Kansas
Kansas City prepares for World Cup medical challenge
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – More than 600,000 international fans will attend eight World Cup matches in Kansas City in four months, creating an unprecedented medical challenge for local healthcare systems.
The University of Kansas Health System is leading preparations to provide medical services at every match, base camp and Fan Fest location while ensuring local patients continue receiving care.
“This is a super exciting challenge. We love dynamic situations and planning for those and how to mitigate risk and things. So this is exactly what I love to do,” said Dr. Bryan Beaver, who is leading the medical planning effort.
Training underway at Arrowhead Stadium
Beaver’s team has been training for a year and a half, running table-top exercises and full-scale drills at Arrowhead Stadium will be taking place soon.
“We have more of those coming as we get closer to the World Cup,” Beaver said.
All hospital systems in Kansas City will participate in the effort, with 20,000 staff at the University of Kansas Health System alone, plus regional partners.
“This is a first for Kansas City in terms of the length of this event and the number of people that we have coming. But when it comes to hospitals and collaboration, COVID was actually a pretty good example of there was an enormous need for health care,” said Laura McCarthy, vice president of public and community relations at the University of Kansas Health System.
Planning continues as details emerge
The medical plan will be finalized when team base camps are announced and translation service needs are determined.
“So once we have a little bit better idea who’s coming here and what that might mean for estimates of numbers of fans, we’ll be able to put a little bit more details in place,” McCarthy said.
Medical services will be available for team medical staff if needed, though those details are not finalized.
Healthcare officials also plan to help international fans understand the U.S. healthcare system, including the difference between urgent care and emergency departments.
“What’s the difference between an urgent care or an emergency department, when to go to an urgent care versus when to go to an emergency department, and then how to access that care and how to get there,” Beaver said.
McCarthy said coordination is happening in tiers, with primary focus on the Kansas City metro area plus Lawrence due to potential base camp locations, then expanding statewide.
Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.
KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. She also focuses on issues regarding scams. Share your story idea with Megan.
—
The Veterans Community Project completed its new outreach center in Kansas City, marking the latest milestone for the organization that began in 2016 with a vision to address veteran homelessness.
KSHB 41
Brandonn Mixon, chief project officer and co-founder of Veterans Community Project, said the growth reflects the support of the local community.
Veterans Community Project opens new, expanded Kansas City outreach center
“Going back to this just kind of a vision in 2016 with a group of combat veterans, to literally changing what veteran’s homeless looks like on a national scale, but it’s literally because of the Kansas City community,” Mixon said.
Mixon said the new building is already fulfilling its purpose of bringing veterans together.
“That’s what’s been great about this, Mixon said. “We’re seeing a big influx of veterans coming in and saying,’Hey I’m a veteran, how do I get involved? What can I do in KC? I want to be around other veterans.”‘ And that’s really what this building is doing,” Mixon said.
KSHB 41
The new outreach center evaluates and helps veterans with many things, including help at the center with military documentation, commissary, rent and bills, bus passes, resume writing, education, a Medicare broker and a workforce representative. In just a few months, the organization has helped 35 people find jobs.
Air Force veteran Terrion Lacy is a veteran with a new job. Lacy served from 1987 to 1994 as a radio communications analyst specialist.
Veterans’ Community Project helped him with his home and bills, a new car, and stable employment.
KSHB 41
“I needed help with my rent,” Lacy said.
Since starting his new job, Lacy has earned a role connected to the World Cup.
“Since I have been in my job, I’ve gotten two promotions,” Lacy said. “That extra boost of confidence continues to help me keep the optimism I already have.”
Lacy encouraged other veterans to seek out help through the organization.
“I am always optimistic, and even if you’re not as optimistic as me, I’m going to tell you, you need to come down here, because they will help you find some,” Lacy said. “If the walk leads you here, you can really believe you’re going to get help.”
Veterans’ Community Project now operates tiny home communities in Kansas City, St. Louis, Glendale, Milwaukee, Sioux Falls, Longmont, and recently announced a new projet in Dallas.
The organization also is planning a $2.5 million expansion of its headquarters, which had been operating out of a former auto shop garage.
“When it gets hot in there, its 90 degrees,” Mixon said.
Mixon said the space has become inadequate.
“To be honest with you, we outgrew our original building a long time ago, but at the end of the day, it’s about serving veterans,” Mixon said.
KSHB 41
The expansion, funded through donations, will repair the roof and HVAC system and create new offices to support the organization’s continued national growth.
“We have to expand before we keep going into other markets,” Mixon said. “Thank you for believing in us, thank you for giving us the opportunity to change lives and have these stories and I look forward to doing more in the future.”
Lacy said the outreach center offers something essential for veterans looking to rebuild.
“Any veteran that wants to better themselves, wants to find the community, this is where you get that at,” Lacy said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
—
Kansas governor Laura Kelly and Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt stand outside the Kansas state capitol after an agreement was reached for a new state-of-the-art domed stadium in Wyandotte County.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are moving from Missouri to Kansas and into a glistening, $3 billion dome, which will be surrounded by an entertainment district.
