Missouri Police Announce More Sobriety Checkpoints

After stopping over 500 vehicles last Saturday night and making 18 arrests, Kansas City, MO police announced that they will continue to crack down on impaired driving this coming week.

Law enforcement announced that it will be out in full force along 1-70 this weekend, continuing the state’s “Heat is On” campaign to crack down on impaired drivers.

The number of arrests and drivers removed from the road from these future checkpoints should be an indicator to the effectiveness of the state’s campaign to prevent drinking and driving. The 18 arrests being made during the last checkpoint suggest that a high number of residents are willing to drive impaired despite the threat of sobriety checkpoints.

Announcing the sobriety checkpoints in advance could help convince impaired drivers to stay off the road, a proactive approach from the Kansas City, MO Police Department to cut back on drunk driving.

Missouri Program Helps Students Find Summer Jobs

Young Kansas City residents seeking a summer job may be in luck, as the State of Missouri has announced a state-funded program to provide paid internships for up to 4,800 people.

The jobs will focus on the construction, engineering and conservation industries, however positions in other fields will be available. The state program is for those from low-income families between the ages of 14 and 24.

In the wake of education budget cuts for the state of Missouri, Governer Nixon and Representative Cleaver should be commended on a program that helps young residents find summer jobs and earn some money. While boosting the economy, the program will help kids earn money and get a head start on their future.

SkillsUSA Conference Kicks Off This Week in Downtown Kansas City

For the 17^th year, Kansas City will host the SkillsUSA conference. More than 5,000 students are expected to attend the convention, which consists of high school, college and graduate students competing in various events.

About 15,000 people are expected to attend the event, which makes it the largest convention in Kansas City with an economic impact of about $15 million to the city.

Many streets in the downtown area will be closed this week to accommodate for the event, which will be held at Bartle Hall, Municipal Auditorium, Kemper Arena as well as other venues.

Those interested in learning more about SkillsUSA or the competition can learn more at: http://www.skillsusa.org/

Sobriety Checkpoints Attempt to Keep Drunk Drivers off the Road

Kansas City police continue to crack down on drunk driving through the use of sobriety checkpoints, as 18 impaired drivers were arrested Saturday night at a checkpoint on Wornall Road.

Over 500 vehicles were stopped from between 11 p.m. and 4. a.m., with drivers being arrested for impaired driving, possession of drugs and outstanding warrants.

This is another episode in the Kansas City police’s attempt to cut down on impaired driving, as random checkpoints have been one tool officers have used to cut down on drinking and driving. However, the amount of drivers arrested suggests that despite the known threat of a checkpoint, Kansas City citizens are still willing to drive home after drinking in the downtown area.

While sobriety checkpoints do remove impaired drivers from the road, it is important for police to take more proactive measures to help prevent drunk driving to begin with. If citizens knew of sobriety checkpoints before hand, it could be a measure to help convince them to take a cab or find another ride home. Drivers may still drive and find an alternative route around the checkpoint, but police need to take as many measures as they can to prevent impaired drivers from getting behind the wheel to start. Whether sobriety checkpoints and their consequences will have a long-term effect on the number of Kansas City residents who drive impaired or is simply a method of removing drunk drivers from the road remains to be seen.

New Big 12 Will Be More Competitive

The Big 12 has officially been saved as a conference, and the new make-up of the league should make for increased competition and a tougher road to a conference championship. Should the league continue as a ten team league, which seems to be the most likely outcome after the upcoming departures of Nebraska and Colorado, the new ten team league will be more difficult for both football and basketball, and could make a stronger conference overall.

The New Big 12’s football scheduling will likely be similar to the Pac 10’s conference scheduling: each team will play three non-conference games and then nine conference games. With the elimination of a north and south division, this will assure a much harder schedule, especially for the north teams. Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, well-known for his preference for scheduling cup-cakes before getting into the tough conference games, warns that while the conference will be stronger overall, the schedule may be too much for some teams to overcome (see all of Snyder’s comments here: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/17/2026094/k-states-snyder-likes-the-new.html) North teams like Kansas State, Kansas and Iowa State will now face Texas, OU and Texas Tech every season, which makes the odds for a BCS game run (like Kansas achieved in the 2007 season) difficult.

Big 12 basketball will also be much tougher in conference play, as the schedule will likely now feature an 18 game schedule in which every team plays every other team once at home and once on the road. Increased road games could provide problems for perennial favorite Kansas, who despite winning the league six strait years, has struggled mightily in Austin and Stillwater since the league’s inception. The increased road games and revenge opportunities teams will face should help the league’s schools once the NCAA tournament starts.

The new Big 12 schedules will increase the difficulty to win the league in both football and basketball. While ten teams should make for a more competitive conference, the lack of parity could be problematic, especially for the former north schools.