Nick’s Picks | Voting, Listening, Remembering and More …

Tuesday is Election Day

It may not be a pivotal national election year, but on Tuesday, Americans head to the ballot box to decide thousands of local races and issue questions.

• New York City is picking a new mayor. 
• Californians are voting on whether to redraw their political map to boost Democratic seats in Congress.
• Governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey are being viewed as an early referendum on President Donald Trump’s second term.
• Closer to home … mayoral races top the ballot in more than a dozen cities, including in Kansas City, Kansas, which is picking a replacement for Tyrone Garner, who has decided not to seek reelection.
• There are also some meaty issue questions on the ballot:
  • Jackson County voters are being asked to decide whether to elect its county assessor after property tax increases stirred public anger.
  • Independence voters are being asked whether to continue with a four-day school week.
  • And in Prairie Village, voters are being asked to toss their entire city government structure and start again.

America’s Longest Government Shutdown?

If no deal is struck in Washington by Tuesday night, we’ll be living through the longest government shutdown in American history.

Over the weekend, federal food aid stopped for 41 million Americans, including more than 800,000 people living in Kansas and Missouri. While a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to use contingency money to keep the benefits rolling, there’s no timeline for resuming funding.

Also this weekend … Kansas City’s 17 Head Start centers ran out of money. But instead of closing, we’ve now been told they’re going to try and keep the doors open, as long as they can, without federal cash.  Without them, thousands of low-income families will be scrambling to find alternative childcare options.

The next big shoe to drop is air travel.

Congress is likely to face increasing pressure to reopen the government as travel starts to spike ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Like other essential government workers, America’s 13,000 air traffic controllers are working without pay, and they’re increasingly calling in sick, causing delays in major airports.

What about here? At least for now, KCI officials insist they’re not witnessing a slowdown in Kansas City.

Hy-Vee Offering Free Meals for Food Aid Recipients

Scores of local churches and non-profits are stepping up to help food aid recipients caught up in the government shutdown. Now, corporate America is lending a hand.

Starting today, Hy-Vee is providing free kids’ meals from 4 to 7 p.m. at every location with a hot food counter. Eligible adults will get the same meal for $3.

Governor Kelly Brings ‘Listening Tour’ to KC

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is on a “statewide listening tour,” and it swings through Kansas City this week. Expect food aid, healthcare, and property taxes to be among the top issues up for discussion as the Democratic governor meets with residents in Kansas City, Kansas, and Leawood. Both meetings start at 6 p.m.

Tonight (Nov. 3): West Wyandotte Library Auditorium, 1737 N. 82nd St., Kansas City, KS 66112.

Wednesday: Leawood Community Center, 4800 Town Center Drive, Leawood, KS 66211

Last Week, Reviewed

T-Shirt or Sweater?

If you thought you were done with your air conditioner, Kansas City weather says, “I’ve got a surprise for you.”  Temperatures are expected to soar into the mid-70s on Tuesday, with more 70-degree weather later in the week.

The unusual November warm-up will mean the biggest question on many people’s minds will be: T-shirt or Sweater?

Trump at Supreme Court

Trump is expected to make history this week … as the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court.

The justices take up Trump’s tariffs on Wednesday as they consider whether he exceeded the president’s emergency power to regulate imports.

Flashback Milestone Moment …

Where were you 10 years ago today?

Let me jog your memory…

Most of the city was shut down, and schools were closed. But not because of a pandemic or a freak snowstorm… the Royals had just won the World Series.

10 years ago today was the Royals Victory Parade through downtown.

Similar scenes will be playing out in Los Angeles today, as the Dodgers parade through the city’s streets, as they become the first team in 25 years to win back-to-back World Series trophies.

The Titanic Sails Again

This week, Titanic, the world’s most famous ship, sails again, as Union Station recreates its doomed final voyage in “Titanic: An Immersive Journey.”

The new exhibition opens on Saturday. It launches 25 years after Union Station premiered its first Titanic exhibit.

Union Station leaders insist this one is very different.

Instead of just looking at artifacts from the sunken vessel, visitors will board the ship through a re-creation of the Southampton, England, dock from where it embarked on its final transatlantic crossing. And then, through tech magic, visitors will meet passengers and crew on the luxury liner that notoriously struck an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people back in 1912.

Christmas Comes Early to KCK

Wyandotte County gets the prize this year for the place that celebrates Christmas earlier than anyone else in the metro. This Friday is the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony outside Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.

This will be one of Garner’s last public events before he hands over the office keys to the winner of Tuesday’s mayoral contest between Christal Watson and Rose Mulvany Henry.

Ice in the Forecast?

Here’s another sign that the holiday season is underway…

The Crown Center Ice Terrace opens on Friday.

If you’re willing to get up early, you can skate for free from 6 am to 9 am. You’ll also get free coffee and hot chocolate. You’re also likely to get plenty of TV time. Every local television station ritually sends a camera to capture skaters and their most embarrassing moments falling on the ice.

College Hoops Returns

It’s officially pumpkin spice season. It’s also the official start of college basketball season.

All three of the region’s biggest universities are in action.

• The Kansas Jayhawks take on Green Bay in tonight’s season opener at Allen Field House (Game Time: 7 p.m.)
• K-State hosts the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in Manhattan. (Tipoff: 7:00 p.m. Tuesday)
• And Mizzou travels to Washington, D.C., to take on Howard tonight. (Game starts: 6 p.m.)

50 Years of Rainy Day Books

Despite doomsayer predictions of their demise, it seems independent bookstores have become one of the rare survivors of America’s love affair with online shopping.

This week, Kansas City’s granddaddy of all booksellers marks its 50^th birthday.

Rainy Day Books is celebrating the big 5-0 with an anniversary celebration at Unity Temple on the Plaza. Founder Vivien Jennings will relay the most memorable moments of the past 50 years with author and former Washington Post columnist David Van Drehle.

It’s this Tuesday at 7 p.m.

World’s Biggest BBQ Contest

It’s going to be smoking hot in Kansas City this week as the American World Series of BBQ returns. More than 450 teams from 11 countries will light up their grills and smokers for what is billed as the world’s largest BBQ contest.

This year’s event also includes BBQ sauce wrestling. It starts Friday at the Kansas Speedway.

Nick Haines  tracks Kansas City’s most impactful, confusing, and downright head-scratching local news stories on Week in Review, Fridays at 7:30 p.m. on Kansas City PBS.