Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium at the Truman Sports Complex on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Kansas City. Tammy Ljungblad tljungblad@kcstar.com
Editor’s note: The following is from today’s Star Politics newsletter, published weekly on Wednesdays. You can sign up here.
Hello, Star readers.
Today, we’re looking at how a key request from the Kansas City Chiefs to a top Kansas lawmaker shocked and frustrated several Missouri lawmakers. “A shot in the gut,” one Republican told The Star.
Next, we’ll get into:
• Bailey vs. Jackson County: Missouri’s attorney general is suing Jackson County to block gun restrictions enacted after the 2024 Chiefs Super Bowl rally shooting.
• Murder conviction reversed: The Kansas Supreme Court has reversed a KCK man’s murder conviction in the killing of his pregnant girlfriend. Why did the court cast doubt on his case?
This week in politics
Missouri officials have expressed shock and frustration after the Kansas City Chiefs asked Kansas lawmakers to extend that state’s stadium-funding incentives program past its June 30 deadline.
Chiefs’ President Mark Donovan made the extension request in a letter to Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, last week. Top Kansas lawmakers are scheduled to meet July 7 to discuss extending the program, which, in theory, would pay for up to 70% of a new stadium for the Chiefs in Kansas.
The letter and news of the likely extension appeared to catch several Missouri lawmakers off guard. Missouri legislators, who recently approved their own incentives plan for the Chiefs, were largely under the impression that the Kansas plan would not be extended.
“Well, that’s a shot in the gut,” said Rep. Chris Brown, a Kansas City Republican who handled the Missouri incentives plan in the House. “I didn’t see that coming. I thought the Chiefs were fairly secure staying right where they’re at.”
More from this past week
• The KCFD will now consider a veteran Black applicant for chief after he threatened to sue the department. We dug into the reversal, which came after an inquiry by The Star.
• Missouri lawmakers have already passed a plan intended to keep the Chiefs and Royals inside state lines. But another tool that could help the teams is still sitting on the governor’s desk.
• A secret audit found that Kansas Citians could be dying from heart attacks unnecessarily due to KCFD responders failing to follow protocol for treating chest pain in 87% of emergency calls.
Looking for more?
• For more politics news, follow @bymatthewkelly.bsky.social, @kacen.bsky.social, and @grice1911.bsky.social.
• Want to read more newsletters from The Star? You can subscribe to our free daily newsletters, the Morning Rush or the Afternoon Catch-Up.
That’s all for now! See you next week.
Did someone forward this newsletter to you? You can sign up here. If you’d prefer to unsubscribe from this newsletter, you can do so at any time using the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom of this message.