District postpones school fairs

A pair of Kansas City School District neighborhood fairs planned for the community this weekend will be rescheduled during two weekends in August.

The fair at James Elementary fair will be rescheduled for 4 to 8 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 2 at the school. The event is designed for the James community to address concerns related to changes in the school’s boundaries.

The event will also feature food, carnival games and the magician “Razzle The Dazzler.” Informative activities such as language proficiency tests, science activities, and library book giveaways and card registration will also be offered.

The fair at Garfield Elementary will be rescheduled for 2 to 6 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 16 at the school. Students, families and community members are invited to enjoy carnival games and delicious snacks, informative community booths and vendors, and important information about enrollment, free preschool and K-8 Neighborhood Schools.

Both events are free and open to the public. These fairs are an effort by the Kansas City, Missouri School District to bring important services and information directly to the community.

Sign of the times...

Caught red-handed.

John Rizzo’s posse begs a warning from The Northeast News. It wasn’t even 48 hours after Rizzo had professed at a public forum his campaign workers did not place signs in the right of way, that they did the very thing.

The Northeast News sighted Mike Gray, brother of Pat Gray – the Rizzo campaign consultant, diligently placing Rizzo’s campaign signs along St. John Avenue and along Gladstone Boulevard in Concourse Park. Having busted Gray for placing signs along Independence Avenue last year,

The Northeast News quickly pulled a u-turn to confront the man. Gray openly admitted he was paid by Rizzo to “go out and plant signs” Later that same afternoon, The Northeast News received a call from Rizzo who called to make some clarifications.

“We’ve reprimanded Mr. Gray and instructed him that if he places any more yard signs in the public right of way, he would be terminated from working on our campaign any further,” Rizzo said.

He also stated Mr. Gray receives a list of addresses of where to place the signs.

“I don’t know what he was thinking,” Rizzo said. “I take this very seriously, yard signs are for yards, not the public right of way.”

BREAKING NEWS: Police find body on East 10th Street

UPDATE: The victim has been identified as 27-year-old Larrie Latimore of Kansas City. There are no suspects in custody and detectives ask that anyone with information to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.

FROM EARLIER: Today, at about 7:58am, Kansas City Police Officers found the body of a man in the 2400 block of East 10th Street. Witnesses say they heard gun shots around 3 a.m. Officers found the man, who has not yet been identified, in nearby yard.

The man appeared to be the victim of a homicide and detectives are responding to the scene to investigate.

Candidate forum tonight

Tonight, July 9, The Northeast News and the neighborhoods of Historic Northeast will host a candidate forum at Melrose United Methodist Church, 200 N. Bales, from 6 - 8:15 p.m.

The moderated forum will lead off with Jackson County Sheriff candidates from 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.

From 7:15 - 8:15, candidates for the 40th District State House race will take the stage. Written questions from the audience will be submitted to event moderator Christine Adams, then submitted to the candidates to answer.

For more information on the forum, please call The Northeast News st 241-0765

It's quiet, almost too quiet...

Like a calm before the storm.

The heated rivalry between State Rep. John Burnett and John Joseph Rizzo is no big secret. The two have gone back and forth for years in an exchanges of political left hooks and right jabs.

Already some political watchers throughout Kansas City are predicting that Northeast’s State House race is one of the hot races to watch as the two will undoubtedly duke it out for the chance to represent us in the Missouri house. The attack ads, we are sure, are merely waiting in the shadows before being sprung on one or both candidates.

Some of the attacks, which have mostly remained said behind closed doors or in confidence, have even bordered on eerily personal.

In their last go around for the seat, Burnett beat Rizzo by only seven votes — and don’t think that has not gotten some in the Rizzo camp fired-up for this next round and vice versa for Burnett.

Tonight (Wednesday, July 9) though, is the first chance the two will square off publicly and once again open the flood gates of what could become another bloody political season for Northeast.

This pup has only one dog in this fight and it is the neighborhoods that these two claim they can better represent.

But let’s cut though the fur and get to the heart of what is at stake here: the success or failure of these neighborhoods that more than 30,000 call home. Northeast as a whole stands in a very unique position as major projects and some help begins to trickle in through neighborhood revitalization and crime prevention.

At the same time, though, the city is shrinking its support and the neighborhood groups that already give their hearts to this area are going to start looking to county and state leaders to keep that success rolling.

Reducing this seat of authority into a pile of hateful mailers and vindictive ads is not going to serve anyone any good.

Now, this dog has some years in her and is not naive enough to think one editorial is going to make every politician fly straight this election season.

Still, we hope through this we can maybe remind every candidate that there are still a lot of good people counting on whomever takes this seat to turn right around after the campaign party and get to work. The winner will be expected to immediately begin giving every last bit they can to get resources, projects and money to flow from the State to the streets of Northeast.

As we ride this calm before the storm, it might be good to ask how any candidate for any position representing Northeast will accomplish this though another hateful flyer clogging our mailboxes.

UPDATE: Police close Belmont

Officials with the Kansas city Police Department say officers closed Belmont for a little over an hour this morning as they were attempting to arrest a man with several warrants.

police did not say who the man was nor give further information about the arrest.

In the photo below, one officer offers water to two individuals who had been arrested this morning. Police were not releasing any details at that time.

Police close Belmont for investigation

Officers would not say why, but the Kansas City Police Department this morning closed off a significant portion of Belmont Road just north of St. John Avenue.

Police had two men in custody and even had SWAT on hand for what appeared to be an on going investigation of a house across the street from the Super Flea. Officers would not comment on what they were looking for or even what had happened.

For more on this, check here or in Next week's copy of The Northeast News