ALLISON LONG | The Kansas City Star

Kansas City officials are working on a bond plan that would help rebuild sidewalks, as was done last year (above) with federal funds along Troost Avenue near 40th Street.

The Star’s editorial | KC voters deserve clear choices on key tax plans

Kansas City plans to put at least one sure-fire winner on the Aug. 7 ballot.

MORE NEWS

• The Star’s editorial | Name change for UMKC could be a game change

  May 15, 5:37 PM
  

  As names go, the University of Missouri-Kansas City doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. It’s clunky, and the “Kansas City” part comes across as an afterthought. The University of Kansas City, on the other hand, has a nice, clean ring. It conveys a sense of place. And a sense of responsibility.

• The Star’s editorial | Boilermakers should cut leaders’ expenses during tough times

  May 14, 6:49 PM

  Millions of union members throughout America are fighting hard to keep their jobs during these tough economic times.

• The Star’s editorial | Expand work visas for top foreign talent

  May 13, 5:34 PM
  

  Immigration will someday fade as a hot-button dispute. For the present, however, it’s still a touchy topic for any politician — which is why Sens. Jerry Moran and Mark Warner deserve credit for drafting a bill to ease the bottleneck. What’s a mystery is why more of their colleagues aren’t willing to sign onto a bill that will bring more technical and entrepreneurial talent to our country.

• The Star’s editorial | Don’t settle for mediocrity on Watkins Drive

  May 12, 5:32 PM
  

  The high level of maintenance required to keep Bruce R. Watkins Drive looking sharp should not be allowed to slip in these tough economic times. The Kansas City area already has plenty of mediocre-looking roadways.

• The Star’s editorial | Brownback and allies bulldoze their way to a Kansas tax cut

  May 12, 5:38 PM
  

  In getting his way with the passage of drastic income tax reductions, Gov. Sam Brownback has sacrificed something that up until now has mattered in Kansas: trust.

• The Star’s editorial | Missouri nuttiness leaks into Kansas

  May 11, 7:33 PM

  The Kansas Legislature has only two tasks it absolutely has to get done — pass a budget and a redistricting map. Neither was finished by the time the regular session ended Friday, so lawmakers will drag themselves back to Topeka on Monday for overtime.

• The Star’s editorial | Union Station hits key milestone

  May 10, 6:04 PM

  Almost 16 years after the historic bistate sales tax vote in 1996 to renovate the historic Union Station, the grand building has turned the corner financially, a victory worth celebrating for this entire region.

• The Star’s editorial | A laudable stance on gay marriage

  May 9, 6:27 PM
  

  Barack Obama’s evolving stance on gay marriage has finally brought the president and the nation to the bright side of history. For the first time, a U.S. president has unequivocally affirmed that same-sex couples should be able to legally marry.

• The Star’s editorial | A flawed fire union contract

  May 9, 6:26 PM

  Mayor Sly James and other City Council members have been patting themselves on the back recently for working out a new three-year pact with Kansas City’s powerful fire union. The council will approve it today.

• The Star’s editorial | Mayor’s bold new plan includes big new taxes for KC

  May 8, 7:00 PM
  

  This week Mayor Sly James expects to roll out plans to tackle Kansas City’s significant backlog of decaying infrastructure. Make no mistake: The tax burden on Kansas Citians — who already face among the highest levels of local debt among large Midwestern cities — would rise some more.

• The Star’s editorial | Kansas abortion bills display a lack of concern

  May 8, 7:01 PM
  

  Kansas is already known for placing onerous provisions on abortion providers. Two bills in the Legislature signal a fundamental shift to a strategy that would encourage medical providers to withhold information and services because they are tangentially related to abortion. They show an appalling lack of concern for science and women’s health.

• The Star’s editorial | Economic fog thickens in Europe

  May 7, 6:37 PM

  French President Nicholas Sarkozy came into office pledging to reduce government bureaucracy, boost rewards for work and restore France’s economic vigor. Then came the financial crisis of 2008 and a prolonged slump, and voters Sunday decided they’d had enough of the mercurial “Sarko.”

• The Star’s editorial | KC is paying a big price for falling behind

  May 5, 4:50 PM

  Borrowing by City Hall to pay for everything from a bigger Bartle Hall to taxpayer-subsidized economic development projects means everyone in the city also is burdened with additional debt.

