It's the week of the big ruling, the big milestone and the big walk back.

But one thing I don't think we need is bars open 23 hours.

Probably tens of thousands of dollars.

Close to 100 grand out of my pocket.

It's also the week of the big change.

We're really excited to turn the keys over to DFA in the next week.

Get ready for the week's biggest local stories and newsmakers straight ahead.

Weekend review is made possible through the generous support of Bob and Marlese Gourley, the Francis Family Foundation, through the discretionary fund of David and Janice Brand, and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Nick Haines, and we're thrilled to have you with us again on our weekly journey through the Metro's most impactful, confusing, and downright head scratching local news stories.

Hopping on board the Weekend Review bus with us this week from KCUR News local government reporter Savannah Hawley-Bates and the station's c political analyst Brian Ellison.

From the world of television news, Kshb political reporter Charlie Keegan and former star staffer now Mr.

Kansas City stack on Substack Dave Helling.

Now, we were told to expect a high stakes legal drama this week, as Missouri's newly redrawn congressional map headed for a final showdown at the Missouri Supreme Court.

But no sooner did it begin, it was all over.

In an ultra fast decision, the seven member court unanimously upheld the Republican friendly map threatening the future of Kansas City Congressman Emanuel Cleaver and dealing a blow to Democrats nationally in what has been a string of redistricting setbacks this week.

But I'm amazed that they heard the case and ruled so fast.

Was that a record?

I mean, did they even deliberate?

It seemed like they were only there for about a few minutes.

Charlie.

It happened a lot faster than I expected, but maybe I should have expected it.

This is a, you know, a very Republican backed map.

Republican justices, judges and seem to all get on the same page rather quickly.

This was the highest court in Missouri.

Does that mean this is spells the end of Emanuel Cleaver's political future?

Brian, I think that is a question.

I mean, I think he has a much more uphill battle now.

On the other hand, I don't think we're even nearly finished with the conversations about this.

This this did mark the end of the road for some of the legal elements of the challenges to redistricting.

But there are other conversations still going on.

And there's also the voters.

We do know that the the measure will likely have the necessary signatures to get on the ballot.

It could be that there's some resolution and of that and that possibly by November we're looking at different districts again.

We just don't know.

Dave.

Yeah, that the referendum now is the last piece of this puzzle, but it is very much up in the air in terms of what impact that's going to have, because in essence, the Supreme Court said, look, the map is legal, constitutional, but the referendum process is still underway.

And if there are enough signatures, as Brian and others suggest, if there are enough signatures and they're certified, the court said the new map is suspended as of December 9th of last year.

Based on that petition process and therefore the old map would be in effect for November, if that's indeed when the referendum is to be.

The Secretary of State, Danny Hoskins, has said I'm going to take all the time I need to certify these signatures.

That's possible, perhaps likely in August, on the day of the primary.

So what we're looking at, theoretically, is the new map for the primary and the old map for the general election.

And that will be something to watch.

We most recently heard from Emanuel Cleaver before this decision, to say he was not doing any changes whatsoever to how he was campaigning.

He wasn't giving one second thought to it.

He was going to stick with his district and campaigning not to where the new district is, which is almost to the city limits of like Jefferson City and Columbia.

Has he changed his tune now?

You know, after the ruling, he said that he was looking forward to running for the seat and to, you know, hearing from the voters, he said he trusts the voters to one vote for him and also to vote against these new maps.

So I think he's also sort of waiting and seeing, but he's certainly, you know, going to try his hardest to keep the seat first of all term.

I'm not sure he sounds quite as confident as he once did.

I think he recognizes he's going to have an uphill battle if the old if the new map is the one in November.

As a practical matter, the Republican Party will do its best to string out the certification process for signatures on the petitions, because the longer they can go, the less likely it is that the old map would be in effect for November.

They want to stretch it out a little bit.

And so that's why, Nick, the decision of the court that came so quickly, what you started out this discussion with is actually a critical piece of this, because the court was, in essence, saying to the Republican Party, we can move on this pretty fast.

So if you don't certify these signatures and someone takes you to court, as will inevitably happen, we can decide in a couple of hours to make you certify those petitions and put the old map into place.

And even this week, we heard Secretary Hoskins be a little bit coy when he was asked a question about whether he might determine that the whole idea of a referendum on a redistricting process is illegal and then not accept the referendum at all.

And so which would require more legal?

As I reported today, there was a footnote in the opinion that says we haven't decided whether it's legal, but these are the reasons it could be and it doesn't qualify.

We got a lot of things going on on this program today, but I will say this.

