Coming up.

Anderson?

Yes.

Peyton?

Yes.

It took them a while, but a deal finally struck to keep the royals and chiefs in town.

Get on board.

But for all the pats on the back this week, why are so many questions still announcing, including where the royals will build their new ballpark?

Plus, Kelly grabbing the headlines.

We're going to be putting money back in your pockets this year.

Missouri making national news as GOP leaders threaten to drop Biden from the ballot.

There have been allegations that he's engaged in insurrection.

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, and we're grateful to have you with us on our weekly journey through the most impactful, confusing and befuddling local news stories.

Hopping on board the weekend review bus this week, she hasn't left town yet.

Still on the anchor desk.

It can't seem to be Channel 41, Dia Wall.

And look who's next to her.

Yes.

Lead anchor at NBC Nightly News, Chris Ketz from the helm of our metro's newest newspaper.

Next page, KC, Eric Wesson.

And if you follow the news closely, you may have seen a substantial story in the Kansas City Star this week on the stadiums deal from Dave.

How long do we need to stop calling you?

Former star reporter and editorial writer?

Are you out of her time?

I'm still retired, but I came out of retirement to see if I still could ride the bicycle.

And apparently I.

Can.

That was a big enough story.

They had to call in the big guy to make things work more precisely.

All right.

Now, in this is this excruciatingly tortured stadium saga.

Finally, over this week, Jackson County lawmakers ended the debate over the best way to keep the royals and chiefs in town by voting to put the issue on the April 2nd ballot.

For you to decide what you'll be asked to weigh in on is a 40 year extension of the current 3/8 of a cent stadium sales tax to help pay for a new Royals ballpark in downtown Kansas City.

It would also finance a slew of renovations that the Chiefs want done at Arrowhead.

But for all the exuberant handshakes and pats on the back between lawmakers and sports team leaders, how come we still know so very little?

Chris Katz, including where the Royals plan to build a new ballpark.

I watched the show, this show from last week just to see what is different from last week.

And honestly, not a lot.

You know, breaking news for us.

Well, the only thing that I think is interesting and confusing is apparently the royals have told county lawmakers in Clay County and in Jackson County that the primary focus and that's that the term that's been used of the royals is now the site of the old Kansas City Star printing building in what is technically the East Crossroads.

Does that mean the East Village site is out?

No.

But there is one more confusing element kind of late in the game, which in a story for taxpayers, as you say, has been nothing but confusing.

Isn't it kind of shocking, though?

It's been over two years since Jon Sherman, the owner of the royals, first teased the idea of going downtown.

And yet we still haven't lasered in only location.

And we have a vote coming up now in just a few weeks.

It's hard to do infrastructure in Kansas City.

Let me just talk to the people.

Yeah, We want to know what color the doorknobs are going to be before we even have the floor plan yet.

Right.

And really, you're not asking voters to do anything more than they're already doing right now.

And I don't think anybody wants to see a world outside of maybe a few people outside of Kansas City where the royals and the Chiefs aren't there.

I think the thing that's changed.

You have the commitment that the royals are going to stay in the county and that the Chiefs are going to stay in the county.

That, to me is the biggest thing.

In about 12 weeks will be going to the polls, Erick.

And yet we don't know the location, What could possibly be the holdup?

Attitudes, personalities, visions, conversations.

The people in East Village over by the old star builder.

And they're saying, wait a minute, we've got businesses here, we've established, we've invested in, and now I want to come and take it away to build a stadium.

So it's just a never ending saga.

And with love and respect to my friend.

This isn't doorknobs.

These are important questions where the stadium goes for the royals is just the start of it.

Nick We don't know anything about what the chiefs want other than rehabilitation.

What does that even mean?

You know, are they going to heat the seats?

Are they going to build a statue to Lamar Hunt?

This is $1,000,000,000 for each team over time, $2 billion total.

What's the finance arrangement?

The Chiefs have said they just want 25 more years in Arrowhead.

What happens after that?

Where do the bonds go at that point?

What if there's excess revenue?

Who gets that?

Where do the chiefs and royals put their headquarters?

What are the lease agreements with the teams?

We don't.

Who owns the Royals Stadium?

Do we know that?

Who will own the stadium?

If the if the royals own the stadium, then you don't even need a lease.

They own the facility, let alone four.

So all of those questions are important from a journalistic point of view, Nick, but they're essential.

Before voters go to the polls, the voters have a right to know at least some of the details of the chiefs and the Royals asks without signing, in essence.

