Kansas city week in review | marny sherman comments, plaza shooting, student loans - apr 12, 2024 | season 31 | episode 32

So who saw this coming? John Sherman's wife upstaging her husband, Marnie Sherman, saying more than any elected leader about what happens next in the stadium saga. Plus, safety on the

plaza back in the headlines after a spray of bullets ripped through store windows as shoppers just watch. Those stories and the rest of the week's news straight ahead. Week in review is

made possible through the generous support of AARP, Kansas City, RSM and Dave and Jamie Cummings, Bob and Marlese Gourley. The Courtney as Turner Charitable Trust. John H Mize and Bank of

America. N.A. Co Trustees. The restaurant at 1900. And by viewers like you. Thank you. Hello and welcome. I'm Nick Haines. Glad to have you with us on our weekly journey through the

week's most impactful, confusing and befuddling local news stories. Jumping on board our weekend review bus this week. She is 50% of Dana and Parks on KMBZ Radio. Dana Wright, Brian

Ellison tracks the region's top political stories for KCUR news. Michael Mahoney is Channel Nine's chief political analyst and from the helm of Metro's newest newspaper. Next

page, KC Eric Wesson. A week after voters overwhelmingly rejected the stadium tax, are we any closer to understanding what happens now? It's been kind of fascinating. Those closest to

the decision I'm talking John Sherman says he's still taking time to reflect on our elected leaders aren't saying much. Jackson County executive Frank White declined to appear

on the program. Perhaps the only person saying anything publicly as John Sherman's wife, Marnie. In a surprising, unguarded moment, Shipp stages her husband by taking to Facebook to

declare neither team will work with Jackson County again. So who is Marnie Sherman? We're just normal people. I mean, we I grew up at 33rd in the south was traffic way. John had a

similar upbringing. We just feel like we're normal people. Dana, I have to say, I have to think to go back to the time of Mark Funkhouser as mayor of Kansas City, when Gloria, Scotty

Roll, his wife, was such a major player. Sure. If I heard a spouse are taking such a pivotal role in some sort of debate on a big public policy issue. I think this is Sherman wear shoes. And

if that's normal, I want to be normal. By the way, it was surprising to see and I love that she has a voice. Obviously, she's part of that decision making process. That was a

shocking statement and a blunt statement. And I will tell you, everywhere I go, it is the number one question people ask me in the grocery store, certainly on the show that doesn't

involve a goat stuck up somewhere. The number one question people ask is, where are the royals going? What is happening to the Chiefs that did not help the chatter that someone might be

crossing state line and moving over? What did you make of it, Michael? I thought it was very interesting. I don't know for a fact that she speak for her husband or for the royals. And

the other thing is what you said, off off the top here, that people are not talking publicly about this, that suggest to me that they are talking quietly behind the scenes on this stuff. You

know, I don't know that we should read a whole lot in those comments were made just a day or two after the election. It is the kind of thing where there's a response happening

there that's not entirely strategic or corporate. Having said that, I think it does reflect the personal mindset of the Sherman household. And I have to say, we haven't talked much

about this, Nick, but but kind of who can blame them the way the Shermans were described and treated over the course of this campaign, it became very personal language that referred to them

as sort of billionaire predators that was used by the campaign against and then picked up in a lot of mainstream media outlets. You know, the Shermans have given millions upon millions of

dollars to arts and education and cultural organizations in Kansas City. I think they were just shocked at the way they were treated. And I think those comments, quite understandably, really

reflect that reaction more than they reflect real predictors of what the royals are going to do. Yes, I don't think anybody was surprised that that issue went down to defeat. I

don't think anybody no one I have talked to expected a 16 point drubbing. But it is interesting, we're talking about saying we're never going to work with Jackson County

again. The teams have only been working with Jackson County where those lease agreements, even Dave Helling, I think last week said they could negotiate the teams directly with city hall,

would that create a new political civil war in this community? Well, Jackson County legislators, Frank White, for instance, you know, then stuffed filing lawsuits and putting every roadblock

in place to stop the teams from negotiating directly with city hall. He could do that. But let me say this. The teams aren't really warm and fuzzy about Mayor Lucas either, even though

he said he had a good conversation with John Sherman. That was a very brief conversation. It's my understanding he said, Hey, if you got an idea, put it on paper and send it to us. But

their issue with him was that he came out extremely late in the campaign. People were already early voting and he endorses the campaign two days before the election, and it was his idea to

move it from the area that they were at in East Village over to Crossroads. So they're not real warm and fuzzy with him. Okay. To put Michael Mahoney on the spot on this on our show and

asked if you had to put a percentage to it, do the Chiefs jump to Kansas? And this gets back to her comments, whether they were done without a lot of thought or not. Do they jump and you

said 5050. You said you thought it was 5050. I said I thought it was less than 5050. But there's an awful lot of rumor, speculation that Kansas would steal one or both of these teams.

