This is always a fast moving show.

This week we may be a little swifter than usual.

In addition to a certain singer, FIFA officials at Arrowhead this week amid growing uncertainty about those much touted World Cup plans.

Plus, the first lady is in town and who's going to show up next on the picket line?

These guys deserve not only a pay and pay raise, they deserve not only better health care and more time off, they have to get guarantees.

On their jobs.

Autoworkers aren't the only ones walking off the job.

So are pharmacists getting ready for a new wave of walk outs?

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.

Glad to have you with us as we dissect the week's biggest local news stories.

Lifting the hood on this week's headlines.

She is 50% of Dana and Parks on KMBC Radio.

Dana Wright.

And he is sometimes known as Mr. Dana Wright.

We know him.

We know him best as Channel nine primetime news anchor Chris Ketz all the time.

All right.

Well, we're thrilled to have you both together again, especially this busy weekend when you were also known as Mr. President around here for our regional chapter of the Emmys.

And that's this weekend we're wishing everybody.

All righty.

Keeping track of our lead.

The region's biggest political stories for KCUR News, Brian Allison and for you as you found him at the bottom of your driveway in a damp plastic bag.

Kansas City star reporter and editorial writer Dave Helling.

It's true, though, Dave.

Yes.

Okay.

Now, I know you.

We usually talk about big public policy and political news stories on this program.

But can we hit the pause button for a moment and acknowledge that sometimes, just sometimes, Kansas aliens have something bigger on their minds?

How is it that a 33 year old singer from West Redding, Pennsylvania, became the only thing many people wanted to talk about this week, including 93% of the entire news media?

Dana Right.

If we were to put Kansas City on this psychiatrist's couch this week, what does this say about us?

We are all just basking in the glow of new love, Dick.

And welcome to our fine town.

Taylor, we are so happy to have you.

And it's interesting.

This is not the end of it.

We could say, Well, this is the end of the story, but she's going to be at the Chiefs game this weekend.

Because those according there were reports that surfaced Wednesday night from NFL insiders.

She will be at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey Chiefs Jets Sunday night.

Now, my question is, NBC's going to have every suite at that stadium covered with a camera looking for Taylor.

Will we even know that there's a football game going on?

The answer is no.

Well, do we know anything else was happening in Kansas City?

Because everything was about Taylor Swift.

I really want to say how grateful I am that the public media exists to cover stories like this that are hard hitting and important and that mainstream media is overlooking.

So I really appreciate.

The opportunity to talk.

Can you can you go on the psychiatrist couch for us and help explain it to us?

That fun?

I mean, you know, we do not live in a fun time.

I mean, everything that we talk about generally angers people.

And so to have a little bit of fun with these young people is going great, great release.

You know, I find it interesting that there is a little bit of risk for him in this relationship because if he drops a pass in the next game or he gets caught offside or does something that is not great for football, the bluebirds are immediately going to say, Hey, quit playing it, paying attention to the to the singer and play football.

Why do we care about this?

I think, number one, it's a great diversion from the just awful news of every day.

Economically speaking, she just sold out a football stadium.

Ticket prices are going through the roof so you don't have to really like her or love her music or even understand what this is about.

You cannot deny her power when it comes to the economics of all of this.

But I'm here to advocate for the hundreds of we can review watches who are at a restaurant on the plaza, on the rooftop, having a perfectly wonderful meal and a cocktail the other night that were forced out to take their meals in a go box because two multimillionaires wanted that book out the place just for themselves.

Because even you could go to the prime social rooftop website along the top of the page, click on events and what will drop down is a request for a private event form, which, again, you and your wonderful people here at this we can review could go ahead and fill out.

I just want to make sure that all four of us are on the invitation list to get through.

Security.

Friends that were there and no one was bothered.

I think they knew what was happening.

They knew who it was.

And if I had been at Prime Socialist God is my witness, I would have hidden in the bathroom and popped out and said, I love you, Taylor Swift.

There could be other impacts on this too.

And I did see, Brian, the whole issue of the Native American groups now lobbying Taylor Swift to try and make some changes that have never happened in Kansas City, and that is to ditch the arrow head tomahawk chop that they do there at the stadium and potentially even could be a force for changing the team's name.

Often this comes up, it comes up in the postseason.

It comes up when the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl.

And often the response is that it's not the right time.

I think a lot of people are saying, well, what is the right time to talk about these really hard issues?

Maybe it's when a celebrity has drawn attention to the team.

You know, just quickly, the politicization of this relationship continues apace, Nick.

