The Beacon Kansas City

🕐 2 days 'til the clock strikes "register!" Don't let the deadline to register to vote pass you by! The last day for Missourians to register for the general election is October 9. 🇺🇸 Visit the KC Voter Guide to learn how to register & more: https://lnkd.in/g__EfZjJ

What groups, from Abortion Action Missouri to Missouri Firearms Coalition, have opinions about your vote? The Beacon's Blaise Mesa and Meg Cunningham went out to find the answer. We encourage you to head over to their latest story, "These groups have opinions about your vote. Decoding endorsements in Kansas and Missouri" before casting your ballot this November 👏

🥳 We’re thrilled to announce that The Beacon took home five awards from the Missouri Press Association, recognizing the work of our dedicated journalists. The five awards — including four second-place honors and one third place — celebrate our reporters’ commitment to impactful, local journalism that resonates with our community. Congrats Mili, Meg and Maria!

💰 Missouri voters will decide on Nov. 5 if sports betting will be legal in the state. What exactly does that mean for you? We're coming to you on October 9th to answer your questions - don't miss our next (virtual) Beacon election event! ➡️ Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/g_fXQxJQ

A shame. A waste. Maddening. The thoughts of neighbors and alumni of the shuttered Southwest High School building run from resigned to exasperated. The brick structure in Brookside is huge and still beautiful, with six three-story columns flanking its front doors. But since it last closed in 2016, the building has sat mostly empty, occasionally rented out. Neighbors use the track-and-field area — fenced but unlocked — as a dog park. On a hot September day, paper snowflakes were still stuck inside a second-story window. Everything could change if Kansas City Public Schools makes Southwest its new middle school.

Proposition A would raise Missouri’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. It would also mandate paid sick leave for all private employees. Around 900,000 workers — nearly a third of Missouri’s workforce — would either get automatic raises or likely get raises because they already make just above that new minimum wage, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

🍎 Do you have a kid enrolled in Liberty Public Schools, North Kansas City Schools, or the Park Hill School District? Our education reporter is here to help you learn what your Northland school board is up to.

Nick Romo, the proprietor of Pharmington Drugs in south Overland Park, is cutting out insurance companies — and their red tape and rules on pricing. What’s more, his approach ditches the pharmacy benefit manager middlemen who reside at the heart of the business.

For the second time this year, voters will decide the fate of a multimillion-dollar bond issue for Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools. Voters rejected a $420 million KCKPS bond in April. The bond on the November ballot is smaller and won’t raise property tax rates, the board says, because the board will reduce taxes in other areas. But as a tradeoff, the revised plan for spending the money includes fewer projects and affects only a handful of schools.

Kansas City has lost close to 100 pharmacies in the last 10 years. The closings come at a time when, an Associated Press analysis found in June, people in majority Black or Latino neighborhoods and rural residents already have the fewest pharmacies per capita. Pharmacies also tend to represent a critical source of health care — sometimes the only one. The Beacon's health reporter, Suzanne King, walks you through why losing pharmacies matters in her latest article.