Nick’s Picks | Chiefs Dominate Busy News Week Ahead Your News Forecast

If you ever wanted to be on television, head to your local Rally House this week.  

You can bet local news crews are going to be camped out in the store’s parking lot so they can tell you how Kansas City Chiefs shirts, scarves and hats are just flying off the shelves.  

Also, get ready for stories on local barber shops seeing a “major uptick” in kids wanting Patrick Mahomes-style cuts and local bakeries swamped with orders for Chiefs cookies. 

Make no mistake, the Chiefs are going to be the biggest news story in town this week, just ahead of the AFC Championship game. 

The Chiefs host the Cincinnati Bengals at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. Game time is 5:30 p.m. 

If you listen enough to sports radio, you’ll learn that no team has had more success against the Chiefs over the past two seasons than the Bengals. They’ve played three times, and the Bengals have won them all.  

And Mahomes’ new ankle injury is expected to be an incessantly talked about storyline this week. 

If Kansas City wins Sunday’s game they will be officially returning to the Super Bowl. The Chiefs would play the winner of this weekend’s other match-up between San Francisco and Philadelphia. 

Super Bowl Sunday is February 12. Football’s biggest game will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.  

More Snow 

It’s not going to shut down Kansas City, but get ready for more snow this week.  

The National Weather Service says the metro can expect around an inch of snow, starting Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Higher snowfall amounts are expected in surrounding areas.  

The weather service expects some disruption to your Wednesday morning commute. 

Kelly in the Spotlight 

It’s finally happening. 

Two weeks later than advertised, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly will finally deliver her State of the State address on Tuesday. 

Earlier this month, Kelly hit the pause button on the annual speech after coming down with COVID. Her office now claims it was a “false positive test” and she was more likely suffering from a cold. 

The Democratic governor is expected to focus on economic issues in Tuesday’s address, which she will make before a joint session of the legislature in Topeka. 

Kelly is currently traveling around the state on a self-described “axe the tax” tour that calls for the immediate elimination of the sales tax on food. Currently, it’s slowly being phased out over multiple years, so a lot of grocery shoppers aren’t seeing much of a difference. 

She wants to eliminate the sales tax on diapers and feminine hygiene products. Items like Pampers and Tampax are currently taxed at the same rate as luxury goods, such as watches and smartphones. 

And Kelly also wants to join Missouri in providing a “back to school” sales tax holiday so parents can get a break on children’s clothing, computers and classroom supplies.  

Kelly is also trying to help seniors by eliminating the tax on the first $100,000 of Social Security payments. 

Kelly will deliver her State of the State address in the Kansas Statehouse this Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. 

Catching Up

Roe v. Wade Anniversary 

Over the weekend, America marked the 50^th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. In the nine months since the Supreme Court overturned that landmark ruling, the issue remains far from settled on both sides of our state line. 

This week, Missouri lawmakers will debate a bill making it tougher to place issues on the ballot. It’s an attempt to block what is likely to be a new citizen petition effort to legalize abortion. 

Meanwhile, in Kansas, hearings are expected this week on a bill that would give local governments the right to ban abortions.  

It’s considered a legal workaround after Kansas voters rejected new abortion restrictions last year. 

It’s a strategy being employed in several other states. Five towns in Nebraska voted to ban abortion within their city limits in November.  

Lunar New Year 

It’s the Lunar New Year and we’re ushering in The Year of the Rabbit. In Chinese culture, the rabbit is a symbol of peace, hope and prosperity. 

But this year’s celebrations have been marred by tragedy. 

Ten people were killed and 10 others hospitalized over the weekend in a mass shooting at a Lunar New Year party just outside of Los Angeles. It happened at a ballroom in the majority Asian community of Monterey Park.  

The gruesome headlines are certain to weigh heavily on thousands of Asian Americans families in Kansas City as they host their own celebrations this week.  

A large Lunar New Year festival at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is still scheduled to go on as planned. 

The free community event is this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  

You can sample traditional Asian foods, take calligraphy and origami lessons or kick back and enjoy a full day of dance and musical performances.  

4-Day Week 

If you were skeptical about plans in Independence to start a four-day school week, it seems to be working for them.  

The district has just reported that teacher applications have skyrocketed 456% since last month’s vote. 

Now school officials in St. Joseph and Lawrence say they’re considering a similar move. 

Independence won’t officially drop Mondays from the schedule until the new school year this fall. 

Taxing Time 

Today marks the official start of tax season. The Internal Revenue Service starts accepting tax returns today. And in case you weren’t excited enough — many of us will probably see a lower refund this year as several COVID-era tax breaks expire. 

Kansas City has also changed its rules so it will now be harder for you to claim a rebate on the city’s earnings tax. 

And if you haven’t already got an accountant to look over your W-2s, good luck now finding one. According to the Wall Street Journal, there’s a national shortage of accountants and some of the big national firms are being forced to look overseas for workers. According to the newspaper, more than 300,000 accountants and auditors have quit in the last two years. 

Move Over Harry 

Prince Harry’s new tell-all book, “Spare,” is still dominating the non-fiction best-seller list, but that was before former Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo decided to add the word “author” to his resume. 

This Tuesday, Trump’s former CIA director and secretary of state releases his new book, “Never Give an Inch.”  

The Washington Post says, “few politicians have made their designs on running for president more obvious than Pompeo.”  

The former Wichita-based representative ranked seventh on the newspaper’s most likely Republican nominee list. 

Keep an eye on the reception Pompeo’s book receives. It will be an important marker of whether he opts in or out of a White House run. 

National News 

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is this Friday. 

It’s Oscar nomination week. Nominations for the Academy Awards will be revealed on Tuesday. “Elvis,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “The Fabelmans” and a new German remake of “All Quiet on the Western Front” are expected to rack up the most nominations. 

It’s a big birthday today for one of America’s most iconic TV shows. In a little pop culture trivia for you, today marks the 40th anniversary of “The A-Team” first appearing on America’s TV screens. Just as remarkably, the action-adventure series is still on television. It’s now running in syndication almost every night of the week on MeTV.  

One of Disneyworld’s most iconic rides closes today. Splash Mountain had come under fire for perpetuating “racial stereotypes.”  The attraction opened more than 30 years ago and had remained one of the Magic Kingdom’s most popular rides. 

Four Mayors 

It’s never happened. 

For the first time ever, the four immediate past mayors of Kansas City will share the same stage this week. 

Join Kansas City PBS as we partner with the Kansas City Public Library and the Citizens Association as we bring you Emanuel Cleaver, Kay Barnes, Mark Funkhouser and Sly James. 

It’s all happening this Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Country Club Plaza branch. 

And apparently, they have a terrific moderator. Me.  

Just ahead of the April mayoral and City Council elections, we’re going to be lifting the hood on City Hall and the myths and realities of running the city. And we’ll be taking your questions. 

You can reserve your seat to this free program at https://kclibrary.org/signature-events/hindsight-insight-four-former-mayors-appraise-kc 

We will be recording this event for later broadcast. 

Nick Haines tracks the week’s most impactful local news stories on “Kansas City Week in Review,” Friday at 7:30 p.m. on Kansas City PBS.