I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly.

Swear.

Donald Trump takes office.

Have we noticed any impact yet where we live?

There seem to be more protesters outside Frank white House this week than demonstrated against the president.

Why slashed bus service now causing so many Kansas City ins to hit the streets in bone chilling temperatures?

Another one bites the dust on the country club pass.

At this time, the two story Brio Italian Grill that's been there for 20 years shuts its doors.

What happened to making things better and to the shopping centers new owners?

And wow, what a hole.

Pothole season returns with a vengeance.

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

Week in review is made possible through the generous support of Dave and Jamie Cummings, Bob and Marlese Gourley, the Courtney S Turner Charitable Trust, John H. Mize and Bank of America Na Co trustees, the Francis Family Foundation through the discretionary fund of David and Janice Francis and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hello and welcome.

I'm Nick Haines.

We're tracking the week's biggest local headlines and some of the stories that you should know about, but got very little attention this week on the Week in Review bus.

KCUR new's Lisa Rodriguez and Brian Ellison, who keeps track of the latest political developments on both sides of state line.

He is the star's chief political correspondent, Jonathan Schulman, and completing the cozy confines of our weekend review table from our Metro's newest and newspaper.

Next Page KC, Eric Wesson.

Donald Trump officially returned to the white House this week.

They will watch parties all across the metro, but barely any protests.

Cheers.

Tell you that there's a lot of confidence, the United.

States, that he'll deliver.

It.

It's just time we make everybody's life just a little bit easier, whatever that is.

Okay, while I mention there were lots of watch parties from Johnson County to Parkville, a planned protest downtown managed to attract what looked like about 50 people.

That's a big difference from when Trump was first elected eight years ago.

What changed?

Lisa.

I think there is a sense this time around a sense of resignation.

You know, there's not it's not quite as shocking as it was in 2016.

This is our second time around with this president.

And so I think there there are protests.

There will be demonstrations.

But I think the work that activists are doing is more internal, kind of regrouping, replanning, trying to figure out how they want to enact the change that they want to see, because it does seem that minds at this point are made up.

But, you know, the factions are as they are.

And so they're maybe it's just not as much reason to take to the streets.

And certainly people do not want to be out on the streets protesting when it's like the coldest on record in Kansas City.

Eric.

Right.

That was probably a lot of the hold up.

But it's like Lisa said, we've been down this road before.

What are we going to do?

I think there's going to be a lot of impact nationally, especially when you deal with civil rights organizations, the civil rights community, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

But for all the talk and we see there's so many stories and I jealously guard the time we have during our half hour to talk about very fiercely local things.

Is there any specific local impact we have had since Donald Trump became president of the United States this week?

Well, I think it remains to be seen exactly how it will play out locally, but I think there's some early indications that things that affect the broader nation will have direct impact here.

Certainly the immigration conversation, there are many immigrant communities in Kansas City that I've heard are, are quite upset, quite fearful about the future.

not only, relatives who might now not be able to come into the country, but people who are here who are worried about their safety.

I think there's also concerns about cutbacks, in other areas of the federal budget, for example, what is the future of money that's already been appropriated for infrastructure and transportation projects of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in Kansas and Missouri, that we're just not entirely sure what the future holds for us.

I've always been interested in what's been happening at that Panasonic plant now being built in Johnson County.

Johnson, the largest economic development project in Kansas history.

And yet the president now talking about, removing the more than $7,000 subsidy that's available for people to buy electric cars and that this is making electric batteries.

There has to be some concern behind the scenes about that.

Right?

So I think we're we're still trying to figure out if there's going to be a direct effect on the plant itself.

But yes, to your point, President Trump is trying to eliminate these, incentives for folks to buy, EV cars and vehicles.

But I think when you think about this plant, you have to think about this in terms of decades.

Right.

President Trump's going to be in office for four more years.

this plant is going to be producing batteries for 20, 30, 40 years.

the country is headed in a certain direction in terms of our, energy policy and kind of the vehicles people will be driving.

So, think about it in the long term, and not just over the next four.

Years, we also have to think about in terms of practical change.

The president also said federal workers, you have to go back to work.

No more working from home.

And many people don't realize that actually, the federal government is our largest employer in Kansas City.

You know, about 40,000 of them, if not more.

Certainly, I think that will have a big impact on on kind of the lives and the habits of, of Kansas City.

And, and I think remains to be seen what bringing everyone back to the office five days a week looks like.

I think a lot of workplaces have transitioned to a hybrid or a remote work environment.

So certainly that has an impact on thousands of Kansas City and.