What I found was actually the most fascinating quote was from the Secretary of state who said, you know, in 2028, we could redistrict again and start targeting the Saint Louis district that is heavily Democratic as well.

Now that the U.S.

Supreme Court has kind of walk back some Voting Rights Protection Act that was protecting the first district that represents Saint Louis because of racial lines.

So just like stadiums and things like that, this is going to be one of those perennial issues we might be hearing on this program.

Missouri has a referendum process.

That's how it's different from Virginia and other states.

Missouri can put the map on the ballot if they gather enough petition.

So if they redistrict again next year, you can expect a petition drive of some sort already.

Now, is there any better way for Kansas City to welcome World Cup fans than by approving nearly a round the clock booze sales now?

City leaders are beginning to sober up to the downsides of a new state law allowing bars and liquor stores to sell alcohol 23 hours a day during the tournament.

So Kansas City, we are all excited about what comes ahead this summer.

But one thing I don't think we need is bars open 23 hours a day, close to 100 grand out of my pocket.

This was going to be a huge help.

Huge help.

And then all of a sudden, that rug swiper.

Oh, sorry, guys, I don't.

I think you guys should be in bed.

The state gives you the green light.

Stay open till five to generate extra income.

Why wouldn't you?

Well, Mayor Lucas pushed an ordinance this week, opting out of that 23 hour drinking during the World Cup and keeping closing limits in place until that is, he got pushback from bar owners.

I thought he was so concerned that this was going to cause crime.

This was going to cause public disorder, and lots of problems on our roads.

And yet he walked that back pretty fast this week.

Was he not expecting any pushback from bar owners?

You know, I'm sure he he must have expected pushback especially, you know, after facing the tiny liquor ban, bottle ban that was earlier.

But I think, you know, in council chambers and committee on Tuesday, they talked about, you know, most of the crime in entertainment districts that happens happens towards closing time, 3 a.m.

in those entertainment districts.

But yes, the ordinance was amended and what they'll be voting on is now, I guess sometimes 21 hour, sometimes 23 hour liquor sales.

And so essentially liquor, permits in Kansas City either end at 1:30 a.m.

or 3:00 am.

Now, all of those will now be able to end at 3 a.m.

during the World Cup.

And then in entertainment areas like, Westport, they can close at 3 a.m.

or 5 a.m.. Sorry if they show a security plan to the city.

So what does that actually mean?

I saw that line, but, I mean, what is that?

Is that putting a bouncer at the door?

What is the security plan in the in British pubs that would be having plastic glasses.

So somebody smashing you in the face.

That would be a security plan.

Yeah that that would probably qualify here in this case.

That is just in the ordinance.

One sentence that says please submit a security plan.

And it doesn't give it a real examples of what they're looking for.

It's you know, I think most people would say by 3:00, though, is still incredibly generous amount of time.

I think they still going to get a lot of trouble during that period of time.

That is my concern.

Nick.

I don't know what Dave Helling and I are going to do at 4 a.m.. We were planning on being at the bar, but now we have to leave at three.

And so it's it's very confusing and it's also interesting that the city is now moving full steam ahead with its 23 hour drinking rules, just as one of downtown's oldest and most iconic eateries is now shutting its doors at night because of rising crime, Tom Tom topic, which is open 24 hours a day.

As announced, it's now closing at 8:00 every night to protect its staff.

That seems at odds with what we're now doing with the bars and nightclubs and liquor store congruent.

You know the same idea here that if you stay up into the early morning hours, there is, inevitably and in most urban places, and certainly in Kansas City, a security risk, a safety risk, which the town top story illustrates for us.

And I think that's what the mayor was getting at.

And, but he, in the face of opposition from bar owners who think they can make more money that way, it's sort of backed away and came up with this new proposal.

You know, the policing of the World Cup will be a fascinating, thing to watch because it won't be just Kansas City, Missouri police.

They're bringing in security and officers from around the region.

And, you know, there is a potential, for problems early in the morning.

Or perhaps it'll just be very safe and quiet.

As I said on the show before, Nick, if you get England and Argentina in the same bar at four in the morning, I'm not sure that's going to be a the safest thing.

I, I think it's interesting here though, is that, you know, the deal with these, the, the time that liquor sales end and also is town topic closing its parking lot is one prioritizing safety of residents in the city amid amid a lot of these late night crimes.

But also I think in the mayor's case trying to thread the needle in people still making a profit on the World Cup.

This comes this amendment comes, you know, after, projections for hotel occupancy and flights are down from, you know, maybe, the, the rush that we thought, that official state has here for the World Cup, they're still saying there will be 650,000 visitors.

That's yet to be seen.

But I think after what, you know, a failure.

