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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When the city of Kansas City, Missouri, has to pay a judgment after losing a lawsuit or reaching a settlement, the money generally comes from tax dollars.

Tax dollars pay for most legal settlements in Kansas City, Missouri

The city places tax dollars in its legal expense fund every year. This account pays for claims in whistleblower, discrimination and other lawsuits involving employees and the public.

“I mean, the taxpayer already got it hard. Got to pay everything,” said Gregory Spikes, taxpayer.

At a meeting earlier this month, the city’s finance director explained the city has insurance policies for properties, cybersecurity and workers comp.

The city does not buy insurance or self-insure for all possibilities. The legal expense fund handles claims outside of its covered areas.

“How are we responsible for the mistakes y’all are making? That’s another thing that’s wrong with the system,” said Christian Fly, who lives and works in Kansas City.

Charlie Keegan/KSHB

The most recent lawsuit Kansas City lost involved former City Communications Director Chris Hernandez. He said the city manager told him to lie to the media.

A jury awarded Hernandez $700,000 for emotional distress, more than $200,000 in back or lost wages, and the city must pay his lawyer fees.

The city council suspended City Manager Brian Platt the next day.

Hernandez’s attorneys said these lawsuits are about changing the culture in city hall.

“I felt a lot of pressure for this case because I felt like we were fighting for truth, for how our city was going to be run in the future,” said Erin Vernon, of Bratcher Gockel Law.

Charlie Keegan/KSHB

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The city has hired a risk manager and revised policies to avoid lawsuits. That way, tax dollars can go where taxpayers want them spent.

“It’s important to have transparency on where those tax dollars are going so that we feel good about the use of our taxpayer money,” said Zane Champie, Kansas Citian.

Charlie Keegan/KSHB

Ben McCollum, who led Drake’s dominating run through the Missouri Valley Conference and a win in the NCAA Tournament in his only season with the Bulldogs, was named head coach at Iowa on Monday.

Iowa spokesman Matt Weitzel confirmed McCollum’s hiring 10 days after athletic director Beth Goetz fired Fran McCaffery and two days after McCollum wrapped up a 31-4 season with a loss to Texas Tech in the second round of the West Regional.

McCollum takes over for McCaffery, who was fired after the Hawkeyes went 17-16 and had their lowest Big Ten regular-season finish in seven years. Iowa also has seen a steep decline in attendance the last two years.

The 43-year-old McCollum’s ties to the Hawkeye State run deep. He was born in Iowa City, raised in Storm Lake and played junior college basketball in Mason City.

When he left the state, he didn’t go far. He finished his college playing days at Northwest Missouri State and was an assistant at Emporia State in Kansas. He went back to Northwest Missouri in 2008 for his first head coaching job and won four Division II national championships in 15 seasons.

With four Northwest Missouri players heading to Drake with McCollum, the Bulldogs became one of the top stories in college basketball this season. They were dubbed “Division II Drake” by some, a moniker that only served to motivate the team.

All four of the Northwest Missouri transfers were starters and one of them, Bennett Stirtz, led the Missouri Valley in scoring and was named conference player of the year and most outstanding player of the MVC Tournament.

The Bulldogs were picked fifth in the 12-team Valley and received no first-place votes. They ended up winning the regular-season championship by two games with 17 conference wins, their most ever. Then they won the Valley tournament to run their overall win total to a school-record 30 in 33 games.

Next was a 67-57 win over Missouri in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

McCollum coaches a grinding style. The Bulldogs’ tempo was slowest in the nation. Offensive rebounding is emphasized. The defense allows 58.4 points per game, fewest in the nation. Just over 1 in 5 opponent possessions ends with a turnover.

“Death by a thousand paper cuts,” McCollum called his system.

The Bulldogs knocked off Miami, Vanderbilt and Kansas State on their way to a 12-0 start. Drake dropped back-to-back games before reeling off 11 straight MVC wins.

McCaffery was Iowa’s all-time wins leader and, at 15 years, the longest-tenured coach in program history. The Hawkeyes dropped seven of nine games in February and didn’t qualify for the Big Ten Tournament until the last day of the regular season.

The program has struggled to attract elite talent because of its shallow pool of funds for name, image and likeness compensation.

Since McCaffery’s firing, seven players have announced they would enter the transfer portal.

Iowa’s men were 10th in the Big Ten in average paid attendance this season, at 9,161 per game, though actual crowds appeared significantly less. That’s an 8% drop from last season and 26% drop from 2022-23.

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No. 18 Ole Miss Baseball completed a sweep of the Missouri Tigers Sunday evening, slugging their way to a 14-6 win in the series finale.

It is the first SEC series sweep for the Rebels since they swept LSU in Baton Rouge in 2022.

Ole Miss scored 40 runs in the series, the most runs they have scored in a conference series since they put up 40 in a sweep of Florida in 2019.

Isaac Humphrey continued his huge weekend, going 2-for-5 with a home run and five more RBI. Humphrey finished the weekend 6-for-15 with four home runs and 13 total RBI.

Luke Cheng and Ryan Moerman each hit a home run in the finale and Judd Utermark went 3-for-5.

Mason Nichols collected his second win of the season, working a season-high five innings for striking out five batters. Will McCausland pick up a save, working the final four innings and striking out six batters.

For the first time in the series, Missouri was the first to score thanks to a solo home run to right field by Mateo Serna, the second batter of the game.

Ole Miss had just one baserunner through the first two innings until Cheng came to the plate in the third. He tied the game at 1-1 with his first home run of the season, sending the second pitch he saw over the fence in right field.

The Tigers responded with four runs in the bottom of the third, headlined by a three-RBI home run to right center by Jackson Lovich, but as was the case all weekend, the Ole Miss offense had a response.

With one out in the fourth, Utermark singled and moved to third on a pinch-hit double by Will Furniss. Hayden Federico was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Humphrey. The center fielder cleared the bases with a double to right center, cutting the Missouri lead to one. Cheng tied the game for the second time, trading places with Humphrey on a double down the left field line.

Ryan Moerman gave the Rebels their first lead of the game with a solo home run to left field in the fifth inning, his ninth of the season.

Nichols settled in over his final two innings of work, retiring the final seven batters he faced and reaching the five-inning mark for the first time this season. He did not issue a walk during his outing and would leave the game with a 6-5 lead intact.

Humphrey hit his fourth home run of the weekend in the seventh inning, a two-RBI shot to right center, to jump start what would end up being a four-run inning for the Rebels. Luke Hill hit an RBI triple and Mitchell Sanford drove in another run to make it 10-5.

The Rebels scored four more runs in the top of the ninth behind a bases-clearing double from Sanford and a Missouri error.