I do think that the the push back is going to start at some point.

We're still in sort of this halcyon first week of office, this flood of executive orders.

There will be some push back.

And I think it will come from Republicans as well as Democrats to some of these proposals.

You mentioned the Panasonic plant.

That's a great example.

Yes.

There was an event this week celebrating the the future beginning of production there.

Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, made lots of statements then.

But Senate President Tim Masterson, a Republican, was there as well.

Republicans have tried to take as much credit for that plant as Democrats.

And I do think that as impacts start to become clearer, we will see more bipartisan hesitation at the very least, and in some cases, objections.

Well, let's talk about bipartisanship.

If you thought a clash between Republicans and Democrats would make it harder than ever to get things done in Washington, you may be happy to know that Kansas City Republican Congressman Mark Sanford and Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver teamed up this week on a measure that would require the post office to compensate you for delayed mail.

If passed, the Postal Service would have to pay any late fees you incur on a bill because of delay delivery.

Now, apparently it's happening quite a lot around here.

Is that a positive, hopeful sign when so many people are now turning out politics altogether?

Eric.

Yeah, that's a that's a sign of accountability because the post office has been a mess for quite a few years, and people are complaining about it constantly, your mail being like not being delivered.

So accountability.

It would be great for the post office to have, but you're going to be able to have to prove that because they didn't get your bill there in time, that is their fault.

Because one of the things that, companies will say is that you had 30 days or 28 days to pay this bill.

It didn't take 28 days for the check to get to us.

So we'll see how it goes.

Now, there may have been more people protesting Frank white than Donald Trump in Kansas City this week.

These are scenes from a demonstration outside of the Jackson County executive's home over bus cuts.

They say there's only one week left for white to put bus funding on the April ballot that, if passed, would restore service in major parts of the county where it's been slashed or totally eliminated, including independence, Grandview, Blue Springs, Raytown and possibly Kansas City.

Soon.

All right.

All these protesters exaggerating, or are busses really becoming an endangered species in in Kansas City?

I think the Cata is certainly facing a budget crisis right now.

We, as you mentioned, several municipalities who previously budgeted money to the to the transit agency have cut that funding.

And with those cuts has have come cuts in bus service.

So certainly the the agency is shrinking.

It doesn't have as many bus routes.

And without the influx of of federal Covid relief money, there is not a lot to to keep that going.

So they do need to look for new sources of revenue, possibly a sales tax.

But right now it really is a conundrum for the it's fascinating.

You mentioned it's because Covid money is no longer available.

They're struggling to do it.

Well, what happened before Covid?

How did they manage to make busses work then?

They work.

Well.

They had the you had to pay the fare to get on the bus.

But one of the issues.

When they got rid of that, they didn't.

They say, Brian, that the infrastructure of collecting the fares cost as much as the fares themselves.

They said it was a relatively small portion budget that came from fares.

I mean, I think one of the realities about this conversation in Kansas City and the culture of Kansas City and the way people think about their cars and how to get around town, is that the busses, for the most part, benefited a relatively small portion of the population, and that tended to be the lower income portions of the population and the portion of the population that is has traditionally had less access to power and privilege in the city.

And so when the decision makers don't think of the bus as essential, it's harder to persuade them to make changes in policy that reflect the importance of busses.

But Jackson County doesn't have anything to do with the busses.

So why they were at Frank White's house, I guess they were trying to get.

they were trying to get them to.

Pay the Covid money.

But the fact of the matter is that the problem with the funding has to be at City Hall, because City Hall has to put it in a budget or what.

They're not going to put in the budget.

And then they come to the taxpayers to say, this is what we need, or this is what we're going to do.

Then nobody even talked to the county to see how they would engage in the process.

So I think it was kind of misplaced.

There seem to be a lot of reliance in these conversations on the federal government trying to bail them out, but I'm wondering, going back to our earlier story, Jonathan, now we have a new presidency, the Trump administration.

How favorable is he going to look on Quinton Lucas in Kansas City and Frank White in Jackson County to plow money into something like busses?

Well, certainly.

it's no secret the Democratic leaders in Kansas City do not have the same kind of relationship with the Trump White House that they, had with the Biden White House.

That being said, you know, these folks like Quinton Lucas and others, they're going to say things like, we're going to try to work with the white House whenever possible, try to find areas of common ground.

But that's going to be tough given some of the priorities that the Trump White House has put forward in terms of executive orders trying to limit, electric vehicles and other kind of, public and green infrastructure.