• The Star’s editorial | Battling Kansas City’s school district won’t help students

  May 5, 1:40 AM

  More cooperation is needed for Kansas City Public Schools to enjoy a smooth transition as it gets ready to run the African-centered education campus.

• The Star’s editorial | Missouri bill is a bad bet for gamblers

  May 5, 1:42 AM
  

  Willingness to put borrowed money at risk in a casino is a classic sign of gambling addiction. Allowing such loans would exponentially worsen the social consequences.

• The Star’s editorial | Laughing at Missouri, backstabbing in Kansas

  May 4, 5:55 PM

  The nation is rapidly discovering that Missouri’s legislature is not quite normal.

• The Star’s editorial | Demand a presidential campaign of substance

  May 3, 5:51 PM
  

  Game on.

• The Star’s editorial | Kill this roadblock to voting in Missouri

  May 2, 6:17 PM

  The Missouri Secretary of State’s office says it knows of no substantiated complaints of illegal immigrants voting in the state.

• The Star’s editorial | Good ruling strikes down Missouri student transfers

  May 2, 6:16 PM
  

  A Missouri law permitting students to transfer out of unaccredited school districts was a hammer too lethal to be used. A St. Louis Circuit judge made the right decision by striking it down.

• The Star’s editorial | New Kansas City fire union contract sets off alarms

  May 2, 12:27 AM
  

  The 163-page contract endorsed last week by Kansas City firefighters is stuffed with details that protect their wages, benefits and work conditions. While work rules generally play a key role defending employees’ interests, this pact offers an inside look at a department used to getting its way.

• The Star’s editorial | James faces tests to be a game-changing mayor

  Apr 30, 6:26 PM
  

  As his second year in office starts today, Kansas City Mayor Sly James confronts a difficult set of priorities.

• The Star’s editorial | Keep politics out of Missouri judiciary

  Apr 29, 6:35 PM
  

  The legislature wants to fix a system that isn’t broken. Missouri’s selection system has consistently produced distinguished judges who have served the state and the public well. There is no reason to politicize judicial selection by giving the governor unilateral power to control the commission through his appointees.

• The Star’s editorial | Chamber’s ‘Big 5’ will need money, good plans

  Apr 29, 6:33 PM

  No doubt about it: The “Big 5” will thrive with solid planning and lots of money to turn the initiatives into reality. So it’s encouraging to see that officials in charge of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Big 5 program are spending time to develop detailed proposals.

• The Star’s editorial | Kansas City needs local control of Police Department

  Apr 28, 5:22 PM
  

  It’s time for Mayor Sly James, City Council members, local state legislators and this city’s business community to work together to convince the Missouri General Assembly to relinquish state control of the city-funded workforce.

• The Star’s editorial | Debt vise tightens on students

  Apr 28, 5:30 PM
  

  Surely, Republicans and Democrats can put politics aside for a moment and help young people evade an even deeper debt trap. A compromise before a House vote on interest rates on federally subsidized Stafford student loans would be a great start.

• The Star’s editorial | A crack in the wall and a wreck of a bill

  Apr 27, 8:04 PM

  Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration has wisely backed off of its insistence that services for developmentally disabled Kansans be turned over to private insurance firms.

• The Star’s editorial | Radioactive waste needs protections

  Apr 26, 6:45 PM

  Missouri’s legislature is poised to cancel a fee and related inspections for a Canadian company that plans to transport shipments of cobalt-60. That would be a mistake.

• The Star’s editorial | Pension reform bogs down at City Hall

  Apr 25, 6:09 PM
  

  The closed-door meetings on pension reform mean an expensive delay for reasonable adjustments. Clearly, Kansas Citians will get the kind of reform they deserve only if City Manager Troy Schulte, Mayor Sly James and the Kansas City Council fight for that goal.

• The Star’s editorial | Pump more money into Kansas schools

  Apr 24, 7:22 PM
  

  All eyes are on Topeka today as the Kansas Legislature returns from a break with next year’s budget still up in the air. Of several looming issues unresolved in this contentious session, funding schools adequately is one of the most essential.