Conservative publications have been critical of Taylor Swift's art.

They think her music is boring.

And there are all kinds of stories about that.

And and now Travis Kelsey cut commercials for COVID inoculations.

Oh, my God, you can't have that.

He's turned into a beta male or whatever it is.

You know, the environment in which this relationship exists is is just about as troubled as you can possibly imagine.

And that's why you wish him good luck, because they're going to have to overcome a lot of this.

I feel like they probably just want to get to know each other like any 33 year old couple.

And now people are throwing in these huge, complicated issues.

You know, she's just been to Kansas City the one time and we hope she comes back.

Let's let this play out.

While Taylor Swift stole all the headlines, there were some other special visitors at our head over the weekend.

Okay.

In addition to this special man around 30 feet, four officials were checking out the stadium in preparation for the 2026 World Cup.

Kansas City is one of 16 cities spanning North America will host the global tournament.

We're now less than a thousand days away.

Yet remarkably, many big questions remain unanswered.

Believe it or not, we still don't know when the tournament will start and we still don't know how many games will be played in Kansas City.

While you may not hear public squawking about it here yet, The New York Times quotes officials all around the country hitting the alarm bells over the lack of organization and worries about how much money they can make off this tournament with what they say are opaque rules about sponsorships, leaving local governments unable to secure deals to cover the millions of dollars of public money they have committed to spend.

So how come we're not hearing anything about this?

Is that because we have that Kansas City nice here and we don't like to blow those kinds of things up?

Well, I think at least in the short term, I think we've been preoccupied with the the story of the Royals stadium and presumably what the chiefs will want and city and leases and possible sales tax extension votes and that sort of thing.

I will say this about what's going on with the World Cup and the reporting that's been done some locally, but but certainly much more nationally.

I have a feeling that this is all somewhat kind of part of the process, perhaps.

I think for cities when it comes to wanting a Super Bowl or a Final Four or a World Cup, these are today are sort of the hoops that you have to that you have to jump through to get to the finish line.

Now, you know, there was one report that you mentioned, that New York Times report about the the list of demands that FIFA was looking for.

Well, it is FIFA.

I looked at that list and I was a little surprised.

It wasn't more really.

But again, these are the kinds of things that that cities have to do for a seat at this.

Okay.

Let's talk about some of those Seattle just released the details of their contract with FIFA, and it provides a glimpse of the head spinning number of rules and requirements, how cities are expected to follow.

Here's just a small handful.

The whole city has to fund all public safety, including fire, police and medical service.

Throughout the tournament, Host city must provide free public transportation for all ticket holders during the tournament.

They must pay for police escorts.

A fee for officials, heads of state teams and match referees.

No other significant sporting events or concerts in the city a week prior to the tournament and during the games.

That's interesting.

One on three First, enforcing Bryan, a controlled area adjacent to the stadium for commercial activities.

Does that mean that all the fans will be fenced in like the during the NFL draft so that their their special vendors get all the action?

It's a great question.

We saw a lot of that in Qatar.

A lot of the folks were frustrated by that experience there.

The reality, Nic, I think, is that and we've talked about this many times on the program, that when we have these major sporting events, the the impact of the event, especially the economic impact, is not always easy to demonstrate, at least not right up front.

There's sort of an intangible benefit to the city.

It raises the profile of the city.

You find out later on how much good it did.

I think there's another question here, which is, is Kansas City still just really glad it has the World Cup enough?

And it's not raising those questions because we were the smallest city in the U.S. to get part of the bid.

We're still, you know, celebrating that, I think.

And that's been the spirit of a lot of the the public reaction.

Should we be worried, Dave?

Well, I think we should see all the details and we should know what the public investment is going to be in the World Cup in Kansas City.

That's essential.

I think the key decisions will be made in the first part of next year when the legislature meets, because I think the state will be asked to kick in a bunch of money in our area.

And I do think the regulations will require that Taylor Swift attend the World Cup.

But she can't do a concert because you can't have one.

But you look at that list of demands any city should have realize that that is what is going to be exactly on that list.

And it's quickly in Los Angeles, it's a very different thing.

Stan Kroenke, he owns the stadium.

It's a much bigger city, so it's much less important to Los Angeles, perhaps than it would be in Kansas City.

So it's really apples and oranges.

I think Cathy Nelson does a good job, But but we do need to see what the ask.

And I want to say one thing quickly, because, you know, we were rated the lowest for transportation.

You remember that we are the smallest city.

But I think the NFL draft has put us in a perfect position to say we can do this.

