Steve Bell

Kansas lawmakers couldn't end their session because they can't agree on a budget ant taxes. And Missouri legislators ended theirs without a plan for fixing roads and bridges. KCUR's Steve Bell looks back at those and other top stories on this week's Saturday News Review.

Ethics bills continue to stumble in the state capitols, but Kansas City, Missouri's ethics code is about to get an update.

Two convicts holed up in the Northland. And volunteers searched for but did not find a missing toddler whose mother was murdered. Steve Bell revisits those and other top stories of the week on KCUR's Saturday News Review.

Charges Filed In Ottawa Murders; Toddler Believed Dead

There were deep concerns about 18-month-old Lana Bailey from the time the bodies of her mother and two men were on a farm near Ottawa Tuesday.

Former president Bill Clinton was in Kansas City to receive the 2013 Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award, which is presented every year on President Truman's birthday.

Clinton told the 1,000 persons attending the luncheon that the award was a fitting reminder of a president who was an active force in creating the United Nations and the Marshall Plan.

The United States Attorney General challenged a new Kansas gun rights law. And Ford finally announced how many new jobs are coming to its Kansas City plant. KCUR's Steve Bell recaps on those and other top stories of the week on the KCUR Saturday News Review.

Kansas Citians can expect the picture to get sharper on Channel 2, the city government's cable TV channel.

The station is preparing to go digital HD. The city council finance committee has endorsed a $300,000 expenditure for new equipment to replace the 20-year-old control room equipment that is the backbone of the city's cable television communication system.

KCCG Channel 2 broadcasts council legislative and committee meetings and other city government related programs. It also rebroadcasts some meetings of the Jackson County Legislature.

The Chiefs drafted a big guy. And Missouri lawmakers were saying “yes” to tax cuts but “no" to Medicaid expansion and gun control. KCUR's Steve Bell recaps on those and other top stories of the week on the KCUR Saturday News Review.

A city council that is nodding yes on airport officials' study of a new single terminal concept at KCI was not impressed with a plan to privatize the bus service at the airport.

As discussion opened  third district councilman Jermaine Reed expressed concern that all 34 tickets issued last year were to African-American kids.

That prompted a surprise appearance from Mayor Sly James who admonished the group to stick to the issue and not drift off into race relations. James agreed that the problem has some racial factors, but insisted that they are not the heart of the problem and that the city cannot allow the public to have the impression that it is not safe to go to some of its entertainment districts.

Sprint got a second suitor. And two Kansas Cities became partners in studying a streetcar line expansion. KCUR's Steve Bell looks back at those and other top stories on this week's Saturday News Review.

Kansas City, Missouri and North Kansas City are exploring extending the forthcoming downtown streetcar line into the Northland. Both city councils have now signed off on the collaboration.

An investigation into Kansas City's port authority that began during Mark Funkhouser's administration may be coming to closure with the agency getting a substantial bill from the city.

An audit reviewed by the council finance committee Wednesday concludes that the city should try to recover $135,000 the city paid out for the repurposing of the old Richards Gebaur Air Force Base.

Auditors turned up over $92,000 in duplicate payments and almost $42,000 in vendor overcharges.

Mayor Sly James is expressing some frustration with late-in-the-game resistance to his Advance KC economic development consolidation program.

Plans for a new airport terminal moved ahead. And Kansas Citians got to meet the man who played Branch Rickey., Han Solo and Indiana Jones.

Harrison Ford, Celebs Boost Negro Leagues At “42” Showing

Harrison Ford fans and baseball fans were out in force to see the star outside Thursday's special pre-release showing of the movie “42” about how Jackie Robinson broke the color line in Major League Baseball.

As the controversy over scanned documents and other personal information continues in Jefferson City, television viewers might get the impression a statewide election is imminent, though it is not.

The ads begin with an on-screen question: “Is Jay Nixon's administration breaking the law?”

The commercials proceed, like some campaign ads, but the campaign for governor was last November.