But we've still got 12 weeks and all of that can still happen.

Remember, they don't even write.

And the the veto from Frank White is still a possibility.

An override is a possibility.

A removal from the ballot is a possibility.

Keep your eye on all of those things.

But the filling in those blanks before Election Day I think will be essential before Jackson County voters.

Okay.

Dave Henley mentions that the chief said Chris.

And one of the lines in a lot of the reports is that this is going to help finance renovations that the quote, chiefs what done at our head what do the chiefs what is it going to be potentially a dome that they want to put out?

This is also this is also conditional to voters saying, yes, on April 2nd to a 40 year sales tax extension, I think there's going to be a significant increase in discussion about, well, assuming voters in Jackson County say no, which I think we all sort of agree that that's a likelihood here.

What is April 3rd look like and what what sort of options then, do the chiefs begin to consider, not necessarily at the sports complex, but maybe somewhere else?

But we love we love these teams.

That's a huge part of the identity of Kansas City.

Can you believe, though, that even with all of these unanswered questions, that voters would say no on April 2nd?

I honestly think it's 5050 to Dave's point, I'm not saying these questions don't need to be answered.

These are all fair questions to ask, but it's going to be a new Terminal 2.0 where it is delayed and delayed and belabored.

And so I.

Have to jump in.

Nick, Imagine voting on the airport terminal without knowing where it would go, without knowing who would actually pay the full cost of that construction, whether or not the airlines would be apart of the airport.

All of those questions that the developer had been picked before Election Day, the design had been finalized before Election Day.

The community benefits agreement was agreed to and then adjusted after Election Day and there was some attempted bait and switch.

But those questions had essentially been answered.

And the airport, Nick was not paid for by taxpayers.

It was paid for by people.

Okay, let's listen to DIA.

The challenge with that, though, is these are two totally different things you're talking about.

You're but at the same time.

Compared them to, you.

Know, I mean, from the standpoint of we're going to be belaboring but there's a timeline involved that was not in place when you're talking about the terminal, they could do it when they wanted to do it.

This is something where the lease is coming up.

In 20, 31, seven years from now.

Yeah, but those facilities have a timeline.

I mean, they have talked the chiefs have talked about what it would cost just to maintain Arrowhead as is.

It's in the hundreds of millions of dollars taxpayers are already paying to do some of those things.

I'm not saying you don't ask those questions.

My point is just that the time the clock is ticking and I know people may look at a lease agreement, say 2031, but that's not these teams timeline.

And if if Kansas City fans want these teams to stay in Jackson County, in Kansas City, we're going to have to make some moves.

Eric.

Okay, So let's get to the let's get to the nuts and bolts here.

People love the chiefs.

The royals need to just sit back and be quiet, let the Chiefs ride the tax.

Do you know, have a better chance of passing if they do that?

However, on the same token, the community benefits agreement is going to be very complex and the people that know how to do it aren't in the room at the table.

Well, let me finish.

Let me finish real quick.

My problem with a written down benefits community agreement is a thing that black people know that white people really don't understand.

They write these things down and they make these promises.

And then the next thing you know, they waive them.

Minority participation goes.

We had to.

Do you think.

We do you think we did it at the airport successfully?

Yes.

Yes, we did.

Okay.

Let's go back to the stadium renovation project that didn't produce a lot of black.

All right.

I want to go back to a question.

The course Katz asked before as we wrap up this part of our program, which is what happens on April 3rd, if it is voted down, what happens then?

I don't have a crystal ball on that one.

But I will say this.

I think the electorate in Jackson County still hasn't forgotten the dumpster fire.

That was the property assessment mess.

They're still upset about that, especially in eastern Jackson County.

It's far easier, as we know, to vote no than yes.

And that's a.

Surprise on April 3rd if they vote no.

Dave, this is this is a heavy this is a big challenge.

Well, they will readdress the issue.

Whatever they decide was the reason for the no vote and try and go forward.

There may be an attempt to split the Chiefs away from the royals.

Remember, in 2006, voters in Jackson County did turn down a roof for Arrowhead Stadium.

Remember that?

And Nick, I've talked to people this week at Super Bowl.

Yeah, well, they turned down the roof and they've done it a couple of times.

So I talked to someone who has been involved in these negotiations for decades, Nick, this week.

And the concern is that the teams want to leave all of the details as vague as possible so they won't give anyone a reason to vote.

