Subject: BPU

• BPU Grand Jury Adjourns, Two Indictments Remain Sealed

  September 8, 2008

• BPU customers clash with board members

  October 16, 2008

• Ex-GM exec investigates BPU

  November 11, 2008

• Star reporter infiltrates indicted BPU official's chili cookout

  A few weeks ago, I heard rumors about a fund-raiser to help pay legal bills for indicted Board of Public Utilities official Marc Conklin, because Todd Graves isn't working cheap. I didn't get nearly as far as The Kansas City Star's Mark Wiebe, who infiltrated Conklin's chili feed. Wiebe also got BPU board member Mark Jones to admit he attended the cookout. Going to a pro-Conklin party might have been a risky idea, considering he's accused of stealing $400,000 from a utility company that Jones wa

  December 17, 2008

• BPU handed out 21 no-bid contracts

  The black eyes keep coming for the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities. Yesterday, a legislative audit was released showing that the utility company failed to seek competitive bids for 21 of 25 contracts valued at more than $50,000. I'd heard for a couple of years that the BPU wasn't bidding contracts. Finally, a legislative audit report from Tom Wiss and a special master's report proved it. The reports were commissioned after the indictments of the BPU's Chief Administrative Officer

  February 6, 2009

• Kansan: BPU names new old ethics administrator

  Sam Hartle with the Kansas City Kansan reports that the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities named Michael Manske the new ethics administrator last night. Manske should know the job. He served as ethics administrator in 2007 until injuries suffered in a car accident forced him to resign. I don't know much about Manske. He quit right at the time that the credit card scandal hit. At least he doesn't appear to be a business associate of an indicted BPU official. That's a start, I guess.

  January 22, 2009

• Kansan: UG Commissioner calls Star reporter a 'Klansman'

  Mark WiebeI've met The Kansas City Star's Mark Wiebe. He covers the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities, and he does a pretty good job. He's hammered the BPU in his columns -- and rightfully so. Wiebe seems like a pretty good guy, so I'm shocked why anyone -- let alone a Unified Government commissioner -- would call him a "Klansman."  But the Kansas City Kansan reported today that UG Commissioner Nathan Barnes labeled Wiebe a Klansman in front of a couple of reporters at a meetin

  March 10, 2009

• Ex-BPU official Marc Conklin commits suicide

  This photo of Marc Conklin was taken when he was booked in Wyandotte County. Marc Conklin, the former chief administrative officer for the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities, committed suicide at his home last night. The Kansas City Kansan reported the story first early this morning. A BPU spokesman confirmed the story to me this morning. In October, a Wyandotte County grand jury indicted Conklin and Rodney L. Turner, a 68-year-old lawyer who contracted with the utility, on charges o

  March 25, 2009

• BPU Admits Mistake

  March 1, 2007

• Pitch Wins Court Battle

  March 8, 2007

• Who says public officials won’t say what they’re really thinking?

  March 19, 2009

• Power & Flight

  The BPU hires detectives, and the FAA fails to hire.

  November 13, 2008

• Monopoly Boy

  The second-in-command of Wyandotte County’s power company faces a 57-count indictment.

  October 16, 2008

• BPU Could Face Thousands In Fines

  A confidential report reveals the utility didn’t follow federal pollution regulations when upgrading its plants.

  March 1, 2007

• Judge’s Ruling Forbids the Pitch From Publishing BPU Article

  The rare decision forced the Pitch and The Kansas City Star to remove articles about the utility.

  March 1, 2007

• Significant Denial

  February 22, 2007

• Utility Stalls Inquiry

  The BPU's holds up its own Ethics Commission's attempts to look into a Pitch article.

  December 14, 2006

• Letters from the week of 12-14-2006

  December 14, 2006

• Lunch Money

  November 30, 2006

• A Sad Sad Song

  Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival organizers ran their event six feet under. Now a pair of upstarts might be trying to get over.

  June 27, 2002

• Circuit Court

  Mary Ryan's off-the-grid behavior jump-starts lawsuits from colleagues at the board of utilities.

  September 27, 2001

• Judge throws out case against former BPU attorney accused of stealing $400,000

  Rodney L. TurnerThe ghost of Chuck Thompson is still haunting Wyandotte County 21 years after the Democratic Party Chairman's murder. Questions about Thompson's murder has led a Kansas judge to dismiss the case against an attorney accused of stealing $400,000 from the Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities.  Kansas Senior Judge Jack Lively told The Kansas City Star that he threw out the case against Rodney L. Turner because Wyandotte County prosecutors let KBI Special Agent William

  May 1, 2009