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U.S. Figure Skating Championships back in K.C.
The 2017 U.S. Figure Skating Championships will be held in Kansas City. The U.S. Figure Skating Association announced its choice Wednesday. It will be the first nationals staged in Kansas City since 1985, when Brian Boitano won the first of four straight U.S. crowns.
Next year’s nationals will be held in St. Paul, Minn., from Jan. 15-24.
According to a tweet from SportsBusinessNews’ Howard Bloom, the NHL plans to add four cities by 2017 with teams playing in Las Vegas, Seattle, Toronto and Quebec City.
After Kansas City opened Sprint Center, they’ve tried to attract the NHL by hosting preseason games. The last game was on Sept. 27, 2011 before the Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins played in front of a sellout crowd.
If this comes to fruition, Vegas will land its first major league professional sports organization. Seattle has always drawn interest from the NHL. Toronto, home to the Maple Leafs, are the highest grossing team. Canada’s second biggest city could certainly maintain a second team. Quebec City, who lost the Nordiques to Colorado, is opening a brand new arena in 2015.
In late 2011, I had the chance to talk with Bernie Federko, longtime Blues player and now television commentator on the broadcasts. I asked him if he believed Kansas City would ever get another NHL franchise? (The Kansas City Scouts played two seasons at Kemper Arena from 74-76 before becoming the Colorado Rockies…now the New Jersey Devils).
Federko said he didn’t see that happening. He said there wasn’t enough of a grass roots fan base where the sport could grow. He pointed to the youth hockey leagues in St. Louis as an example of how a fan base will continue to grow in the St. Louis area. Kansas City, not having a foundation to build on, would make it unattractive to the NHL.
Hockey on the minor league level has thrived in Independence with the Missouri Mavericks. I get Quebec and Toronto. Those cities can certainly support hockey. The appeal for Vegas is that it could draw a lot of out of town fans who want to watch their hockey team play in the middle of winter, plus take in the sights around Vegas as a vacation. Seattle is the wild card in all of this. That city last the Super Sonics…could they sustain an NHL team?
Kansas City is no longer in the running to be the site of the 2016 Republican National Convention.
The list of potential sites had been narrowed to four cities a month ago but that list has been trimmed again, and Kansas City didn’t make the cut. The finalists are Cleveland, Ohio and Dallas, Texas.
One of the items Governor Jay Nixon (D) announced Tuesday would be withheld in the budget for the fiscal year that starts Tuesday is $5-million dollars to help Kansas City land that convention.
Kansas City last hosted a national political party convention in 1976.
The Jackson County Prosecutor has announced 18 felony charges stemming from 9 shooting incidents on highways in the Kansas City area against 27-year-old Mohammed Pedro Whitaker of Grandview.
Mohammed Pedro Whitaker (photo courtesy, KSSZ in Columbia)
Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has filed 9 counts of shooting into a vehicle and 9 counts of armed criminal action against Whitaker. Whitaker could face life in prison if convicted.
Peters Baker says more charges could be filed later.
Three people sustained non-life-threatening wounds in the shootings that began March 8. Authorities believe 12 shootings are related, mostly in Kansas City but other happened in Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs and Leawood.
Whitaker is a 2004 graduate of Moberly Senior High School and a former Columbia resident.
KWIX in Moberly and KSSZ in Columbia contributed to this report
Kansas City was the big winner. The NCAA announced site selections for 82 championships including prelim and final rounds for 2014-2018. Kansas City has the most selected site with 14, with Division II sports coming out strong. The MIAA Conference in partnership with the KC City Sports Commission and Foundation has been selected to host both the NCAA Division II Football and Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships. Those 14 selections were the most of any city or metropolitan area in the country according to the NCAA.
Kansas City will host the NCAA Division II Football Championship beginning in 2014 at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan. through the 2017 season. The Division II Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships will be played at Swope Park Soccer Village in Kansas City, Mo. during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
Prior to its move to Kansas City, the NCAA Division II Football Championship was played for the last 26 seasons at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Ala. This could be a big advantage for teams like Northwest Missouri State, Missouri Western, big D-II football progams, because the MIAA has sent a team to seven of the last ten national championship games.
Below is a list of sites in Missouri that will be hosting NCAA championship events.
