News Briefs: Catch up on local, school and national news

Local: Transportation Transformation

The construction process on the RideKC streetcar expansion was officially approved on March 2, and is expected to be finish by spring 2024.

The new rail line will connect the River Market to the Berkeley River Front. However, the project still faces issues due to lack of funding.

This planned extension is part of a proposed budget project that will cost $450-600 million to expand the streetcar lines through the metropolitan area along with 6 million dollars annually to operate, according to a report prepared for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.

Now, the project will receive construction bids through their official websites with estimates from different contractors to be used by the city council to hire a contractor.

Executive Director of the KC Streetcar Authority Tom Gerend believes the supplies will prove helpful to get the project up and running for summer construction.

“Delivery of our tram rail is the first physical sign of our plans to reconnect to our riverfront, and the early delivery will ensure our construction contractor can hit the ground running when they come on board later this summer,” Gerend said.

While the Riverfront extension has been fully approved, RideKC’s plans to expand the rail line all across the metropolitan area over the next three years are awaiting the signoff from the Downtown Council of Kansas City.

The Council has not yet approved the final budget, citing that even with potential federal funding, they will have to find new funding to offset the deficit to fulfill the project according to RideKC.

Gerend still holds a positive outlook on the project’s future as they seek federal funding to support this city project.

“We think the federal government will look favorably on transit investments that can accomplish multiple goals at the same time, including environmental, community and transportation benefits,” Gerend said.

East: Worrisome Water

Shawnee Mission Deputy Superintendent Joe Gilhaus sent a district-wide message on March 2 about recent concerns after complaints about a “strange or odd” taste in the water.

This email explained that there should be no health concerns and the water was completely safe, according to WaterOne, Johnson County’s independent non-profit public water utility.

This information came from WaterOne after the district made an inquiry into the cause of the change in the water. The change in taste was a result of the Corps of Engineers’ attempt to break up a 60-mile ice floe on the Missouri Rivers — one of WaterOne’s two main sources for water — that was blocking the natural water flow.

The floe was eventually broken up with a combination of engineers’ work and “unseasonably warm temperatures.”

As the water made its way down the river, a temperature change caused by the warmer surface temperatures of the and cooler depth temperatures, caused by ice from the floe, stirring natural organic material into the drinking water in a “river turn.”

WaterOne’s Director of Customer Relations Mandy Cawby explains that this “river turn” is completely harmless to the health of students since the water is verified to be safe to drink.

“The organics that created the taste difference pose no impact to health,” Cawby said. “Variation in river water quality is an everyday reality of water treatment. Our daily goal at WaterOne is to counterbalance whatever taste and odor elements come in from the river water to not only purify the water for safety but also ensure it’s the same, consistent flavor going out to customers.”

National: Taking Out TikTok

The Biden administration officially demanded that Chinese company ByteDance sell their stake in the social media app TikTok on March 16.

If the company does not, a possible U.S. ban will follow, affecting over 100 million Americans on the app, according to BBC.

The demand comes days after the White House gave government agencies 30 days to remove TikTok from federal devices and systems, preventing the potential abuse of user data, according to CNN.

American officials have campaigned for years to have the app banned, including an attempt by former president Donald Trump in 2020 before the action was blocked by the Supreme Court.

Since then, the Committee on Foreign Investments, which oversees national security risks, unanimously recommended ByteDance divest from TikTok.

On March 7, the Restrict Act was presented to the Senate. The act would allow the U.S. Commerce Department to declare foreign-linked companies as national security risks and allow President Biden the authority to ban the app nationwide.

Sophomore Jaxson Terros believes this may lead to public backlash from the app’s users if it is banned in the U.S.

“[TikTok] is something that is so important in pop culture that losing it would make a lot of people angry, including me,” Terros said. “But I understand that we should all be concerned about an invasion of privacy.”