Bus tax opponents were "lying scumbags"

Mayor Mark Funkhouser took aim at opponents of the city's recently approved bus tax.

Funkhouser, during a press conference this morning, call the group that opposed the 15 year sales tax "lying scumbags."

Funkhouser also compared the group, which remained anonymous, to the political action groups that ran attack advertisements against him during his own mayoral election.

The Vote No group spent more than $100,000 on advertisements, both print and television, claiming that the city was misusing the bus tax and could not be trusted with a 15 year extension.

Funkhouser also hinted that the group's fundraising and ad campaign may have been illegal.

The tax on Tuesday passed with an overwhelming majority.

After the press conference today, Funkhouser admitted, "I probably shouldn't have said that."

And the winner is...

With all ballots cast, counted and totaled the Kansas City Election Board is reporting that all three ballot measures passed.

Bus tax:

YES 25285 68.96% NO 11382 31.04%

Payday loans:

YES 23000 65.03% NO 12368 34.97%

Smoking ban:

YES		19042	51.87%
NO		17670	48.13%

KC School Board:

W. EDDY		7358	43.25%
A. WEST		8727	51.30%

Polls close without incident

The polls are now officially closed.

Election board officials said they had a much lighter turnout than they had expected. Rain, low interest and only a handful of items on the ballot did not have the kind of draw that most other elections might.

For example, in the Northland voters only had three items to decide. The rest of the city had several low-profile and uncontested school board races to decide from.

Results should be up soon and as soon as they break we will bring them to you here.

Smoking Ban supporters call it early — really early.

Way before the polls closed and any of the exit data could truly be looked over — if any was being collected at all — The Breathe Easy Campaign was already announcing its victory party.

Breath Easy, the group that has pushed for the new smoking ban on Tuesday's ballot, sent out invitations to media and supporters at 4 p.m. today reminding them of the time and location of their celebration venue.

And where will the anti-smoking group be cheering on the returns? A bar, of course.

Booze Fish Wine Bar to be more exact.

BREAKING NEW: Mid-day shooting at Lawndale and St. John

Police are investigating a mid-day shooting at the corner of St. John and Lawndale avenues.

Witnesses say a car pulled up to the corner and began firing at two juveniles across the street. After firing roughly half a dozen shots, the car left the scene. The two juveniles, who were unhurt during the shooting fled on foot north on Topping.

Several .45 shell casings were found in the gutter near were witnesses said the car stopped before suspects began firing, which is directly across the street from The Northeast News offices.

Police are asking for help and if anyone has information to call the TIPS hotline at 474-TIPS.

Rain hampers early election day voting

The parking lot of the Don Bosco Senior Center looked fairly full, but inside the lobby and voting booths stood mostly empty.

Poll officials had already planned for a low turn out — despite two hot-button issues of smoking and bus taxes — but the rain was not exactly helping get bodies into booths.

Being that it is a spring, municipal election the slow pace has not necessarily stunned many involved in the election.

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If you did not get a chance to see light rail advocate Clay Chastain on KCPT's Kansas City Week in Review, its worth a viewing here . At one point Chastain seems to blame KC voters for approving his plan even though it was so, well, flawed.

He, despite his public transportation support, is against the bus tax. His claim is that the city has already wasted too much money on city buses.

BREAKING NEWS: Man charged in connection to Wednesday's shooting

Jackson County Prosecutors today announced they were filing charges against Taqwa Thompson, 18, for the murder of a man near the corner of Scarritt and North Mersington.

Police say Thompson and another man walked up to 55-year-old Ricardo Jimenez as he was standing in the doorway of his apartment building and shot him.

Thompson then fled. Police caught up with him near the corner of Lexington and Lebelle — just to the west of Concourse Park — where police say they also found clothing belonging to Thompson and a handgun.

Police say the two men arrested Wednesday afternoon were the only two invovled, despite earlier reports that three men had been seen fleeing the scene.

Prosecutors are requesting a $250,000 cash bond.