By Ross Balano, Midwest Voices Columnist 2008
I read the front page article in The Kansas City Star today about the polar bears being added to the endangered species list as threatened and it says, “The bear population across the Arctic doubled from about 12,000 to 25,000 since 1960.”
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. It’s the first step toward reversing the animals’ downward spiral to potential extinction.
Fleeing in a car, Randy Ralstin killed an innocent driver in 1999.
That should have disqualified him from receiving a driver’s license for a very long period of time. But Ralstin got a license on the day he was paroled after serving seven years in prison.
By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist
The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles has found a way to bring charges against the suburban St. Louis mom who helped create a fake MySpace boyfriend for an emotionally unstable teenager.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Next week is shaping up as an important one in Mayor Mark Funkhouser's effort to build consensus behind regional light rail.
By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist
The usual suspects erupted with predictable outrage over the California Supreme Court's ruling striking down a ban on same-sex marriage.
By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Kathleen Sebelius was raised to be a Catholic and elected to be a governor. A church leader is turning that into an uncomfortable intersection.
By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist
John McCain's speech in Ohio today has a disconcerting "Mission Accomplished" echo.
“By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom,’’ the Republican almost-nominee said at the Columbus Convention Center. “The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension."
Lenexa residents are already pleased with their roads and parks. In fact, their satisfaction scores are the highest of all those reported in recent metropolitan-area surveys.
But Lenexa officials say it will take more money to properly maintain the city’s extensive road system and to improve the growing parks system.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Sewers and light rail are two of the hottest topics of civic interest in the spring of 2008. And deservedly so.
Kansas Citians need to spend more than $2 billion to fix their wastewater system. The federal Environmental Protection Agency is making the city take care of a problem that dumps untreated sewage in area waterways during heavy rains.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Things we learned while reading what the City Council members told The Star about their first year in office:
-- Sharon Sanders Brooks didn't know when she ran for office in early 2007 that the city had such incredible financial problems. Huh?
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
If convicted of his latest charges, Randy A. Ralstin of Lee's Summit needs to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Let me explain.
Roger Merryfield, Midwest Voices Panelist 2008
When confronted by a known arsonist pouring gasoline over you, should you:
1) Apologize for everything you may have ever done to provoke him into this perfectly understandable and justifiable act of reprisal against you?
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Mayor Mark Funkhouser and Clay Chastain agree on one thing: They think KC's starter light-rail line is a dumb idea. They are being shortsighted by saying so.
The housing bill passed recently by the U.S. House has a few good points. The program it creates would be voluntary. It would tighten regulation of the mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — something Congress has resisted for far too long.
For years, some of this area’s most valuable museums have sought extra public funds to sustain and improve their facilities. Elected officials have balked, citing other priorities and tight budgets.
By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Actor and comedian Bill Cosby made headlines in 2004 when he slammed “some” black people for how they talk and for squandering opportunities.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Boiled down, I'm a happy Sprint customer, the kind that Sprint/Nextel CEO Dan Hesse says he desperately needs to keep the company alive. But I could have jumped off the bandwagon several times.
By Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Or; "Your great grandfather was as slow, actually slower to learn English, and "become American" than many immigrants today.
An assertion often heard in immigration conversations; some people are understandably so far removed their own immigrant ancestors they confuse their own family history; believing their ancestors arrived speaking perfect English, ready to completely separate from the customs and culture of their native lands.
By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Presidential campaigns have a way of creating new language (swiftboating) or elevating obscure phrases.
This year's winner, so far, is "under the bus."
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
The world of highly paid CEOs in KC isn't at all diverse. In fact, it's all men when it comes to the region's top 50 publicly held companies.
By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board
Jon Wefald has earned the victory lap he'll be taking in his final year as K-State's president.
The quirky leader has turned a sleepy land grant university into an academic, athletic and economic powerhouse. And he's done it without pretension. Wefald is as comfortable mingling with the university's groundskeepers as with leaders in Topeka and Washington.
While some await Fidel Castor's demise; another telling thing has occured for Florida, and the nation politically.
The sunny state_long home to an active Cuban-Republican population_now has more Latinos registered Democrats, than there are those registered as Republicans.
Once again nature’s violent side has been unleashed on communities and rural areas, causing heart-breaking destruction and deaths in the nation’s midsection.
Fifteen persons died when tornadoes ripped through three Missouri counties on Saturday night, and more died in Oklahoma and Georgia. Several others are critically injured.
A recent study by the Rand Corp. concludes that about 33 percent of troops who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan returned with mental health problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury.
Looking out for its bottom line, Reynolds American Inc. poured more than $220,000 into an attempt to defeat a proposed smoke-free ordinance for Kansas City in April.
Fortunately, voters approved the measure, which will ban smoking in all bars and restaurants starting in early June.
Missouri lawmakers last week finished work on a state budget that will lead to hard times. State spending will increase at a faster rate than tax collections are expected to grow.
One watchdog, the Missouri Budget Project, estimates that the state will be nearly $500 million in the red by 2010.
By Laura Scott, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Twelve elderly nuns were turned away from the polls in Indiana last week because they lacked photo IDs, now required by Indiana law to vote. None of the nuns drives, and they didn’t have up-to-date driver’s licenses.
By Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
“A lady always knows when to leave the party.” Or so my mother used to say. It’s time for Hillary Clinton to take a tip and leave — not the party, of course, but the presidential race.
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Updated Tuesday with corrected information.
Current sales-tax rates range from 8.475 percent in Raymore down to 6.850 percent in Blue Springs. But with many sales-tax votes pending, the rankings of tax rates in 22 local cities could change dramatically.
