event longer than an All-Star Game, the Big 12 basketball tournament, the NFL draft, a Republican and Democratic National Convention in town combined?

This will be, without question, the greatest, biggest sporting event in Kansas City history.

And I say that understand ing that the Chiefs are going to another Super Bowl and AFC championships are played in this town all the time these days.

This is huge for us to get a knockout round game and a quarter final is incredible for Kansas City.

And they beat out bigger cities like Houston and Philadelphia to get that quarter final matchup.

One of the big issues, of course, and this has been trying to get money from state legislatures, including Kansas, ones who have balked at spending any money in Missouri.

The host committee wants $32 million from Kansas.

The fact that they getting all of those games, including a quarter final match, does that make it easier to get that cash?

Well, it makes it more important to get it.

Whether that that argument sways any legislative votes, I don't know.

They're counting on 75 million or so from the state of Missouri.

We haven't seen anything any check written for that yet.

The games are 28 months away.

There has to be major renovation at the Truman Sports complex to play soccer.

We still don't know where that money is coming from.

It's just an amazing amount of blank spaces on the canvas right now.

True, But it's just as a Kansan and a huge soccer fan, it's disappointing to me that there hasn't been more movement in in in that state to help out financially because these teams, when they come over, bring their fans with them.

And it's very likely any of the teams that are going to be playing well, let me rephrase this.

They're going to have to set up a base camp.

And it's highly likely that those base camps for the teams that decide to put their base in in Kansas City are going to be in Kansas and there is going to be an economic impact because these fans will come and they will stay and and they will follow their team wherever they go.

Just quickly, I don't disagree with that at all, Scott.

But again, economic impact is an esoteric term for a lot of taxpayers.

If you're in Russell, Kansas, and you say, hey, the World Cup is going to have a big impact in Johnson County, that doesn't sway a lot of people in Russell, Kansas, to call their House member or senator and say, hey, vote for this.

The same thing in Cape Girardeau.

What if.

A motel six in in Russell, Kansas, was to be able to get some Ecuadorian soccer fans if the team plays here.

A mere seven hour trip to.

Hotels filled all the way to Oklahoma for this.

I mean, it's not just the state of Kansas, the state of Missouri.

This is huge for the entire region here.

Agree with that?

I'm just saying that most people don't see it that way.

They have an emotional connection to Bobby Witt Junior or the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, and that's why they vote yes, voting yes for soccer when they don't even know the teams that are playing is a tougher sell.

Not impossible, but tougher.

All right.

So some quick Hits on some other stories because you believe it or not, there are some other issues going on.

It didn't get a whole lot of attention due to all the Super Bowl coverage.

But before boarding a plane for Vegas this week, Kansas City backed Quinton Lucas delivered his state of the city address and along with the upbeat messages, was one significant storyline.

After being criticized for withholding police funding during his first term, Lucas is now calling for a 30% pay raise for police officers.

If that was so important to him, Dave, why didn't he proposed that four years ago when homicides were starting to climb?

I don't know.

That's a very good question.

There change will need to get the mayor on to answer it.

My guess is that he understands now or believes now, rightly or wrongly, that the big hole in the great Kansas City Renaissance story is its violent crime problem.

And this is an attempt to meet it.

Was there ever a worse time to have a state of the city in this town?

No one saw it.

No one watched it.

No one read about it.

We didn't talk about it.

And I could barely find any video on it.

The funding for the police department is critically important.

Coming off of our record homicides that we saw last year, I think he needs to re deliver that address.

Maybe after the Super Bowl, things die down.

It's important that we talk about this stuff.

No one is talking about it.

That is true.

That is true.

But crime is top of mind.

Staffing is even better.

I mean, we've lost, what, 300 officers in the last year and a half.

I don't know if throwing money at the problem will fix that.

On a note of personal privilege, my youngest son is a member of the Missouri National Guard.

Could he be heading to the Mexican border soon?

Before Missouri Governor Mike Parson hopped on a plane for the Super Bowl, he flew down to the border to join Texas Governor Greg Abbott in a solidarity mission aimed at fixing what he calls an out of control migrant crisis.

Parson says he's spending the week figuring out how many troops to send.

