KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.

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The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, applauded city staff for their efforts to plow snow following Sunday’s storm.

On Thursday, KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas gave the city an A-minus grade for the job, even if the job isn’t totally complete. Drivers continue working in 12-hour shifts clearing the nearly one foot of snow which fell.

“Nobody is ever perfect,” Lucas said. “I think we continue to pursue getting every street addressed. But I think it was a really darn good response. I’d give an A-minus.”

Lucas said the city’s made changes to its snow response in the past four years. Those changes are paying off in the way of improved service.

“When I was growing up in Kansas City, the story was, ‘You go to the suburbs and everything is perfect,’ ‘You go to the city, and everything is not,’” Lucas said as he reiterated a narrative KSHB 41 News has heard before. “With respect to all of our peers around the region, I think you’ve seen that change a bit.”

Changes to the snow plan were the product of KCMO City Manager Brian Platt, who took over in December of 2020.

The following the year, the city began implementing four main changes to its plow routine:

• purchases newer trucks
• shifted employees from other departments and trained them to drive snow plows (even Platt drove a plow this week)
• those additional drivers allow the city to plow main streets and side streets simultaneously
• the city keeps drivers assigned to snow duty for longer periods of time

Al Miller

“It’s going to continue to get better. We’re not where we want to be, but we are going to get better,” KCMO director of Public Works Michael Shaw said. “So we have changed expectations because we are delivering a higher, better quality service.”

Grant Stephens

The changes seem to be changing opinions from residents.

“Considering how much snow came and how fast it was, I’m pretty satisfied,” Shawn Colby, a KCMO resident, said.

Al Miller

“This year seems to be better,” added Eileen Cohen. “It’s always the side streets, but what do you do? But I think they did a good job, it was a blizzard.”

Al Miller

“Honestly, I feel like they could do better with the side streets and stop pushing the snow people just shoveled back in front of their yard,” DJ Juan said, offering some advice to the city.

Al Miller

At Thursday’s council meeting, members introduced a resolution asking the city manager to review snow removal plans. The proposal should come up for more discussion next week.

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A year-to-date after three men were found frozen in their friend’s snowy Kansas City backyard after an NFL watch party, their families still have no explanation for their sons’ mysterious deaths. 

Clayton McGeeney, 37, Ricky Johnson, 38, and David Harrington, 36, were found dead behind their friend Jordan Willis’ home on Jan. 9, 2023. Two days earlier, the four men met up at the house to watch the Kansas City Chiefs play the Los Angeles Chargers. 

In the days before McGeeney’s fiancée found the men’s bodies, Willis could not be reached by phone and did not answer his door, according to family members who searched for the three friends who never returned home.

A representative from the Platte County Prosecutor’s Office told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that an investigation into the men’s deaths is ongoing. Members of each of the three men’s families said that a year later, they still have no updates in the case, with Johnson’s mother saying she was “heartbroken.”

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS’ DEATHS: VICTIMS’ FAMILIES AT ODDS OVER ‘ANGRY’ SPECULATION, LAWYER SAYS

“No news or developments,” a source close to Willis said on Wednesday. “It’s very frustrating, and we don’t know what the holdup is.”

“He’s taking it hard on the anniversary,” the source said. “We thought there would be closure by now.”

Although preliminary autopsy results shared with the media by family members indicate that fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana were in their systems, the deceased men’s families have questioned Willis’ involvement in what happened, with some threatening to file lawsuits.

In September, Willis’ attorney John Picerno told Fox News Digital that “charges [will be] forthcoming in the next few weeks,” based on “internal conversations” with prosecutors.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS’ DEATHS: FAMILIES AT ODDS THREATEN LAWSUITS AGAINST EACH OTHER

An exterior view of the home of Jordan Willis in Kansas City, Missouri, on Jan. 26, 2024. (DWS for Fox News Digital)

“They claim the case is still under investigation,” Picerno said on Wednesday. “But as you know, [the] prosecutor told me months ago that my guy has been cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to harming the other three individuals.”

Julie Rendelman, a former prosecutor, told Fox News Digital that if Willis was responsible for his friends’ deaths, he “likely would have been arrested already.”

That said, she said she would “be shocked if a prosecutor’s office would promise that any individual wouldn’t be pursued, especially if the case is being investigated.”

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS DEATHS: ‘WALTER WHITE NARRATIVE’ ABOUT PARTY HOST IS ‘OUT OF CONTROL,’ SOURCE SAYS

Family and friends of Clayton McGeeney, left, David Harrington, center, and Ricky Johnson are clamoring for answers after the three men inexplicably died in below-freezing temperatures outside their friend’s Kansas City, Missouri, home. (Facebook)

“I’m not saying that [Picerno] is lying, but none of us were privy to any conversation that was had,” she said on Wednesday.

