Raglan Road Closes in Power and Light District

Cordish Company strikes again, and today at 4pm it became official: Raglan Road Irish Pub at The Power and Light District is closing it's doors effective immediately.

The Irish Pub chain started it's journey in Ireland, then moved on with great success across the pond to Florida, and the buck literally stopped in Kansas City on Wednesday, August 31st after a lengthy legal battle with the Power and Light District. Raglan Road was last reported to have been over $700,000 in the hole on the rent due to Power and Light and despite having some of the highest priced drinks in the district, could not generate enough income to sustain and were forced to close today.

Although many were speculating that the Power and Light District was doing well, it turns out that they are in fact not doing well at all. It is sad to see Raglan Road go, as they were very enthusiastic and featured live Irish dancers and also many Kansas City bands on the weekends. It is always sad to see any live music venue go, as musicians need to eat too! They fought hard to the very end, but eventually the sky high rent in the Power and Light District proved to be too much for the Irish Pub. We wish them luck in their future endeavors and hope that they can find a city that won't charge them an arm and a leg to open a live music restaurant.

The Power and Light District has actually been very active with their legal department lately, going after everyone in sight, not seeming to care at all about smaller businesses in Kansas City. I suppose that is what we should have expected from a new business district that is being run by a conglomerate based in Baltimore Maryland. We will keep an eye on Cordish and see how many more small businesses they run out of Kansas City before this is all over.

In a statement issued to Kansas City News today from Raglan Road Irish Pub: "Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant in Kansas City will no longer be open for business effective immediately. The company has been dealing with legal battles that have come to an conclusion today."

Madden 12 Tips Running Passing

Well, it's finally here! Madden 12 came out yesterday and we got our advance copy and have had some time to compile our updated list of Madden 12 tips for running, passing, offense and defense in this great new game. The new Madden NFL 12 continues the rich tradition of the storied franchise by delivering on all-new collision system, more than 100 improvements to Franchise and Superstar modes, online communities, and the most innovative presentation ever in Madden NFL History. The Wii version of Madden 12 is completely worthless so we're not even going to discuss that - Wii is good if you're a little kid and playing Sonic the Hedgehog. The only system you should be playing any EA sports games on is the PS3 - period.

Madden 12 Running Tips
As always in Madden, less is more. The right joystick is still the key to a successful running game. Use the right joystick to juke from left to right, and also to truck stick by moving the right joystick forward. As is typical of Madden games of the past, running outside is going to be tough against the computer on the higher level settings. It is best to run up the gut. HB inside out of the near formation is still a great play. Start your fullback in motion and then kick the play in gear as soon as the fullback gets behind your guard. Stay alert and don't start smashing all of the buttons, it is better to really watch for the holes and use the joysticks to navigate before using any of the buttons. The only button that we like while rushing is the X button. And actually you should always default to the X button for any position, offense or defense when playing Madden 12. The X button basically tells the computer to do what that player is supposed to do at that given moment. It's kind of a "catch-all" button. If in doubt, hit X. We have a sneaking suspicion that even though Madden 12 and EA Sports claim that there is no more turbo button, we still think that holding down R2 when it's time to boogie is the right move.

Madden 12 Passing Tips
Madden has once again made it very difficult to throw the ball to the outside wide receivers. There are a few tips that show that if you position your QB on the hash mark and throw to the outside wide out streaking up the sideline that he will be open. So, let's say you are in the Tight Slots formation, get your QB on the left hash mark and throw to the left wide out going down the left sideline. When executing this play, make sure that you have a receiver coming from the right side doing a shallow drag route just in case the receiver is blanketed, then you can dump the pass off short. This Madden 12 passing tip also works with the Trips Wide formation. Send your right receiver in motion and just when he gets started in motion, snap the ball, get your QB's feet on the left hash mark and hit the left wide out heading down the sideline. The biggest mistake that most QB's make in Madden 12 is making the wrong choice of when to throw a bullet pass (hold down button) or to make a lob pass (tap button), or do something in between (just feel it out). A common mistake is to throw a bullet pass across the middle because the linebackers will jump up and either knock the ball down or they will intercept the pass.

We hope that enjoyed our new Madden 12 tips for running and passing and we will see you online!