We've got this.

We've kind of got a little bit of a template, nothing this big, but a little bit of a template.

We were rated lowest in transportation, it turns out, not necessarily because of our transit issues, but because of the number of cars on the road on the way back and forth to large events like Chiefs games, when they got to come into town and look at this last weekend, all of a sudden the people to the people now understand, oh my gosh, this town goes nuts for sports.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I think we're going to be in a great position a thousand days out.

I think I think we're going to be fine.

I also think I also think, too, I would not be surprised.

We'll probably get some information about how many matches and who and when.

I suspect in the next few months.

That's okay.

We'll keep an eye on it.

Kansas City hasn't seen a lot of Joe Biden since he became president, but we are seeing an awful lot of his wife, first lady Jill Biden, was back in the metro this week to visit the Truman Presidential Museum in Independence and to speak with local students about civic literacy.

All Kansas City kids did last in the country.

When it comes to knowing how government works, are they more likely, Brian, to name members of the Kardashians than members of the Supreme Court?

If no, why did they why did Joe Biden pick Kansas City.

To stand up for the students of Kansas City?

They are not worse than any other.

But, you know, she did have an interesting sort of civic message as part of what she said to those students at William Chrisman High School.

She spoke.

She asked how many of them wanted to go into public service, elected office.

And I think only one student raised their hand in the report that I read.

And so, I mean, I'm intrigued by her message.

I'm under no illusions that that was her only reason or even her primary reason for being.

So, because we were told that there was going to be a big campaign event for the bill for the Joe Biden Victory Fund that evening.

Was this just a cover for the fundraising?

Well, it enables the campaign to push off some of the expenses of the visit from the campaign to the federal government, because she makes an official appearance.

And that's by the way, not unique to Joe Biden.

The first ladies have been doing that and presidents have been doing that in our region for decades.

So it's not that unusual at all.

No one should be confused, though, Nick.

Missouri is not in play on the presidential level.

It's not as if anyone thinks that Joe Biden can prevail in Missouri in 2024 or Kansas, for that matter.

So I think the most important thing is to come to the urban areas, raise a little bit of money, raise the flag, do some good by talking to the kids and having a visit.

But she seemed to be the second lady this week after Taylor Swift.

I know it's interesting when you look at the news cycle this week and you mentioned we are starved for good news, how many other things this pushed off the news cycle.

And I know people can groan and I've heard it from our listeners like, can we talk about something else?

But, you know, sometimes I think we all just need a break from the bad stuff and the political stuff and the homicides and all of that stuff.

In this divide, polarized time, how many things do we actually all agree on?

Have we just discovered one on a union picket line, The president, the former president, the Kansas City mayor, all making appearances with striking autoworkers this week.

Look at well showed up.

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley.

Just talking to one individual.

It takes him three paychecks to pay his rent.

He's got three kids and he's not living a high rolling lifestyle.

Is this the issue getting just as much consensus support this week as Taylor and Travis Kelsey?

It's a big story still and it's been a big story for over a week now.

We've all seen the polling where somewhere in the neighborhood of 65, 67% of Americans now have a positive feeling about organized labor.

And as we get closer to Election Day, certainly that's a part of the electorate that campaigns want to test.

But few times do we see politicians all coming together to try and take advantage of one group like this.

Right.

And, you know, one of the great political stories of the 21st century in America has been the attempt by the Republican Party to make a populist pitch, if you will, to union members and organized labor.

I remember being at the Democratic National Convention in 2000, talking to a labor leader who said that he was having a hard time getting his members to back Al Gore against George Bush because of guns, because of gun control.

And so there is some sense that the republic, conservative Republicans can make a pitch to union rank and file.

Josh Hawley's record is very, very, very checkered on on issues of interest to labor.

And so there was some some criticism online for that appearance.

But yeah, both sides are trying to appeal to the working folks.

I appreciate that you in the way you put it, that they were both trying to take advantage of the same group for political gain.

But the reality is, I think it's a stretch to say that they were in agreement.

What the Democratic candidates who are standing with the union workers are saying is more or less if they support some of the traditional union goals, better pay, better benefits, What the what the Republicans standing with them are saying is that this is about President Biden's policies, about the effort to to build more electric vehicles, about the prospect of jobs being outsourced overseas to build those vehicles.

So even though they're talking to the same people and presumably or or supposedly about labor issues, they really aren't the same issues at all.

And each is advancing their own political agenda.

Now, autoworkers weren't the only ones walking out on the job this week.

