Month: January 2022

Faith news

Note: Please contact the church or check its social media pages to see if it is having services or making schedule changes in the event of inclement weather or high COVID numbers.

Blessed Sacrament and Christ the King Catholic churches have information about Masses at the churches’ websites or Facebook pages at www.facebook.com/Christ-the-King-Parish-KCKS-1392808997677579 and www.facebook.com/BlessedSacramentkck. Masses at Christ the King are at 4 p.m. Saturday, 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sunday. Masses at Blessed Sacrament are at 6 p.m. Saturday, and at 7:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sunday.

Bonner Springs United Methodist Church, 425 W. Morse Ave., Bonner Springs, will hold a Community Blood Center blood drive from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2, in the fellowship hall. To make an appointment, visit savealifenow.org or call 816-753-4040.

Casa – Worship House Christian Church, 5217 Leavenworth Road, Kansas City, Kansas, has regularly scheduled Sunday services at 11 a.m. See details for this Sunday at www.facebook.com/casadealabanzaKCKS. For more information, visit Facebook @casadealabanzaKCKS.

The 61st annual Greater Kansas City Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast will be at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, at the Kansas City Convention Center Grand Ballroom, Kansas City, Missouri. The guest speaker will be Tammie Jo Shults, who was in the national spotlight on April 17, 2018, when she landed a Southwest Boeing 737 after an engine exploded at high altitude, damaging the aircraft and causing depressurization and multiple system failures. One hundred forty-eight lives were saved. Shults’ book about her experience is “Nerves of Steel: How I Followed My Dreams, Earned My Wings and Faced My Greatest Challenge.” Shults, a former Navy pilot and instructor who was one of the first women naval aviators to qualify in the F/A-18 Hornet, is a graduate of Mid-America Nazarene University, Olathe, Kansas. She reached the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy. Those who attend this breakfast are asked to bring socks to donate to organizations that serve the homeless. For more information, including ticket information, visit https://praykc.com/.

“Scripture Group: Lectio and Discussion,” with Heather Neds, will be held from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at the Keeler Women’s Center, 759 Vermont Ave., Suite 100-B, Kansas City, Kansas. The meeting is planned for in-person or Zoom. Registration for the free class is required to 913-689-9375 or visit www.keelerwomenscenter.org.

Oak Ridge Missionary Baptist Church, 9301 Parallel Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas, will have information about livestreamed services at https://www.facebook.com/ORMBCKC or http://ormbc.org/church-online/.

Open Door Baptist Church, 3033 N. 103rd Terrace, Kansas City, Kansas, will have services at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 23, and livestreamed at https://www.opendoorkc.com/livestream. For more information see https://www.facebook.com/opendoorkc/ and https://www.opendoorkc.com/.

Our Lady and St. Rose Catholic Church, 2300 N. 8th St., Kansas City, Kansas, will hold Mass at 11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 23. For more information, see https://www.facebook.com/ourladyandsaintrose.

Stony Point Christian Church, 149 S. 78th St., Kansas City, Kansas, will have online services only at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 23, because of a high number of members who are ill. The service will not be in person, and will be livestreamed Sunday on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/StonyPointChristianChurch. Stony Point is planning a Valentine’s dinner after church Feb. 27, with proceeds benefiting the youth group.

St. Patrick Catholic Church, 1086 N. 94th St., Kansas City, Kansas, has information about Masses, and livestreamed Masses, at https://www.facebook.com/StPatrickKCK. St. Patrick’s Mass times are at 5 p.m. Saturday, 7:30 a.m., 9:15 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:45 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The 12:45 p.m. Mass is in Spanish, and the 2:30 p.m. Mass is in Burmese.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1300 N. 18th St., Kansas City, Kansas, will have online services only at 10 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 23. The service will be livestreamed on Facebook. See more information at https://www.facebook.com/StPaulsKCK/ or https://www.stpaulskck.org/.

Wyandotte United Methodist Church, 7901 Oakland Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, plans services at 10 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 23. An administrative council meeting is planned Jan. 23 after worship. For more information, including information about livestreamed services, see https://www.facebook.com/Wyandotteumc.

Information about other church services in Wyandotte County may be available from the church’s social media page.
To send in items for the Faith News, email information to [email protected]. Please include your name and contact information.

