Dan Verbeck

Kansas City, Mo. – The heavy coat in July was the giveaway to the hidden camera inside a Lees Summit Theater. A Grandview, Mo. man today has been sentenced to two years in federal prison and a $25 thousand fine for copyright infringement, film piracy.

Kansas City, Mo. – Kansas City got one high five and one gutter rating today. Forbes magazine rates it 13th among the 20 worst cities to live. But the airport is wonderful.

Forbes cites high crime and taxes, but says terrible sports teams really drag down the city. Now, the airport is a different story. It is rated best in the country among medium size cities.

Kansas City, Mo. – $50 million is destined for the Kansas City area for federal stimulus transportation work. The announcement came as part of the Obama Administration's national promotional blitz on the first anniversary of the economic recovery act.

The millions will be managed by Mid America Regional Council and be spread both sides of state line.

Topeka, Kan. – With Kansas public schools mired in financial difficulties, new calculations show a rise in the number of children who need to be served .

State education officials are said to be shocked by the growth rate, calculated at more than double the number anticipated.

Enrollment increased by 61 hundred students this year. Deputy State Education Commissioner Dale Dennis took note of the figures as talks are underway debating whether to consolidate school districts to save multi millions of dollars.

Kansas City, Kan. – It's still not clear which law officer fired the shot that killed a Kansas City Kansas man yesterday afternoon. Officers from several jurisdictions were there.

Kansas City, Kansas police say they had no role in the shooting of 18 year old Anthony Clemons. A spokesman says that a federal task force including Kansas City, Missouri narcotics police had chased two cars engaged in a gunfight. And someone in that task force killed Clemons when he aimed gun at them.

Kansas City, Mo. – Strong budget! The assessment of the acting city manager's budget for the next fiscal year, delivered by Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser. He would add what he calls some small items. They would total $1.5 million.

Kansas City, Mo. – A Kansas City dentist gets an airplane in restitution, as the woman who stole from him heads toward prison.

It is one of the odder forfeiture and seizures to pass through Kansas City Federal District Court in several years.

Kansas City, Mo. – A Kansas City North man was charged and pleaded guilty today to operating an illegal gambling operation. 26 year old Michael Badalucco admitted he took bets on sports using a computer server in Costa Rica.

In return for his guilty plea, Badalucco got immunity from testifying against others.

He transferred bets, took in money and paid it out to bettors. The U. S. Attorney says the operation transmitted wagering information between Missouri, Arizona and Costa Rica.

Kansas City, Mo. – The former Kansas City man convicted of killing Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller speaks via Youtube for the first time since his trial.

It's a recorded conversation between Scott Roeder and Iowa anti abortion activist Dave Leach. Roeder was asked if he has sympathy for the family of the man he shot to death in a Wichita church last year, and said--"The fact that George Tiller was involved in the practice that he was, similar to that of a hit man, if you could have sympathy for a hit man's family."

Kansas City, Mo. – As many as 728,000 Missourians took help from emergency food banks last year. That's according to a survey by Feeding America and the Missouri Food Bank Association, which is made up of six major organizations, including Harvesters in the Kansas City area.

Scott Baker, director of the umbrella group, says he thinks a lot of people will be surprised by the data.

"When you're talking about one in eight Missourians, that's a significant number," he says. "We're talking about your neighbors."

Kansas City, Mo. – Four executives in charge of training new Iraqi police officers came to Kansas City to see how the job is done in the United States.

The group talked with reporters under two restrictions: No questions about the war or politics.

Three generals and a colonel walked through the Kansas City Police Academy, watching defensive training. One used the word "amazing" to describe the cooperation he's seen between local and federal law agencies.

Kansas City, Mo. – Disgruntled people are finding a lot to be mad about within workings at Kansas City, Missouri City Hall. It's turned into a barometer for metro-wide feelings about the region. This appears in a newly released poll for the Greater Kansas City Area Chamber of Commerce. The governors of both states saw it freshly revealed to the public.

The governors opened to light banter of cross state rivalries before pollster Neil Newhouse tore open realities of his survey. The economy was top concern among those questioned.

Kansas City, Mo. – Some of the nation's top economics bloggers have a breathtakingly pessimistic outlook. The findings come from the respected Kauffman Foundation on February 2, 2010.

Economic growth numbers from the last quarter of 2009 may look promising but they don't impress many of 200 economics devotees surveyed by The Kauffman group. Tim Kane is senior fellow with the foundation and engineered the first-of-its-kind study for the organization.

Kansas City, Kan. – An environmental watchdog organization has gone to federal district court to ask a Kansas judge to freeze a permit to build a giant rail yard and truck depot in Johnson County .

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did an assessment of the project last summer. The Natural Resources Defense Council doesn't think the job was thorough enough, considering possible health impact of diesel fumes from thousands of trucks expected at the cargo transfer site.

Kansas City, Mo. – Kansas City has surrendered to demands of a lawsuit by Jackson County government. The suit challenged Kansas City power to direct handling of tax dollars due counties, schools and libraries.

The embittered battle of recent weeks appears over with unanimous approval of an ordinance allowing members outside city jurisdiction have full voting power on the Tax Increment Finance Commision. That was essence of the lawsuit set for trial next month.

The TIF Commission allows tax breaks to approved developers.