Kansas City Star

St. Louis Rules, Kansas City Drools: A Response to the Kansas City Star

Here at RFT, we did a double take when we stumbled on a Kansas City Star headline this week that read, "KC is rising while St. Louis keeps falling." Then we actually read the column by Yael T. Abouhalkah, who argues that "Kansas City is superior to St. Louis." Really? We can't let this one go. I ... More >>

Kansas City Star Reporters Told to Duke it Out for Their Jobs

Newspaper layoffs. Not to be pun-y, but old news. The Post-Dispatch has been through this dance so many times. It's awful when it happens, but no one is surprised anymore even when the most loved and respected reporters are shown the door. Well apparently, the leadership at the Kansas City Star dec ... More >>

The Pros and Cons of "Local Control," a.k.a. Prop A

All right, Missourians! What should we do about "local control" of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, also known as Proposition A?Advocates of the measure insist that the current system of oversight -- under which the cops ultimately answer to a board appointed by the governor -- is a sha ... More >>

Ed Martin Won't Meet With Editorial Boards: A Rare (and Probably Smart) Move

So far this year, most candidates for statewide office have made the pilgrimage. They've stepped into the inner sanctums of the Post-Dispatch and The Kansas City Star. They pow-wowed with the editorial boards, fielded uncomfortable questions, asked for a kiss on the forehead.&nbs ... More >>

Anybody Need A Hand? Body Parts Fished Out of the Little Blue River

Last Monday a kayaker on the Little Blue River in Independence, Missouri, found something unusual in the water just north of E.R.D. Mize Road: a skeletonized human hand. Eight days later and ten miles downstream, the other shoe dropped. On Tuesday of this week, a shoe was found with what has been de ... More >>

Humberto Quintero "Slanty-Eye"-Bombs Bruce Chen Interview

The Kansas City Royals not only lost their weekend series against the Pirates, they gave up a little dignity as well. During his interview with Fox at the bottom of the fourth inning on Saturday, pitcher Bruce Chen was being mocked in the background by his fellow teammates. It was mostly harmless h ... More >>

UPDATE: Giving the Rush Bust All the Honor it Deserves

UPDATE May 22, 3 p.m.: Our plans have been foiled. ABC News reports that a 24-hour surveillance camera will be placed in front of the Rush bust. It is the only statue in the Hall of Famous Missourians to be so honored. ------- Despite the best efforts of House Democrats, the bust of Rush Limbaugh ... More >>

John Howard Now Has Two-and-a-Half Six Packs Worth of DUI Arrests

Branson man John Charles Howard, 50, has been charged with DUI fourteen times in Missouri and Kansas. Monday night in Overland Park, Kansas, he racked up lucky number 15. This one came with an increased degree of difficulty however: He was fleeing the scene of a suspected crime.

Rush Bust Unveiled in MO State Capitol Amid Lies, Secrecy and Bitterness

Oh, that we were in Jefferson City right now, under the capitol dome, on the House floor where, at this very minute, legislators are proudly unveiling the latest statue to grace the Hall of Famous Missourians: the long-awaited (by somebody, probably) bust of Rush Limbaugh. But wait! It looks as tho ... More >>

Kansas City Gets High-Tech Gunshot Detector -- Where's Ours?

Kansas City's Police Chief Darryl Forte plans to use some leftover federal grant money to install SpotShotter, a sophisticated rig of audio sensors placed strategically throughout the city that can detect a gunshot and then notify police -- within 25 seconds -- where the shot was fired. The system c ... More >>

And We Wonder Why Apes Throw Feces at Us?

​A pair of male lowland gorillas experienced a few hours of freedom yesterday at the Kansas City Zoo. According to the Kansas City Star, the 400-pound primates made their into a zookeepers' area where they were able to glimpse inside the enclosure that houses the zoo's female gorillas. "They were ... More >>

Tonight! Strippers, Live and On-Screen!

