Month: December 2014

New York Voices to conduct master class at KCKCC

by Kelly Rogge

The Kansas City Kansas Community College’s Vocal Jazz 1 and 2 ensembles will be featured in a New York Voices Masterclass later this month.

The event is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, at the KCKCC Performing Arts Center, 7250 State Ave., Kansas City, Kan. The event is free and open to the public. The event is sponsored by the KCKCC Music Club.

The New York Voices is a professional, Grammy-Award winning vocal jazz ensemble that will be in Kansas City to perform with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra. The concert is at 7 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Kauffman Center for The Performing Arts, Kansas City, Mo.

Prior to the performance, the ensemble will give a vocal jazz Masterclass with KCKCC students. KCKCC Vocal Jazz 1 and 2 ensembles will perform for New York Voices, which will provide brief clinics for each ensemble.

In addition, New York Voices will conduct a question-and-answer session for the second half of the masterclass about jazz singing, the music business and their beginnings to become an internationally-recognized vocal ensemble.

“The event will be great to attend,” said John Stafford, director of choirs at KCKCC. “It will give the students and other audience members insight into the music business and jazz singing technique. The New York Voices will also discuss the development history of their ensemble. It is rare to have musicians of this caliber on our campus, and it would be great experience for all who attend.”

In 2013, New York Voices celebrated its 25th anniversary. Known for its close-knit voicings, inspired arrangements and unparalleled vocal blend, their interests are deeply rooted in jazz, Brazilian, rhythm and blues, classical and pop.

Formed by Darmon Meader, Peter Eldridge, Kim Nazarian, Caprice Fox, and Sara Krieger, New York Voices had its first performances in 1988. In 1989, it signed its first record deal with GRP Records and released a self-titled debut album.

Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at Kansas City Kansas Community College.

Digital outdoor advertising, pit bull repeal on tonight’s UG meeting agenda

Three ordinances on digital outdoor advertising and changes to the animal ordinance are on tonight’s agenda for the Unified Government Commission meeting.

The commission meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, in the Commission Chambers, City Hall, lobby level, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kan.

According to the agenda, the three ordinances would permit digital billboards under regulations; add “digital outdoor advertising services” to the occupation tax list; and set the occupation tax amount for digital outdoor advertising services.

Also on tonight’s agenda are changes to the animal control ordinance, including a change in the number of animals allowed, and removing the ban against pit bulls.

Many planning and zoning items are on tonight’s agenda.

Also on tonight’s agenda, a public hearing will be held to consider a community improvement district and ordinance concerning the Fairway North Shopping Center redevelopment located near West 47th Avenue and Mission Road. The developer is Lane4 Property Group.

It is a $5.56 million redevelopment project.

On the planning and zoning consent agenda tonight:

– A special use permit for an existing greenhouse, storage container and office building at 4223 Gibbs Road, Katherine Kelly.

– Vacation of right-of-way at 3717 Cambridge Street.

– Master Plan amendment to the Downtown Master Plan in conjunction with the Healthy Campus Initiative.

– An ordinance rezoning property at 827 S. 78th Street from single-family district to agriculture district.

On the non-planning consent agenda:

– Ten resolutions to authorize various capital maintenance improvement projects, including 29th and Ohio storm sewer; Minnesota Avenue from 7th to 8th Street; White Oaks Capacity at 82nd and Haskell; 12th to 10th Street bikeway; Central Avenue and 18th Street intersection; Leavenworth Road, from 63rd to 38th Street; Route 107 bus stop and station upgrades; Safe Routes to School, Groups D and E; and Westheight benefit district.

– Approval of an alternate design for the Kaw Point Connector Trail, allowing the project to go forward at a cost in line with the original state grant and UG funding.

– An ordinance to authorize legal proceedings to acquire property for the upper Connor Creek sewer extension project.

– An ordinance to authorize issuing $20 million in industrial revenue bonds for Kaw Point industrial building, as the scope of the project has increased. Earlier the UG passed a measure for $15 million in IRBs.

– An ordinance amending the animal code relating to increasing the maximum number of animals, removing the pit bull prohibition, adopting a trap, neuter and release policy. Public comments were taken previously on this change during a committee meeting. The new ordinance will contain language about animals that display dangerous behavior. It also has a no tolerance policy on vicious animals that cause bodily harm, but there is no breed mentioned, no prohibition against pit bulls, in the changes.

On the planning and zoning non-consent agenda:

– A special use permit for the temporary use of land to store a 20-foot shipping container at 4437 Claudine Lane.

Also on the agenda is a request to put a mobile home at 3539 Bell Crossing Drive for a period not to exceed one year, after the home at that location burned. There is a plan to rebuild the home.

The agenda is posted at www.wycokck.org.

The UG Commission also will hold a special session at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, in the ninth floor conference room at City Hall to discuss security measures, labor negotiations and litigation. The 5 p.m. executive session meeting is not open to the public.

Kansas joins Texas in legal challenge to president’s immigration action

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has joined with Texas and 15 other states in a legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s unilateral decision to stop enforcing parts of federal immigration law.

The Texas-led lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Brownsville, Texas, seeks a declaration that the president lacked constitutional authority to abandon enforcement of various provisions of federal immigration law. The suit asks the federal court to find instead that the president was obligated to follow the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that he “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” as Congress wrote them.

“Until recently, the president repeatedly made clear that there is a lawful way to fix the nation’s broken immigration system and an unlawful way,” Schmidt said. “Until he reversed course last month, the president correctly insisted that he lacked authority under the Constitution to essentially suspend the law or rewrite it to suit his preferences.”

The president’s announcement of “executive action” in November directs federal authorities to change how they enforce federal immigration law, abandoning various statutory requirements entirely. The states’ lawsuit asks the federal court to order the federal agencies to disregard the president’s ‘executive action’ and instead to follow the requirements set forth in the statutes.

“Congress has a constitutional and a moral obligation to fix our country’s broken immigration system,” Schmidt said. “There are many important interests involved in this complex debate, including many in Kansas. The diverse interests of our state in immigration reform are best served when Kansas voices in Congress are part of the solution, and the country is best served when the president and federal agencies follow the law and the Constitution. Frustration arising from political gridlock is not an excuse for a president to bypass Congress, ignoring the law and the Constitution.”

In addition to Texas and Kansas, the states filing suit included Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Governors Phil Bryant of Mississippi, Paul R. LePage of Maine, Patrick L. McCrory of North Carolina, and C.L. “Butch” Otter of Idaho also joined as plaintiffs in the case.

The cost of the litigation will be borne by Texas. The case is Texas v. United States.