Month: May 2015

Sporting KC scheduled to play 100th match tonight in KCK

Sporting Kansas City welcomes the New England Revolution to Sporting Park on Wednesday marking the 100th match played in the stadium in Kansas City, Kan.

The nationally televised match, set to kick off at 7 p.m., will air on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes with additional coverage available on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM. A limited number of tickets are available and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or at the Sporting Park box offices on Wednesday.

Fans are encouraged to leave extra travel time because of the 98th Street construction project. The first 10,000 fans to arrive at Sporting Park will receive a pair of club branded sunglasses. Parking lots will be open at 4 p.m. and gates will open at 5 p.m.

Sporting Kansas City lost all three regular season matches against New England in 2014 by an 8-3 aggregate score. New England midfielder Lee Nguyen has scored three goals in eight regular season matches against Sporting KC, including two in 2014, while former Sporting KC forward Teal Bunbury tallied twice against his former club in 2014. U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Jermaine Jones, who joined the Revolution midway through the 2014 season, recorded the first assist and first goal of his MLS career against Sporting KC last year.

Sporting KC went nine home games unbeaten against New England in all competition between 2008 and 2013, out-scoring the Revs 23-4 during that stretch and leads the all-time series 23-16-11. In 2015, Sporting KC is unbeaten against Eastern Conference opponents with a 3-0-2 record and a 2-0-1 record at home.

The New England Revolution is in second place in the Eastern Conference and in the midst of a nine-game regular season unbeaten streak (5-0-4). New England played Toronto FC to a 1-1 draw in their last match with forward Juan Agudelo scoring his team’s lone goal in the 32nd minute. Maryland product London Woodbury tallied an assist on the play, whipping the ball to Agudelo at the back post whose header beat Toronto FC goalkeeper Chris Konopka.

Sporting KC will be without Graham Zusi (concussion), Seth Sinovic (concussion), Marcel de Jong (left hip muscle strain), Chance Myers and Ike Opara (left achilles) on Wednesday. Roger Espinoza (left adductor strain), Paulo Nagamura (lower back sprain) and Bernardo Anor (right hamstring strain) are all listed as questionable on the team’s injury report and Erik Palmer-Brown will be unavailable for selection by manager Peter Vermes after joining the U.S. U-20 Men’s National Team ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup. New England will be without veteran defender Darrius Barnes who had left knee surgery in April.

Sporting Kansas City faces an MLS Cup playoff team from the 2014 season in each of the club’s next five matches including two outings in the next four days against the MLS Cup runners-up (New England Revolution) on Wednesday and the Supporters’ Shield holder (Seattle Sounders FC) on Saturday.

In-game updates are available online at SportingKC.com/Gameon and via Twitter @SKCGameday.

– Story from Sporting KC

Pavement work taking place on U.S. 73, weather-permitting

Reconstruction of the U.S. 73 – K-7 pavement project in Leavenworth County, from County Road 14 south to 16th Street in Leavenworth, was scheduled to be resumed Tuesday, May 26, weather permitting.

During construction, traffic from U.S. 73 is being shifted to Leavenworth County Road 14-Santa Fe Trail detour route so crews may complete their work. This is weather-permitting, according to an announcement by the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Updated daily traffic information for this reconstruction project and for the entire Kansas City metro area can be viewed online at: www.ksdot.org/kcmetro/laneclose.asp.

Legislative update from Rep. Stan Frownfelter, D-37th Dist.

Rep. Stan Frownfelter
Rep. Stan Frownfelter

Legislative session passes 90 days
The legislature has passed the 90th day of the session, and neither the House nor the Senate have come to an agreement on how to fill the state’s budget deficit. Gov. Brownback and Republican leadership in both chambers have taken passive roles in the process, and as a result the session will continue into next week. Every day the legislature is in session passed the 90th day cost the state more than $40,000.

Tax plan rejected by House
The House focused most of its attention this week on revenue proposals to fill the state’s budget shortfall caused by the governor’s irresponsible tax plan. The House Tax Committee explored several options for generating revenue including:
• Raising taxes on cigarettes from $0.79 to $1.54 a pack
• Enacting a 2.7 percent to 4.6 percent tax on businesses
• Increasing the gas tax from $0.24 to $0.29 a gallon
• Increasing sales tax to 7.15 percent.

Ultimately the House committee passed a bill that raises more than $1 billion over the three years by:
• Reducing sales tax on groceries from 6.15 percent to 5.90 percent, and raising taxes on all other sales to 6.85 percent.
• Eliminating or reducing nearly all of the state’s eligible itemized tax deductions.
• Enacting a 45 day tax amnesty period, where individuals can pay back taxes without penalties.
• Dropping the bottom tax bracket’s income tax rate from 2.70 percent to 2.55 percent.

The proposal came to the House floor on Friday, where it was quickly defeated by members of both parties. I opposed the tax plan because it cobbles together indiscriminate and regressive tax increases to subsidize the governor’s failed economic experiment.

The House Tax Committee will go back to the drawing board on Monday, and is likely to reconsider some of the taxes they have previously passed over. As the process moves forward, I will consider proposals that are responsible, equitable, and sustainable and puts the needs of middle classes and working families first.

No progress on the budget
There has not been any additional progress on the budget this week, as lawmakers are waiting on a revenue package to pass before taking further action. The state cannot spend more than it takes in, so if the legislature passes a tax plan that does not fully fund the budget as proposed, there will have to be cuts.