​Never doubt man's ability to adapt -- especially if the adaptation allows him to see naked ladies. Dick Snow, owner of Bazooka's strip club in Kansas City, has finagled his way around Missouri's law that prohibits anyone from being fully nude in a strip club.(It seems so crazy when you see it in ... More >>

Tobacco Tax Campaign Has Become a Pile-On

Image viaLotta butts in this campaign​Right now, all kinds of folks are clamoring for an increase in Missouri's tobacco tax -- at 17 cents per pack, the lowest in the nation. Yet so far, nobody's pulling in exactly the same direction.   Yesterday, state Representative Mary Still, a Democ ... More >>

Dems Demand Explanation from Peter Kinder

The Lt. Gov is allegedly so bad, Werner Herzog should make a movie about him!​Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder still hasn't gotten back to us with any sort of denial, rebuttal or explanation for the allegations coming from ex-stripper Tammy Chapman, who told Daily RFT that the Republican offered t ... More >>

Five-Year-Old Girl Drowns St. Louis Toddler in Kansas City; Wanted Baby to Stop Crying

Image via Kansas City StarJermane Johnson Jr.​Authorities in Kansas City now believe that a five-year-old girl intentionally drowned an 18-month-old boy last week in an effort to stop him from crying. The victim, Jermane Johnson of St. Louis, had been staying with relatives in Kansas City for seve ... More >>

Kansas City Star Disses St. Louis Prior to Weekend Cardinals/Royals Series

That smell? Kansas Shitty just farted in our general direction.​Ouch! The barbs from the Kansas City Star today, they hurt! The daily paper over in Missouri's second-largest city is out with a list comparing its city to St. Louis. Boil it down and the author of the piece suggests that not only do ... More >>

Claire McCaskill Asks FTC Chair to Watch for Gas Gouging

Claire McCaskill: Not too pumped about gas prices.​With Memorial Day around the corner and gas prices flirting with the $4-a-gallon mark, Sen. Claire McCaskill and three colleagues yesterday sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, calling on him to investigate potenti ... More >>

Chimp Custody Battle Rages On, Owners Fined

Not actually Suco.​Across the state in Kansas City, the saga of Suco the chimp continues. This October, the 21-year-old primate escaped the home she shared with Mark Archigo and Debbie Kaumans and went on a rampage, smashing a police car. She's been cooling her jets at the Kansas City Zoo since th ... More >>

Judge Throws Out Lawsuit Challenging Nudity Restrictions on Missouri Adult Businesses

​A Cole County judge last week granted a summary judgment request that has -- for now -- thrown out a lawsuit challenging Missouri's recent restrictions on strip clubs and adult bookstores. The Missouri Legislature last year passed sweeping reforms that outlaw nudity at such businesses in addition ... More >>

Dr Pepper Test Markets Manly Diet Soda

Across the state, Dr Pepper's trying to appeal to men who enjoy diet soda but hate how drinking it makes them look oh so very girly. The Kansas City Star reports that the company's test marketing their new product, Dr Pepper 10 to the beef-loving cowboys in Kansas City. The newspaper says, "Accord ... More >>

Egg Producers Sued for Price Inflation

Egg producers are in trouble again. Not because of salmonella, but because of egg price inflation. The Kansas City Star reports that the Associated Wholesale Grocers in Kansas City, Kansas, filed suit against a "cartel" of egg producers that it alleges has conspired since 1999 to raise egg prices. E ... More >>

Casey Brezik: Paranoid Schizophrenic Intended to Kill Gov. Jay Nixon

Image ViaBrezik: Wore bullet-proof vest to school Tuesday.​The man who allegedly stabbed a community college official on Tuesday just before a scheduled appearance of Governor Jay Nixon had intended to kill the governor. The Kansas City Star reports that 22-year-old Casey Brezik, a student at Metr ... More >>

IHOP Sues a Kansas City Church Over Same Acronym

IHOP sues IHOP. The Kansas City Star explains that the International House of Pancakes is suing Kansas City's International House of Prayer, a mission that uses the same acronym. Although the mission's been open for a decade, the pancake giant just filed the suit as the mission has grown to include ... More >>

