Sam Zeff

1 week ago | kcur.org | Sam Zeff

Peter “Las Vegas Pete” Simone, reputed Kansas City Mafia underboss, gambling kingpin and unindicted co-conspirator in a 1990 mob hit has died. He was 79. Simone died last Thursday, two days shy of his 80th birthday, from lung cancer. “Pete spent his 80 years in a way that reflected his core values of loyalty, honor, and friendship,” according to his Passantino Bros. Funeral Home obituary. Loyalty and honor, however, means something very different to an organized crime investigator.

3 weeks ago | kcur.org | Sam Zeff

In a matter of hours Wednesday, Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca was criminally charged in Missouri and Kansas in connection with a domestic dispute and the disappearance of his 2-year-old son. The toddler and Abarca have been located and are safe, according to a statement from Shawnee police Wednesday. The pair was last seen in Shawnee, Kansas. Abarca's wife posted on social media over the weekend that she had not seen either her husband or son since Thursday, May 28.

2 months ago | kcur.org | Sam Zeff

This story will be updated. The mother of Cameron Lamb, the Black man shot to death by a white Kansas City police detective in 2019, has reached a multi-million-dollar settlement with the Board of Police Commissioners. In federal court documents filed Tuesday, Lamb’s mother Laurie Bey, along with the mothers of Lamb’s two children, settled the civil rights lawsuit for $4.1 million. Bey sued the board in 2021 for $10 million.

2 months ago | ourcommunitynow.com | Sam Zeff

President Donald Trump’s tariffs could threaten an essential tradition of the most American holiday: Fourth of July fireworks. According to an industry group, 99% of fireworks are made in China. Trump announced a 145% tariff on goods imported from the country earlier this month. “It's just too great of a tariff for us to burden,” said Stacy Schneitter Blake, president of the National Fireworks Association. Her family has been in the fireworks business in St. Joseph, Missouri for 130 years.

2 months ago | kcur.org | Sam Zeff

President Donald Trump’s tariffs could threaten an essential tradition of the most American holiday: Fourth of July fireworks. According to an industry group, 99% of fireworks are made in China. Trump announced a 145% tariff on goods imported from the country earlier this month. “It's just too great of a tariff for us to burden,” said Stacy Schneitter Blake, president of the National Fireworks Association. Her family has been in the fireworks business in St. Joseph, Missouri for 130 years.