Month: September 2017
Saturday events
Piper Fest to be Sept. 30
The Piper Fest, with a Car and Truck Show, will take place on Saturday, Sept. 30, at Piper High School, 4400 N. 107th St., Kansas City, Kansas. Registration will open at 8 a.m. The entry fee is $10. All proceeds will benefit the Piper School District. Along with the Car and Truck Show, there will be a pancake breakfast, silent auction, carnival, food trucks, craft show, fun run, and special awards. The auction runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The car show is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The 5K run starts at 8 a.m. For more information, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/volunteers-preparing-for-annual-piper-fest-sept-30/ or www.PiperFest.com.
Renaissance Festival continues Saturday
The 41st annual Renaissance Festival will continue Sunday, Sept. 30, and will run on weekends and Columbus Day through Oct. 15. Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The festival site is located at 130th and State Avenue in Bonner Springs. For more information, visit www.kcrenfest.com.
Recreation center renaming ceremony to be Sept. 30
The John F. Kennedy Recreation Center recently was renamed in honor of Beatrice L. Lee, a community leader who served as the director of two recreation centers in Kansas City, Kansas. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the renaming will take place from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, at the center, 1210 N. 10th St., in the 10th and Washington Avenue area, Kansas City, Kansas. The public is invited.
Marble-making demonstration scheduled
A marble-making demonstration will be held from about 10:30 a.m. to about 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Moon Marble Co., 600 E. Front St., Bonner Springs. The exact times of the demonstration may change. Bus tours and large groups are required to register ahead of time to schedule a demonstration. For more information, visit www.moonmarble.com or call 913-441-1432.
Author plans book signing Saturday
Author and motivational speaker Kneika Robbins, author of “Pain Changes You,” will appear at a book signing from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, at the South Branch Library, 3104 Strong Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, in Conference Room A. Real life experiences of pain are portrayed in her book.
Create your own fidget spinner Saturday
Create your own fidget spinner during a program from 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Main Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library, 625 Minnesota Ave., in the craft room. Ages 6 to 14 may attend. All materials will be provided. Pre-registration is required to 913-295-8250, Ext. 1013.
Sporting KC takes on Vancouver tonight
The riveting race for top spot in the Western Conference heats up Saturday night when third-place Sporting Kansas City (12-6-11, 47 points) plays host to the Vancouver Whitecaps FC (14-10-6, 48 points) at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Kickoff is slated for 8 p.m., with FOX Sports Kansas City Plus, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO airing three hours of live coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. The match will also be joined in progress of FOX Sports Kansas City upon conclusion of Royals baseball. Listeners can follow the action live on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish), while the Sporting KC Uphoria mobile app will provide live updates.
Boxing, mixed martial arts scheduled tonight
The Kansas City T-Bones will be the host of a Mixed Martial Arts Fight Night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Saturday, Sept. 30. The T-Bones along with Carden Combat Sports will present a fight card featuring over a dozen matches of MMA, boxing and kickboxing with a ring and cage 10 feet apart. Gates will open at 6 p.m. with fights starting at 7 p.m. For more information, see https://wyandotteonline.com/kickboxing-boxing-and-mixed-martial-arts-coming-to-communityamerica-ballpark-sept-30/.
Tickets
$365,000 settlement announced in KCK Housing Authority sexual harassment case
A settlement has been announced in a sexual harassment lawsuit involving residents of the Kansas City, Kansas, Housing Authority.
According to an announcement today by the U.S. Justice Department, the Housing Authority and three of its former employees have agreed to pay $365,000 to resolve the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the justice department in 2015.
Under the settlement, the KCK Housing Authority, former administrator coordinator Victor Hernandez, former property manager Derrick Estelle Sr., and former director of housing management Ronald Cobb will pay $360,000 in monetary damages to 14 current and former Housing Authority residents and applicants who were subjected to sexual harassment, as well as $5,000 to the United States in civil penalties.
The settlement also requires KCKHA to conduct training, to adopt new policies and procedures to prevent sexual harassment by its employees, and to provide a mechanism by which tenants and applicants can register complaints about sexual harassment with KCKHA management.
“Sexual harassment of women is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Gore of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in a news release. “No one should ever have to endure the type of outrageous conduct that occurred in this case in exchange for obtaining or keeping a place to live.”
“No woman should be subjected to harassment in her own home. This action sends a message to all housing providers that not only is this type of behavior unacceptable and immoral, it is illegal,” said HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Anna Maria Farías, in the news release. “HUD will continue to work to protect the fair housing rights of victims of harassment.”
This matter began when two female public housing tenants filed complaints about Hernandez with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. After HUD investigated the complaints, it issued a charge of discrimination and the matter was referred to the Justice Department. During its investigation, the department identified additional KCK Housing Authority applicants and tenants who had been sexually harassed by Hernandez, Estelle or Cobb. Among other things, the department’s complaint alleged that Hernandez subjected women to unwanted sexual conduct as a condition for favorable hearing decisions, including asking them sexual questions, showing pornographic pictures and videos, making explicit sexual comments, and exposing himself. Hernandez admitted in sworn testimony that he had exposed himself to multiple women during appeals hearings concerning their housing.
The complaint also alleged that Estelle and Cobb explicitly conditioned housing benefits in return for sexual favors and made repeated unwelcome and offensive sexual advances to women residing in or applying for public housing. The complaint further alleged that Hernandez, Estelle, and Cobb engaged in this conduct while exercising their authority as employees of the KCK Housing Authority.