Yet has there been any deal put on the table? Has that been any movement on that? No, but I talked with a number of people, a couple of people very close to what's taking place in

Kansas here. And Kansas is in the process of assembling a plan to go after probably quite, quite likely, the chiefs for western Wyandotte County. And it is possible it is possible that when

the legislature comes back for their veto session in, you know, in a couple of weeks, that there may be some efforts to tweak two star bonds in Kansas, which is going to be one of their

chief financing vehicles for this to to allow them to do this. And the folks I'm talking to say, look, between the $4 million that are in the sports book fund, which is not a lot, that

the state of Kansas has plenty of other money that they put on the table. And it does not require a public vote of any sort for the state of Kansas to make a pledge. I love the reporters we

have around this table, but as everyone seems to be fixated, as Michael is talking about there on Wyandotte County as a possible site, I thought it would be interesting to bring on Wyandotte

County Mayor Tyrone Garner on the program, but he is still missing from the mayor's office. Haven't taken a leave of absence for an undisclosed medical procedure. At the beginning

of February, a staffer told us he's not expected back until May. We also invited Jackson County executive Frank White to join us. He respectfully declined, but he acknowledged this

week he has not spoken to the team since the election and they've not reached out to him. My my goal is to reach out to the teams and see if I can get them back to the table so we can

try to move this thing forward. Have you reached out to them? Not at this point, and they haven't reached out to me at this point. It's only been a few days. But I mean, is there a

strategy, though, to keep them here? That's that's what I think my goal is. I have a strategy, but I'm not willing to share at this point. Now, that's kind of cryptic.

Prior to Election Day, White said he would push to put a separate tax on the ballot this August just for the Chiefs. Is that still the plan? We don't know the plan. It sounds like the

plan still. The plan is he doesn't. So he's just not sharing it with you. Indeed, he has not told me. I think it's it is not really a surprise that the royals in particular

have not reached out to Frank White. There's it's going to be a while before those those are easy conversations. But I do think the momentum is growing for a focus on the chiefs

separately from the royals. And I think you will see more conversation about that in the weeks ahead. How do you go back to the same people and ask for another vote when they've called

you billionaires, they've called you racist, they call you all these other names, and how do you go back before them and say, hey, everything is going go to some short term attention

span that short? Well, the other thing is that the the plan that was presented to the Jackson County and Kansas City voters was clumsy, to say the least. It was it was poorly laid out. And

there were lots of questions about it. I think that if they take another bite out of the apple with East Village again, I'm not sure it's going to happen this year, by the way. But

if they do take another bite out of the apple, they're going to have they'll have to have a much better orchestrated campaign than what the voters saw. I just happen to notice by

the way, this week, Brian, that Quinton Lucas was meeting with Mike Paulson, the governor. Was that about the stadium tax, trying to get money for a potential new tax election in Kansas

City? They also did not disclose their agenda to me in conversation, but they but it wouldn't surprise me if it came up. Governor Parson had said beforehand that they would be willing

to talk about the Royals Stadium after the election. Obviously, the election results did not move that conversation forward, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not on the back

burner. Governor Parson has been very supportive of the royals as the states or as one of the states baseball. Let's go back to Frank White for a second. They can't swing and miss

it this twice. That answer was clumsy. He was unprepared. They needed to have a statement ready to go that we are sorry we screwed this up. We need to do better. We are going to come out

with a plan that makes sense for everybody. And that's not what we just heard. We just heard. I don't like them. They don't like me. I've not reached out to them. They

haven't reached out to me. And by the way, I do have a plan, but I'm not going to tell you what it is. Voters are not going to go for that. I think the chiefs go to Kansas and we

get a roof. And one other thing. There's a there's a word that voters use that leaves a bitter taste in everybody's mouth. And Jackson County is assessments. And I think those

assessments are going to be an issue throughout. Whether you bring it back to a vote before the people or not. And that's going I want to say I don't I don't think the

conversation with the royals about staying in Kansas City or Jackson County or somewhere else in the metro is over. I agree with my friends here that that this is not going to happen in the

next few months. The bitter taste in voters mouths needs a little time to dissipate. But I, I think there still are options for the royals and I think they'll be pursuing them quietly

