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THIS WEEK: Friday, May 17, 2013 @ 7:30 pm
(Rebroadcast Sunday @ 11 am )
Photo Credit: Gawker.Com

TERMINAL MAKEOVERS: You’ve been listening for months now to the debate over whether Kansas City should change the design of KCI airport from a three terminal to a one-terminal design. Well what’s been the experience in other cities that have splashed out lots of money on new airport makeovers? This week the Kansas City Star examined that issue and in every comparable city they examined, passenger traffic is down and so are aircraft departures.

CURFEW STALLED: Have plans for a 9pm year-round teen curfew in Kansas City fizzled out? A vote on the measure was delayed yet again at City Hall this week.

KCMO SCHOOL TAKEOVER: Missouri lawmakers this week drop on to the Governor’s desk legislation allowing an immediate takeover of the Kansas City, MO district. Will Governor Nixon sign the measure in to law? And what impact will it have on the beleaguered district?

GORDON PARKS: The parents of more than 200 elementary school children at a Kansas City charter school are forced to a find a new place to educate their kids this week. The Missouri State Department of Education is shutting down Gordon Parks Elementary School after 13 years due to low test scores.

LOCKED IN BASEMENT: The Jackson County Prosecutor’s office this week charge a local couple with keeping their 9-year-old girl locked in the basement for months because she lacked bladder control. Authorities say the 9 year old was sleeping on a mostly deflated air mattress near an exposed sewage pipe. An interior door leading to the basement was secured by a lock and chain and had been outfitted with an alarm that sounded when the door was opened.

AMTRAK: Is Kansas City about to lose its Amtrak rail service to St. Louis? The twice-a-day train is in jeopardy according to a story this week in the Kansas City Star. The issue taxpayers spend $1.5 billion a year to subsidize passenger train travel, and the federal government — weary of a four-decade effort to keep the company afloat — wants to move more of Amtrak’s costs onto states and riders. At a cost of $9,600 per ride to operate the train, Missouri taxpayers would be on the hook for $8.5 million a year.

LIBERTY HOSPITAL LAYS OFF 129 EMPLOYEES, BLAMES OBAMACARE: 129 workers at Liberty Hospital are getting their pink slips. They are being eliminated this week as part of an effort to reduce expenses by $20 million. Devastated employees including nurses and some senior managers left the hospital in tears after being told to collect their belongings.

GOOGLE EVERYWHERE: Gladstone, Grandview, Raytown, Shawnee, Olathe. Plus, Austin, TX and Provo, UT. The list keeps growing by the week. Are leaders in KCK and KCMO feeling they’ve lost their specialness now that the internet giant is inking “special” deals with all these other cities?

THIS WEEK’S NEWS REVIEWERS:

Lynn Horsley
Kansas City Star

Sam Zeff
KCPT Special Correspondent

Mary Sanchez
Kansas City Star

Dave Helling
Kansas City Star