W-Bowling
Bowling Championship Tropicana Lanes / St. Louis, MO April 9-11, 2015 Central Missouri and St. Louis Sports Commission
Championship Tropicana Lanes / St. Louis, MO April 12-14, 2018 Central Missouri and St. Louis Sports Commission
W-Gymnastics
Championship Chaifetz Arena / St. Louis, MO April 14-16, 2017 Missouri and the St. Louis Sports Commission
Championship Chaifetz Arena / St. Louis, MO April 20-22, 2018 Missouri and the St. Louis Sports Commission
W-Hockey
Frozen Four Family Arena / St. Charles, MO March 17-19, 2017 Lindenwood and St. Louis Sports Commission
M-Soccer
College Cup Sporting Park / Kansas City, MO Dec. 11-13, 2015 UMKC and Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation
W-Volleyball
Championship Sprint Center / Kansas City, MO Dec. 14-16, 2017 UMKC, Kansas and Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation
Wrestling
Wrestling Championship Scottrade Center / St. Louis, MO March 19-21, 2015 Missouri and the St. Louis Sports Commission
Championship Scottrade Center / St. Louis, MO March 16-18, 2017 Missouri and the St. Louis Sports Commission
D-II men’s and women’s x-country
Central Regional MSSU Cross Country Course / 2014 season /Joplin, Mo. Missouri Southern State
D-II football
Football Championship Sporting Park /Kansas City, Kan. Dec. 20, 2014 /MIAA Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation
Football Championship Sporting Park / Kansas City, Kan. Dec. 19, 2015 /MIAA Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation
Football Championship Sporting Park / Kansas City, Kan. Dec. 17, 2016 / MIAA Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation
Football Championship Sporting Park /Kansas City, Kan. Dec. 16, 2017 /M IAA Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation
D-II men’s and women’s soccer
Championship Swope Park /Kansas City, Mo. Dec. 1-3, 2016 /Rockhurst, MIAA Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation
Championship Swope Park /Kansas City, Mo. Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2017 /Rockhurst, MIAA Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation
Governor Jay Nixon has outlined his plan to end the shuffling of jobs across the Missouri-Kansas Border in pursuit of incentives meant for the creation of new jobs.
Governor Jay Nixon
Step one is for he and his counterpart, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, to put moratoriums on incentives in the Kansas City region. Then he wants both legislature to make those permanent.
A moratorium on discretionary programs could include Community Development Block Grants, the BUILD program, training funds, and the majority of programs under Missouri Works.
Nixon tells Missourinet, “Ultimately we’re going to need the legislature to step up with us to make sure that we’re using the economic development dollars as efficiently and effectively as possible, getting a little more discretion in some of these deals where they are looked at for jobs created in the region, not just jobs moved from one side of the state line to the other.”
He also proposes encouraging local officials in the region to end the use of local tax dollars in “similarly inefficient and counterproductive ways.” Finally, he says, the two states should work together to leverage combined resources to promote the Kansas City region.
Republicans reacted to the Governor’s speech by calling it a “side show,” and accusing him of seeking a power grab.
Senator Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City) says he and other local leaders were “shocked” at the speech and questioned the Governor’s claim that he’s been working on issue for more than a year.
Senator Ryan Silvey (photo courtesy, Missouri Senate Communications)
“This is something that we’ve been working on for months locally in Kansas City with business leaders and legislators and this is the first we’ve heard from the Governor, and what he’s come out with is not something that really any of us are that supportive of.”
Silvey says the Governor’s plan would give him unilateral discretion over economic incentive programs in the region and inject politics into them, two things he thinks the legislature won’t support.
“What the Governor is saying is that he needs discretion,” Silvey says, “so that he can say, ‘Oh, well, this is in the region of the border and therefore even though you may have met the requirements for the incentive, I’m going to say no, you can’t have it.'”
Kansas’ Secretary of Commerce, Pat George, confirmed to the Kansas City Star that discussions have been underway for more than a year, but expressed surprise that Nixon made the speech alone rather than taking part in a joint announcement.
Governor Brownback issued a statement saying, “It’s good to hear that Governor Nixon is joining this discussion.”
Asked how close Nixon thinks an agreement is, he says his senior staff has been in discussions and he has met with Governor Brownback.
“I think we’re making solid progress.”
Some Missouri Democrats say Rep. Jeremy LaFaver (D-Kansas City) might lose his seat in the state legislator if charges of marijuana possession stick.
The Highway Patrol reports LaFaver was stopped in Boone County for failing to show up for traffic court in Moniteau County on charges of driving with expired plates and driving without insurance. During the stop, troopers found a marijuana pipe and a small quantity of marijuana.
LaFaver has issued the following statement:
“I made a serious mistake, I apologize for it, and I am prepared to face the consequences of my behavior,” he says. “I want to stress that I was not operating under the influence.”
“I deeply regret the embarrassment I have caused my family and the people of the 25th District by this incident,” he says. “I want to assure my constituents that I have received no special considerations, nor do I expect to be treated any differently than any other citizen in my situation.”
LaFaver was unsuccessful in passing a bill he sponsored this year that would have lowered penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He was elected to his first two-year term in November 2012.
