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No details emerged on Chiefs’ future home, despite officials’ 2025 timeline

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Guest Columnist
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Kansas legislative leaders could have a decision to make in the coming months on whether taxpayers will subsidize a new stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs or a ballpark for the Kansas City Royals.

Under House Bill 1 from the special session, the Kansas Department of Commerce could enter into an agreement with the Chiefs or Royals to relocated to the Kansas side of the metro. Any deal would have to be approved by the Legislative Coordinating Council, which could meet behind closed doors for discussion, but any vote would have to be done during a public meeting.

The authority for a sales tax and revenue bond project has a June 30, 2025, deadline on the law. However, the deadline could be extended by the LCC.

The sports team has indicated it wants a decision earlier than that. In July, Chiefs president Mark Donovan said, “We feel like we need to get something done in the next six months.”

Sen. J.R. Claeys, R-Salina, said in a radio interview in November that he’s expecting more information early this year. The Department of Commerce had no update last month.

“I hope there’s an opportunity that I can stand here and talk more about the Chiefs and Royals,” Bob North, chief legal counsel for the Commerce Department, told lawmakers in December. “That day is not today. We’re not able to comment on those discussions, but hope there is a time in the near future that we can do so.”

Stadiums and practice facilities

The bill not only pays for new stadiums, but it could also fund the creation of a new training facility. The Chiefs’ lease for their current training camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri, expires this year.

Several Kansas lawmakers accused Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration of attempting to fund a training facility at Washburn University using interest earned on American Rescue Plan Act funds. The effort, which was neither confirmed nor denied, appears to have failed.

Washburn returned the roughly $32 million of funds it was sent.

Lobby power

Scoop and Score, a nonprofit group that advocated for a STAR Bond-funded Chiefs stadium, hired more lobbyists than any other organization in the state in 2024. In 2025, its roster is a little more modest with just four registered lobbyists.

The Chiefs don’t have any registered lobbyists in the state thus far, and the Royals have two. Polisinelli Law Firm — which represented the Chiefs in court, lobbied for the team in the Legislature and are corporate sponsors — no longer have any lobbyists registered in the state.

Lawmakers were eager to attach their names to help the Chiefs after they became one of the few teams to win the Super Bowl twice in a row, and could potentially become the first team to three-peat in this year’s playoffs.

Competing with Missouri

In September, Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas said the city was negotiating with the Royals on a new stadium proposal while Jackson County was talking with the Chiefs about their future home. The Royals have expressed interest in having a downtown stadium.

The Chiefs have kept their options open, saying that they may opt to renovate Arrowhead Stadium rather than start something new. The estimated cost for a domed stadium can be up to $3 billion, while updating Arrowhead would cost about $800 million.

Lucas told reporters that he believed the Chiefs will remain at Arrowhead, and that the Royals will stay in Kansas City.

Additional help may also come from the state of Missouri, with outgoing Gov. Mike Parson supporting measures to keep the team. Missouri’s Gov.-elect Mike Kehoe has also signaled he’d work to keep the Chiefs in Missouri.

Parson had said that by the end of 2024 there should be “something in place” about what the state should do, but there is still no public funding plan to keep either of the teams.

Chiefs researching fan sentiment

In November, the Chiefs hired CSL International to survey, interview and conduct focus groups from fans about their preferences for future stadiums. The research will ask fans, season ticket holders and corporate partners the features, amenities and seating options they want to see in a new stadium or a renovated Arrowhead.

On Thursday, CSL International released a pair of surveys to the public to narrow down what amenities will be included for both options.

CSL International is a research firm that specializes in sports, entertainment and hospitality and leisure. The research was expected to be completed “in the coming weeks” after the announcement was made on Nov. 14.

As reported in the Topeka Capital Journal

Identifying Poison Ivy in the winter

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Guest Columnist
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KSU horticulture

Growing up my family heated the house with a wood stove. Needless to say we were always cutting firewood any time of the year. Sometimes we even got into poison ivy, even in the winter! During the growing season, these plants are easy to tell apart as Virginia Creeper has five-leaflets per leaf and Poison Ivy has three. However, during the winter, distinguishing between the two vines can be more difficult as the leaves have dropped. The reason it is important to be able to tell the difference is that Poison Ivy causes a rash in most people but Virginia Creeper does not. First, let’s cover some facts about Poison Ivy.

 

– Urushiol is the oil present in Poison Ivy that causes the rash.

– Urushiol is present in all parts of the plant but especially in the sap.

– Urushiol can cause a rash from 1 to 5 years after a plant has died.

– The amount of urushiol that covers the head of a pin can cause a rash in 500 people. The stuff is potent!

– Poison Ivy can grow as a ground cover, a shrub or a vine. We are concerned with the vine in this article.

– Using a chainsaw on Poison Ivy in the winter can release sap which makes a rash more likely. This is worse on warm days where there is more sap rise.

 

So, how do you tell the two apart? This is actually easy once you know what to check. Look at the aerial roots on the vines of Poison Ivy and Virginia Creeper. They resemble hairs on Poison Ivy but are plumper on Virginia Creeper and are about the size of a pencil lead.

“Save and Preserve through movement”

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Guest Columnist
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“Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being while movement and methodical physical exercise saves and preserves it”. Plato said that some 2300 years ago. It is not news to anyone that moving the body is the best way to stay healthy. But sometimes life gets in the way, whether in the form of a motor vehicle accident, a nerve condition like Guillain-Barre syndrome, or a health condition like a stroke, there are times in life when knowing that exercise is good for you is not enough. And it is during those times that physical therapy becomes crucial.

