Month: September 2022

Faith news

Note: Please contact the church or check its social media pages to see if it is making schedule changes.

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, and 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sunday. Masses at Blessed Sacrament will be at 6 p.m. Saturday, 7:30 a.m. Sunday and 10 a.m. Sunday. Christ the King is planning an ice cream social after the 4 p.m. Mass on Saturday, Oct. 8.

Bonner Springs United Methodist Church will have a Community Blood Center blood drive from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, at the Fellowship Hall, 425 W. Morse Ave., Bonner Springs. To make an appointment, visit savealifenow.org or call 816-753-4040.

Casa – Worship House Christian Church, 5217 Leavenworth Road, Kansas City, Kansas, will have information about services at www.facebook.com/casadealabanzaKCKS. For more information, visit Facebook @casadealabanzaKCKS.

The First Christian Church, Bonner Springs, will hold a Community Blood Center blood drive from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7, at the church fellowship hall, 148 N. Nettleton, Bonner Springs. To make an appointment, visit savealifenow.org or call 816-753-4040.

“The Gospel of Non-Violence” will meet from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7, at Keeler Women’s Center, 759 Vermont Ave., Suite 100-B, Kansas City, Kansas. Peg Burns will lead the meeting. Registration is required to 913-689-9375. For more information, visit www.keelerwomenscenter.org.

Oak Ridge Missionary Baptist Church, 9301 Parallel Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas, will have information about services at https://www.facebook.com/ORMBCKC or http://ormbc.org/church-online/. Services are at 9:50 a.m. Sunday.

Open Door Baptist Church, 3033 N. 103rd Terrace, Kansas City, Kansas, will have services at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 4. For information about services, see 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 celebrate Mass at 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 4. For more information, see https://www.facebook.com/ourladyandsaintrose.

Stony Point Christian Church, 149 S. 78th St., Kansas City, Kansas, will have a worship service at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 4. There will be basketball at the Cole Activity Center after the service. See more information at https://www.facebook.com/StonyPointChristianChurch.

St. Patrick Catholic Church, 1086 N. 94th St., Kansas City, Kansas, has information about Masses at https://www.facebook.com/StPatrickKCK. Masses are at 5 p.m. Saturday, and on Sunday at 7:30 a.m., 9:15 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:45 p.m. in Spanish and 2:30 p.m. in Chin-Burmese. St. Patrick parish plans an ice cream social after the 4 p.m. Mass on Saturday, Sept. 17. The event will include food, music and games.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1300 N. 18th St., Kansas City, Kansas, will have Sunday services at 10 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 4.. See more information at https://www.facebook.com/StPaulsKCK/ or https://www.stpaulskck.org/.

Sunset Hills Christian Church, 6347 Leavenworth Road, Kansas City, Kansas, has regularly scheduled Sunday services at 9:30 a.m., with Sunday School following the service at 10:45 a.m. The Wednesday Night Bible Study will be held at 7 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. Livestream services here at https://www.facebook.com/sunsethills.christianchurch/. For more information visit [email protected] or email [email protected].

Wyandotte United Methodist Church, 7901 Oakland Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, has regularly scheduled services at 10 a.m. Sunday, with Sunday School at 9 a.m. 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

UG announces department realignments; CFO leaving

The Unified Government interim administrator announced in a news release Friday evening that departments had been realigned and that the UG’s chief financial officer is leaving.

According to the UG news release, Cheryl Harrison-Lee, interim administrator, will follow recommendations made to the UG Commission in July 2022.

The new structure includes the appointment of a new interim assistant county administrator, Becky Berger, to provide oversight to administrative services.

Other assistant county administrators are Bridgett Cobbins, assistant county administrator of public safety; Alan Howze, assistant county administrator of health and human services; and Brett Deichler, interim assistant county administrator of economic and community development.

According to the news release, the Purchasing Department will now report to the Finance Department, which was an issue identified by the consultants after a review in July 2022.

The budget and strategy team will report directly to Berger, allowing the UG to more closely align the management of expenditures with revenue projections, according to the news release. Currently these are separate functions within the Finance Department.

According to the news release, throughout this year’s budget process, the commission has been learning about the $4 million structural deficit in the city side of the general fund. The news release stated that the deficit needs to be rectified for long-term fiscal health and competitiveness.

With inflation and rising costs, and relatively stagnant revenue, the UG administration hopes to identify a more fiscally sustainable model for the future, and elevating budget and strategy will be the key, the news release stated.

Berger is the newest addition to the county administration team with the announcement of her interim appointment, the news release stated.