No location, design, CBA, everyone gets happy about the Chiefs in the playoffs or the Royals spring training and they vote yes and then allow the teams in essence to write their own deal with that revenue after Election Day.

And and at that point, I think voters are going to say we will not give you that money until we know what it's just like.

And the WB they'll write that off and wave and they asked them at those workforce development meetings what did you reach out to minority you newspapers.

Oh yeah we called them on Saturday and Sunday morning Nobody answered the phone so we don't we can't meet the goals.

The airport terminal exceeded all of those goals and that community benefits agreement.

So that's that's the largest infrastructure project in city history to this point.

Right.

This these next projects would be even larger than that.

The answer your point.

If they vote no, if they vote no.

One other quick thing.

If they vote no, they will explore number one, splitting.

And don't be surprised if you see one of those teams end up in Johnson County.

I don't think keep in mind we haven't talked about is what role, if any, the city of Kansas City is playing in this discussion and whether there will be an attempt to either issue debt or raise taxes in the city of Kansas City to pay for downtown baseball.

Again, that question remains unanswered, which I pointed out in the column in your Kansas City Star, and it needs to be addressed.

Okay.

For all of our viewers who are already suffering from stadium fatigue, you'll be pleased to know they're all Roxanne.

Some other topics we're going to be discussing this week.

If former President Donald Trump is removed from the ballot in any state around the country, Missouri leaders say they will remove President Biden from the ballot in the Show me state.

It's a storyline getting plenty of national news.

Attention.

Missouri Secretary of state josh Goff trying to defend the move on CNN this week.

What did Joe.

Biden do in your mind that equates to insurrection?

What allegations are you talking about?

I have I have seen allegations from the lieutenant governor of Texas that has said that that Joe Biden has, as has been part of insurrection or rebellion.

We've seen the president.

That's right.

The governor of Florida said the same thing, insurrection over.

What what what did the governor of Texas say that Joe Biden was causing an insurrection over.

Ashcroft, who is running for governor?

This isn't the only one calling for Biden to be dropped from the ballot.

His main opponent, Republican State Senator Bill Seigel, is also leading the charge, declaring that the only insurrection that's happened in the United States in the past four years is the one at our southern border at the hands of Joe Biden.

Chris Katz's are simply tit for tat or is this something more to it?

That about sums it up.

Yeah, I think so.

And the reactions from the Bill Eagles and the Mike Hose and the Jay Ashcroft's who are running for governor in Missouri I think are largely predictable.

Josh Hawley this week said, Let the voters decide.

And I know in your own column this week regarding the stadiums, you said the voters are not dumb, they're smart.

They can make the decision.

Isn't it best to leave that to the voters, too, and not have judges and states weigh in on who can be on the ballot?

Well, to some degree, Nick, I mean, you could get people on the ballot, you know, ten years old and get nominated.

And and a judge could rightly say, no, you're ten, you're not eligible to be president of the United States.

You can't be on the ballot.

But I think the Supreme Court will find in this case that Donald Trump can be on the ballot quickly.

This is an interesting case because it involves primary voters and not general election voters in Colorado and in Maine.

He's been barred from the primary ballot.

Properly understood primaries are party functions.

They're not general election functions.

The party should have a right to choose whoever it wants to be on the primary ballot because it's picking a nominee.

And it may be that the Supreme Court will rule on that basis and not a more broad decision that in essence, he has to be on all ballot.

And the other argument of those who are opposing any efforts to remove President Trump from the ballot, former President Trump on the ballot, is the fact that he was never charged with any insurrection.

You know what I marked this day?

I agree with Dave, but the man on the ballot, I mean, at this point.

But I do think when you look at the people who are running for governor of Missouri, the answer was, I saw somebody in Florida and I saw somebody in Texas, and they said, yeah, it should concern you that someone who wants to run your state is more worried about the rumors and the statements of people who are in other states across the country.

As we know, 50% of our audience lives in Missouri, 50% when you work in this TV market, lives in Kansas.

And I should point out that Kansas Governor Laura Kelly is also making lots of headlines this week that she just beat Republicans at their own game.

Is she now the tax cutter in chief?

Kelly touted a deal with some Republicans and conservative lawmakers to enact an ambitious tax cut plan that immediately eliminates the sales tax on food, diapers and feminine hygiene products.

Eliminate state taxes on Social Security, income, increases tax credits for childcare.

There's more establishes the state's first back to school sales tax holiday and raises the threshold where you pay no state taxes on your income or property.

