St. Joseph has a dog in this Chiefs fight
By NewsPress Now
This year, the training camp schedule brings something other than a sense of excitement for Kansas City Chiefs fans.
Events surrounding the team this offseason – and we’re not talking about a certain kicker’s commencement speech – should create a sense of angst among the St. Joseph fanbase as the Chiefs prepare to open public practices on July 21.
The team’s ownership is casting a wandering eye toward a new suitor in Kansas. This happened after voters on the Missouri side, feeling less than charitable toward billionaire owners, rejected a sales tax extension that would have funded renovations to Arrowhead Stadium.
History has a way of repeating itself. In the 1990s, NASCAR first looked at land near Kansas City International Airport as a site for a new racetrack. When Missouri lawmakers balked at the price, Kansas was there with open arms and an even more open checkbook.
The rest is history.
St. Joseph residents might feel like mere observers as a debate unfolds over the future of the Chiefs. To some extent, it doesn’t make that much difference if you drive to Arrowhead or Legends for an NFL game.
Except for the training camp at Missouri Western State University. If you think the Chiefs would play regular season games in Kansas and train in Missouri, then you probably believe Zach Wilson is a Hall-of-Fame quarterback.
Politically, there’s no way Kansas, which is dangling STAR bonds to cover 70% of the stadium cost, could support a huge giveaway without something significant in return. The quid pro quo could be to hold a training camp somewhere in Kansas and recoup some of the economic benefits.
It’s the same argument Missouri used to bring the Chiefs camp from Minnesota to St. Joseph more than a decade ago.
This time, St. Joseph would find itself on the other end of the ledger, which is why this debate is of more than just casual interest. It’s hard to believe that Missouri, after legalizing casinos and marijuana and promising all kinds of benefits, could see two more professional sports franchises fly the coop. Kansas allows sports gambling and apparently is flush enough with money to make a serious run at the Chiefs and Royals.
Maybe Kansas was simply smarter when it came to choosing which vice to legalize.
Flood policy returns with a vengeance
Footage of volunteers hoisting sandbags creates a sense of solidarity with upriver communities. Major flooding in Iowa also washes away the sense of complacency that has prevailed since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In many ways, the St. Joseph community has done its part to become as flood-resilient as possible. Buchanan County voters supported a sales tax for levee improvements to protect farms, homes, businesses and infrastructure. The local, state and federal government made capital investments to move the 139th Airlift Wing to the part of Rosecrans Memorial Airport that’s less likely to see major flooding.
With 2024 shaping up as possibly the most significant flood year since 2019, now is the time for Congress to step up and ensure that federal policy on the management of the Missouri River prioritizes flood control over recreation and habitat.
It might have seemed possible to ignore the problem, but Mother Nature had other ideas.