I do think the issue of bussing is one of the biggest issues we could be discussing right now, particularly as we look ahead to a World Cup in 2026, where officials have said the way that they are going to get people around the city is primarily by busses, hundreds and hundreds of busses.

And now yet we're talking about an agency that cannot figure out its current budget crisis to get a relatively small portion of Kansas City, as.

We record this program today.

Brian, I did see there's now talk even of having a state tax for busses.

We don't always think about it.

If you don't ride the bus, it has become a critical issue.

They don't run on time.

They're having a lot of problems that services are being eliminated.

But a Bi-State tax for busses, how would that go down?

Well, the the record of proposing new taxes, in either Kansas or Missouri has not been strong lately.

You'd have to get some legislative support for that.

And, it's possible, but but the key is building enough public support that says this is something that's actually valuable to us.

And I wonder if that might not require more of a change in culture in, this in this whole region than, than we're ready for it.

Last week, local restaurants were in a state of despair over a wave of new business Break-Ins.

Well, a lot has happened since we last recorded our program here.

The Kcpd has stepped up patrols and launched a new business break in squad River market businesses put their own private security on the streets.

This week I'm Matt Lucas is cobbled $1 million worth of city cash to help other commercial districts fund their own private security.

So with all that going on, Eric, did we see any evidence of a massive drop in business Break-Ins this week?

No, it just wasn't, publicized on the news.

I think it flew under the radar.

Plus, it was called.

And bad guys probably don't like to be out in the cold, but you still have the issue of why are people breaking in buildings?

Do we have enough jobs?

Do we have enough job training for a lot of the things that we have going on in our city?

I will say, Nick, that I appreciate your optimism, that, policy changes can bring about instant change in, in crime rates.

But, but, but but even if to the degree that there is a hope of some change, I've, I have heard, business owners, asking for things like what the mayor proposed this week, actual more security on the ground as opposed to, sort of the, the grant program to help pay for some repairs after the the burglaries occurred.

So there seems to be a little more, satisfaction with this week from business owners in what they're hearing.

But they were getting, patrols from the police department in the 31st and prospect area.

That didn't really help a lot.

And the businesses that were complaining, they got security cameras, they got some of the damage repaired.

They just moved from one area to another.

And so how do we stop it all together?

I think that's the million dollar question.

Another one bites the dust on the Country Club Plaza.

The two story Italian restaurant brio abruptly closes its doors this week.

They had been on the plaza for more than 20 years.

It's just the latest in a string of new store closings.

There are now around 40 shuttered store fronts in Kansas City's most prized shopping and restaurant district.

I thought we were going to see a resurgence, Lee said.

With these new owners from Dallas coming in, rather than seeing a long list of new tenants, why are we instead seeing an exodus of stores?

Well, the owners described it.

I believe that the Kansas City Star is at strategic closures of places.

So I think that we are going to see before we see any new tenants on the plaza, we are going to see, more closures, a bit of cleaning house there.

They've expressed the want for more local restaurants, more high end shopping, less what they call junk retail.

And so I don't know that brio necessarily is junk eating but but certainly they're they're making room for what they want to see.

Maybe an unfortunate term and how people view it.

But if you think about that, they want more local eateries.

Look at the Plaza, Eric.

You've got P.F.

Chang's, National Shake Shack, National Cheesecake Factory, National Potbelly Sandwiches, National Auntie Anne's Pretzels, cold Stone Creamery, there days number two.

Their days are probably.

Going all right.

They might want to start getting some U-Haul trucks, too, because I think they're they're definitely want to go to high end restaurants and not, you know, sandwich shops, so to speak.

But also Capitol Grill, McCormick and Smith, True Foods, high end national chains, which I can't really imagine.

The plaza is going to lose all of these chains.

And a lot of those are are beloved by Kansas City.

And even if they are national chains.

So I think, this this addition by subtraction approach, is going to require a little more fleshing out for, for residents to understand what they're gaining.

it does occur to me, though, that that the, the owners at least do have to make space for whatever vision they are.

They are hoping to fulfill.

Now, the state of Missouri has done an exceptionally effective job over the years of stopping Kansas City from making its own laws, whether it be gun laws, controlling its own police department, or even its ability to approve environmental efforts like plastic bag bans.

Now lawmakers are shutting down Kansas City again, this time on housing.

This week, the legislature is trying to overturn a new Kansas City ordinance that bans landlords from checking on a tenant's criminal history or income before agreeing to rent to them.

With everything else going on in Missouri.

Jonathan, why are lawmakers so intent on getting rid of this local measure?

Well, I think it's hard to understate how, upset landlords were at this, ordinance when it passed last year.