The NFL draft was for the local small business community.

There's also this tension of making sure that other people and business owners make money during this.

I think that's a great point.

In fact, we did a forum this week at the Plaza Library, which you can see on this program next week, which includes the police chief, but a lot of small business owners coming to the microphone, they're absolutely anxious over how are they going to make any money out of this, and when are we going to know when these visitors come?

That was one of the underlying storylines there.

I try, though, not to dial up the outrage meter on this program.

So despite what you might see on your evening news, I should point out that violence has actually fallen sharply in Kansas City.

The figures for the first three months of the year are now out, and homicides it down 25% compared to this time last year.

Robberies dropped 38% and rapes fell 20%.

So since we never got a satisfying explanation, though, as to why crime in Kansas City has risen so sharply, are we any the wiser?

Why the numbers are now going down?

Well, I think first of all, I would caution us not to read too much into any one year's numbers, especially part of a year.

I think we've made this mistake before.

We say murders are way up than we say murders are way down statistically over time.

We need to.

We need to look a little more.

We need to take a step back.

But I do think one of the things we are seeing is, that the pandemic represented, sort of a high point, a peak in violent crime.

And we are seeing a gradual decline since then.

I think that's fair to say.

I don't think we have enough information to say whether that's the result of any particular crime prevention program.

And indeed most of those kinds of programs, experts would say you have to look five years, ten years out to see the real impact.

Now, she certainly took her time.

But Sharice Davids finally made it official this week.

She will run for reelection for Congress in the Kansas third district.

Davids had been teasing a potential Senate run against Republican Roger Marshall.

The Kansas reflect a new site claims.

There's a message here after both Davids and Governor Laura Kelly passed on challenging Marshall.

If the two most talented and agile Democratic politicians, they write in Kansas, don't want to run, they probably don't think the race is especially winnable.

Is that the take home message, Dave?

Well, it's part of the message.

I mean, it's been true for Democrats, not just Laura Kelly and Sharice Davids, but going way back.

Kathleen Sebelius never ran for the Senate.

John Carlin never ran for the Senate.

Dan Glickman never.

All very well known popular Kansas Democrats have walked away from that race because Republicans have won every seat since 1932.

So I think that Roger Marshall remains the overwhelming favorite.

I think Sharice Davids Davids not only recognized that, but understood she would be walking away from a relatively safe house seat that would cause problems for Democrats.

On the other hand, the environment is so pro democratic across the country that if Democrats can't run a credible race in Kansas this year, they may never be able to.

This is the time.

Roger Marshall is a, you know, perceived as a mediocre senator.

The farm economy is a disaster.

Trump is highly unpopular in Kansas.

Democrats and independents are growing in Johnson County.

This is the year.

If it doesn't happen, it may never happen.

You know, I think that might be why Democrats did have do seem to be turning to a candidate like Adam Hamilton.

The the establishment candidates have a proven record of not winning in Kansas.

There's I think there is an element of sort of throwing spaghetti at the wall here and saying, we got to try something different.

Adam Hamilton, as a nontraditional politician, as one who was, considering running as an independent, does represent something different, whether that's enough to overcome the Republican side.

But the Sharice Davids would have had, one would think, an ability to run a race against Roger Marshall, or at least make it close.

And she decided not to.

I think there may be a reason.

Now, next week on the program, we are expanding to an hour as we bring you Kansas City's big World Cup decision makers on the program.

That means we won't have time to talk about the biggest party in town next week.

What is that?

Well, Monday is the big bash to celebrate the opening of the new riverfront streetcar extension.

And you're invited.

In fact, it's a community picnic starting at 11 near the Berkley Riverfront Park.

They're calling it a major milestone, but this is actually just three quarters of a mile.

Charlie, what difference does that really make?

This makes a big difference in the in the city's, long process of reconnecting the riverfront and getting people down to the riverfront and trying to rejuvenate that part of town.

And so now this, you know, fun, tourist sticky kind of travel option down to the riverfront might get more people down there to the restaurants, to the current games, too, but it's just going to be steps from the stadium.

There's been a lot of anxiety over parking this to make it a little easier.

Well, this has been part of the current long term plan from the start.

Is they limited?

They have a relatively, small amount of parking spots at their new stadium.

And that was because they want it to be a more walkable, transit oriented stadium than every other one in Kansas City.

However, in the first few years of them playing at that, stadium, they had to essentially run school busses and shuttle busses between parking spaces downtown that people would streetcar to and, to the stadium.

Other people would walk through the town of Kansas bridge.

Now, alongside this streetcar extension is also a pedestrian and bike bridge.

