Christmas is a magical time of year for Kris Hicks and her husband Darryl, as their fashionable home in Blue Springs is filled with art, figurines, Christmas trees and enough holly to make the most demanding elf approve with a smile. Kris-mas time is something new for the family, as Kris was diagnosed with colon cancer and had to undergo painful rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, which could have easily added a Grinch-like aura to her favorite time of year.
THURSDAY Vaile Mansion, decorated for the season, has walk-in tours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
All three Blue Springs City Council incumbents will be challenged for reelection in April, and Grain Valley's mayor will be challenged by his predecessor. Election candidate filings closed Tuesday for many places, including Blue Springs, Grain Valley and Sugar Creek.
A firearms store and gun range in suburban Kansas City refused to let a Muslim woman use the range unless she removed her hijab, a Muslim civil rights organization alleged in a federal lawsuit. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the law firm of Baldwin & Vernon in Independence alleges the gun range at Frontier Justice in Lee’s Summit enforces its dress code in a discriminatory way that disproportionately affects Muslim women.
HONOLULU – Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources is warning people that they face arrest if found burning Christmas trees at an oceanic sandbar. The sandbar found between the open Pacific Ocean and Kaneohe Bay on Oahu’s windward side is a popular gathering place for local boaters and tourists.
NEW YORK – Hundreds of flights were canceled Wednesday as the omicron variant creates havoc for travelers and for airlines that are having to cobble together flight crews as pilots, flight attendants and ground crews become infected or are exposed to others who have been.
Dear Abby: I have a younger sister I love dearly. I respect and admire her. “Elise” is intelligent and talented. She is a minister’s wife and a mother to small children. Due to some unfortunate family circumstances when she was young, she has some emotional scars she’s trying to overcome. Sometimes at family gatherings she’ll “explode” and lash out at whoever triggered her. Her outbursts usually take us all by surprise.
After a busy season starts to wind down and your thoughts are on a new year and new goals, the best thing you can do for your mind and body is simply take a break! Sit down, take a few deep breaths, and reflect on where you’ve been and where you would like to go.
Lunches provided by area community centers during the week of Jan, 3. Palmer Center: 218 N.
BERLIN – The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that he’s worried about the omicron and delta variants of COVID-19 producing a “tsunami” of cases between them, but he’s still hopeful that the world will put the worst of the pandemic behind it in 2022.