Josh Merchant is The Beacon's local government reporter in Kansas City. After graduating from Seattle University, Josh earned a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Columbia Journalism School with coursework in data journalism. Josh has contributed reporting to The Seattle Spectator, The South Seattle Emerald and THE CITY in New York. They're a former Beacon intern. At The Beacon, they reported on issues of traffic safety, with a focus on roadway design, as well as tax-incentivized development at a variety of Kansas City agencies. They have lived in Kansas City since 2021.
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January kicked off with bone-chilling, pipe-bursting temperatures.
By the end of the month, Kansas City residents can expect energy bills, many topping $200, extending their wintertime misery.
Those bills — ranking among the most expensive in the country — come approved by regulators in both states.
Kansas City’s Statehouse lobbying team holds big ambitions, and likely even bigger obstacles, for the Missouri legislative session that starts next month.
Here’s a list of some of Kansas City’s priorities this year, ranked by likelihood.
At a press conference in October, Unified Government Mayor Tyrone Garner issued a dire warning.
The government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, he said, was on a “pathway to financial ruin.”
Bankruptcy, he warned, sat just around the corner.
But the bond markets tell a different story.
Wyandotte County voters will decide Unified Government’s District 1 at-large seat on Nov. 7. The winner will face decisions about how taxpayer dollars are spent and how the county’s chief governing body will address issues like safety, housing and property taxes.
Kansans will cast votes in dozens of municipal races across the state on Nov. 7, including in Wyandotte County, where half of the Unified Government’s Board of Commissioners will be up for election.
In District 6, which covers the less densely populated areas in south central Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, incumbent Angela Markley has decided not to seek a fourth term. Instead, the Rev. Steve Neal faces off against small-business owner Philip Lopez.
Five positions on the Unified Government’s Board of Commissioners are up in the Nov. 7, 2023, election, including the District 4 commissioner representing central Kansas City, Kansas.
Wyandotte County voters will cast votes on Nov. 7 in an election that will decide half of the Unified Government’s Board of Commissioners. This board is the chief governing body for Kansas City, Kansas, and the rest of Wyandotte County, making decisions related to development, the police department and the budget. The candidates elected this […]
For 20 years, people in Kansas City have paid an extra 3/8-cents sales tax on every purchase they made, to subsidize bus service.
On Nov. 7, voters get to decide whether to continue that tax, which hits poorest families the hardest, or whether to effectively cut nearly a third of the bus service that working-class residents rely on most heavily.
On Nov. 7, voters across Wyandotte County will decide who will represent them on a city and county level in a Kansas election that will determine half of the county’s Unified Government.
The Beacon hosted a candidate forum on Sept. 26, where five out of six candidates made their case to voters.
The forum can be watched in its entirety here, and portions have been transcribed below. The candidates’ answers were edited for length and clarity.