Berger, who joined the UG in January 2022 as treasurer and director of revenue, will provide oversight to all administrative functions of the Unified Government, including human resources, clerk’s office, 311, budget strategy and research, finance, and the appraiser’s office. Berger brings 15 years of experience in local government management, including serving as the city manager and director of finance for the city of Atchison. By bringing all internal services together under one manager, the Unified Government will be able to continue its work to address areas for improvement in human resources, finances and general operations, the news release stated.

“We must be internally organized before we can be externally focused,” Harrison-Lee said. “This is one of many efforts moving forward to look at how we work as the Unified Government to ensure that we can deliver quality customer service. I believe this team will be instrumental in helping us identify additional opportunities for cost savings, innovative best practices, and other improvements in how we work.”

Chief Financial Officer Kathleen VonAchen announced her plans to leave the Unified Government. She will work closely with the interim county administrator to facilitate the transition for the Finance Department, according to the news release.

According to the news release, there has not been a comprehensive assessment of the UG’s operations since the unification of the city and county 25 years ago.

RedHawks win pivotal opener against Monarchs

Brock Gilliam of the Kansas City Monarchs delivered a pitch against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks Friday night, Sept. 2, in the Monarchs’ 6-2 loss to the RedHawks. (Photo by Jennifer Andreachi, Monarchs)
Jan Hernandez of the Kansas City Monarchs against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks Friday night, Sept. 2, in the Monarchs 6-2 loss to the RedHawks. (Photo by Jennifer Andreachi, Monarchs)

by Dan Vaughan Jr., Monarchs

The Kansas City Monarchs (62-35) and Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (64-33) came into the pivotal Friday night match up on different waves of momentum. The Monarchs had won eight in a row and had pulled to within one game of the front-running RedHawks, who had dropped two of three on their end of season road trip.

Yet, it was the RedHawks, behind lefty ace Kevin McGovern (10-3) and three long balls that took the series opener 6-2.

Kansas City had chances in the game, drawing 10 walks and stranding 15 runners, six off McGovern. The all-time American Association strikeout leader was able to fight off the Monarchs in the first, second and third with two on and two outs.

McGovern finished the game going 5.2 innings getting the win. His final line was 5.2 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 4 bases on balls and 9 strikeouts.

Fargo-Moorhead took the lead in the top of the first on a solo home run for Manuel Boscan off Monarchs’ starter Brock Gilliam (6-4). With the RedHawks leading 1-0 in the top of the third, Leo Pena had a two-RBI single to make it 3-0 in favor of the “Fargos.”

The Monarchs answered in the fourth inning on a solo home run for Pete Kozma, his second of the season and the team’s 161st. Kansas City is just one home run away from tying its franchise mark of 162 set in 2010 in the old Northern League.

The RedHawks tacked on another run in the top of the fifth. Peter Maris singled and moved to second on a passed ball on a strikeout. Drew Ward then walked, but a wild pitch moved Maris to third. Leo Pena picked up his third RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to center to make it a 4-1 game.

Gilliam was done after five, giving up four earned runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Fargo-Moorhead picked up another run in the top of the sixth when Nick Novak hit a solo home run to right off Monarchs’ reliever Brian Glowicki to up the lead to 5-1.

The Monarchs picked up their final run of the night in the home half of the sixth. McGovern walked Casey Gillaspie with one out and surrendered a single to Gio Brusa to put runners at the corners.

Tanner Riley came into the game and gave up an RBI single off the bat of Kozma back up the box to make it 5-2 RedHawks. Riley walked Mallex Smith to load the bases but retired Kevin Santa on a ground ball to second to leave the sacks full for KC.

In the top of the seventh, the RedHawks struck again with a long ball off the bat of Maris. His solo shot to right make it 6-2 in favor of Fargo-Moorhead.

The Monarchs worked two walks to start the seventh off Riley but did not get any traction off reliever Joe Jones to end the threat.

In the eighth inning the Monarchs got two on via back-to-back walks with two outs but once again came up short.

In the bottom of the ninth the Monarchs got a double by Gillaspie and a walk by Brusa with two outs, but Alex DuBord got the final out to preserve a 6-2 win.

The win dropped the Monarchs two games behind the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks for the West Division lead in the American Association with three games to play and lowered the RedHawks magic number to two.

The RedHawks will clinch the division crown with one more win while the Monarchs will need to win the last three games to claim their third regular season division title in a row.

Both teams are playoff bound and will face off in game two of the four-game series at 6 p.m. Saturday night, Sept. 3, at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas.

The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the video stream airing on aa baseball.tv.

Tickets to Monarchs regular season and playoff games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com.