“It seems to me that there’s room to give some answers without giving it away, even if the answers are ‘we don’t have the answers,’” Rendelman said of the Platte County Prosecutor’s Office. “That happens – cases go unsolved.”

Criminal defense attorney Ted Williams told Fox News Digital that a year later, a medical examiner should have complete autopsy results. 

“After getting the results of the autopsy, which I would believe they have the full results by now, you would think that would be enough to bring charges against someone associated with the death of these three men,” Williams said on Wednesday.

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HIV scientist Jordan Willis, 38, checked himself into a rehab facility after his three friends were found dead in his backyard on Jan. 9, 2024. (GitHub)

“What is weird and strange and mysterious is that this is still an open case with the Kansas City Police Department – if they believe that this was not a death that was caused at the hands of another, you would think that they would close this investigation out, and they have not,” Williams said. “It’s still open, so… it could still be considered a homicide… The big question is, what direction is the investigation going?”

But Rendelman pointed out that, although toxicology results and an autopsy are likely completed, a medical examiner may have been unable to determine causes of death. 

Rendelman also said it is not outside the realm of possibility that detectives with the Kansas City Police Department are still gathering information in the case. They could be withholding information from the public so as not to jeopardize that investigation.

“I had cases as a prosecutor where we didn’t charge anyone for years,” she said. “We kept them very quiet and close to the vest because we didn’t want outsiders impacting our ability to fully investigate and hold the people responsible that were responsible… they may be concerned that anything they tell to the public could impact their ability to investigate this.”

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS FANS’ MYSTERIOUS DEATHS YET TO BE RESOLVED A YEAR LATER

“Are there some law enforcement offices that just take longer to investigate things? Yes. Are there some prosecutors’ offices that aren’t as savvy in determining what the public should or shouldn’t know? Yes,” Rendelman said. 

Previously, members of the men’s families told Fox News Digital that they intended to sue Willis in civil court. David Harrington’s father told Fox News Digital that he and his son’s mother were “convinced that Jordan Willis played a part in this somehow” and they “just [hadn’t] figured out how yet.” 

Rendelman said that, in addition to holding someone responsible for their sons’ deaths, the families could get the information they are seeking through the discovery period of a civil lawsuit if the prosecutors’ office continues to keep them in the dark. 

“Sometimes people sue just to get information – you can get a subpoena, get depositions,” Rendelman said.

“I would have to believe that there’s going to be civil litigation that will bring out more than the public is going to learn from the criminal investigation,” Williams echoed.

Kansas went into halftime trailing for the second straight game at Allen Fieldhouse, falling behind Arizona State 42-36. The 42 points were the most the Jayhawks had allowed in a first half all season.

The next 20 minutes completely flipped the script, as the Sun Devils scored just 13 points on five made baskets. It was the lowest amount an opponent had scored during a half since 2013 when TCU scored nine points in the first half.

“We understood we were having trouble guarding there for a while, that first half,” Zeke Mayo said postgame. “[We] let up a couple of shots that the scouting report we didn’t really want to give up, including myself. It was kind of an emphasis at halftime to dig down, play desperate, play with a lot of intensity. I think we did that in the second half.”

Kansas didn’t blow away Arizona State with its offense. The Jayhawks shot a worse percentage in the second half, but their defensive effort allowed them to come away with a comfortable victory.

“We were great defensively,” Bill Self said. “Who would’ve thought we shot the ball worse the second half from two, we shot it worse from three, and basically held them to 11… that was exceptional.”

Shakeel Moore was one of the catalysts of the second-half defense. Moore had a sequence where he picked up steals on consecutive possessions, leading to two dunks as part of a 20-5 run in the first 10 minutes.

“If I was gonna pick an MVP of the game, I’d pick Shak, just because of the energy that he brought,” Self said. “He doesn’t score a ton of points, but he makes plays that, to me, give teams confidence and spark energy as much as anything.”

One of his steals came out of the full-court press, which Kansas opted to implement more often in the second half. It helped ratchet up the pressure, but it also wore out an Arizona State team that played just seven players.

“When you’re playing everybody 33, 35, 37 minutes, the more you make them have to earn things and not give them times where they can rest, I think it makes it harder,” Self said. “That’s one thing we wanted to do, but we actually talked about that a lot in practice, that we were gonna try to be different.”

Mayo echoed that pressure was a part of the team’s scouting report. The Sun Devils played with one true ball handler, and he thought the full-court press was a good way to attack them defensively.

“A lot of their guys didn’t really handle pressure very well,” Mayo said. “That second half, coach emphasized getting after them, picking up full court. It kind of messed with their offense a little bit.”

Self added that he thought the press was good, and he thinks Kansas may use more of it going forward.