Chiefs

Chiefs reach a crossroads in a season of the unexpected

For nine weeks, the Chiefs were an unstoppable force, winning games in almost every way imaginable. A five-game run of playing backup quarterbacks and downtrodden teams ended along with the winning. So did a relatively injury-free season when Houston suffered a subluxation of his right elbow two weeks ago against San Diego and offensive tackle Branden Albert hyperextended a knee last week against Denver. Since that 9-0 start, the Chiefs have not won a game in more than a month.

SAM MELLINGER

Winning goalie Jimmy Nielsen’s MLS Cup runneth over

Sporting Kansas City won the MLS Cup after beating Real Salt Lake 7-6 in a penalty-kick shootout. For captain Jimmy Nielsen, who came to the team when it played in a minor-league baseball park, winning the title at Sporting Park didn’t come without some emotion.

Politics

Emails detail a hidden plan for Kansas City Public Schools

They show Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro was eager to create a new school system, even as the long-beleaguered but stabilized district was preparing to celebrate its best academic improvement in years. A rushed bidding process landed CEE-Trust a contract to develop a long-range overhaul for the district’s failing schools.

Editor's Picks

VAHE GREGORIAN

Loss can’t change that Missouri’s football team became something better this year

But even with the galling way Missouri’s loss in the SEC championship was administered, with Auburn running berserk for a stupefying 565 yards, the defeat isn’t the prevailing signature of Mizzou’s season. Not remotely. “I’m not going to shed a tear. I’m not going to shed one tear,” senior receiver L’Damian Washington said. “Because I’m proud.”

TELEVISION

‘Bonnie and Clyde’ miniseries isn’t factually bulletproof

If you watch the new “Bonnie & Clyde,” you’ll eventually find yourself asking, “Hold on, did they really do that?” The four-hour, two-part miniseries based on the lives of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow begins Sunday on three cable networks, with Holliday Grainger and Emile Hirsch as the notorious Depression-era outlaws. Here’s how it all really went down.

C.W. Gusewelle

Why can’t only our snowman be frosty?

What chance might there be that the season’s occasion of joy and giving will ease somewhat — if only temporarily — the climate of rancor and contention that has come to characterize the conduct of our public affairs?

News

Three area Pearl Harbor survivors are honored before MLS title game

Even 72 years later, the memories of Dec. 7, 1941, are vivid for the three remaining Kansas City area Pearl Harbor survivors. Saturday afternoon at Sporting Park, Edmond Russell, Dorwin Lamkin and Jack Carson stood before their largest audience yet as the veterans were cheered by a standing-room-only crowd.

Community Faces

Mission’s Holiday Lights and Festive Sights

The Shawnee Mission Christmas Tree Lighting was held Friday evening at the Sylvester Powell Community Center. Outside were fire pots, s’mores, popcorn and horse-drawn sleigh rides. On the inside was the toy store, face painting, cookies and Santa.

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