I don't think anyone had this team on their 2024 predictions list, but here we are, united in our desire to cut taxes for every single candidate, not just a few at the top.

We're going to be putting money back in your pockets this year.

Did Kelly just take the wind out of the sails of Republican leaders within hours of the legislature starting, or is her surprise maneuver going to so enrage them?

Dave, They will stop at nothing to make sure it doesn't pass.

To count the votes.

I mean, the big news this week was not necessarily the tax package from Laura Kelly, but the Republicans who stood at her side and said, in essence, they would vote to sustain a veto if the flat tax plan from the Republican leadership in Topeka is ever passed.

And if those votes hold, then the flat tax won't become law.

And at that point, the Kelly alternative becomes something that's on the table.

My guess is eventually they'll all get together and some muddled mess.

And there will be tax relief in Kansas this year.

We'll see the governor giving her State of the State address this week.

What else did we learn from that speech this week?

Well, there was a Ted Lasso goldfish reference towards the end of her address, so I suppose she felt like she checked all the boxes, but I found it politically interesting the the focus on rural Kansas.

And that was really a theme throughout her State of the State address on Thursday night.

And of course, the governor is behind a special PAC trying to raise money to help moderate lawmakers in the state of Kansas, especially especially out in rural sections where Democrats don't do very well.

She says she wants to save rural Kansas as part of her last remaining time in office.

And in fact, if the only growth in Kansas is in Kansas City, in Wichita, we are doomed unless we save rural Kansas.

Medicaid expansion was a big part of her speech to Kansas, just one of ten states that hasn't expanded coverage.

Yeah.

Oh, and 1% Republicans in Kansas are the reason why.

So what you want to you fell for the trap mic.

Did she take the wind out of Republican sails by cutting taxes?

No.

This is what Laura Kelly's been doing.

Her focus on bringing business to the state, her focus on making life easier.

I'm so shocked when I moved here that groceries were taxed as highly as they were.

And so it's very easy to get behind this because to that point, a lot of the portions of the state that Republicans represent, those families struggle by diapers, too.

Those families are struggling to pay for food right now, too.

So, I mean, I don't see any surprises there.

Basic needs, women's needs and and groceries, those things are we'll see how much more money that puts in people's pockets.

But Wyandotte County is someplace that has to be in the conversation about saving because they've got a lot of issues there.

So I hope they reach out to that area as well.

Remember all those angry people in Jackson County enraged over their property assessments?

Now Missouri lawmakers are weighing in this week.

They filed legislation that would require the Jackson County assessor be an elected position.

That's the job currently held by Gayle McCann.

Batey If you read the stories this week, you might have seen a surprising detail buried in the coverage and is that Jackson County is actually the only county in Missouri, Dave, that is not required to have an elected assessor by law.

How can that be?

Well, because that happens a lot in state government.

Sometimes the county clerks, county election officials, for example, in Kansas are appointed by the governor in four counties, the four most populous counties in rural counties.

The election commissioner is chosen through the election of the county clerk.

So differences in the way people are appointed or elected is common.

And I'm not sure if electing the assessor in Jackson County will immediately solve the concern over appraisals.

It's much more the the mechanism for doing it, the two year period for it.

It's a difficult problem.

What would we have?

Fewer angry people with signs outside of city hall in the courthouse saying that property appraisals have gone up, they might be forced out of their homes If we had an elected appraiser?

No, it would just be a different it would just be a different group.

If it was Republicans mad, they would be mad.

If it's Democrats mad, they would be mad.

I think they're hot.

That whole process needs to be reevaluated on how they do it more so than who is the person doing it.

Someone elected it was two difference.

How are you going to get them out once they get elected?

We see that with elected officials that we have now.

So that's just somebody else that we wouldn't have to be able to have accountable for what they do.

What people people hate the property tax because it is largely based on a guess, a guess of what your property is worth.

As I've said to people before, imagine going to the grocery store and the clerk saying, you know, I think that's about $100 worth of groceries, give or take ten bucks.

I'm going to tack on what I think it might be worth rather than what it is actually.

That is a recipe for people being frustrated with taxes.

It's the least popular taxable.

And by the way, this is not restricted, of course, to Jackson County.

If you live in Kansas, there have been efforts to require elected county appraisers in your state, too.

It hasn't happened yet.

That doesn't mean Kansas lawmakers aren't concerned about wild swings in home valuations.

The session lawmakers are trying to get on the November ballot a constitutional amendment that would ask you to limit how much real estate appraisals can go up.