So are pharmacists.

In a remarkable move over the weekend, pharmacy counters were shuttered at 22 local CVS stores after staffers staged a walkout over poor working conditions.

Concern over staffing levels is at the heart of the dispute now.

They're walking off again this week.

Pharmacists at the nation's largest drugstore chain say work requirements leave them unable to safely fill and verify prescriptions, putting patients at risk.

They claim CVS has cut the number of working hours a pharmacist is permitted to have an assistant to help fill prescriptions.

So does that help us explain why your vaccine shot may have been canceled over the last few days?

We got to.

And you struggling to get to pick up your heart or allergy medication.

An email from a listener and she said, I just tried to go to CVS and I couldn't get in.

What's going on?

Kansas City started a great article on this and talked anonymously to this pharmacist who said, There are days I am back there working ten, 12 hours a day, and on several of those days I don't have any pharmacy tech.

And so if you think about it, I can't stop for lunch.

I can't break to use the restroom.

I can't when people are coming up to the counter asking questions, there's one person in many cases in charge of all of that, and this is why we should all care about this.

This is public health.

This is a safety issue in a way that I think other industries might not see this when it comes to working conditions and worker shortage.

The pharmacist said mistakes are going to be made putting patients health at risk.

And I have said this for the last year.

I think we are starting to see the beginning of the end of the traditional box store in a variety of settings and I wonder if CVS is one of them because of staffing, because of the theft, all of those things.

Is there not another way to get us the health care we need in another way without stretching the law?

One of the issues is certainly online.

People go and get their own drugs.

They're not even bothering to go to a place like CVS or a Walgreens, but you can't get a shot done online and that has to be done in a physical space.

Yeah, You know, my dad is a retired pharmacist.

He owned pharmacy for.

No, I don't know.

Decades.

And it's an incredibly exhausting job.

And it's it it presents as sort of a clerical job.

You're counting pills.

You're you're typing things into a computer.

But in fact, it's this really significant public health job that has a real impact on people's lives with insurance companies.

Yes.

Well, and that's and that's why he retired.

But but but I will say, Nick, that I think the the prospects of this kind of it wasn't an organized labor movement.

It was it was a walkout.

But it but it will have more impact than maybe something similar.

If you think about the way fast food workers have organized or Starbucks baristas, I think the absolute essential role that a pharmacist plays in that environment is going to have to have an impact.

You know, CVS needs to pay attention to quickly.

This is not limited to CVS.

In a low unemployment environment, the only way to hire workers across a range of industries is to pay more money.

And the people who run the companies have said, no, we're not going to pay more money, we're just going to make the people we now have on staff work harder and longer hours.

That's cheaper than hiring more people or paying a better wage.

And so you see it with police departments and teachers, fire departments, sanitation workers, pharmacists across a range of industries, journalism.

There are fewer people doing more things.

And CVS is the tip of a very important, interesting iceberg in that respect, because workers are beginning to say, we're just not going to put.

Up with it.

But clearly they didn't get their demands met.

They're back in dispute again this week.

They're walking out again this week.

They are.

And our pal Steve Kraske up to date on Casey you are had a fascinating segment on Thursday morning about this particular story and a USA Today reporter who's done some some great reporting on this.

The people who led the walkout in Kansas City apparently have been given assurances by the company that there will be attempts to try to hire more people and to try to remove some of these company requirements that make their job so difficult right now.

We'll see.

So when you think about the LA auto workers strike, pharmacists walking out, if those demands are successful and they do get improvements of their working condition, does this have a contagion effect?

Do we then see bus drivers, for instance, saying we're walking off the job because we want better conditions?

A lot of people feel they're in toxic workplaces.

I've already identified if they are successful, are we going to see more walkouts in Kansas City?

Again, not just Kansas City, but across the country?

I do think workers are saying, look, the quality of our lives is important.

The amount of money you pay us is important.

And in the important jobs like pharmacists, you want to make sure that you don't make mistakes.

So again, across a range of industries, teachers are calling in sick.

I mean, you know, when you have 3% unemployment, the people who are working for a living have a right to ask for a little bit more understanding of their condition and they don't always get it.

And this is what half our.

College students are paying attention to this.

So you talk about your father, who was a pharmacist as the education schools, how hard it is to get kids now to come into a school of education, a school of pharmacy now where you know you're going to have all of this debt, you've got to go to school for all of these years.

They're reading these stories about the pharmacist who's basically being treated like a clerk at CVS.

This could have a devastating effect to the generation below as well.