There's an ongoing federal lawsuit to try to overturn it.

However, everyone knows, federal litigation can take potentially years to get to a final result.

and this legislation was introduced last year, however, the Senate was fairly dysfunctional.

A lot of things that probably would have passed last year didn't pass.

So it's back again this year, with probably a more productive Senate and a better chance of passing.

And some Democrats have signed on to it this time around, which makes it a bipartisan affair.

But does it put landlords in a bad position, Eric?

forcing them to rent to people who may have damaged their apartments in the past or can't keep up with their rent payments?

Yes, I thought it did from the beginning, even when Kansas City did it, enacted the ordinance because you just basically making the landlords tag people that they have no background, no history of take.

And how do you know they're going to pay their bills?

What do you know about their criminal background?

So it did put the landlords in a disadvantage.

And I listened to both sides of the story.

You know KC tenants did their thing and making sure that the ordinance got passed.

I just think the landlords got in the race a little bit late.

You know what I think this particular bill reveals as many other bills do as well.

It's not only Nick that there's this eternal conflict between local control and state government, which we've we've seen over the last couple of decades in Missouri.

But but there's also this philosophical difference between what is the role of government in creating a particular kind of community, a particular kind of civic culture.

Kansas City leaders and probably many Democrats in Jefferson City would say that part of the role of government is to, insert protections and to lift up parts of the community that might not have access otherwise.

And so they support these restrictions on what landlords can do.

There's a different civic philosophy that says the goal of the government here is to protect the rights of the property owners and to, to ensure that that fewer dollars leave their pockets and that supports a whole different set of legislation.

And until we resolve which we probably will not resolve that philosophical conflict, you're going to see the people who have power, which in this case is Republicans in state government in Missouri.

when those battles and I think this legislation has a very strong chance of past speaking of housing, after all the outrage over property assessments in Jackson County, Missouri, lawmakers are now demanding an elected assessor in the county.

They want to put it on the ballot for voters to decide soon.

Currently, it's an appointed position.

If this were to happen, Lisa, does this mean we wouldn't have any more complaints over property values or just you'd have someone you can directly blame when you go to a vote?

Wouldn't that be incredible if it solves all?

Overall, this solved all of the complaints.

Certainly I think it will satisfy people to be able to elect and have someone to blame for this, to have someone campaign on not raising property taxes as much.

But I think the difficult truth is that there is some truth to what the Jackson County Assessor has been saying, which is that property values have been undervalued for so long, and they're trying to rightsize it.

So I think there is risk as well to electing someone who says they will not raise your property taxes because the risks of that, revenue wise, will will be, will be difficult to swallow once they have to be fixed.

I certainly don't have.

Somebody to blame the county executive because he's elected and he makes the appointment.

So you do have somebody to blame.

It doesn't get the assessor.

After I did see some of the testimony, Jonathan, what surprised me is Jackson County actually is the only county in the entire state of Missouri that actually has an appointed assessor.

Everyone else elects.

Them, right?

And someone pointed out to me, I think the last place to to switch to the system was, Saint Louis City, a while back.

And, someone was telling me that, basically they've elected the same assessor, for several terms now.

even though folks thought it would be an avenue for change, they ended up with basically the same person in the job.

Now, I happen to love quirky stories in the news.

Listen to this one.

one of the reasons Kansas lawmakers have been so hot to pursue the royals and the Chiefs over the last year is it'll boost the state's prestige with with little certainty they'll be successful.

The state is now helping bankroll another big attraction, a gigantic pair of ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz.

The ruby slippers.

What have you done with them?

We have them back to me.

I know it's too late.

There they are.

And they'll.

They'll stay.

Now, would you go out of your way to see the enormous ruby slippers now being built in Liberal, Kansas?

And if that were not enough, it's a gigantic slide and you can go down.

Dorothy's shoe.

I brought in any evidence that met Quentin Lucas, maybe wanting to offer tax incentives to try and bring it over to the Kansas City side.

Well, I'd like to answer your first question.

Okay, so what would I like?

The trip is absolutely.

Yes, of course I would.

I think of the selfies, but, but, you know, and I appreciate that this way of bringing yet another discussion of the stadiums into this, indirectly.

Indirectly, yes.

No, I think Mayor Lucas is probably going to trust that liberal Kansas is the right municipality to host this particular tourist.

If the royals choose not to go to Washington Square Park right next to Crown Center, which has been now seems to be the preferred site.

Could the ruby slippers go there?

I think Brian's right that liberals the spot here and it would be.

