Share This Story Above Image Credit: “Kansas City Week in Review” host Nick Haines. (John McGrath | Flatland)
Do we have to get to work today now that the Chiefs are back in the Super Bowl?
Or does Kansas City have to win for that to happen?
Expect a lot of news this week about the cost of snagging a Super Bowl seat and Kansas citizens defacing their bodies to commemorate the occasion.
Let me know if you’re getting ready to get Andy Reid’s head tattooed on your bicep. Or more topical, getting a tattoo of Patrick Mahomes on his “uninjured” ankle.
We have to do something while we wait. The biggest game in the NFL is still two weeks away.
Super Bowl LVII is Sunday, February 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
We already know the Chiefs will play the Eagles. Now we know who will sing the national anthem. Country music star Chris Stapleton was tapped for the job.
Rihanna will headline the show at the halftime, in what will be her first public performance in five years.
Downtown ballpark
Royals owner John Sherman just announced two more stops on his listening tour at the downtown ballpark.
On Tuesday night, the ballpark roadshow heads to Urban Youth Academy near 18th and Vine Jazz District. And Wednesday evening, Sherman will head to the Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence.
There have been crickets on this one for quite some time.
The bigger questions remain unanswered.
Where will the new stadium be built? And how are they going to pay the Royals? Are taxpayers expected to foot part of the bill?
Over the past couple of days, there have been posts on social media showing several old buildings being demolished in Kansas City’s East Village. The presence of a wrecking ball in the area has led to speculation that this is where the Royals are planning to build their new 35,000 seat stadium.
To get your bearings, the East Village is an area eight blocks east of City Hall.
The Royals management team insist it is just one of 14 sites they are considering and have declined to confirm it is their preferred location.
If you would like to join one of this week’s Listening Tour sessions, here are the dates, times, venues and details on how to reserve your place. There will be a session on Tuesday beginning at 5:00 pm at Urban Youth Academy, 1622 E. 17th Terr., Kansas City, Missouri. Another session will be held Wednesday at 5:30 pm at the Midwest Genealogy Center, 3440 S. Lee’s Summit Road, Independence, Missouri.
Opening day of KCI
We are still waiting for an official announcement on when the new Kansas City International Airport will open.
But it looks like this is the week we finally know.
An announcement on 810 Sports Radio has already told listeners to check out the new restaurants opening on Feb. 28.
After a Kansas City Business Journal reporter inquired about the ad, the radio station said the ad had been run by mistake.
KCI officials declined to comment, other than to say “an announcement is on the way.”
Last week, reviewed
Cone headache
Thanks largely to the federal government, hundreds of millions of dollars are now flowing into Kansas City for infrastructure improvement projects. But while we can all gain from better roads, highways and bridges, it also means a sea of orange cones and headache-inducing disruptions for drivers.
This week, two large-area projects will lead to major traffic problems.
Beginning this Saturday, Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) crews will begin closing the southbound lanes leading to the Buck O’Neil Bridge. The closure will significantly impact the more than 50,000 daily drivers who rely on the popular route to get from north Kansas City to downtown.
By next Monday, those southbound lanes will be completely closed and will remain closed for 600 days, according to a press release from MoDOT officials. The state agency is constructing a new Buck O’Neil Bridge just west of the existing bridge.
Meanwhile, work is finally starting on that turnpike in Johnson County.
On your commute this week, you’ll notice crews closing lanes on US 69 at Overland Park. Kansas’ most congested four-lane highway has been widened to accommodate a new express lane in each direction. Drivers will pay a fee ranging from 30 cents to $1.75 to enter the special express lanes.
Also under construction are 11 giant noise walls to protect homeowners who live closer to the route.
The opening of the bus lanes is scheduled for the end of 2025.
Fed leader KC leaves
Wednesday is the last day on the job for Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George.
The Fed has a mandatory retirement age of 65, and George just reached it.
He has led the Kansas City area office for the past 11 years.
The Fed is the most powerful economic institution in the United States, and some would say the world.
It sets interest rates, manages the country’s money supply, and regulates financial markets.
Nothing is known about George’s replacement.
Freeway Center Cover
Grand plans to put a concrete cap on a stretch of Interstate 70 that cuts across downtown have hit a roadblock.
Kansas City officials had pushed to cover a four-block stretch of the highway and turn it into an urban green space suitable for tourism.
But the US Department of Transportation just turned down his request for $60 million in federal funding that would have helped make the project happen.
The Washington-based agency questioned the project’s cost-effectiveness, lack of reliable sources of non-federal funding, and the city’s ability to implement the project.
Pharmacy opening hours
If trying to pick up your prescription has already become a frustrating chore, it’s about to get worse.
CVS and Walmart are just the latest retailers to announce they are cutting pharmacy hours due to chronic staff shortages.
Walmart says it will start closing its in-store pharmacies at 7pm instead of 9pm
According to a survey by the National Community Pharmacists Association, more than three-quarters of pharmacies are having a “difficult time filling open positions,” resulting in long wait times for customers.
Walgreens responded by offering signing bonuses of up to $75,000 in some markets to recruit pharmacists.
Dry end of January
Will you participate in Dry January?
Your self-imposed abstinence from intoxicating drinks officially ends on the stroke of midnight on Tuesday.
Does that mean you’ll stay up late and party?
Or are you thinking of continuing your streak by starting “Dry February?”
While there have never been more articles, social media posts, and TV segments about the Dry January trend, fewer people attended this year.
According to a new Morning Consult poll, only 15 percent of US adults took part. It is down from 19% in 2022.
News gathering
- This is Green Comet Week. He’s not a new Marvel superhero, but a rampant ball of dust and frozen gas not seen in the night sky since the Ice Age some 50,000 years ago. It will not be visible from Earth again for more than a million years. The bright green comet will approach Earth on Wednesday. Some of us will be able to see it with the naked eye, but you’ll see better with binoculars or a telescope.
- Black History Month starts on Wednesday.
- This week we will mark Groundhog Day. It’s Thursday.
- There are no major football games this weekend, unless you count the NFL’s Pro Bowl. It’s this Sunday at 2pm in Vegas.
One way to make money
Who says the American entrepreneurial spirit is dead?
Last week, I mentioned in this commercial how Splash Mountain, one of Disney World’s most iconic attractions, was closing.
You can now buy authentic “Unfiltered Splash Mountain Water” on eBay.
Multiple sellers on the e-commerce site sell “real Splash Mountain water” for $25 to $1,000. Traders say the water was collected during the attraction’s last ride.
Splash Mountain may be gone forever, but its water can now live forever in a small vial on your office shelf.
Can there be a better conversation starter with your co-workers?
One ginger after another
It was great to see many of you at the Plaza Library last week when we brought together the four immediate mayors of Kansas City for the first time.
I’m not saying he enjoyed going to a comedy club, but he had more than his fair share of feisty one-liners, politically skewed one-liners and one-liners.
We are putting the show together for broadcast this week.
If you missed seeing Emanuel Cleaver, Sly James, Kay Barnes and Mark Funkhouser on stage, you can watch them from the comfort of your couch this Friday at 7:30pm on Kansas City PBS.
Nick Haines tracks the week’s biggest impact local news on “Kansas City Week in Review,” Fridays at 7:30 p.m. on Kansas City PBS.
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