BTK Killer caught!

In a surprising development, police in Wichita arrested a man who they suspect is guilty of committing at least 10 murders as the "BTK killer". BTK stands for Bind, Torture, Kill. It turns out the suspect worked for Park City, Kansas, and was the church council president of his local church.

Kind of scarry. Many of the killings took place back in the 70's. This guy just recently started releasing info about the killings that in some cases only the killer would know. It makes you wonder if he really wanted to get caught. If he had not said anything they probably would not have caught him.

I don't understand the opposition to Walmart at Blue Ridge Mall

I am not by any means a big fan of Walmart, but I just don't understand why anyone would be against them as part of a development to replace Blue Ridge Mall. For any of you who are not familiar with Blue Ridge Mall, it was once anchored by Montgomery Wards, The Jones Store and J.C. Penneys. It is currently anchored by the powerhouse retailer Appleby's. Yeah, you read that right, an Appleby's restaurant is the anchor at the mall, not exactly a good sign. Don't get me wrong, its a good Appleby's, but let's be real.

So a developer is pushing a plan to tear down the mall to build a new strip mall or open air shopping center built around a WalMart supercenter. And people are against this, they would rather look at the decaying hulk of a mall that is Blue Ridge Mall instead of having something new that will bring business, jobs, and actually draw people there. Its not a bad location, at the intersection of US 40 and I70, and within a couple of miles of the stadiums.

The plan was approved by the KC city council, so it should happen but still hard to believe that many people are against it. Incidentally, if its like most WalMart openings, those that are against it will be there shopping looking for bargains.

Read about it here:
http://examiner.net/stories/022405/new_022405004.shtml

You can read the story here:

Hooray to Graves for pursuing study funding for new Paseo bridge

My hat is off to Rep. Sam Graves for pursuing funding for a study concerning a possible new bridge over the Missouri River on I29/35 to supplement the current four lane, horribly undercapacity Paseo Bridge. I have posted on this topic before, even with the overhaul of the bridge that will run from May to November, and they need to get the show on the road to make sure a new bridge can be built quickly enough.

My own opinion would be for a six lane crossing to be built next to the current Paseo bridge to carry traffic in one direction, and then down the line when its time to replace the Paseo bridge, both directions can share the bridge while a second new span is built to carry traffic going the other direction. It certainly won't be cheap but to keep fueling the growth in the Northland something needs to be done before it starts to cause growth to slow.

You can read the story here:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10985494.htm

The honorable Gov. Blunt takes another oral dump

Wow, does Gov. Blunt have a way with words or what? After ripping then governor Holden for whitholding education money and pledging to never withhold money from public schools, Gov. Blunt is now going to withhold money for several state universities to help ease the budget crunch. The schools won't lose money outright but it will be delayed. Blunt's PR people say he was not talking about colleges, just K-12. Not sure if I believe that one. The decision itself is not necessarily bad, but its pretty cheap to do the same thing you criticized your predecessor for and then claim you never promised not to do that.

You can read about it here, you may have to register (its free) to read the story, or I can email it to you if you really want to read it.

Stay tuned for more wisdom from Matt Quayle, I mean Blunt!

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10985157.htm

This will make you laugh for sure

Check out this story from the Kansas City Star about a man found at the wheel of his van buck naked and covered in corn oil. How would you like to be the cop that handcuffed that dude. Yikes!

Read about it here, you may have to register to read it. Or email me and I can email you the story.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/10981612.htm

Once again, Blunt opens his mouth and crap comes out..

Although his staff is trying to downplay it, Blunt recently let a comment slip that can only be described as pretty damn stupid. You can click the link below to read the story from the Kansas City Star (you may have to register to read it, or email me and I can send you the story). Basically he made the comment that to find democratic supporters in Missouri, you would have to go to "places that nobody wants to live". Blunt's spokesman said it was a "throwaway line" which presumably relates to his throwaway brain.

You can read about it here:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/10965995.htm

Most of the area ER's closed? Yikes!

Was just watching the news on Channel 9, they reported that a significant number of ER's either are closed or have been closed at some time the past day or two to all but life or death emergencies, apparently because of the flu.

Now I can see the very young or old, or those with severe health problems going to the ER because of the flu, but everyone else? Considering that there is nothing they can give you to make it go away, I am surprised that people spend the time and money to get that checked out when there is nothing the doctor can do anyway. I could see seeing your regular doctor, but going to the ER? Maybe I am missing something here. Knowing it costs a fortune, that you may wait hours just to be told tylenol, rest and fluids, seems like a waste.

You can read the story from the Channel 9 website at the link below:
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/health/4201741/detail.html

Government gone wild

Here is a story about the ineptitude of government today and how inflexible it can be. You can read the full story on Channel 9's website, click the link below for that. Basically, a cop goes into a library in Johnson county with a wallet they found that contains a library card. The cop asks the librarian for an address on the person so they can return it, and the librarian gives him the address. The police return it and everyone is happy. Everyone that is except the Library, which fired the librarian for releasing private information without a court order.