for a while. I did see that Dick Davis, the former head of the CATA, the transit service in Kansas City, did write a big column this week in The Star that said about putting a roof on a

stadium, as you just mentioned that, Dana. But actually in the current position, the position of where the Kauffman Stadium is right now, that if it is such a problem for them, build a new

stadium there with a roof. So the roof, as we know, did not pass the first time they put that in front of voters. But I think voters have a much better understanding of the global importance

of using that space 365 days a year where you can have concerts, you could have a final four, you can have a women's Final Four, you can have a Super Bowl, and the roof would provide

all of those things. Now, listen, quickly. Don't forget, Clay County is out there and their bid for north down is still now back in play now that the stadium tax election is over, have

you noticed how the royals have come alive? The team was basking in a winning streak this week, having just secured the first sweep of a four game series since 2021. If the Royals bats had

come alive a little earlier, might it have made a difference on the Election Day outcome, Dana? No, not the way it was presented to voters. I don't think the way that that clumsily was

presented to voters, it would have mattered. No, I agree. If they had had a 500 year last year rather than 106 losses, it might have had an impact, but not this early in the baseball season.

Now, we mentioned the Royals say the success without mentioning Dana Wright throughout the first, by the way, she threw out the first pitch during that winning sweep of the White Sox. I got

it out of the way. I know you are a newsmaker, but got it over the plate. I have never been so nervous. And let me just tell you, it is a lot further than it looks when you're standing

out there. Eric, is it your turn this week? I'm ready. They got my phone numbers all I can make it reach to the home flight. Now. Safety on the plaza was back in the spotlight this

week as a spray of bullets takes out a window at Shake Shack and damages vehicles while stunned shoppers watched. Kind of sad that violence has happened like that, especially on the plaza.

And it was not late at night or anything. It was still light outside. How has safety and security changed, if at all, since the last shooting on the plaza hit the news back in September when

a store manager was shot along with a 14 year old boy? Nothing. There was some chatter about we were told it was going to be. Park Police can be brought in by Mayor Quinton Lucas to help

support existing police on the plaza. We were told that you could buy a piece of the Golden Gate Bridge as well. But it hasn't happened in this particular case. In my editorial this

week is on parenting. Parents need to watch their kids. I watched a video of a parent going off on somebody, somebody's Facebook Live about out videotaping their kid. But wait a minute.

Your kid is out here on the plaza. Act in a photo and you're mad at somebody for recording it. Why don't why aren't you out there with you? The police presence is reactive.

We need to do something proactive. Reactive is after the shots have been fired. And I will remind you. Shots were fired into cars. One of those cars was occupied and yell overhaul co

formerly of the Kansas City Star rightly either tweeted or facebooked about this. That is the third shooting in or around Shake shack where large groups of unsupervised kids are gathering

some of them with clearly illegal guns. They have to get their arms around this. I am a huge proponent of pedestrian izing the plaza, shut down the streets, plant trees, make it a grassy

space, and make it an entertainment district where kids do not belong. After 9 p.m., a lot of the kids were there crying. You think so? I do. I do. A lot of kids were there for prom, so they

were there legitimately and had a reason to be. There was a lot of you know, there's an exception. Yeah. Remember back in October on the show, we were talking about the Plaza was going

to be bought a company from Dallas that are highly upscale shopping centers. And Texas was going to come in, swoop in and buy the plaza. That deal now, you know, six months later, has still

not been signed. I mean, they got cold feet now. I don't think we know. You're right. It still seems to be on the table, but it hasn't closed. I mean, I think the the ongoing

conversation and this is almost becoming cliche to say this, but I'll say it anyway. Let's remember that shootings happen every day in other parts of the city so often that we

don't talk about them. It's because this happened at the Plaza that we're we're having this conversation at all. Let's let's not forget that the problem of

violence in the city is not because it occurs in a shopping district. It's the sheer quantity. I'm in the same spot. Well, I mean, I think it's very significant. It's a

high profile area of town. But but but our even if we eliminated all crime on the plaza, we would still have a record number of people. It's interesting you say that, because when we

had the parade shooting and we lost a woman just a county mother in that whole shooting after the rally, when the Chiefs had the victory rally, that was the 17th murder of the year. Now

we're at 40. There have been 23 murders since then. Yes and no. No end in sight, no point, no real clear plan on how things are going to go. I noticed they put $7 million in the budget

this year for violence prevention. 6 million of it was already accounted for with something that they passed the last session. So this time they got an extra million dollars where

they're going to put that money that is beyond people to now. But you're going to have to do something. We're marking two anniversaries this week that put Kansas City in the

national news spotlight and for all the wrong reasons. First eight is one year since the Rafael shooting. Remember him? He's the black teen was shot in the head after ringing a wrong

doorbell in Kansas City's North land. 85 year old Andrew Lester pleaded not guilty in the case. His trial won't begin until October. And ten years ago this week, a lone gunman on a

quest to exterminate Jews killed three people outside the Jewish community center in Village Shalom in Overland Park. All the targeted victims would turn out to be Christian. FRAZIER Glenn