Blunt and Bond: Religous Freedom Doesn't Apply For Mosque Near Ground Zero

Image viaAn abandoned Burlington Coat Factory near Ground Zero? That's just wrong.​Campaigning yesterday in Kansas City, Republican senate candidate Roy Blunt told reporters that he opposes a plan to build a mosque two blocks away from "Ground Zero" in New York."We constantly talk about what's app ... More >>

Nieves on Nieves: "There Is No Way They Will Ever Control Brian Nieves"

​So, now the real story we meant to highlight in this morning's St. Louis Beacon before we got distracted. The article comes from political reporter Jo Mannies who ventured down to Washington yesterday to attend the prayer vigil for Brian Nieves, the Republican state senate candidate accused in a ... More >>

The Missouri National Guard Has a Suicide Problem

And, no, it's not jihadists strapping bombs to themselves. (Thank God.)Unfortunately, for reasons still unknown, six members of the state's National Guard have killed themselves this year. That's the most in one year since the Guard starting keeping track in 2001. Remarkably, none of the six were de ... More >>

The Morning Brew: 4.19

A steer named Friction, who became beef products several years ago, is still at the center of law suits on the cattle show circuit amidst claims of rancher fraud. It all started at Kansas City's American Royal in 2007, when Friction vanished after placing in the competition, only to reappear with a ... More >>

Missouri Representatives "Draw A Line in the Sand" On Federal Health Care Reform

Image Via Do not snort this line​The Missouri House of Representatives has launched a preemptive strike against Obamacare, passing legislation intended to make sure the Show-Me State is not affected by any federal health care reform efforts.Yesterday, the House approved a state constitution ... More >>

The Morning Brew: 3.16

​Beer laws and typos lead to police raids and a lot of fine craft beers going down the tubes in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania laws, instilled when Prohibition ended, dictate that beer manufacturers register with the state before selling beer in the state. Misspelling or abbreviating a beer's name ... More >>

Tax-Exempt Missouri Yacht Buyers Might Be Drowned by Bills

Wikimedia CommonsAhoy, Jeff City! Days may be numbered for yacht owners' tax exemptions.​OK, what's more surprising about this scoop from the Kansas City Star? A) that Missouri is home to some 16,000 yachts, or, B) that none of 'em are subject to state sales taxes.The Star reports that as Jeff Cit ... More >>

Livin' in A Van Down By the River...Full of Pot Plants and Grow Lamps?

Image via Shut your big yapper!​Kansas City-area police pulled over a man from Maine earlier this week and discovered a mobile greenhouse. Naturally, it was an herb garden.Sheriffs in Jackson County, Missouri, stopped 30-year-old Nathaniel Evans for traffic violations on Wednesday and smell ... More >>

Rod Jetton is Having a Rough Week: Former House Speaker Now Faces Federal Investigation

​Yesterday a circuit court judge set a preliminary hearing date for the assault charges facing Rod Jetton. The former Missouri Speaker of the House has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which stem from an alleged sexual assault that occurred during rough sex with a Sikeston woman. (He claims his ... More >>

Former Missouri House Speaker, Rod Jetton, Charged with Assault in Kinky S&M Game

www.rodjetton.org​The political blog of the Kansas City Star is reporting that former Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton, now a Jefferson City political consultant, has been charged with felony assault. The alleged incident occurred last month in Sikeston, Missouri. The complaint asserts that the R ... More >>

The Rest of the Story on the Incestuous Hillbillies and the Mormon Church

Burrell Mohler Sr. via the KC Star​Yesterday on Daily RFT we had a couple bones to pick with a misleading headline in the local daily and the bible-thumping defenders of Burrell E. Mohler Sr. Along with his brother and four sons, the 74-year-old Independence, Missouri, native is accused of repeate ... More >>

And You Thought Town & Country Had A Deer Problem

Image Via​It seems like just yesterday that a ten-point buck sauntered into a Home Depot in Town & Country and began to wreak havoc. You'll recall in that incident how a renegade Bambi tried to fight an ornamental deer statue, broke off an antler in the process, and then headed into the hardwa ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Friday, 10.16

