KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Employees of the United States Postal Service in Kansas City and throughout the country held rallies Tuesday to raise awareness about short staffing within the agency.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the agency is prepared for a “heroic” effort to deliver mail-in ballots ahead of the November presidential election.

The rallying postal employees want that same dedication during the other 11 months of the year.

Toni Robinson is president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 67 in Kansas City.

She said mismanagement has led to a staffing shortage in the Kansas City area.

Robinson also said the agency needs to improve training for both new hires and managers.

She said these issues are partly to blame for mail delays around the region, which have led congressional leaders to send letters to USPS and launch audits on the topic.

“We want to provide a service to the customers out here and we want to do it in a timely fashion,” Robinson said. “We cannot do it without the proper staffing.”

The delivery of mail-in ballots came into question last month when Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab sent a letter to DeJoy showing election offices were unable to tabulate roughly 1,000 mail-in ballots in the August primary because of late deliveries or ballots arriving without postmarks.

Robinson said her 1,200 union members are prepared to make sure mail-in ballots arrive on time in the November election, but they’ll need more help longterm in the Kansas City area.

“We’re ready to handle it; we did it before,” Robinson said. “We can move the mail. We know how to move the mail. We just need more staffing to assist moving that mail, but we’re gonna get the mail out. We’re going to work the 12 hours or whatever is decided to get that mail out, but we’re going to get that mail out.”

KSHB 41 News received this statement from a USPS spokesperson:

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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.

Josh Berry and his No. 4 team had a short, yet eventful day during the Round of 12 opener at Kansas on Sunday.

NASCAR parked Josh Berry for the remainder of the race after he was involved in the Lap 1 accident. Berry, who had multiple flat tires after the multi-car wreck, was unable to drive his car back to pit road. In accordance with the rulebook, NASCAR deemed his race over since his car sustained further damage from the accident. That confused the entirety of the No. 4 team, as well as Denny Hamlin, who said on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast “there’s no reason why” Berry shouldn’t have been able to continue.

“I was confused. I asked you guys, I said, ‘Well, why didn’t they just tow them to the pit box?’” Hamlin said. “Because that’s what NASCAR said they would do if you just had flat tires. But apparently, they deemed him to have damage… So, because he had contact with another car, they said he had damage. And so therefore they’re not towing it back to the pit box.”

The sanctioning body further reiterated the rule to Jeff Gluck of The Athletic.

“NASCAR reiterates the rule is if a car is involved in a wreck and has flat tires and can’t drive it back, they’re out,” Gluck wrote on X. “Can only get towed back for new tires if it’s a spin without contact.”

Rodney Childers furious with NASCAR over Josh Berry getting parked

Hamlin predicted a rule change as a result of the confusion over the Berry incident.

“I predict they’ll change that rule,” Hamlin said. “They’ll be enough uproar, and they’ll respond to social media stuff, and they’ll allow that. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t have been able to continue. So, where in the loophole of rulebooks can you come up with a way to change this to make it to where he’s able to put four tires on it?”

Berry’s crew chief, Rodney Childers, was heated at NASCAR for ending their race early, and let out his frustrations in a heated post on X.

“I’ve seen a lot of things over my 25 years in the Cup Series, but that’s the most screwed up thing I’ve ever seen or been involved with. All we needed was tires with air in them,” Childers wrote. “And how many times have we drug cars to the pit stall to put tires on them. Why today?!?”

Unfortunately for Berry, he didn’t get the chance to go racing much at Kansas. In his first full-time season in the Cup Series, Berry sits 26th in the points standings. He has finished 22nd or worse in now seven consecutive races.

The Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles clash Tuesday in Charm City as they swing into the postseason. First pitch in the opener of their best-of-3 AL Wild Card Series at Oriole Park at Camden Yards is slated for 4 p.m. ET (ESPN2). Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s MLB odds around the Royals vs. Orioles odds and make our expert MLB picks and predictions for the best bets.

Regular-season series: Orioles won 4 of 6 games

Kansas City (86-76) overcame a pair of late-season losing streaks to earn the No. 2 AL Wild Card slot. The Royals sport an average offense but a top-notch pitching-and-defense combo. Kansas City’s 3.98 runs per game allowed ranks 6th in MLB.

Baltimore (91-71) was under-.500 (34-38) over its last 72 games, but did finish September on a strong note. The Orioles swept the Minnesota Twins over the weekend and went 5-1 over their last 6 games. Baltimore is the No. 1 AL Wild Card.

Royals at Orioles projected starters

LHP Cole Ragans vs. RHP Corbin Burnes

Ragans made 32 starts this season, going 11-9 with a 3.14 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 3.2 BB/9 and 10.8 K/9 in 186 1/3 IP.

• Last outing: No-decision, 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 6 K in 1-0 win at Washington Nationals last Tuesday
• Career vs. Orioles: 0-2, 6.75 ERA (10 2/3 IP, 8 ER), 11 H, 6 BB, 14 K in 4 games (2 starts)
• Notched a 1.08 ERA while holding opposing batters to a .515 OPS in 25 September innings
• Making his 1st career postseason appearance

Burnes made 32 starts, going 15-9, with a 2.92 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 2.2 BB/9 and 8.4 K/9 in 194 1/3 IP.

• Last outing: Loss, 5 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 9 K in 10-1 loss at New York Yankees Thursday
• Career vs. Royals: 3-0, 2.15 ERA (29 1/3 IP, 7 ER), 21 H, 6 BB, 32 K in 5 starts
• Owns a 1.29 ERA on the strength of a .550 OPS allowed since Aug. 28
• Has registered a 2.84 ERA across 19 career postseason innings

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Royals at Orioles odds

Provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list of MLB odds. Lines last updated Monday at 9:18 p.m. ET.

• Moneyline: Royals +125 (bet $100 to win $125) | Orioles -150 (bet $150 to win $100)
• Run line (RL)/Against the spread (ATS): Royals +1.5 (-190) | Orioles -1.5 (+155)
• Over/Under (O/U): 7 (O: +100 | U: -120)

Royals at Orioles picks and predictions

Prediction

Orioles 5, Royals 3

Moneyline

PASS: look to the run line for a best-value opportunity.

Run line/Against the spread

The Orioles are 8-2 over their last 10 games while Kansas City is just 4-9 with a .531 OPS over its last 13 games. And the Royals are 1-3 over their last 4 series openers.

Ragans has benefitted from some low batting-average-on-balls-in-play figures of late. Per ESPN, current Baltimore bats own an aggregate .837 OPS against him.

Burnes has a postseason pedigree. Per ESPN, current K.C. bats own an aggregate .595 OPS against him.

Baltimore righting the ship late should give the Orioles a shot of confidence in this October opener.

BACK THE ORIOLES -1.5 (+155).

Over/Under

The Over is 4-2-1 across the last 7 series meetings. The last 5 Baltimore games have seen the Over cash 4 times (4-1).

The pitching matchup here certainly has the potential to make the rested-bullpen opener a pitchers’ duel. But recency bias has the bats not getting quite enough attention (or more likely has the pitchers getting just too much sway).

Consider a partial-unit play on the OVER 7 (+100).

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