Kansas City

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

So KC Mayor Mark Funkhouser thinks The Star has a vendetta against him? Talk about a short memory.

By Yael Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

The Gloria Squitiro sideshow at City Hall has serious consequences.

Sure, it’s politically entertaining to see Mayor Mark Funkhouser ardently defend his wife’s unpaid role in his office.

In the last few days, Mayor Mark Funkhouser has lashed out at the colleagues he needs to work with to effectively lead Kansas City government.

The mayor is upset that a council majority has proposed new rules that would require extra training for volunteers and restrict them from working with relatives. The rules would prohibit Funkhouser’s wife, Gloria Squitiro, from volunteering in his office.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Mayor Mark Funkhouser is making some stunningly ignorant attacks on his colleagues and undermining his staff -- all to defend the honor of his wife Gloria Squitiro and her continued daily work in his office.

Nina Hogue lived in her car for nearly five months after she became homeless. Going without food regularly and having no safe place to put her head down were tough. She was only 18 years old — and alone.

I lived in a travel trailer in college, and I've lived in apartments that I never again want to see. But I've never been homeless. I've always had someplace to go to at night where I could close the door and feel safe. It's hard to imagine life without a place to call home.

By Laura Scott, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Carl DiCapo remembers vividly the woman he found sobbing loudly one day inside the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Mayor Mark Funkhouser is close to going off the political deep-end with his irresponsible behavior toward the people of Kansas City and the City Council, all in defense of his wife Gloria Squitiro.

Ah, strolling on the Country Club Plaza, past gorgeous statues, bubbling fountains and stunning shop windows. It’s a big piece of what makes Kansas City stand out, an area that thousands of residents and visitors enjoy every day.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Brilliant, simple and effective.

That's the best summation of City Council member Jan Marcason's effort to get Gloria Squitiro out of husband Mark Funkhouser's mayoral office.

By Matthew Palcher, Editorial Board Reader Adviser

It's repulsive that Kansas City has given a generous helping of tax breaks to developers in areas of our city that are not very "economically challenged," to be politically correct.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

UPDATE at 11 a.m.: With some Cathy Jolly comments later in the article.

Here's the upshot on bringing better police protection to KCI: Taxpayers lose and Aviation Director Mark VanLoh keeps his fiefdom of private police at the airport.

Gloria Squitiro’s defense in a lawsuit makes a compelling argument for why the wife of Kansas City’s mayor should give up her volunteer post at City Hall.

Squitiro and her attorneys contend she can’t be held liable for violating the rights of a former mayoral employee because Squitiro isn’t an employer as defined by state law.

Jeremiah Cameron, a longtime champion of improved educational opportunity in Kansas City, loved language and literature.

He grew up in an era when proper grammar — not the vagueness of modern text messaging and slang — was the norm.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

In a new memo on Tuesday, Mayor Mark Funkhouser once again rips into City Manager Wayne Cauthen, this time for Cauthen's "particularly disturbing" budget shenanigans.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

(Update: Mayoral spokesman Joe Miller wanted it made clear that the invitation to the coyote healing workshop was issued via an e-mail that is an offshoot of the Funkhouser campaign, not official city e-mail. The account below has been altered slightly to reflect that concern.)

Primaries for sheriff in the area’s two largest counties will be held Aug. 5.

The incumbent is the best choice in the Johnson County Republican election, while an experienced administrator deserves the nod in the Democratic race for an open post in Jackson County.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Talk about great theater with huge consequences.

A battle is under way at City Hall over who should provide security at Kansas City International Airport.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

First, The Woodlands dog and horse racing track announced plans Tuesday to shut down next month. Now the Las Vegas Sands Corp. has dropped out of the race to put a casino in Wyandotte County. Great news all around.

By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

A successful effort to revive Kansas City’s downtown and neighborhoods must first address more than a century of laws and practices designed to keep people fearful and separated.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Jan Marcason and other KC City Council members say they want a green sewer plan. They laud solutions like porous paving, rain gardens, green roofs, rain barrels and vegetative swales that carry water runoff in place of sewer pipes. But let's be realistic.

The re-greening of downtown Kansas City is off to an encouraging start, as we noted in The Star on Sunday. But further improvements are still needed.

One major challenge is to upgrade Grand Boulevard north of the freeway loop. Substantial progress has occurred in the last year as new trees, shrubs and other landscaping were placed at the Sprint Center and the Power & Light District.

Downtown Kansas City is becoming a greener place to live and work.

It’s not an urban forest — yet. But hundreds of trees have been planted downtown in the last 12 months. It’s a positive public-private effort, largely financed with Kansas City tax revenues and other funding from some businesses and the Downtown Council.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Mayor Mark Funkhouser once again is putting pressure on City Manager Wayne Cauthen. Now it's over Cauthen's inability to hire a new finance director -- nine months after the last one left over a disagreement with Cauthen.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

If Kansas Citians think Missouri's Department of Natural Resources is going to make sure KC's new $2.4 billion sewer-repair plan is full of truly "green solutions," think again.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Pssst, want to see Kansas City government in action? Want to see a charade? On Monday, they were the same thing.

City Council members made snap decisions, ignored the wishes of citizens groups, and held a private discussion (except for one nosy columnist) to make their final decision.

With first-class attractions, friendly smiles and a can-do spirit, Kansas City demonstrated in recent days that it can wow convention visitors.

Even while talk continues about subsidizing a 1,000-room hotel to entice large gatherings, Kansas City is doing very well in meeting the needs of more modest conventions.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

In a brief but strongly worded letter to City Manager Wayne Cauthen, Mayor Mark Funkhouser has told Cauthen to get on the stick and get KC police in charge of KCI security.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

The much-needed effort to replace KCI's private security force with KC's Police Department got started in earnest today. Mayor Mark Funkhouser and Police Chief Jim Corwin made the strongest comments.

By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Many pluses and minuses have surfaced in four seasons of living downtown.

A minus in the spring: The absence of birds loudly singing before sunrise. That sound was always a sign of life awakening from winter’s deep sleep. I loved it during 28 years of homeownership.