KC Week in Review
November 11, 2011

Adding toll booths to I-70 in Missouri...a big thumbs up vote for the Zoo...Renaming the sports stadiums...MU quits Big 12...and the exodus of top leaders from KCMO Schools.

THIS WEEK: Friday, November 11th 2011 @ 7:30 pm
(Rebroadcast Sunday @ 11am)

ZOO TAX PASSES: By overwhelming margins voters say YES to the ZOO… 70% say yes in Jackson County to the eighth of a cent sales tax hike, though in adjoining Clay County it only narrowly passes. But many people expected it to fail, saying this is the wrong time to be asking cash strapped tax payers for more money. What does this election tell us about the views of voters even in what we’re told is a very sour economy?

LIBERTY SCHOOLS: How come the zoo tax passes but in Liberty voters turn down a measure to upgrade schools?

SPORTS STADIUM NAMING RIGHTS: Is Kauffman Stadium about to change to Arvest Bank Park? Arrowhead to Google Stadium? We dissect the growing speculation about corporate name changes at the Truman Sports Complex.

MU OFFICIALLY LEAVES BIG 12: If you don’t follow college sports, why should you care? What is the impact on Kansas City?

SANDERS STATE OF THE COUNTY: Lowering the cost of government, avoiding controversy…Is it really all “peaches and cream” in Jackson County? Is Sanders an elected leader who’s really doing it right or is there simply less attention being paid to Jackson County government these days?

KCMO SCHOOL DISTRICT EXODUS: Less than two weeks after the state education commissioner asks members of the KCMO School Board to resign, three top district chiefs abruptly quit. Heads of the department of finance, academics and curriculum resign and join former KC superintendent John Covington in Detroit.

MoDOT TO ASK FOR TOLL BOOTHS ON I-70: It’s come up before… but the situation has never been more desperate than it is now. Missouri Highway officials out of money for big, new road projects say they’ve run out of options…they have no choice but to go to Missouri lawmakers and ask for the authority to set up tolls on I-70 as a way to fund overhauling the highway from Kansas City to St. Louis. The cost of rehabbing and expanding I-70 across the state has been estimated at $3.5 billion to $4 billion.


THIS WEEK’S NEWS REVIEWERS:

Steve Kraske
KC Star/KCUR
Chris Hernandez
NBC Action News
Mary Sanchez
Kansas City Star
Fred Logan
Business Journal Columnist