Did you survive the weekend blizzard? It was a doozie.
It all started with freezing rain turning area roads into ice skating rinks on Saturday afternoon, before the snow rolled in overnight and into most of Sunday. KCI Airport reported 11 inches of snow on Sunday. The National Weather Service reported that Platte City received 14 inches. I live in unincorporated Platte County between Platte City and KCI and the weather app on my phone says my neighborhood received 15 inches of snow.
No matter what measurement apparatus we use or trust, there’s no denying this was one of those storms that’ll get talked about for years.
By late Sunday, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported it had received 2084 calls for service across the state on Sunday, with 1043 stranded motorists, 356 crashes, 31 injuries and one fatality.
Government offices and a lot of businesses remained closed on Monday as crews continued to work to clear roads and highways to be the best of their ability.
Anticipating some logistical problems this week based on the weather warnings the meteorologists were breathlessly throwing at the public non-stop last week, last Friday we concentrated on closing up this week’s edition of The Landmark and had 90 percent of it done by Friday night in advance of the storm.
Often when the weather casters start warning us of storms that far in advance it turns out to be a dud. Not this time.
We had already been planning around another mailing obstacle this week: no mail delivery on Thursday due to the declared national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29.
Speaking of presidents and former presidents and such, my buddy/fellow Landmark columnist/casual Trump fan Guy Speckman has tickets to the inauguration of Donald Trump on Jan. 20 in our nation’s capital city. The last time he talked about it, Speck was working on travel plans and trying to find acceptable pricing for lodging. If he makes the trip, I’m hoping he can get some pics for us but mainly I’m hoping he keeps his head on a swivel and doesn’t get caught up in any shenanigans. What are the chances Speck ends up as some type of wrongfully accused political prisoner? Not likely, but you never know. We’ll keep you updated. If I see Speck packing a Viking helmet with horns we’ll know things are about to get weird.
On days like this one when I’m snowed in and thinking random thoughts I remember that Jason Whitlock blocks me on Twitter even though the beef we got into occurred long before Twitter had even been invented. That’s the sign of a butthurt man with a fragile ego..
One time I put my money where my mouth was and choked on three pennies.
Here’s a bit of good news as we roll into 2025.
The United States Postal Service, back in late September, announced that it will not raise prices for market dominant mail products at the beginning of the new year. This includes periodicals, which is the mail class for your weekly newspapers such as The Landmark.
Now let’s don’t throw them too many flowers or too much praise for this decision. Because to be clear, the USPS has been raising our mailing costs for newspapers by 10 percent twice a year for the past several years. Yes. 10 percent increases twice per year means our costs to mail your newspaper has been going up by 20 percent per year the last few year. Yikes.
Those price increases came in January and July of each year.
But what the USPS giveth the USPS can taketh away. Here’s a piece of bad news:
In its filing to the Postal Regulatory Commission, USPS indicated it will return to twice yearly ‘adjustments’ (that’s a nice word for increases) in 2026, resulting in a total of five price adjustments between now and December 2027.
Where are my brethren who like to use dining out as a form of entertainment? Here’s something to think about, a way to enjoy it and be a bit charitable at the same time. It’s Kansas City Restaurant Week 2025. This year’s time period is Friday, Jan. 10 through Sunday, Jan. 19.
You’re probably familiar with KC Restaurant Week (KCRW). Organizers call it Kansas City’s premier dining event at hundreds of restaurants throughout the metro. “Celebrate Kansas City’s premier dining event. Show your support for KC’s restaurant industry and savor some of the finest plates the city has to offer, thanks to multi-course menus available throughout the week,” their press announcement says.
The best part is that a portion of all proceeds will go to benefit local charities. The 10-day dining event provides a perfect opportunity to enjoy exclusive menus at what organizers say are offered “at affordable price tiers.”
As well as being charitable, KCRW offers the opportunity to directly support Kansas City’s restaurant industry—including many small, family-owned businesses.
I can tell you that among the restaurants in the Northland taking part in KC Restaurant Week are:
Acre in Parkville; Aroma Bistro Gourmet Eatery; Basslady’s Famous Shrimp; Cascone’s Italian Restaurant, Char Bar, Em Chama’s Brazilian Grill, Hereford House at Zona Rosa, HomeGrown, Piropo’s, Pizza Tascio, Red Door Woodfired Grill, SPIN Pizza, Summit Grill, T-Shotz, Third Street Social, Trezo Mare.
For a complete list of participating restaurants throughout the metro area, go to www.kcrestaurantweek.com/restaurants
(Find Foley searching for his former routine of printing a paper on Wednesdays and not Fridays, Mondays or Tuesdays. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