​ Ethiopian agronomist wins World Food Prize. (USA Today)Thinning a suburban deer herd means meat for the needy. (Kansas City Star)Do you need 76 tons of frozen British fruit pies? Check Ebay. (UPI)Hipster demand drives Pabst Blue Ribbon prices. (NBC Los Angeles)Some highlights from the New ... More >>

They Have Licensed Puppy Mills?

unrealitymag.comDisney villain a potential Missouri representative?​It's déjá vu all over again in the puppy mill capital of America. Authorities raided a kennel near Rolla and rescued more than 100 little pooches- poodles, Yorkshires, and mini-Pinschers -- kept in filthy conditions and tin ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Thursday, 9.10

​ President Obama endorses higher taxes on soda to help fund food stamps. (Kansas City Star)New FDA rule and reporting systems aims for contaminated food to be reported faster. (The Boston Globe)September 21 issue of The Nation focuses on food, with writings by Alice Waters and Michael Pollan ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Tuesday, 8.25

​ WIC to include fruits, vegetables and bread after 34 years. (Lincoln Journal Star)Egypt names the best dates of the year after President Obama. (Associated Press)Restaurant in southern Missouri town allowed to serve alcohol. What's next? Legalized dancing? Elsewhere in the state, Boulevard ... More >>

Ten Things to Do Under $10 This Weekend, August 21-23, 2009

For those of you still in college, this is the last weekend of summer. Time to get out there and make as many mistakes as possible in the next 48 hours before lying to yourself that you're "really going to hit the books" this semester. For the rest of us, there's a variety of cheap choices this week ... More >>

Missouri Car Thieves Motto: Steal American

en.wikigta.org​Ever wonder how one of Detroit's finest automobiles became the stripped hoopty cruising down Kingshighway? According to data compiled by a Missouri insurance group, it's because the Show-Me State's car thieves love to swipe rides that were made in the USA.The most popular ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Thursday, 7.23

A court rules that a hog farm owes its neighbors for the stink. (Kansas City Star)Starbucks posts a profit, beats analysts' expectations. (New York Post)See how to milk a camel! (Serious Eats)

Blackballed No More

Lawyer for Metropolitan Sewer District is Married to EPA Official Who is Suing Agency

The Kansas City Star has a curious story out today involving an ethical quandary that could impact a lawsuit filed against the Metropolitan Sewer District. shb.comTerry SatterleeThe paper reports that the Kansas City attorney representing MSD, Terry Satterlee, is the wife of, Bill Rice, the head of ... More >>

The Verdict on Kansas City's Smoking Ban: Put Out Your Butts, People

Wikimedia CommonsKansas City is free to enforce its indoor smoking ban, per an order issued yesterday by the Missouri Court of Appeals-Western District. According to a story today in the Kansas City Star, "Enforcement of the Kansas City smoking ordinance plays an important part in protecting the hea ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Wednesday, 5.6

Major food firms see an improved economic outlook. (Dow Jones)Kansas City Royals broadcasters are fooled by an -- unintentional? -- Guy Fieri impersonator. (Kansas City Star)Deadspin has the video of the interview.And, in honor of tomorrow's opening of the much anticpated -- by, uh, me, at least -- ... More >>

The Dangers of the "So-called '420' Holiday"

www.pmaco.com/humor/college_vs_Weed.gifIf you've been wondering why your coworker is giggling uncontrollably and/or staring at his/her computer screen with bloodshot eyes, you might want to consider the date: April 20th.Yes, it is 4.20, the "high holiday" of stoner culture. (Also known as Hitler's b ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Wednesday, 7.16

Home Brew

FLOTSAM AND JETSAM

Entertaining an idea for the St. Louis Blues and the Kiel Opera House; dreaming of an ex-Mayor Harmon; fanning the millennial flames at Channel 4; chanting "We're No. 35! We're No. 35" at the Post-Dispatch