Politics
Council Committee Wants Mayor to Appoint Panel to Study Local Police Control
By Kevin Collison The controversial issue of whether the Kansas City Police Department should be returned to local control got an hour-long hearing Wednesday at City Hall, but a recommendation was postponed until next week. The majority of the Council Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee appeared to support a resolution by Councilwoman Melissa Robinson…
Neighborhood Champion: Mark Morales
They do it for no pay and little fanfare. Who are they? They are the neighborhood leaders who fight to improve some of the most distressed neighborhoods on the East Side of Kansas City, Missouri. These are the men and women who advocate for better housing, less crime, and more economic opportunity. Through its coverage…
What Do You Want to Know About the Candidates for Mayor?
Each month, you will have a chance to send us questions about anything and everything. Then we’ll curate up to four questions that go head-to-head in a voting round. The race to replace Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Sly James is heating up, and we need your help covering the election. So we wondered: Is there…
Candidates to Replace Sly James Compete for Likes
The idea seemed far-fetched when it was first suggested in October to East High School teacher Katharine Perna. What if her multiculturalism and social justice class could persuade the nine leading mayoral candidates to answer questions, in person, crafted by the students themselves? On Wednesday night, before an audience of about 150 people in the…
Sympathetic Vibrations | Keep the Line Moving
It’s obvious the midterm elections are imminent, given all the discourse from talking heads, political ads and (apparently) completely unhinged Kanye West rants. West’s particular brand of political speech is not uncharted territory for artists and celebrities, who frequently wade into the local and national political conversation. But the breadth of the grassroots movements at…