And it would be by no more than 4% if that were on the ballot.

Is there any reason to believe, Chris, that would not pass?

Now.

You could limit appraisals to a certain growth rate or four or 5% in Kansas, there's no cap on local government, so they just jack up the mill levy and your taxes would go up the same as if your property value had gone up.

People always forget this part of the formula and the city, the county, the school district, all of the folks involved in using property taxes would just raise the levy higher so it wouldn't provide the tax relief that people expect.

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?

Snow One Bitter Cold was one of the biggest storylines of the week as a strong winter storm closed schools and left thousands without power.

The Chiefs are another contender for our big story in this segment.

But we're in a pickle.

If you're watching Friday night, you might be on a huge high anticipating Saturday's wild card game.

But if you watch our Sunday morning rebroadcast, you could be sobbing in your shoes.

What's not in question is this will be the coldest playoff game in Chiefs history.

No, let up on homicides in 2024.

The owner of Jericho Remodeling killed on Prospect.

The Kansas City Council votes on a new hate crimes law.

The measure tax on an extra 60 days of jail time for the discipline offenses where bias is shown to be a motivating factor.

A Kansas plant now at the center of the investigation into that shocking mid-air panel blowout on an Alaskan Airlines flight out of Portland.

Remarkably, no one was injured in the incident that has now grounded nearly 200 Boeing planes.

Several national reports claim the faulty part was installed by Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita.

The Wall Street Journal has named Kansas City in its top ten places to visit this year list.

In the article, the Journal makes it clear that visitors have more to love than just Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey and singles out the new KC Current stadium about to open on the riverfront.

It is the first purpose built stadium for a women's professional sports team.

And it's that time of year when your favorite dining spots tempt you to give up on your New Year's resolutions.

It's Kansas City Restaurant Week.

More than 200 local restaurants are offering cut price multi-course meal deals meant to entice you to eat out during a notoriously slow season for the food industry.

It runs through next Sunday.

All could.

The biggest story must be packing up the boxes.

As top TV news anchor de Awal prepares to give up her seat on the anchor desk and exit for Dallas in just a few weeks.

Boy, that might sound odd, isn't it, to say that, yeah.

In a few weeks.

The biggest story goes for Restaurant week.

Okay, we love the restaurant, but it's the snow man.

I am.

I'm so broke now.

I'm so broke down from the snow, y'all.

I will tell you.

Shout out to the crews, though.

They did a phenomenal job.

Roads were clear even though school was out on Wednesday.

No shade to the school district trying to be safe.

But they did a great job from an infrastructure standpoint, I feel like they got it out of here.

Buckle up.

Eric.

I I've thought it interesting that the city would come up with additional jail time for hate crimes when they don't have a jail.

But I chose the the Megan Marshall voted for a Republican to chair the Jackson County legislature.

I thought that was interesting because her party ticket people, which were people from Freedom, she parted from freedom to go and vote from a Republican.

And that was a swing vote that she cast.

So you have a new Republican and what they're deeming as a Trump Republican running in the Jackson County legislature.

Chris.

You mentioned that peacock streaming the Chiefs playoff game on on Saturday night.

Now the game will be seen on over the air television right there.

But on all.

The other stations.

That's not welcome, love.

Not that's not Kansas City, PBS.

Okay.

Welcome.

Welcome to the future of sports television.

You know, the NFL's experiment with Amazon on Thursday night averaging 13 million viewers a week.

That's a pretty big number.

And granted, the rules are that that competing teams, their local markets, can get the games over the air for free.

That's the NFL's rule for now.

And my friends from Great Britain who come here say, boy, it's easier to see premier soccer games here in the United States from Great Britain than it is in your own country.

What everything now is pay per view.

It's no fun.

Absolutely.

No way.

If that trend continues, look for the legislature, Congress to get involved because people will be outraged if they can't watch these games free.

My untold story is a little bit National League.

Next week is the Iowa caucus.

The Iowa caucus will be conducted on the Republican side without coverage from Michael Mahoney or Dave Helling.

That is a tragedy that we're not up there.

For the first time in 110 years, for the first.

Time since Abraham Lincoln was seeking votes in Iowa.

We won't be there.

So we were we were indeed.

I know that we will say our week has been reviewed courtesy of 41 news anchor Dia Wall Channel nine News anchor Chris Ketz.

From Next Page, KC , Eric Wesson and former and current writer for the Kansas City Star, Dave Helling.

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

Be well, keep calm and carry on.