Helicopter Crash Patient Identified

The patient being transferred by the LifeNet helicopter that crashed near Mosby, Missouri has been identified as 58-year-old Terry Tacoronte. Terry's husband has gone on record as being "Mad about the situation" and lawsuits could follow soon pending a full investigation.

Xpressions Liquor License Revoked

It has been known by many names, "NV", "NRG", and in it's last incarnation, "Xpressions", but no matter what ebonic name they give the nightclub at 220 Admiral Boulevard, the ghetto folk show up...the ghetto folk fight...someone gets shot...and the club gets shut down. Now remember all of you who want to yell RACISM right now, it's not racist if the statement is TRUE...

Here at Kansas City News we're going to start by pointing out something that all of the other Kansas City news sources are afraid to talk about:

Is it possible to create a location or establishment where the black youth can party safely without disturbing surrounding businesses and residents, avoid confrontations and disturbance calls to the KCPD, and avoid shootings and other violence? So far, the answer is no.

Now, here is the million dollar question: Does the problem lie in the environment, i.e. the nightclub, the location, etc.? Or does the problem lie in the fact that young black people lack sophistication and are unable to gather in public without fighting and pulling out guns? Just like many things in life, the answer is probably BOTH. We are certain that a few bad apples can spoil it for the whole bunch, and for that we sympathize, but the fact remains that Kansas City has not been able to keep a black nightclub (age 21+) open not matter where they try to locate it, and no matter how many security guards and police they employ to secure it.

The only black nightclubs that seem to remain open for long periods of time are those who limit the age to 25 and over or in some cases even 35 and over. Now what does this say about what the older black people think about their own youth? They know the situation perfectly well, and that is why they limit their drinking and dancing establishments to 35 years old and over.

One thing that we have to point out here is that most of the altercations begin either inside or immediately outside the nightclub, then they escalate to violence and gun fights in the surrounding parking lots or a few blocks away from the nightclub. Such was the way it went for many of the incidents that allegedly involved Xpressions, NV, and NRG. The most recent problem that Xpressions faced was that new owners Eric and Natasha Union were unable to secure the help of off duty police officers and other security companies because they feared for their own safety. Eric and Natasha Union have not been officially notified of their liquor license revocation, and Xpressions continues to operate, but we don't know for how long.

Obviously, Xpressions owners and their legal staff pulled the race card in a suit against former Kansas City Police Major Gary Majors, claiming that they were discriminated against because they are black. Several black political figures including Councilman Jermaine Reed and Shalonn "Kiki" Curls attempted to get involved in the case, but were laughed off the stand when it was discovered that Xpressions nightclub was not even located in either of the black politician's districts.

Life Flight Helicopter Crash Mosby Missouri

Federal Aviation Administration investigators sorted through the wreckage from the LifeNet Helicopter crash that happened at NE 146th Street and Cameron Road in Clay County near Mosby, Missouri. The medical helicopter deployed from St. Joseph crashed in a field at that intersection on it's way to Liberty Hospital. There were four people aboard and there were no survivors. The name of the patient being transported has not yet been released, but the medical staff and pilot included Randy Bever, Chris Frakes and James Freudenberg. The helicopter pilot, James Freudenberg was a well trained pilot and had served in Afghanistan prior to working for the Air Methods Corporation.

The helicopter was headed for Liberty Hospital when the pilot announced that they would have to stop at the Midwest National Airport in Mosby, Missouri for fuel. A spokesman for Air Methods Corporation, the company that employed the helicopter, said that it was not a usual procedure to re-fuel with a patient on board. The crash occurred about a mile away from the airport. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have stated that they will not complete a full investigation for up to 12 months and at this time they don't know if the helicopter ran out of fuel or not. The LifeNet helicopter was a Eurocopter AS-350.

The Eurocopter AS350 Ecureuil (Squirrel) is a single-engined light helicopter originally manufactured by Aérospatiale (now part of Eurocopter Group). The AS350 is marketed in North America as the AStar. The AS355 Ecureuil 2 (marketed in North America as the TwinStar.) is a twin-engined variant, while the Eurocopter EC130 is a derivative of the AS350 airframe.