What the hell? I understand there are privacy concerns but at some point a human being has to have a conscious thought that "yeah its against policy but that person used good judgement so we can make the executive decision to make an exception" but not in this case. Kudos Johnson County Library, you fired someone that helped someone else and made your organization look like a bunch of mindless idiots. Good job and kudos to you!

Click the link to read the story:
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/4191530/detail.html

Paseo Bridge

Shortly here MODOT will be closing the Paseo Bridge on I29/I35 for about nine months to overhaul it, which will certainly make the commute from the Northland into downtown and parts south a little trickier. Luckily there are other alternatives such as Choteau Trafficway, I435, and the Heart of America bridge, and we know they should work from when the Paseo Bridge was closed for emergency repairs a couple of winters ago.

Long term, a solution is still needed to supplement or replace the Paseo bridge. I know a lot of people are probably thinking "Why worry about it now since they are fixing it to last at least another 1o to 15 years?" The answer to that is the fact that building a new bridge, including the design, funding and contstruction, could easily take 10 years or more. That means its time to figure it out now. Face facts, the current brige cannot support the volume of traffic it carries and if I29/35 is widened into the downtown area, it won't help if the bridge is not also wider. I would think we would want an eight lane Missouri River crossing, with perhaps another lane to enter/exit from Armour Road and front street on each side. The cheaper solution in the short run is to build a new bridge next to the Paseo Bridge for say, southbound traffic and convert the Paseo to Northbound traffic. Then another 10 or so years down the road you build a new bridge to replace the Paseo bridge.

What do you think? The biggest problem is going to be funding, hopefully the feds will help fund a very large chunk of it.

One thing is for sure, we need to figure it out and start planning for a solution now.

What is with malls here?

Can anyone explain the situation with malls being in such bad shape here in the Metro? Bannister mall is almost empty, the Jones store just left and the mall is redeveloping. Blue Ridge Mall is redeveloping to a Wal Mart Supercenter among other stores and is currently anchored by an Appleby's restaurant. No offense Appleby's, like your food, but you probably don't draw enough to support a mall. Mission Mall is on the ropes as well, and Metro North mall, despite the explosion of growth in the Northland, is also apparently dying as well.

Independence Center is doing well, as is Oak Park mall but I swear that Des Moines has more good malls than KC does with a quarter or less of the population.

What is the story with that? I will admit that the area does have a number of strip mall open air type shopping centers that are becoming the trend. But still, what is the story?

No more adult billboards

It looks like the law permitting adult billboards, like those for strip clubs, will stand now that a recent court challenge has been turned down. Groups opposed to the ban had requested a permanent injunction against the law but lost.

The billboards don't offend me, but I could see why some don't like them (besides the puritans who think its a sin to see themselves naked in the shower). I can picture a family cruising down 435 seeing a billboard for a strip club when little Jimmy asks the inevitable question of "What does that say Mommy?"

When I first moved here I was surprised they had such billboards in the first place.

You can read the story here:
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/4191044/detail.html

Will Eric Crouch help the Chiefs

Will Eric Crouch, the former Heisman Trophy winner (at QB) from Nebraska help the Chiefs secondary (and maybe special teams) this year? The Chiefs signed him a few days ago, he previously gave it a shot with the Rams and Packers, but has only been to one training camp as a DB. He is schedule to go to NFL Europe, which should give him some good experience. As I recall from his days with the Big Red, the guy is a great athlete, so he at least should have a shot at making the team.

You can read about it here from Channel 9 Sports:
http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/sports/4127618/detail.html

No royals downtown?

Well it sounds like the Royals are not going to be moving to a downtown stadium in th near future, according to comments from Dan Glass made yesterday in an interview. You can read about it on Channel 9's website if you want more info:

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/sports/4191026/detail.html

I was wondering how they possibly were going to make reasonable traffic access if they were to build a downtown stadium. I don't think they could do it without massive and very expensive renovations to several downtown streets and especially I35/I70/US24. If you have ever been near there during morning rush hour you know its gridlock there.

I think the Royals stadium needs some upgrades and expansion, but the stadium itself it still an excellent place to catch a game.

Its pothole season!

With the recent weather changes (like a roller coaster) we have a bumper crop of potholes in the already less than stellar roads here in the KC Metro area. I have seen some big enough that they should have a lifeguard there in case people try to go swimming there. Hopefully with the recent change about gas tax money going to transportation instead of other areas of gov't we will see improvment there, but that remains to be seen.

Keep your eyes peeled and get ready to swerve!

More on the areana's

Check out this article about Olathe's proposed arena, and their quest for state bond support for it. I still have serious doubts that the KC area can support the Sprint Center, OP's new arena, this arena in Olathe and Kemper arena, especially considering that Kemper is the only one of the four that even exists at this stage. It sounds like one too many arena's at the very least.

Read the story here:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050124/ap_on_go_ot/nixon_terrorism