Week in Review .

THIS WEEK: Friday, April 13th 2012 @ 7:30 pm
(Rebroadcast Sunday @ 11 am )

THE RESULTS ARE IN: It did take more than a week, but we finally know who actually is serving on the Kansas City Missouri School Board. After the votes for the write in candidates were tallied up, Airick Leonard West retained his seat and will remain as the board’s president. Duane Kelly lost his seat after 12 years. In all three new board members will be helping shape the future direction of the district.

GIVING MAYOR ROLE IN SCHOOL DISTRICT AFFAIRS: Newly reappointed school board president Airick Leonard West proposes a bold plan to radically reshape the board and give Mayor James a greater say in running the district. The board would shrink in size and elections would shift to August to attract more voters. But what difference would these changes make?

CLEAVER AND THE CAR WASH: What’s the big deal about Kansas City Congressman Emanuel Cleaver and a car wash he owns in Grandview? Why would taxpayers be on the hook for more than a million dollars to cover a bad loan on the business? How does this impact Cleaver’s political career?

MISSOURI GOVERNOR’S CANDIDATE: How willing is the public to overlook the personal financial problems experienced by political candidates and public officials? In the race for Missouri Governor, Dave Spence, the main Republican candidate trying to unseat Jay Nixon, is running on a simple platform: He’s a businessman, and Missouri is a business. But an examination of tax and finance records shows that his companies have been late paying property, personal property, manufacturers’ and other taxes totaling tens of thousands of dollars dating to 1995, and as recently as 2010. This is the same candidate who claimed on his campaign materials that he had a degree in economics but later acknowledged it was a degree in home economics. How are these latest revelations impacting his campaign?

COURTS ACROSS KANSAS SHUTTERED FRIDAY: This will affect thousands who need marriage licenses, protective orders and other day-to-day necessities of life. The entire court system is being shuttered because of a Kansas legislative impasse. And there are going to be more forced court closing days ahead. State lawmakers recently adjourned their regular session of the legislature in Topeka without approving a budget for the courts. Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss ordered Kansas courts shut down and 1,500 employees furloughed without pay. The Legislature doesn’t return for its wrap up session until April 25th where most of the important issues of the session still have to be resolved. What’s happening in Topeka that’s caused such an extreme measure? As lawmakers have now completed their regular session of the legislature, what has been accomplished? Aren’t most of the major issues of the session still unresolved?

NIXON IN BRAZIL: Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is off to Brazil this weekend. He’s departing with the first lady Saturday on a five-day trade mission to Sao Paulo to expand Missouri exports to the South American country. And we are told the travel costs are being covered by the Hawthorn Foundation, a nonprofit group funded and run by Missouri businesses that often finances gubernatorial trips related to economic development. We talked about what’s been accomplished in Kansas this session. Is there any major significant legislation that has passed in Missouri this year?

THIS WEEK’S NEWS REVIEWERS:

Steve Kraske
KC STAR/KCUR

Chris Hernandez
41 Action News

Eric Wesson
The Call

Dave Helling
Kansas City Star

***A NOTE FROM NICK:
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Thanks for watching Kansas City Week in Review.
Nick!