It would be silly for the ruby slippers to be in Missouri anyway.

It's that's Kansas is claimed fame and they shall keep it.

Well we will allow them to have.

Now speaking of tourism, this week, the BBC adds Kansas City to its list of 25 global destinations you want to visit this year after Sri Lanka, Japan and Greenland.

When you stunned at the highly respected world broadcaster Eric would put us on that list.

I was stunned, shocked, overwhelmed.

but that's good that they have that, that recognition just don't go on 18th Street because nothing there to see but the Negro League Baseball Museum, a lot of the businesses that have gone there have closed up.

You got Alvin Ailey there, the Ju cows, Negro leagues, baseball museums, and a lot of empty office space.

One of the things they liked about Kansas City is also the streetcar line, which is going to be extending down to the plaza.

But I do see starting Monday, it's going to be shut down for two weeks.

It's not even going to be, even running for the next two weeks.

Yeah, it was interesting.

The BBC story referred to this as a glow up season for, for Kansas City.

And it does feel like, the momentum and the attention to Kansas City has a lot to do with kind of the not just what is here now or what has been in the past, but but what is yet to be.

and we'll see how it works out.

We were listed at number 22 by the way, on that global list from the British broadcaster.

If we had that, can take ruby slippers, slide in Kansas City, could we have been in the top ten, Jonathan?

Well, it's.

Big shoes to fill.

Oh.

Oh, go!

you are Mr.

Clever today.

All righty.

Thank you for that one.

Well, was that the biggest story most of us missed this week?

Or was it one of these?

We're talking dangerously cold.

Bitter cold sets a new record for Kansas City.

What?

A whole pothole season officially gets underway and Chiefs fever takes over Kansas City ahead of Sunday night's AFC Championship game.

Yay!

Chiefs.

My dad was talking about.

They weren't good for his whole life and now they're good.

He's always telling me.

We're so lucky already.

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

I picked two different ones, okay.

I picked the one of the things that President Trump did this week was pulled the Justice Department out of a lot of civil rights violations and claims.

So that means that there were pending litigation for the fire department and the police department over in Kansas City, Kansas, the police department over there.

So now with that litigation out, what's going to happen to those pending?

Thank you.

I actually didn't put that together.

So.

Excellent.

And you said there was a second one.

There was a second one.

The, sun fresh on prospect and 31st Street.

rest in peace.

I don't know how the city and that operator is going to bring that grocery store back.

I was there the other day after a friend prompted me to go there to get something for lunch.

I went there, it's like a ghost town, and that's the anchor for that shopping center.

And because the city didn't act fast enough, it has turned into a mess.

Jonathan.

next week, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is going to be in Cape Girardeau, trying, China in a federal lawsuit over allegations that the country hoarded, PPE and masks, during the early stages of Covid.

this is interesting, of course, because, Andrew Bailey has said that he doesn't think masks work.

and other, officials in Missouri have downplayed, the importance of PPE.

So, that'll be kind of interesting to watch.

And I might make some national news.

Brian, there are a lot of political stories.

And certainly in the upcoming week, the Missouri state of the state and budget proposal will be something we're watching.

But but I actually am going with one of the stories you did mentioned, the Kansas City Chiefs and and in particular, Nick, what standing out to me this week is the sense of inevitability, this this sort of expectation that the Chiefs are going to win the AFC Championship this weekend and and proceed to the Super Bowl.

The plans are already being made.

and what I, what I actually wonder is if, God forbid, they should not win this Sunday's game, how devastated the city would be.

We are that expectant that we are going to win and go to the Super Bowl every year.

And I think that's going to be a really interesting time for the city.

Thank you for putting that into perspective for us.

I'm given the opportunity to think, oh my goodness, they may lose.

Oh, how dare you Lisa?

Well, we'll end on a positive note here.

The James Beard semifinalists were announced this week.

There was a restaurant.

So chefs.

Yes, chefs.

They honor restaurants, hospitality and and once again, several prominent Kansas City chefs and and restaurants on the list, including town company, including the restaurant at 1900, the wine program at JJ's.

So just a little local pride.

It's nice to see Kansas City, which I think has really elevated its food scene over the last decade, be recognized.

And, And it also shows that not all restaurants have closing down or being broken into a thriving and making national news.

And on that, we will say a week has been reviewed courtesy of Lisa Rodriguez and the stars Jonathan Shulman from next page.

Casey, Eric Wesson and Casey was Brian Ellison, and I'm Nick Haines from all of us here at Kansas City PBS.

Be well, keep calm and carry on.