Gwen Grant

Kansas City’s Central City Economic Development program, started in 2017, is set to be renewed soon — but critics aren't so sure about a program they say has done little.

A city council ordinance currently in committee would establish a commission to look into slavery reparations for Black Kansas Citians.

Under Missouri law, Kansas City must spend 25% of its general fund on the police department. Members of the Board of Police Commissioners say the city is leaving out developer subsidies and other budget items to spend less on cops.

Police commissioners were mum Wednesday after a video surfaced in which Smith could be heard saying the "bad guy's dead" following the fatal shooting of Cameron Lamb, a Black man killed by KCPD Detective Erik DeValkenaere, who was convicted last month of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.

After a closed-door session Monday, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners announced that it never voted to fire Smith and that he “remains in good standing” with the board.

The removal of the embattled police chief has been a rallying cry for activists and civil rights groups. It comes just days after a Kansas City Police detective was convicted of manslaughter in the death of a Black man.

In the spring of 2020, Black Lives Matter protesters called for the Kansas City Police Department to be released from state oversight. Civil rights groups are still talking about that, but there's little momentum.

Gwen Grant's lawsuit says the board violated the rights of taxpayers under the Hancock Amendment, the citizens’ initiative that limits state revenues and local taxes.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker wrote a letter of support, saying police have “no accountability to our community.”

A Jackson County judge on Monday denied two challenges to the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners' lawsuit that seeks to undo the mayor's reform plan, which remains on hold.

Derek Chauvin now faces murder charges for the death of George Floyd last May. For some activists in Kansas City, the trial's verdict could be an opportunity for justice, or a catalyst for further protest.

To show Black lives matter in Kansas City, organizers plan to put down paint, in the manner of similar projects in Washington, Cleveland, Tulsa and elsewhere.