Legislative auditors skeptical Prairiefire development can pay off $64.8M in bond debt

STAR bond success: $150M MLS stadium debt retired in less than seven years

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — The Overland Park retail, office, hotel and residential development attached to the Prairiefire museum struggles to attract out-of-state tourists and could default on $64.8 million in bond debt issued through a state economic development program under scrutiny by the Legislature.

Auditors with the Legislature said their analysis of the PrairieFire project built with capital raised through issuance in 2012 of Sales Tax Revenue Bonds, or STAR bonds, indicated the project wasn’t generating enough sales tax revenue to repay debts in the required 20-year period. Originally, $64.9 million in bonds were issued for the project. Debt remaining to be paid: $64.8 million.

Auditors predicted it could take until 2046 or 2104 to produce sufficient sales tax revenue to retire the PrairieFire obligations held by the city of Overland Park.

“They are in danger of default,” said Andy Brienzo, of the Legislature’s audit division. “We can’t say that definitively. There is some additional development that is slated to happen.”

Bob North, general counsel with the Kansas Department of Commerce, said he didn’t share skepticism of auditors but also couldn’t guarantee success of Prairiefire, which includes a museum for traveling natural history exhibits. The commerce department has approved 19 STAR bond projects since the 1990s for Atchison, Garden City, Salina, Wichita, Topeka, Goddard, Manhattan and other cities.

He said museums, racetracks, sports facilities and other venues build with of $1.1 billion in bond proceeds were intended to raise the quality of life for benefit of Kansans and to attract tourists to the state. He said the objective of STAR bonds wasn’t simply generation of tax revenue.

“If they were, we’d take our money and build a bunch of Walmarts,” North said. “The goal of STAR bonds is to create attractions that are going to bring visitors to the state.”

The House and Senate commerce committees this week invited the Kansas Division of Legislative Post Audit to outline findings of a 2021 audit of STAR bond initiatives. Auditors discovered only three projects outside of the mega-development at Village West in Wyandotte County that fulfilled the objective of elevating tourism.

“STAR bonds are a very, very effective and strong economic development tool,” North said. “They’ve worked well in most instances. I’m not going to tell you every project is perfect.”

Rep. Kristey Williams, an Augusta Republican, said she was disappointed with the quality of information submitted to the state by STAR bond recipients.

“As we look at the annual reports that were submitted to the Department of Commerce,” she said, “some of it doesn’t give real data. It might say visitation went up 30%. Well, 30% from what number?”

Sen. Jeff Pittman, D-Leavenworth, said the assessment of STAR bonds by legislative auditors was “a particularly narrow evaluation.” It was based on estimates of out-of-state visitors and documentation of sales tax revenue but didn’t take into account other evidence of economic development such as the multiplier effect of those new businesses, he said.

“I have some issues with some of this,” Pittman said.

The latest STAR bond annual report submitted to the Legislature by the Department of Commerce pointed to success of Children’s Mercy Park where the Sporting Kansas City professional soccer team plays. It’s become one of the state’s top tourist destinations.

To build the MLS soccer complex, $150 million in STAR bonds were issued in 2010. That debt was paid off in less than seven years.

Jake Reid, president and chief executive officer of Sporting Kansas City, said the franchise derived significant benefit from the STAR bond law and the private-public partnership with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and the state of Kansas.

“We’re the second-smallest market in our league, yet we often times consistently punch above our weight class in terms of on-field results as well as the business results,” Reid said. “On average, we drive over 600,000 per year through Children’s Mercy Park.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/01/22/legislative-auditors-skeptical-prairiefire-development-can-pay-off-64-8m-in-bond-debt/

DA supports public defender’s office in Wyandotte County

Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark A. Dupree is supporting a public defender’s office in Wyandotte County.

Dupree sent out an open letter on Friday before a public open forum on Saturday, Jan. 22, by the Kansas Board of Indigent Services. The forum will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Upper Jewell room at KCKCC, 7250 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas.

The public may address the board at the hearing. After the hearing, a vote will be taken most likely in early to mid-February by the board on a public defender’s office for Wyandotte County.

Public comments will be limited to 3 minutes per person. KCKCC will require everyone attending to have a properly worn face mask because of COVID-19. Social distancing will be requested. Space could be limited and the public will be admitted first-come, first-serve.