We've had the National Guard down here for some time.

We'll continue to send more, we'll send highway patrol down, we'll send resources, whatever it is.

Now, while leading Democrats in the Missouri legislature blasted Parson, is he capturing the mood of voters?

A new poll conducted by Harvard University and the Harris Polling Company finds immigration is now the top issue on voters minds.

Tracking Scott ahead of price increases and inflation.

Well, it's certainly the top issue for Republican voters, no question about it.

And immigration is going to be I predict it leading up to November, probably the leading issue.

But Republicans, this is it's theater sending 250 National Guard troops down to a 2000 mile border.

I don't know what that's going to.

Do, He says Spending money on preventing migrants from entering the country at the border will be cheaper in the long run.

Pointing to the hundreds of millions of dollars some northern states.

Think about New York and Chicago as spending on housing and providing services to migrants.

Both sides of the aisle will argue that this is a huge deal, but they will argue until after November.

Right.

This is going to get them through the general election and then hopefully we'll make some legislation.

But I can even back on that.

We haven't any meaningful legislation in over 30 years.

And if you if you live in Kansas thinking that's a missouri issue, there is a big push this week in the Kansas legislature to force Kansas Governor Laura Kelly to send troops to the border.

Well, illegal immigration or immigration generally is a much bigger issue actually in Kansas than it is in Missouri, in part because immigrant labor is used extensively in the western part of the state for meatpacking and other jobs.

Governor Parson went there to take videos of himself at the border and publish those videos.

That was the that was the reason for that trip.

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?

With emergency funding for Ukraine stalled in Congress, a new charm offensive now underway this week.

The Ukrainian ambassador in Kansas City meeting with political and business leaders in an effort to shore up support for the war torn nation.

A leadership change in Wyandotte County, at least temporarily made Tyrone Garner on indefinite medical leave.

A Kansas City police officer hospitalized after being attacked and placed in a headlock by a student at Southeast High School.

Black ministers want answers from the KPD after a black woman was wrestled to the ground by officers and called an animal.

Police were called after a dispute with a bartender in the power and Light district.

Here's the easy cash finally running out in Kansas.

Revenues are down for the third straight month, prompting Kohl's to hit the pause button on tax cuts that didn't last long.

The Washington Commander's Fire Eric Bieniemy less than a year after he left the Chiefs, Mizzou salivating over a $62 million anonymous gift, the largest in the athletic programs history.

And we know Kansas City is rocking the sports world now.

We're rocking the music scene.

Kansas City recording the highest TV ratings in the country for Sunday's Grammy Awards.

All right, Dana, right.

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

Something completely different, Although shout out to Taylor.

We love her.

We love that she's part of the Kansas City community.

And I could not be more excited to maybe see her just for a little bit coming up this weekend at time of taping the Independence Avenue Bridge, hasn't been struck again, but the curtain that they spent thousands of dollars to put up to prevent truckers from crashing into the bridge was destroyed this morning.

Net and that is money taxpayers are not going to get back.

We are going to talk about that with the mayor on our program today.

Kevin Harrison.

Will police investigating for overdoses of fentanyl?

And just five days and everyone said I don't recall doing fentanyl.

I just smoked marijuana.

So it's something to look at.

And some of our communities in Missouri, Scott.

I would have taken Dana's, but she went first.

So I'm going to go I'm going to go with the Taylor Swift on the Grammys viewing in Kansas City, because for all the all the times that you hear people say, I'm so sick of Taylor Swift, I don't wanna hear about the Swifties anymore.

The fact that Kansas City was the number one market for the Grammys tells me that this town loves her, cares about her and wants her to win.

Dave Eric Adler, my buddy at the Star, has an amazing story this week about Jason Cantor's involvement in the evacuation of more than 300 Afghans after the Taliban took over that country a couple of years ago.

He was central to saving, as I say, more than 300 Afghans from falling into the hands of the Taliban.

I recommend everybody read.

All right.

That we will say our week has been reviewed courtesy of 41 news anchor Kevin Holmes and former star news man Dave Howling.

And 2 to 6 weekdays on 98 one FM KMBC.

She is Dana Wright and he is Scott Parks making history again on this program.

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

We will keep calm and carry on.