Want to participate in Kansas City, Missouri’s legislative process, but not sure where to start? The Kansas City Beacon has created this guide to watching, attending and testifying at city government meetings. Where to find government meeting times and locations Past and upcoming meeting dates are published on the city clerk’s calendar. Users can sort […]
Emily Wolf
Posted inLocal Government
KCPD ignores requests for progress report on five-year-old audit
Update: The Kansas City Beacon received confirmation that the audit was discussed by the Board of Police Commissioners and then-chief Darryl Forté, who decided to take no action at the time. An ARTS report conveying that fact was never filed with the city auditor. The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department should monitor how often employees […]
Posted inLocal Government
Jazz in jeopardy: City-owned dangerous buildings at 18th and Vine sit in limbo
Roofs are missing. Cracks and small holes riddle the windows. Debris clutters the exposed interiors. One glass panel facing 18th Street has a painted sign: Paseo Bootery, Shoes and Repairing.
Posted inEconomics
‘Out of sight, out of mind’: Absentee owners allow properties to become dangerous buildings in Kansas City
A majority of these absentee-owned dangerous buildings are concentrated in neighborhoods east of Troost Avenue, a historic economic and racial dividing line in Kansas City.
Posted inLocal Government
How RideKC is trying to build a better bus stop with community partners
Waiting for his RideKC bus Monday afternoon, Norman Tate noticed a new addition outside the East Village Transit Center — a table covered with books, flyers, tote bags, masks and informational flyers. He watched and waited for several minutes, then approached. By the time Tate finished chatting with the two Kansas City Public Library staffers […]
Posted inLocal Government
‘Silver tsunami’ rolls through KCMO government
Eighty-five years of experience have walked out of the Kansas City Auditor’s Office in the past year and a half. Two out of three audit managers retired, taking a combined lifetime of experience and institutional knowledge with them. The office is hiring, but new employees will take upwards of a year to start their full […]
Posted inLocal Government
Despite public outcry, KCPD officers will still be given 48 hours to make a statement after a shooting
Forty-eight hours. That’s the window of time a police officer with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department has to give a formal statement following a police killing or other violent incident, according to the department’s latest union contract. The Kansas City Beacon obtained a copy of the bargaining agreement through a public records request. The 48-hour […]
Posted inLocal Government
Which city departments are falling behind in getting vaccinated? Kansas City won’t say.
Two-thirds of Kansas City, Missouri’s 4,233 city employees were vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of July. But the city refuses to release vaccination percentages for individual departments, making it impossible to tell whether some departments are lagging behind.
Posted inLocal Government
What a Department of Justice investigation would mean for the Kansas City Police Department
Correction: A previous version of this story inaccurately stated that no KCPD officers were charged or indicted in the killings of Ryan Stokes, Dantae Franklin, Cameron Lamb and Malcom Johnson. This story has been corrected to say that the officer who shot Lamb was charged in Jackson County court with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal […]
Posted inLocal Government
How do KC-area police departments handle domestic violence among their own?
When it comes to having policies for dealing with domestic violence cases that involve officers, Kansas City-area law enforcement agencies have different approaches.