Cross was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, but he would die in prison in 2021. This is more than a national story, Dana. This was an international one when it happened ten

years ago. It was, sadly, and many corporations become a very good friend of mine. She lost her father lost her son right that day. And I was able to attend the seven days breakfast this

week where her entire focus in that last ten years has been, you know, we don't say the shooter's name. We're not going to look backward. We're going to look forward to

see how we can all somehow starting when kids are younger. Work on conflict resolution, work on peace and love, regardless of your race or your age or your gender or your religion.

She's done amazing things. 22 different school districts now have ambassadors, kindness, ambassadors in our schools to help people, you know, sit with the kid who's sitting alone

at the lunch table. So that hopefully that to me is preventative. When you say you're going to throw $8 million to prevent gun violence, I don't know what that means. We have to

start with our young people and teach them that there's a better way. And it has to start at home with the quality of life that young people are living, even though we say that

they're having conflicts with individuals at school, sometimes those conflicts are at home and you have to be able to look at the environment and the kids are in the neighborhoods and

the things that are acceptable for those type of behaviors. And I think that's what the missing piece of the puzzle is. That's a good point. Yet the number of hate crimes in this

country have all used the word exploded in the last few years. And we're seeing it right, right now. Dana mentions the kindness world and there was a kindness festival at the Jewish

Community Center this Sunday at 4:30 p.m.. And by the way, we've just done a new documentary about the 10th anniversary of the Jewish community center shootings. It's called

Healing Hate. You can see it after the rebroadcast of this program we can review is on Sunday at 11. Healing Hate will start at 1130. So is it worse than we thought? For a second straight

week, many critical Jackson County offices remain closed as the county scrambles to recover from a ransomware attack that was first reported on Election Day. Now we're informed those

offices could remain closed through next Tuesday. We were told by doctors that apparently taking over the county's computer systems, shutting down the assessment tax collection and

Recorder of Deeds offices, and impacting everything from marriage licenses to county jail records. And guess who the county is now blaming? It was a Russian group. They have done this fairly

frequently around the country, are a frequent player in this kind of activity. So it's a it's a question of when, not if you're going to hit, you're going to have one of

these cyberattacks. County Administrator Troy Shultz there. So now we know it was the Russians. What are we to make of that? First of all, could Jackson County be having any worse months?

Right. Like on top of it all, the Russians have broken into our computers. You know, this does happen. I do have a degree in Soviet politics, by the way. So I'm going to remove myself

and the rest of it for, say, just closing your conflict of interest. No, I mean, the reality is that this does happen to municipalities, to hospitals, to to to organizations all over the

country and to have. So Jackson County probably isn't being singled out and didn't do something wrong, but it still is a massive pain and it couldn't come at a worse time.

Let's be clear. They will pay it. They will get something. Hackers make it just affordable enough that these towns and hospitals and cities will pay it. That's what I also wanted

to ask, by the way, to why they won't, because they had the same issue there. Did they pay? You have to pay had one municipality pay half. And you know what the Russians did? They gave

them half the code back to unlock their stuff. The ransomware insurance industry is now a multi billion dollar industry because of this. And by the way, even though we laugh a little bit

about it, however, it is impacting a lot of services, including now house sales some people are having is struggling to even buy a house in in Jackson County. Right. Because they have to get

documents through the courthouse and they can't get those. If you're one of the tens of thousands of metro area residents still holding out hope of getting your college debt

forgiven, President Biden had a big announcement this week. He unveiled a new plan to reduce or cancel your college loan payments. And guess who was on Capitol Hill this week to testify in

favor of the plan? None other than Quinton Lucas. It was a split screen moment because just a few miles away, the Missouri attorney general was leading a multistate effort to kill the

proposal in court and cancellation of student debt would be the single largest investment in America's working people that we can today with real benefits for everyone. At the end of

the day, this harms Missourians. And we can't let Joe Biden saddle working Missouri families with Ivy League debt already. Bryan, why was it two elected leaders from here leading the

charge for and against the president's plan this week? Do we have more college debt here in our metropolitan area than any other place in the country? Is that the deal? We do not. None