Kansas City Mayor Sly James says gun control and violence was a hot topic at the annual conference of mayors. James has strong opinions on how to solve the problem … local control.
The Center for American Progress says Missouri ranks eighth in the nation for gun violence. The report contains some startling statistics, stating that in 2010, 62 children were killed with guns in Missouri, and had the fourth highest homicide rate with firearms in the nation. That’s 56 percent above the national average. Read the full report HERE. (Missouri statistics are on Page 57.)
Kansas City Mayor Sly James says taking illegal guns away is not an option.
“I’d like to have the ability to do something in our metropolitan area to address the issue of illegal guns, but our hands are tied,” he says. “State governments are always railing on the federal government for wanting to control them and they don’t want that, but then state governments turn around and do the same thing with cities.”
James says gun control policies must take different areas and demographics into consideration to be effective.
“This is not a one-size-fits-all situation,” he says. “What happens in Kansas City and St. Louis is not the same thing that happens in Joplin and Springfield. We need to address that. I don’t think it’s any great mystery as to why we have more homicides than other areas. It’s because we can’t do anything about the instruments used in those homicides.”
The Center for American Progress report says that in 2009, Missouri sold almost 600 guns that went on to be used in crimes in other states. And while it ranks Missouri eighth in the nation for gun violence, it puts our state fifth in the nation for aggravated assault with a firearm.
AUDIO: James talks with Jessica Machetta about gun violence (1:42)
AUDIO: Jessica Machetta reports (1:13)
Missouri has about 51 thousand men and women in the military. Sgt. Matthew Gardea of Kansas City is one of them. He says the military is a good option for young people who might not know what they want to do in life.
“If you’re considering the armed services, the best way to do it is go talk to a recruiter,” he says. “We’re here to give you a lot of information, a lot of people might think that we’re here to kidnap you in the middle of the night and ship you off to war, it’s not like that at all. We just want people to understand there’s a lot of choices out there. we have a lot benefits out there that can help you not only better yourself as a person, but better your station in life.”
Gardea, who has been active duty for eight years, says until he went and talked to a recruiter, he didn’t know about what the Army has to offer.
“I was unaware about all the benefits we receive,” he says. “Not just medical and dental, but being able to fly for free from to base to base — I’ve done that before. There’s also a lot of benefits in terms of credit applications, low interest loans for homes, businesses, for cars.”
And he says for him, its provided an opportunity to see the world.
“For the Army specifically, I’ve deployed three times to Iraq,” he says. “During my time, I’ve gone to several bases here in the U.S. I’ve also gone to Mexico, Germany, Ireland, I’ve been to Canada. The Army’s offered me a lot of opportunities to go places I never would have gone on my own.”
The latest numbers from the Department of Defense shows there are about 1.4 million members of the military throughout the U.S. A little more than half a million of them are in the Army. About 17 thousand Missourians are active duty in the Army. A total of 51,510 Missourians are enlisted in the four branches of the armed services, active and reserve, and the National Guard.
For those who might not see active duty in their future, the Army says the reserve might be more fitting, especially those who want to go to college with their peers.
“In the Army Reserve, you may qualify for up to a $15,000 enlistment bonus, get money for college and repayment of your student loan,” the Army says.
Getting in
The Pentagon reports it’s tougher to enlist than ever before, due to higher standards put in place by the military. A high-school diploma, good scores on entrance exams and a clean record are preferred, and because of the economic slump in recent years, there’s a lot more competition to get into the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. Pulling back our military forces in the Middle East has also meant Uncle Sam can afford to be more selective than before.
Reports show that nearly 50 percent of today’s youth are considered unfit for military service because either they failed to graduate high school, have previous drug or alcohol charges or other criminal offenses on their records. More than 35 percent of the candidates are disqualified because of medical conditions including obesity.
Government records indicate that in fiscal 2012, the military enlisted about 155,000 new recruits, the lowest on record since World War II.
For more, visit www.GoArmy.com
AUDIO: Jessica Machetta reports (1:07)
Harrison Ford was in Kansas City yesterday to help take part in a benefit and special viewing of the Jackie Robinson movie, “42,” which opens in theaters today. The benefit sold out shortly after tickets went on sale in late March and it raised approximately $10,000 for the Negro Baseball Museum and Kansas City Sports Commission.
Also attending the benefit was Robinson’s son, David–Brian Helgeland, who wrote and directed “42” and Andre Holland, who plays sportswriter Wendell Smith. The 70 year old Ford plays legendary Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, who recruited Robinson, breaking MLB’s color barrier in 1947. Before joining the majors as No. 42 with the Dodgers, Robinson played for and wore No. 5 for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues in 1945.
Check out the trailer. Read the reviews.
