Kansas City Week in Review: October 3, 2014

The clouds surrounding the U.S. Senate race finally cleared as a three-judge panel meeting in Topeka ruled that Democrats do not have to nominate a replacement candidate for Chad Taylor, who abruptly removed himself from the race last month. Hours later, a possible appeal was dropped and the state ordered local officials to print ballots and prepare voting machines. The end of the ballot dispute means Kansas voters now know their major choices in November: incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts and independent Greg Orman. We take a closer look at the implications. News reviewers Steve Kraske, KCUR/UMKC, Garrett Haake,  41 Action News and Dave Helling of the Kansas City Star also discuss the Kansas Governor’s race, the Kansas 3rd District Congressional race, transit activist Clay Chastain’s latest campaign and the Jo/KCATA bus merger.

Part two of this week’s program focuses on the issue of police and the mentally ill. In the first six months of this year, the Kansas City, Missouri police department took nearly 1300 calls regarding people who were suicidal. On average, that’s around seven calls per day. In a new local documentary, KCPT took a closer look at the growing role Kansas City police are now playing as they try pick up the pieces in a broken mental health system. We dissect the issue further on the program with Lost Minds filmmaker Michael Price, NAMI-KC, Executive Director Guyla Stidmon and KCMO City Councilman Scott Wagner.