Nick’s Picks | Abortion Ban, Death Penalty, Solar Energy, and More … Preparing you for the week ahead, before it happens…
Published December 2nd, 2024 at 1:00 PM
Above image credit: People at a election night watch party react after an abortion rights amendment to the Missouri constitution passed Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)New Missouri Abortion Amendment Takes Effect
Missouri’s near-total ban on abortion officially comes to an end this week.
It follows last month’s voter approval of Amendment 3, which enshrines the right to an abortion in the state Constitution.
Its provisions take effect on Thursday.
That’s when Planned Parenthood says it will open three temporary abortion clinics in St. Louis, Columbia, and in Midtown Kansas City.
But the women’s health provider is facing pushback from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey who says he will continue to enforce abortion laws not explicitly covered by the amendment’s language.
Those include parental consent requirements, 72-hour wait times, and mandatory reporting of all pregnancy terminations to state officials.
A Missouri judge has set a hearing on Wednesday to determine which abortion restrictions can remain in place and which were superseded by the November vote.
Ex-KCK Cop Stands Trial for Allegedly Terrorizing Black Community for Decades
[Editor’s Note: The judge dismissed the case Monday morning after Roger Golubski died of an apparent suicide prior to the start of the trial. The judge had issued an arrest warrant after Golubski failed to appear in court. Media reports said police responded to his Edwardsville, Kansas, home after a neighbor called 911 to report a gunshot. Officers found “a deceased male on the back porch who sustained a fatal gunshot wound,” according to a statement by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. As of Tuesday morning, the KBI said it would conduct an autopsy and continue to investigate.
A former KCK homicide detective finally stands trial this week.
In what has been a high-profile case, Roger Golubski is accused of raping women, kidnapping victims and running a sex-trafficking operation.
He appears in Federal Court in Topeka today.
Golubski maintains his innocence. He retired from the KCK police department in 2010.
Missouri Death Penalty Back in the Headlines
Unless the governor steps in at the last moment, the state of Missouri is set to execute another prisoner on Tuesday night.
Christopher Collings would be the fourth inmate in Missouri to die by lethal injection this year.
He was sentenced in the killing of a 9-year-old boy in southwest Missouri in 2007.
Missouri is now the nation’s third leading death penalty state, following Alabama and Texas.
Hereford House Case Heads to Court
The Hereford House restaurant worker accused of contaminating food with bodily fluids is heading to court on Friday.
21-year-old Jace Christian Hanson is facing 33 felony charges.
The Leawood steakhouse has since closed.
More than 60 customers have filed lawsuits against Hereford House, claiming they got sick after eating at the restaurant during the time Hanson was employed there.
World Cup Transit Plans
We’re now 18 months out from the World Cup, and anxiety is setting in about how Kansas City will move thousands of visitors from the airport to their hotels. Never mind, to the games at Arrowhead Stadium.
At one time, Kansas City talked about adding a rail link from KCI to downtown. But that idea went nowhere.
Now, the City Council is set to meet this week to consider other options, including a new express bus service line that would connect the airport to downtown.
The issue tops the agenda of Wednesday’s Transportation Committee meeting at City Hall.
Will Jackson County be Forced to Return $70 Million to Feds?
Time is running out in Jackson County to figure out how to spend $70 million in leftover Covid cash from the federal government.
If the county doesn’t spend the money by December 31, they’ll be forced to return the windfall to Uncle Sam.
The money has been caught up in a clash between lawmakers and County Executive Frank White who have different ideas about how the cash should be spent.
The issue is set to come to a head this afternoon in the county’s legislative chambers.
Greenlighting one of the Largest Solar Farms in the U.S.
They’ve certainly talked about it a lot … now Kansas City is finally ready to greenlight one of the largest solar farms in the United States.
Three years after it was first proposed, the Kansas City Council is set to take the next steps this week on building a 2,000-acre solar power project next to KCI airport.
At full capacity, it would power the homes of up to 70,000 residential customers a year.
The city wants to move fast. It wants a demonstration project in place that could be visible to airplane travelers arriving in Kansas City for the World Cup.
A number of obstacles have thwarted the plan, including concern that glare from the solar panels would be a hazard for pilots and air traffic controllers.
Breaking Ground on Riverfront
The long-neglected Kansas City riverfront is about to get a big shot in the arm.
Crews will officially break ground today on a $1 billion development next to the new CPKC Stadium.
It will add housing, restaurants, shops, and new entertainment options around Berkley Riverfront Park. It will open in 2026.
4 National and Global Stories Topping the Headlines
- Shopaholics Unite: It’s Cyber Monday, the biggest shopping day of the year.
- Count Continues: It’s a month after Election Day and remarkably the votes are still being counted. One Congressional seat in California still hasn’t been called. A winner is expected to be declared this week.
- Pardon Pushback: Congress returns to work today after an extended Thanksgiving holiday break. Topping the talk around the Washington water cooler is expected to be President Biden’s stunning decision Sunday to pardon his son Hunter, something he repeatedly said he wouldn’t do.
- Rising from the Ashes: Notre Dame Cathedral will finally reopen to visitors on Saturday, five years after fire gutted the Paris landmark.
Now that the college football season is finally over, get ready for “Bowl Selection Day.”
On Sunday, Mizzou, and K-State will find out whether they’ve snagged a prestigious bowl game invitation or been relegated to a less glamorous postseason matchup.
With a 5-7 record, including a 45-17 loss to Baylor on Saturday, KU is ineligible for a bowl bid.
That deflated the hopes of some commentators for a KU-Mizzou bowl matchup.
It’s never happened before. In fact, the border rivals haven’t met on the gridiron since 2011, Mizzou’s final year in the Big 12 before leaving for the SEC.
- The Nutcracker begins its holiday run at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts on Friday. It’s the KC’s Ballet’s biggest moneymaker of the year.
- Comedian Sarah Silverman is in town. She takes the stage at the Midland Theater on Thursday night.
- Be sure to pack your earbuds, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra rocks T-Mobile Center on Saturday.
- And the Chiefs host the Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. (Game time: 7:20 p.m.)
Nick Haines tracks the week’s most impactful local news stories on Week in Review, Friday nights at 7:30 pm on Kansas City PBS. This Friday, we pick apart the election results and examine what happens now.