As the new year comes, we reflect on the Star journalism that had impact in 2023

When I decided to return to The Star in July, I knew I would be coming at an exciting time for Kansas City.

The Chiefs had won another Super Bowl. The city hosted the NFL draft and was selected to do the same for the 2026 World Cup. Taylor Swift brought her history-making Eras Tour to Arrowhead, and Beyonce would do the same with her Renaissance Tour in the months to come.

But what made me want to help lead The Star was the organization itself — not all the buzz about the city. I could see myself fitting in with this talented and dedicated team of journalists who are so versatile they can deliver smart Chiefs and Swift coverage and in-depth projects on fentanyl deaths and government failures.

In 2023, Star reporters, visual journalists and editors balanced a variety of stories that entertained and informed people throughout the Kansas City region. The stories below (and their impact) are just some of the examples. We look to bring you — our readers — many more stories that matter to you in 2024.

RALPH YARL

When 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot in the head and arm after mistakenly going to the wrong house to pick up his brothers in April, the attack renewed national conversations about racism and gun rights.

The Star covered the shooting intently, including reporting on the outrage that followed it, as people in Kansas City and around the U.S. demanded the white man who shot Yarl, who is Black, be charged. Our reporters also explored what many residents described as a history of racism in the predominantly white Northland area where the shooting occurred. The stories helped the community confront uncomfortable issues it needed to address to try to heal.

The impact: The Star and other news outlets’ coverage of the shooting and residents’ calls for an arrest put pressure on police and prosecutors to charge the gunman, Andrew Lester, with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

MARION NEWSPAPER RAID

An August police raid on a local newspaper in Marion, Kansas, prompted First Amendment concerns across the country. And within days of the story breaking, The Star reported on how the police chief who led the search, Gideon Cody, had left his previous job as a Kansas City police captain facing possible discipline and demotion. He was under internal review for allegedly making insulting and sexist comments to a female officer.

Other accountability stories followed, with The Star and the Wichita Eagle collaborating and publishing dozens of news and opinion pieces. Among other developments, our teams wrote about the stressful last moments of 98-year-old Marion County Record co-owner Joan Meyer’s life. Police had stormed and searched her home in addition to the paper. She died of a heart attack the next day.

The impact: The news coverage and criticism of the raid by The Star and others put pressure on authorities. The prosecutor in Marion County withdrew the search warrant executed in the raid, and all electronic devices seized by police were ordered returned to the Marion County Record. Cody resigned as police chief.

BROKEN GOVERNMENT

On the heels of the Marion newspaper raid coverage, The Star embarked on a series called Broken Government in which reporters exposed how government at all levels in Missouri and Kansas doesn’t work for residents and taxpayers. The first story was an investigation into how small local governments having a lack of strong financial safeguards makes them susceptible to fraud.

The series also explored the little amount of vetting that Kansas towns do when hiring police officers, and it went deep on why Kansas officials have done nothing about the state running out of water despite knowing about the issue for years.

The impact: Residents who read the series have been reaching out to The Star about their own experiences with government failures. This is leading to more stories that hold officials and politicians accountable.

REALITY CHECK

In the last few months of 2023, The Star started a local accountability series called Reality Check, which set out to hold those in power to account and shine a light on their decisions.

The stories included ones about the financing of a new Kansas City Royals stadium, a Kansas City haunted hotel operating without a license, and the handling of a sexting video sent by a Shawnee city manager.

The impact: There’s a rethinking underway about where the Royals stadium should go, the haunted hotel was shut down by the fire marshal, and the city manager in the sexting situation was fired.

DEADLY DOSE

Deadly Dose was an investigation into the toll fentanyl has taken on the Kansas City area. The first story in October was about the littlest victims among us.

The second, published in November, was a broader examination of the trail of destruction the crisis has left behind, including detailed profiles of some of those who lost their lives.

A third story, also in November, looked into why so few of the deaths had been fully investigated by police and resulting in charges by prosecutors. Many families told The Star they don’t believe the deaths of their loved ones are taken as seriously as others when it comes to investigations, despite the fact that in some communities there are more fentanyl deaths than homicides and traffic fatalities.

The impact: Within days of the profiles running, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas announced new efforts to address the fentanyl crisis, including hiring overdose investigators, requiring overdoses to be reported within one calendar day, and creating an overdose fatality review board.

The Star partnered with several community health organizations, and gave away pocket-sized fentanyl information guides and boxes of naloxone, the life-saving, over-the-counter medicine often referred to by its brand name Narcan that can reverse opioid-related overdoses.

RACISM IN KANSAS CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT

The Star followed up in 2023 on the steps that city officials promised to take in response to the news organization’s earlier investigation of racism in the Kansas City Fire Department. Our reporters found Black and female firefighters are ostracized, put in danger, shut out of the most desirable posts and passed over for promotions.

The impact: A Kansas City Council report was ordered after The Star investigation. It confirmed our reporters’ findings, which led to city leaders and activists renewing their calls for reform.

MISSING PERSONS CASES

Star journalists reported on how Kansas City police failed to alert the public to the disappearance of 18-year-old Oscar Cabral, who was found dead in March off a road near wooded trails inside Swope Park. His body was discovered about two weeks after 13-year-old Jayden Robker was found dead in a pond near his Northland neighborhood. Police did not notify the public for help in Cabral’s case and were slow to do so in the younger teen’s.

The Star’s reporting showed how the cases fit into the broader context of what Black community leaders were saying about the incidents: They didn’t think police were doing enough to investigate missing persons cases, especially those involving people of color.

The impact: In the wake of the Star’s coverage and concerns raised by community leaders, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves announced in April that the department was restarting a missing persons unit that had been disbanded by the previous police chief.