That is a little closer to the stadium and towards that part of the Barclay riverfront Park than the town of Kansas.

Bridges.

It makes it.

There's more options now to get down to the riverfront than there were before.

I think the real test, Nick, is what happens next.

You know, right down at the end of that streetcar line, there's a hotel, there's a couple of restaurants, both connected to the hotel, actually.

Will we see more development?

Will there be more reason to go down there other than the soccer stadium and that one set of businesses that people actually get excited about going to?

That's what we're waiting to see.

We also have to remember that this is also this month, the 10th anniversary of the entire streetcar, line.

And I found a wonderful quote I wanted to mention you.

It says it.

Kansas City's best moments usually start with people saying it can't be done, and if you try, it will fail.

Is this something that actually work, and has it exceeded the expectations of all those critics?

At the beginning, de I think it's worked on its own terms.

I mean, you know, at one point, then Mayor Emanuel Cleaver called it touristy frou frou, and it is kind of that I mean, it isn't a mass transit vehicle.

It's a way for people to get now from the plaza down to the river and back the other way.

So on those terms, yes, it's been successful.

It's been expensive.

We've spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the streetcar and continue to do so.

But, it's hard to find people who are highly critical of the of the project.

And there is, as we've said repeatedly here, more talk about spending.

Get remember all those people who said it would kill Main Street?

And now we've just got one development after another on that street.

It works as a spine to connect Main Street.

From now the riverfront down to the plaza.

And as it's expanded, it's become less of a tourist vehicle where people from the suburbs or from out of town who are coming in for a conference would ride between Union Station and the City Market, as it's gone, down through Midtown has become more of a public transit vehicle.

It's it's used by more locals.

I would say I see those percentages rising, than they have been in the past.

However, just as it's expanded, now six and a half miles in ten years, I would caution viewers who are excited about the streetcar to remember that it will take just about that long to get another extension, whether that's east to west or further north.

Building a streetcar building rail as public transit takes a very long time.

You have to do studies.

You have to get funding, and then it takes a long time in construction.

That all will take almost a decade from start to finish, rather than putting a bus on a street.

And I think the focus on streetcar expansions really shows where the city's priorities are in public transit rather than, you know, bus mass transit, which is right now struggling for a lack of regional funding, was Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas watching our show last week when he asked, what on earth happened to those big plans?

We asked that question to remake the Country Club Plaza.

Well, we got word that we should expect major action from the council this week on jumpstarting a $1.5 billion transformation of the historic shopping district.

So how come we didn't hear that much new?

Rather than seeing new timelines for cranes and construction crews to start work on the plaza, the debate bogged down once again on the height of buildings and whether the plaza can prioritize sidewalks, a move critics fear could be used to push out protesters and street musicians.

We've heard it all before.

Was I wrong to expect something more now?

I mean, these what the council is deciding on right now is, another change to the high minimums that were, fought about earlier, and, and privatizing the sidewalks to give the plaza what they say, more control over making it more walkable, more pedestrian friendly.

Although council has some fears about that.

From a security standpoint.

And as one council member put it, from a First Amendment standpoint, since the US, where a lot of protesters go together, I think what we should be paying attention to more than these ordinances, which would dictate sort of the vibe and the look of the plaza is when the, tax and tax financing and tax breaks for the plaza come in through council and through the Port Authority of Kansas City, because those are what are really highly contested, is giving away so much money to this developer who initially said they were going to save the plaza themselves.

I was expecting that sort of finance plan this week.

Was that expecting too much mean?

I think most members of the public want to know they want to do all these things.

Great.

Who pays for it?

Much like the stadium, the Royal Stadium, you need to generate revenue through the activity in the plaza or at the stadium to provide all the tax breaks and subsidies and incentives that they're going to get.

And so you need to do something to get more bodies onto the streets.

And I think they think this is the way to do it.

Now, Friday is a June Monday in Jefferson City and Missouri, lawmakers are scrambling to squeeze in a final burst of legislation before heading home.

The big ticket items already done, like the state budget and the plan to phase out Missouri's income tax, will now head to voters for final approval.

But what happened to some of the stories that have impact on Kansas City?

Can we get a quick answers on these headline grabbers?

For instance, did lawmakers follow through and block Kansas City from banning many liquor bottles, or did that not go anywhere?

We haven't seen that go anywhere there.

Okay, so that's going to stay the same.

How about on the property tax.

We saw the Jackson County executive reach out to Mike Keil asking lawmakers to have a property freeze for two years that would be popular with voters.

Did anything happening with that?

Nothing happened with that.

Phil asked, made that request a little late in the session.

Is what I've heard from from lawmakers for them to actually act on that.