My work in inpatient rehab places me directly in connection to a wonderful team of physical therapists, and I see first-hand the role they play in helping our patients overcome adversity. Strengthening the muscles is just one aspect of their jobs, they must also help the patients learn to adapt. For example, if an elderly patient has a stroke, in addition to helping the patient work on strengthening the affected side, therapists are tasked with optimizing the patient’s abilities, while helping them overcome their disabilities. They do this is tons of different ways, including introducing adaptive equipment, like walkers, canes, crutches, hemi-walkers, slide boards, etc.. They also help train patients in alternative lifestyle changes, sometimes the best way to overcome a problem is to find a workaround, and physical therapists are experts at problem solving with their patients, and coming up with safe and effective ways to help them improve.

Luckily, exercise is its own reward, and my patients almost always feel better, although a little worn out, after a good session. And this is because our body rewards itself with neurotransmitters following physical activity. Endorphins are released giving people that ‘runner’s high ’sensation, endorphins can relieve pain, reduce stress, improve mood and overall feelings of wellbeing. Working with physical therapists can cause a patient to release dopamine, the ‘feel good ’hormone, which causes improved mood, increased attentiveness, and can even improve memory and learning. Exercise also releases serotonin, which combats depression, improves sleep-wake cycles, and plays a role in digestive health. In my line of work we often talk about pre-medicating the patient, giving a pain medication before the patient needs to do something physically taxing. But it is striking how rarely we need to give pain medications after a patient finishes working with PT. Nature has taken care or that, by providing a built in system of pain relievers, mood improvers, and anti-depressants that accompany exercise.

Every patient is different, and so is the plan of care developed by the therapy team. If you or a loved one is dealing with a health condition that may require physical therapy, I want to be a calming voice or assurance, the therapist or team of therapists will customize a plan of care focused on the patient’s specific needs, that will help them adapt to changes, regain what they can, and improve the patient’s wellbeing.

Carter Holm, RN is a Registered Nurse at Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls Specializing in inpatient rehabilitation. Holm is a Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse and works with patients through their rehabilitation from strokes, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and trauma. Follow The Prairie Doc® at www.prairiedoc.org and on Facebook and Instagram featuring On Call with the Prairie Doc® a medical Q&A show celebrating its 23rd season of health information based on science, built on trust, streaming live on Facebook most Thursdays at 7 p.m. central.

Hard Roads And Easy Streets

By
Lee Pitts
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lee pitts

I’ve always wondered, when does a town become a city? Is there a magic number like 10,000 or 100,000? I may not know when a town becomes a city but I darn sure know when I’m in one. I start getting the heebie-jeebies at anything over 30,000 people and I left San Diego one time at three a.m. because I couldn’t take it any longer. I don’t know if it’s the noise or the way that people like to congregate in crowds. You’ve probably heard the phrase, “A New York Minute?” That’s how long I can stand to be in the big bad apple.

I was born in a “hospital” with three or four beds in the town I was raised in. The sign at the edge of town said we were the “Citrus Capital of the World” and that the population was 10,000, both of which were out and out lies. They must have been counting the influx of braceros who came to pick our fruit every year.

We lived at the edge of town on one acre and the street in front of our house was the city limits. Speed one way going down the street and a policeman would give you a ticket and on the other side it would be a sheriff. We had a volunteer fire department where both my grandfather and great-grandfather were the chief. My great-grandfather was even Mayor but that was based solely on the fact that he gave out huge six inch Milky Way bars to young kids on Halloween who grew up to become voters. The train went through our town but it didn’t stop unless it hit a car or a cow. We did have a motel but it had threadbare carpet, cardboard walls and the occasional mouse.

For every year but a couple I’ve lived in small towns and from that experience I’ve learned that there are many things you won’t find in a typical town. For instance, I’ve lived at my current residence for 40 years and in all that time we’ve never had parking meters, one way streets, a metro area, a high school, neither a new or used car lot, a mortician, dermatologist, an Olive Garden nor any other chain restaurant. But we do have a great Mexican food joint that serves our needs quite nicely. We don’t have a museum or a mausoleum or a place to buy clothes except the hardware store. We did have a barber shortage until recently when a brave soul opened one. And our church-to-bar ratio is about one to one, which seems to be the standard against which all towns are measured. My mom went to church while my father hung out in bars.

I got a cowboy job straight out of college and lived outside one of my favorite burgs that I loved because it had about three cows for every permanent resident. It would have been what you call a “one stoplight town” except it didn’t have one. It did have a small grocery store, a cemetery but no hospital or urgent care, (which might explain the need for a cemetery). It’s never had a Starbucks but it did have a laundromat where I could wash my cowy clothes and pity the person who came after me. You could order a pizza from Dominos but it would take an hour to get your pizza, which was about the same time it took for an ambulance to arrive. The town still doesn’t have a Subway, either the kind you ride or order a sandwich. It doesn’t have an airport or a single skyscraper and the only elevator in town is the kind that holds grain, not suits holding briefcases.

In my opinion there are a few minimum necessities to even be called a town. You should have at least one gas station that sells both gas and diesel, a drugstore where you can fill a prescription and at least one bank preferably with the words “Mechanics” or “Farmers” in its name. It should also have a 4-H group and some folks who know what the letters FFA used to stand for.

If you live someplace with absolutely none of these symptoms of civilization you reside in either the country or in Heaven… but I repeat myself.

 

Digital Edition 01.15.25

By
tammiehoeme
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digital edition

Digital Edition 01.15.25

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