of this has anything to do with Missouri, at least not Missouri specifically. Certainly the mayor has has has has regularly appeared on sort of support of national Democratic causes. But the

attorney general, Andrew Bailey, is clearly advocating for things along with a lot of other Republicans, attorney general, that are Republican attorneys general, who are who are not

necessarily advocating because that is their issue, but because it is an opportunity to take a shot at the Biden administration. And it doesn't help them. It doesn't hurt them

politically back home here in Missouri. And I know Bailey, of course, is running for election this year. Kris Kobach, by the way, in Kansas, the attorney general there, also saying this is

illegal. I can see why there's a political dimension there. But why Quinton Lucas with all of the other issues on his plate when he's dealing with a stadium tax is silly trying to

solve that problem. Plus, crime issues that he's got time to go off to Washington, D.C. to be involved in this issue for the reasons that Bryan talked about. It is he has frequently

stepped up to the plate and defended or advocated Biden administration policies. In the case of Andrew Bailey, he has a very tough primary coming up against a well-funded opponent. And so it

is in his best interests and his campaign's best interests, they believe, to be out front in this case in the state of Missouri is one of five or six different states that are that are

the plaintiffs in this lawsuit challenging this. He's he's got a political skin in the game. I'm going to Lucas is not that because he fancies himself as the next education

secretary. If Joe Biden is going to get another four years in office, he might. He might be there. He might be Hood. Hood has an opening and he can promote the situation that they have with

Parade Park and some of the homeless things that he takes credit for with his administration. I was just saying you can't have a conversation about a race in college debt, which is the

next bubble that's going to burst. It's worse than the combined credit card debt in America without having a conversation about the exploding cost of education that is out of reach

for so many. And there was an article this week, I think I read that at some point the average cost is going to be $100,000 a year. It's not affordable. We have to have that

conversation. So less than half the country has a four year college degree. My view is why this debt versus, say, medical debt, which is also crippling, is a fair question and is also

exploding at great rates. When you put a program like this together every week, you can't get to every story grabbing the headlines. What was the big local story we missed? It was a

week in which we all put on funny glasses and stared at the sky. This is just like the coolest experience I've ever experienced. This is blowing my mind. It is so cool. No clemency.

Granted, Missouri carries out its first execution of the year. Remember the Jackie Robinson statue stolen from a Wichita park? Now what's left of it? Arriving this week at its new home,

the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Kansas City gets messy as global soccer superstar Lionel Messi arrives in town for an Arrowhead Stadium showdown between Miami and Sporting KC Fans

gobbled up the tickets, but there were worries all week about whether he'd play. And how often does a goat top the headlines and how did it even get up there? The big goat Gretch rescue

goes viral this week. All righty. Dana, did you pick one of those stories or something completely different? Goat? I'm sorry. By the way, the goats name is Jeffrey. They're trying

to name. It's something else. It's Jeffrey. Everywhere I went, people ask me about the goat. People needed a fun distraction This week on Twitter. They were like, How's the

goat? Have we gotten the goat down? I mean, hats off to Cody. I don't know how they figured it out. They did get the goat down. We need that type of fun thing in our news cycle. Jeffrey

Thank you for providing it. Eric, I said the state taking over the Saint Louis police department again, they're pushing for that effort. They think they can do a better job even though

Saint Louis homicide rate is down and things seem to be leveled out, they think they can do a better job. And the referendum movement to reverse the contract that was given to city manager

Brian Platt. It's the eclipse. I remember seven years ago I was in Saint Joe on a very overcast day and we couldn't see squat this time from the luxury penthouse in my backyard. I

was actually able to see, you know, the 90% eclipse this time. But we really do need to see pictures of you in those glasses, though. So we'll be looking to add that to the program.

Brian, just when you thought abortion rights in Missouri couldn't be any any less of an issue, this week, the Missouri General Assembly sent a proposal to defund Planned Parenthood from

providing any other sorts of services, as well as Took continued its conversation about initiative petition reform, which might result in in ballot measures that would restore abortion

rights in Missouri, not being able to get a passing vote. So there's a lot still ahead in the few weeks that are left of the Missouri legislature. And Kansas lawmakers taking a break

right now before they have a veto session at the end of the month that we will say all week has been reviewed courtesy of Dana Wright. 50% of Dana and parks, 2 to 6 weekdays on KMBZ and

Channe nine political analyst Michael Mahoney from Next page, KC Eric Wesson and from KCUR he was Brian Ellison. And I'm Nick Haines from all of here at Kansas City, PBS. Be well, keep

calm and carry on.