But but having both parties say that that was a priority and with the very real possibility as we tape this, that there won't be any action by the end of the session on property tax relief.

Really is quite, we'll go down as one of the major disappointments of the session.

Now, how about changes to Missouri Stand your ground law?

After the Jackson County prosecutor argued she had to drop new charges against two men involved in the Chiefs rally shooting, remember that?

In fact, both men were released from state custody this week, two years after the murder of Lisa Galvin at the Chiefs victory rally outside of Union Station.

Yeah, I mean, so again, there's been no progress on that.

I think, you know, the idea that the Chiefs rally shooting would have motivated Republican lawmakers to change the stand your ground law was far fetched anyway.

I mean, they confirmed as much to reporters towards the end of the session.

But also, I think they are the Republicans are sort of calling what they believe is Melissa Johnson's bluff and saying that, you actually, it doesn't harm any prosecution for for shootings like this.

Melissa Johnson, however, is saying that her hands are tied in these cases and she has no choice but to offer a plea deal because the stand your ground law case is so easy to apply in these instances, even when others may think it doesn't matter.

But but it seems to be.

You get an awful lot of bashing on social media though.

There we go again.

We're being soft on crime in Kansas City, right?

Yeah.

So she was looking for a little backup, but the folks from Jefferson City that know you have the power, they really feel like she could she could move forward with some of these charges if she wanted to.

And we will be heading home, by the way, they will be heading home when we record this program, when you'll see this program on Friday night.

So we'll find out the eventual details of that session by this weekend.

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?

It's finally happening.

Arrowhead stripped of all its signage as the Chiefs get ready to hand over the keys to Seafair on Sunday.

Groundbreaking on that contentious ice center in independence.

Meanwhile, Johnson County, now in the spotlight as Edgerton considers a mega data center just days after a similar proposal was rejected in the City of Garden app, three people exposed to hantavirus taken to hospital for observation.

Despite the fear fueling headlines, local health leaders claim the risk to the public is low.

Graduation postponed at Bishop Ward High School in Casey K after a significant part of the senior class apparently vandalized the school pulled the prank.

They destroyed several classrooms and they caused a lot of damage.

They turned tables, they ripped up textbooks, drove down the stairs, and they destroyed brick and furniture in their research center at the Berlin Wall.

Or at least parts of it.

I final the exhibition opening to the public May 29th.

All righty, Savannah, did you pick one of those stories or something completely different this week?

I picked something else viewers may remember three years ago, way back during one of the coldest weeks of the year, tenants in northeast apartment complex on North Long Avenue.

Had no heat.

And then they organized through KC tenants and months later got huge protections and including a rent subsidy from the city.

There were some of the most, protected tenants in Missouri.

That deal is running out.

And now they've re, expanded their union to have a 94% super majority on all the properties their landlord owns on that street, and they're asking for a better deal as they're facing rent increases.

Brian, I'm watching the case of the former mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, Joseph Byas, who, was a permanent legal resident, but who believed incorrectly, that he was entitled to vote and to run for office.

He was elected mayor.

In an agreement a few a few months ago.

He resigned and, pleaded guilty to a lesser offense and had a suspended sentence and thought the matter was resolved.

This week, I, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him and now is beginning proceedings that could result in his deportation.

He's lived in the country for decades, even was elected to public office.

But he, too, is caught up in the current effort to deport.

But he did vote illegally.

He did vote illegally, though he didn't.

He says that he didn't know that was the case.

Charlie, I'm going with a story, that involves Brian Platt, the former city manager, at Thursday's City council meeting.

They're introducing yet another settlement for a case brought against Brian Platt and the city for $500,000.

So perhaps if you don't get your snow removed next year, you'll know that that money in the might have been spent on that was spent on the lawsuit settlement is good.

Dave.

Our buddy Eric Wesson will have more complaints about the snow removal task force.

You mentioned earlier the Missouri vote on income tax, phasing out the income tax, replacing it with a broader based sales tax.

At some point.

A lawsuit has been filed against that proposal as well.

Keep your eye on that, because it's likely possible, perhaps likely, that the income tax question will go on the August ballot.

And on that we will say our week has been reviewed.

Courtesy of KCUR News Savannah Hallie Bates and Charlie Keegan from channel 41.

KCUR's Brian Ellison, a news columist at the Kansas City Stack on Substack.

Dave Helling next week on the program, we bring you the top decision makers of the World Cup.

Just as Kansas City is showing heightened anxiety and concern about what's about to happen, the police chiefs, the head of the World Cup committee and the city manager together in one room.

Would you join us until then, from all of us here at Kansas City PBS, be well, keep calm and carry on.