The board will not debate the issue during the hearing. The state board is not holding a livestream of this event.

Dupree’s letter:

A Public Defender’s Office in Wyandotte County, Kansas is the Missing Link for Justice

“The framers of the Constitution describe in the preamble an idea of creating a “more perfect union.” This acknowledgement of striving for better is the spirit in which I offer an insider’s view of the Wyandotte County criminal justice system.

“The criminal justice system here is functioning, but nowhere near its potential. The process is shrouded in secrecy which creates appearances of impropriety. Wyandotte County does not have an organized and centralized process to appoint indigent people accused of a crime a constitutionally guaranteed attorney. Instead, every Judge keeps a list of attorneys, and each one has his or her own process for appointing attorneys to cases.

“In this country, every person, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status, has the right to competent representation. In Kansas, the State Board of Indigent Defense Services (BIDS) is responsible for providing public defense services through a hybrid of public defender’s offices and contracted attorneys.

“Concerned with disparities in the criminal justice system, Governor Laura Kelly recommended in the Governor’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice Initial Report that counties with populations greater than 100,000 should have a public defender’s office.

“BIDS has multiple offices throughout the state. Just last year, BIDS approved another public defender’s office in Douglas County. Unfortunately, counties with lower populations and higher median household incomes have public defender offices. Yet, Wyandotte, a county with a population of 165,245, only has contracted attorneys.

“Defendants here continue to suffer the consequences.


“The citizens of Wyandotte County deserve access to the same resources provided to more affluent and less racially diverse counties. A properly funded public defender’s office in Wyandotte County would not only address inequities, but would assure efficiency, oversight, and fiscal responsibility. This would begin to capture the idea of a ‘more perfect’ union.

“Crime victims in Wyandotte County would also benefit from a public defender’s office because they would receive speedier justice. A person arrested for a crime is in-custody for an average of 16 days without an attorney.

“Delays continue after a contracted attorney is appointed because cases get continued for several weeks on scheduling dockets, sometimes more than 90 days. Victims must wait until the contracted attorney schedules a hearing. These delays cause the victims’ voices to be silenced for far too long. Delays can also infringe on rights that are afforded to victims under the Crime Victim’s Bill of Rights.

“Currently, contracted attorneys in Wyandotte County are not present at first appearances. A public defender would be available for first appearances and would assure constitutional protections for defendants and prompt access to the legal system for victims.

“Those charged with low-level, presumptive probation crimes are those who if found guilty on all counts of the crime they are accused of committing, would receive probation. In reviewing cases from 2019–2021, Wyandotte County spent about $1.3 million dollars to incarcerate the above-mentioned individuals, of which the majority had appointed attorneys that never requested a bond reduction. The jail should be reserved for serious offenders that pose serious risks to the community.


“Unnecessary and extended pretrial incarceration is costly to taxpayers, and victims, alike. A public defender’s office brings fiscal responsibility to the community. “Public defenders are consistently the most effective and cost-effective manner in providing public defense.”2

“Funds could be redirected from housing low-level, probationary defendants to providing better services to victims and survivors of crime.

“Victims deserve timely resolutions, and this can be achieved with a public defender’s office. Now is the time because the longer a case takes to prosecute, the less willing to participate witnesses become. In the past five years, the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s office has experienced an increase of victims no longer wishing to continue with the prosecution of the case because of these delays. They say they are ready to move on. They don’t want to relive the trauma.

“Justice delayed is justice denied for victims in our community. We must do better; Wyandotte County needs a public defender’s office, and with the support of the community we can fix the link in the broken criminal justice chain.”

Be Blessed.
Mark A. Dupree
Wyandotte County District Attorney

1 Information taken from the U.S. Census Bureau – population estimates, July 1, 2021
2 A Report on the Status of Public Defense in Kansas, September 2020, available at: Report 9-30-2020.pdf (sbids.org) (last viewed 1/19/2022). In 2019, the average cost of a public defender case was $659 per case while the average cost of an assigned counsel case was $941. In 2019, assigned counsel cases cost, on average $282 more per case than a case handled by a public defender. In 2020, the average cost of a public defender case was $818 while the average cost of an assigned counsel case was $993. So, in 2020, assigned counsel cases cost, on average, $175 more per case than a case handled by a public defender.