Here’s the thing:
Ahh, never mind. Just lost my train of thought.
Sure, I wrote that paragraph in jest but that’s the kind of couple of weeks it has been. If you follow our social media pages you know the local impact of COVID-19 news has been coming at us hot and heavy.
Grab my hand. I mean that in a virtual way. No touching. Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. Don’t touch my face.
We’re gonna get through this. And one day we’ll be telling stories that start with “Remember when. . . .”
In the latest entry in what we can politely describe as scattered messaging, President Trump on Tuesday said he wants the country “opened up and just raring to go by Easter.”
Medical experts say there’s no way. Either way, let’s all stick together. Never panic.
Whether you like him, love him, tolerate him, despise him, or are neutral, there’s no denying this: At his daily COVID-19 press briefings after he’s done speaking from what is a prepared opening update and goes off script, what follows is something like a Saturday Night Live skit. Is this real or are we being punked? If the SNL writers were working they’d be having a field day.
We can either chuckle at the occasional contradictions and doses of absurdity or we can cry. I know which method I’m choosing.
Right now the president of the United States has the toughest job in the world. That’s not a political statement, that’s not a defense of Trump. Just an observation that would be made no matter who was currently serving in that role.
This just in: a Gallup poll released Tuesday shows that 60% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the coronavirus situation, 38% do not. The other two percent apparently don’t know about it.
As the reports of positive COVID-19 cases keep flowing in, it is important to realize that the numbers you are seeing from the Platte County Health Department will be a little less than the total number of confirmed cases with the county borders. The reason? Any COVID-19 patients who reside in the city limits of Kansas City within Platte County are being counted as Kansas City results.
For 24 hours I’ve been on a mission to try to get that more accurate number. The Platte County Health Department said it couldn’t help. “No, Kansas City is not sending us those numbers,” Natalie Klaus, public information officer for the Platte County Health Department, told me Wednesday morning.
I left a voicemail with the public information officer at the Kansas City Health Department. Just before deadline, Michelle Pekarsky of the KC Health Department returned the call to let me know there is one Kansas City in Platte County resident who has tested positive. The Kansas City Health Department updates its numbers every day at 4:30 p.m., Pekarsky said.
Most, if not all, city halls in our area are now closed to public access. Or as Parkville calls it, business as usual.
Remember the Sunshine Law investigation being performed by the Missouri Attorney General on complaints against the City of Parkville? The AG’s office has taken note of the recent filing of a lawsuit by Jason Maki and is ending its investigation to avoid interference with that pending litigation or litigation strategy. In other words, the AG’s office is saying they will let the courts decide whether the city has violated the law. “The complaints raised serious issues of public concern, and we will look forward to the court’s resolution of these matters,” states a letter to Maki from Benjamin Walker, assistant attorney general.
Maki said he is fine with the AG’s office shutting down its review while the matter is being litigated in Platte County Circuit Court.
“The ball is in my hand and I’m okay with that. I’m thankful to them (the attorney general’s office) for the support they’ve provided to date,” he told me.
Another section of the attorney general’s letter addresses complaints against the Parkville Economic Development Council (PEDC). The AG’s office writes: “The complaints concerning the PEDC would require a determination that the PEDC is a public governmental body or a quasi-public governmental body subject to the Sunshine Law. The PEDC disputes that it is a covered entity under the Sunshine Law. The PEDC’s ultimate status is a legal question that a court will need to resolve.”
So, anyone else smell another lawsuit coming? I like the chances.
This week, Joe Parente, Parkville city administrator, didn’t like the fact our reporter was asking questions about transparency issues.
“I’m surprised you’re even doing a story on this thing with everything that’s going on,” Parente told our reporter. I giggled. Once again it’s the ‘nothing to see here’ approach at the City of Parkville.
I hate to break it to the bureaucratic types, but during shelter in place orders units of government are not allowed to go into full commie mode.
(Shelter in place with Ivan Foley and Chris Kamler on a Landmark Live episode Thursday night at 6 at Platte County Landmark on Facebook. More than 6,900 of you got socially distant with them on last week’s show)