Nick’s Picks | Tax Day, Stadium Plans and Ransomware Attack Busy Week Ahead
Published April 15th, 2024 at 9:38 AM
Above image credit: "Kansas City Week in Review" host Nick Haines. (John McGrath | Flatland)Welcome to the most maligned day of the year. It’s Tax Day!
The deadline to file your federal and state taxes is 11:59 p.m.
If you haven’t started yet, don’t despair! You have until midnight to request an extension. The IRS estimates 19 million taxpayers will fill in the form asking for more time to get their documents in order.
Could you get some money back?
The average refund amount this year is $3,011, up nearly 5% from last year.
If you’re out and about today, dozens of stores and restaurants are rolling out freebies and Tax Day specials to lure you in.
Last Week, Reviewed
Stadium Tax Fallout
Speaking of taxes…
Two weeks after voters overwhelmingly rejected a sales tax to fund a new ballpark for the Kansas City Royals and improvements at Arrowhead Stadium, there’s been a remarkable silence over what happens next.
Could we finally get some answers this week?
Will Royals owner John Sherman officially end his timeout for “reflection?”
Jackson County Executive Frank White says he has a plan, but he’s not sharing it. Will he go public this week?
And what about Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas? He’s been so busy making appearances from Capitol Hill to Saturday’s Lionel Messi soccer match that he’s offered few details on what a future stadium plan could look like.
Will he break the stalemate this week?
Lucas is our newsmaker guest on “Week in Review” this Friday.
Catch the show on Kansas City PBS at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, or our rebroadcast Sunday at 11 am.
Parking Squeeze
One of the ongoing storylines of the stadium tax election was anxiety over parking.
How many people voted “no” to a downtown ballpark because they were worried about where they might park their vehicle?
But that anxiety is about to get worse this week as the city shuts down one of its largest and best placed garages.
The Barney Allis Plaza parking garage is set to close today after years of safety concerns.
The underground garage occupies a more than three-acre block at 12th and Central streets.
But the nearly 70-year-old structure is crumbling and is now set to be demolished.
While the city has plans to build a new parking garage in its space, it will only house about half as many vehicles. It’s set to reopen ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Jackson County Offices Remain Closed
Many critical Jackson County offices remain closed this week as the county scrambles to recover from a ransomware attack that was first reported on Election Day.
Now we’re informed those offices could remain closed through Tuesday.
We were told “bad actors” had apparently taken over the county’s computer systems, shutting down the assessment, tax collection and recorder of deeds offices and affecting everything from marriage licenses to county jail records.
Now some residents say the shutdown is stopping them from buying and selling homes in the county.
County Administrator Troy Schulte is blaming Russia for the viral attack.
Antisemitism Summit
Saturday marked the 10th anniversary of the Jewish Community Center shootings in Overland Park. Now a major summit on antisemitism is being held this week, featuring top leaders from the world of politics to sport.
Driving Out Darkness in the Heartland begins Tuesday at Rockhurst University.
Rashee Rice in Court
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is set to appear in court this week over his involvement in a multivehicle crash that injured at least seven people in Dallas.
Police clocked Rice driving 119 mph in a leased Lamborghini.
The Chiefs have yet to comment on the incident.
Banning Child Marriages
The Missouri House is expected to vote this week on a child marriage ban.
It would bar anyone under 18 years old from obtaining a marriage license. Current state law allows 16- and 17-year-olds to wed if they have parental consent.
The measure passed in the state Senate last week.
Abortion Back in the Spotlight
Last year, political analysts told us Republicans would start deemphasizing the issue of abortion to try and win over suburban women and independent voters.
But are we seeing any evidence of that strategy around here?
In Missouri this week, lawmakers will try to strip Planned Parenthood of state funding.
They’re also trying to block a proposed abortion rights amendment from becoming law. Debate continues this week on a measure ratcheting up the requirements for passing future constitutional changes. In addition to getting majority support, ballot questions would have to pass in a majority of the state’s congressional districts.
Meanwhile in Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly has just vetoed two abortion bills sent to her by the legislature, including one that imposes up to 25-year prison terms on anyone coercing a woman to have an abortion.
Kelly also vetoed a measure blocking doctors from performing gender transition surgeries on minors.
It sets up another veto override fight when lawmakers return to Topeka later this month.
In Other News…
- Former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial begins today.
- In Washington, the U.S. House will try again to pass a long-stalled wartime aid package for Israel and Ukraine.
- We’ll learn today whether the Kansas City Royals can do without Salvador Perez. The team’s star catcher was removed from Sunday’s game against the Mets after injuring his groin and hip in a collision at home plate. The Royals take on the White Sox tonight in Chicago.
- Get ready for another round of Caitlin Clark Fever. The Iowa superstar is expected to be the first overall pick in tonight’s WNBA draft in New York.
- Tuesday is Fountain Day when Kansas City ceremonially turns on its 48 publicly operated fountains.
- And Travis Kelce’s girlfriend drops her new album on Friday. “The Tortured Poets Department” is Taylor Swift’s 11th album.
Check the Skies
It felt like summer over the weekend.
But the National Weather Service says the big warmup has created an environment for some intense storms.
The local weather office is tracking three rounds of storms that could move through the metro starting tonight and ending late on Tuesday.
Hail and damaging winds are considered the main threat.
Just to add to the wacky weather cycle, temperatures will dip into the 30s this weekend.
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.
Since so much hype about a potential sale of Country Club Plaza to the Texas-based company has been given free-range in the press and airwaves, the current silence is DEAFINING. Will you probe this issue thoroughly on behalf of residents of KC? The meaningless responses from the “interested parties” are both bland and misleading. Since this is a “fire sale” there are many concerns about the ultimate costs to taxpayers. Selling to an out-of-state Corporate entity is fraught with cloudy issues – and the desires of residents and taxpayers have been totally shut out to date. Not a good course of strategy for this city as a whole. Flatland’s production of “Nichol’s Folly” held portents of “things that go bump in the night.” Let’s shed some light on thhis issue.