And the timing couldn't be worse.

Just as Johnson County reported, 86% increase, not in COVID cases, but COVID hospitalizations, Jackson County at 42%.

And yet people can't now get their vaccine boosters.

They're struggling to get those which.

Are just being rolled out.

I do think there's a real challenge that that those of us who have relied on places like CDC to get those shots may have to find new alternatives, whether it be our doctor's offices or public health departments.

It may not work as easily as it did before.

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?

Move over, Patrick Mahomes.

Beyonce takes over Arrowhead Stadium this weekend.

It's your final chance to catch a ballgame at the K as the royals play their last game of the season on Sunday.

We're still waiting on John Sherman to put us out of our misery and offer a new timeline for the new ball park.

The man found guilty in that high profile murder of a Brookside attorney dies in jail.

The court fight continues in Missouri over what language can be included in an abortion amendment proposed for next year's ballot.

And the Missouri Supreme Court finally hears arguments in that ongoing legal spat over Kansas City police funding.

It is one of the largest Hispanic populations in Kansas.

Now Wyandotte County being blasted for not offering more election materials in Spanish.

There's lots of talk of impeachment.

Finally, it's happened.

The mayor of Greenwood, just south of Lee's summit, removed from office after threatening a fellow council member with a gun.

If you're spelling both ends and Smokey rips out your car window, it could be your simply don't win From the American World Series of barbecue going on this weekend at the Kansas Speedway, Spider-Man Skips Town.

The Marvel superhero exhibit closes Sunday at Union Station.

And while Taylor Swift and Beyonce are getting tons of attention in Kansas City this week, where's the love for Bob Dylan?

The legendary rocker doing two back to back shows at the Midland starting Sunday night.

Chris Cats, did you pick one of those stories or something completely different?

You know, thinking about our old pal Michael Mahoney and such a big Bob Dylan fan as he is.

I'll go with the Bob Dylan story and we know he'll be there in the front.

Either the Jill Biden he got Lisa legs, actually.

I mean.

Bless his heart.

Absolutely.

And Beyonce even played second fiddle.

Yes, Brian, I.

Did go with one of yours.

The decision by the court, county district Judge John beat them to to strike down the ballot language that Jay Ashcroft, the secretary of state in Missouri, had proposed for the various abortion related ballot initiatives.

Those are actually really important.

The the how those appear on the ballot, which ones make the ballot which election ballot they go on is going to have a real impact on who shows up for voting in Missouri in next year's election.

So keep an eye on that story.

Sure.

But there's still no agreement on a specific question.

There's a multiple.

Versions.

There are questions that there are six different ballot initiatives.

The judge rewrote the descriptions with descriptions he thought were appropriate.

Those will all be appealed and we'll see what happens.

Dana.

I'm angry this week, Nic.

There are an explosion of domestic violence cases in the headlines, deadly cases this week.

One accused is a teacher.

One accused is a pastor.

The shelters will tell you we see this every day.

Don't be surprised that it's a pastor accused of doing this or a teacher or a lieutenant colonel in Lansing who was given probation.

This week for nearly beating his wife to death.

Look up the judge.

We have to do better by our women.

And the system has to be fixed.

And Dave Helling.

Agree with those things.

A couple of quick observations.

I know one Taylor Swift song all too well, which is one of the greatest records of all time, reminds me of Like a Rolling Stone.

Maybe Bob Dylan will do all too well when he's here.

We'll find out.

The other thing that we should note is that the mayor, Quinton Lucas, is back in the Supreme Court trying to throw out the result of the statewide vote that forced Kansas City to spend more money on its police department.

I think it's too little too late.

My guess is the court will say, hey, the votes already taken place.

But at least someone is pushing back against this attempt to usurp the city's local authority.

And on that, we will say our week has been reviewed courtesy of KCUR's Brian Ellis and former star newsman Dave Helling.

2 to 6 weekdays on KMBC Radio.

Dana.

Wright.

And anchoring your nightly news on KMBC.

Chris Ketz.

And by the way, I should say before we leave, if you've got any breaking news, you want to do something big this weekend, you want in media attention.

Wait until next week, all the weekend after.

This is the Emmy Awards weekend in Kansas City.

And thank you all, Mr. President, of our local Emmy Awards.

We will be in Branson.

I what he's going to be there so you know so don't break any news during this period of time.

Well, Taylor Swift, no, nothing's going to be on that.

There'll be nothing.

There's nothing to report.

This is it.

All righty.

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

Be well.

Keep calm and carry on.