Takeaways: T’Montez Hurt had just started working at a Price Chopper in Grain Valley to save money after a semester away from Missouri Western State University. Then in the early hours of Feb. 1, the 19-year-old placed an anxious phone call to his grandmother, Tecona Donald-Sullivan, saying he thought he’d been drugged. The day before […]
Civic Engagement
Posted inCivic Engagement, Elections, State Government
Lawmakers want your permission to weaken voters’ ability to change laws, the Missouri Constitution
Takeaways: Missouri voters will likely soon be asked by the lawmakers they elected to strip themselves of some power to put initiative petitions on the ballot — to take action when politicians won’t. Voters could be asked to place further restrictions on the already difficult, and costly, job of passing an initiative petition. One proposal […]
Posted inCivic Engagement, Elections, Local Government
What the stadium tax defeat says about teams, their subsidies and Jackson County voters
Editor’s note (April 4, 2024): This story has been corrected to reflect an error about a Virginia tax package to attract stadiums. The Royals and the Chiefs had everything. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce — fresh off of a Super Bowl victory — endorsed a “yes” vote in ads airing on TV and on YouTube. […]
Posted inCivic Engagement, DIY Democracy, State Government
Missouri lawmakers break new ground to stop constitutional amendments — and abortion
Editor’s note (March 25, 2023): This story has been corrected to reflect that the proposal would require a majority support from voters statewide, plus a majority vote in five of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. While state lawmakers across the country stumbled when trying to make it harder for voters to amend state constitutions, Missouri lawmakers […]
Posted inCivic Engagement, Education, Elections
These nine candidates want to be on the North Kansas City school board
All nine candidates responded to our questions about their background, priorities and positions. Here’s what they had to say.
Posted inCivic Engagement, DIY Democracy, State Government
Missouri House and Senate OK two plans making it harder for voters to amend the state constitution
The Republican-controlled Missouri House and Senate advanced two different proposals Thursday that would make it harder for voters to change the state constitution using a constitutional amendment. The Senate passed a bill on a party-line vote that would dramatically crank up the difficulty of passing a constitutional amendment proposed by voters using an initiative petition […]
Posted inCivic Engagement, DIY Democracy, Elections
FAQ: What to know about Missouri’s Democratic presidential primary
Missouri Democrats wanting to weigh in on the party’s nominee for president can either go to the polls this spring or mail in their ballots. A 2022 law eliminated Missouri’s state-run presidential primaries, leaving the parties to sort out their own ways to weigh in on the contests. Democrats decided on a presidential primary and […]
Posted inCivic Engagement, Local Government
Kansas City flunked its Spanish test. A proposed ordinance aims to bridge City Hall’s language gap
Imagine trying to get a pothole filled or trash pickup scheduled, or stopping a nuisance from setting up in your neighborhood.
Fighting City Hall is hard enough. For the one in 20 Kansas Citians who don’t speak English very well, it can prove practically impossible.
A proposed Kansas City ordinance aims to change that. It will appear on the City Council’s agenda Feb. 15. It would create an office of language access to expand the city’s translation abilities and bridge the gap between local government and Kansas City’s diverse immigrant and refugee communities.
Posted inCivic Engagement, DIY Democracy, Elections
FAQ: Your guide to the 2024 Missouri Republican caucus
This year, the way Missouri Republicans weigh in on the presidential race will be a bit different. Thanks to a 2022 law, Missouri counties are no longer responsible for conducting presidential preference primaries. Instead, that falls to county Republican and Democratic parties across the state. Registered Republicans and unaffiliated voters will have the opportunity to […]
Posted inCivic Engagement, Economics, Local Government
No, Wyandotte County is not going bankrupt.
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.