“It will be a world-class facility,” Kansas governor Laura Kelly said, “the envy of professional sports.”
But going across state lines could have a potentially significant downside: Reduced income for both Chiefs players and staff as a result of the state’s different tax provisions.
The Chiefs are slated to play — and therefore work — in Missouri’s Arrowhead Stadium complex until moving into their Kansas digs in 2031.
Currently, Kansas Citians who work in Missouri instead of Kansas pay less income tax, but the difference is marginal.
The top income tax rate in Kansas is 5.58%, and one reaches that rate with a taxable income of $46,000, which NFL players obviously would exceed. In Missouri it is 4.7% once taxable income reaches $9,436, and those who work in Kansas City, Mo. — like the Chiefs — pay another 1% as an earnings tax.
Another difference between the states is the corporate tax rate, which impacts the Chiefs as a privately held C corporation.
Both states have a base rate of 4%, but only Kansas assesses a surtax of 3% on taxable income of more than $50,000.
That discrepancy, though it wouldn’t impact the players’ individual income, is likely why Jason Sudeikis said tax issues forced him to film scenes from his Ted Lasso show in Missouri instead of Kansas.
And legislation in August could more drastically shift things between the border states.
As part of a special election on Aug. 4, Missourians will vote on Amendment 5.
If the amendment passes, it would eliminate individual state income tax in Missouri. So staying put at Arrowhead Stadium’s GEHA Field would have had financial benefits.
“If you have that situation,” Kenneth Woodward, a Kansas City-area certified public accountant, exclusively shared, “it would have been a totally different ballgame.” To put the numbers in perspective: If the amendment passes and the Chiefs had stayed in Missouri, a Chiefs player making $20 million a year would save about $1 million in taxes. (Guard Trey Smith, for example, will make $19.75 million in base salary this season, though that does not include his bonuses.)
The Chiefs could still save money while playing in Missouri through the end of the decade but not once they leave the Arrowhead complex in 2030 — unless Kansas changes its tax provisions before then, and Congress approves them.
Amendment 5 would not only impact players currently on the roster, but also the entire Chiefs staff, including owner Clark Hunt.
Moreover, it could have helped lure free agents.
After his then-Raiders team moved from Oakland, Calif., to Las Vegas, Nev., tight end Darren Waller lauded the financial windfall because Nevada is one of eight states — along with Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming — to have no state income tax. To offset the loss of income tax revenue, states typically increase sales tax, but Texas and Alaska compensate with taxes on oil drilling.
“Each state kind of deals with it on their own,” Woodward said. “They’re all going to get their money from somewhere. It’s not like the states are operating without revenue streams.”
Since moving to Kansas City from Dallas in the 1960s, the Chiefs have played in the state of Missouri.
But moving to Kansas became attractive to the Chiefs because the state will pay for about 60% of the new stadium through its sales tax and revenue (STAR) bonds.
The Wyandotte County in Kansas, City, Kan., location also offers ample space for the stadium to be surrounded by an entertainment district, featuring hotels, bars, restaurants and shops. That will provide further revenue streams and capitalize on the NFL trend.
The New England Patriots have Patriot Place, an outdoor complex adjacent to Gillette Stadium, which has restaurants, hotels, a movie theater and shops. The Dallas Cowboys’ The Star District has a 12,000-seat practice facility also used by high school teams and 19 restaurants, a hotel, a cigar bar, a spa and multiple shops.
Having that kind of complex is the upside of moving to Kansas for the Chiefs.
The downside is they may have cost themselves some future income by staying in Missouri.
“That would have been a big motivator for the Chiefs to stay just to be able to avoid that state income tax,” Woodward said. “If they complete the move to Kansas, then there’s nothing they’re going to be able to do other than just complain to Kansas.”Amendment 5’s Potential Consequences
The Lure Of Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Investigators were called out Sunday night on a homicide near E. 47th Street and Pittman Road.
Online crime reports indicate Kansas City, Missouri, police were called out around 8:30 p.m. Sunday on a shooting in the 4600 block of Overton Avenue.
A police spokesperson was responding to the scene.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
—
If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
-
Nebraska4 minutes agoPine-Richland receiver Khalil Taylor pulls hat trick, picks Nebraska over Penn State
-
Nevada7 minutes agoNevada Youth Sports estimates $250K in damage after Fourth of July firework fire
-
New Hampshire12 minutes agoSuspected gunman in Hampton Beach shooting was in U.S. Navy
-
New Jersey19 minutes agoI took my kids to this New Jersey hotel and stopped making fun of the state (for now)
-
New Mexico22 minutes agoStorm chances continue all week for parts of New Mexico
-
North Carolina27 minutes agoManns Harbor Bridge repairs to be ‘most complete’ in decades | Coastal Review
-
North Dakota34 minutes agoToday in History: July 7, 1940 – War children routed to Grand Forks
-
Ohio37 minutes agoCar crashes into fitness center in Warren
