How The Star’s new Missouri politics reporter brings KC context to state actions

I’m Jack Harvel, the new Missouri Politics Insider for The Kansas City Star.

The role brings a local focus to statewide issues, and it’s my job to contextualize decisions made in Jefferson City to the people who live here in Kansas City.

And there’s a lot of work to be done.

This year, Missourians will vote on a proposed abortion ban, just two years after a ballot initiative established a right to abortion in the state.

Missourians will decide whether to overhaul the state’s ballot initiative process, making it more difficult for citizens to circumvent the legislature to pass public policy.

Missouri’s congressional districts could shift after an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting effort carved the Kansas City metro into three districts.

The Missouri General Assembly introduced a record-breaking number of bills this year, some of which will become law.

Politics can seem abstract, with its formal procedures, its divisions of power and its over-the-top rhetoric. But when a bill becomes a law, there are real impacts on people. At The Star, I want to share the stories of how people collide with policy, and what that means for our region.

A Missouri native returns home

I was born and raised in the metro, graduated from Mizzou, and after covering communities from Topeka, Kansas, to Bend, Oregon, I’m happy to be back in my hometown to cover issues that matter most to my own community.

For the past few years, I’ve been covering state politics and government in Kansas, where I learned a bit about the sausage-making that goes on in Statehouses. I broke stories, held politicians accountable, told stories about how laws impact everyday people, and covered the day-to-day politics in Topeka.

Prior to that, I covered Central Oregon, where I wrote about the takeover of the county GOP by a militia group, published dozens of stories about the local homelessness crisis and covered ongoing wildfires.

My reporting as the Missouri Politics Insider is going to be a bit different than traditional statehouse coverage. I’ll focus on issues of statewide importance, but will keep the sensibilities of a local reporter and focus on what political actions mean for residents in the Kansas City metro.

Kansas Citians need clear, factual reporting about what the state’s elected officials are doing, and I’ll deliver it to you. But I also need your help.

To best serve our readers, I need to know what’s important to them. So I want to hear from you, whether it’s topics you want to see more of, a law that works against you or an unaddressed need in your community.

I’m always open to hearing your thoughts, questions, story tips or advice. My email is Jack.Harvel@kcstar.com.