Your paycheck, your property taxes and your courts are all on the line in the Aug. 4 primary election. Here's what to know before you head to the voting booth.

Why it matters: Primaries draw a fraction of November's turnout, and the voters who show up decide these questions for everyone.

Missouri

Amendment 2 asks voters statewide to force Jackson County, the only Missouri county with an appointed assessor, to elect one instead. It grew out of the county's 2023 property assessment, which sent some home values up 100% and drew a state lawsuit.

• Amendment 5 would phase out the state income tax and let lawmakers raise and broaden sales taxes without another public vote.
• Amendment 1 renews the sales tax that keeps state parks free.
• Amendment 4 would make citizen-led constitutional amendments harder to pass while leaving the Legislature's own proposals at a simple majority.

Zoom in: KCMO voters will also see $1.7 billion in bond questions on water, sewers, affordable housing and city building repairs, plus a sales tax renewal funding East Side economic development.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, KC's Democratic congressman since 2005, runs in a redrawn 5th District that splits the city along Troost Avenue. Six Republicans, including state Sen. Rick Brattin, compete to face him.

• Rep. Sam Graves' retirement opens the 6th District for the first time since 2000.
• Rep. Mark Alford defends the redrawn 4th District, which now includes KC west of Troost.
• State auditor Scott Fitzpatrick faces a primary challenge in the only statewide office race.

Kansas

Term limits end Gov. Laura Kelly's run, drawing seven Republicans, led by Secretary of State Scott Schwab, Senate president Ty Masterson and state insurance commissioner Vicki Schmidt, and three Democrats: state Sens. Cindy Holscher and Ethan Corson and Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog.

• Every voter, unaffiliated included, can weigh in on a constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices rather than appoint them.
• Eleven Democrats are running for the chance to take on Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who was first elected in 2020.

Dates to remember

Missouri's registration deadline passed July 8, but Kansans have until July 14 to register.

• No-excuse absentee voting begins July 21 in Missouri, and excuse-required in-person absentee voting is already underway. Johnson County advance voting opens July 18.
• Missouri absentee ballot applications must be received by July 22, and ballots are due by the close of polls Aug. 4. Military and overseas ballots have until noon Aug. 7 in Missouri and by the close of polls Aug. 4 in Kansas.

What's next

Filling in a pit may at first glance seem among the lesser wonders brought about by the World Cup, but the latest development in a land saga lasting more than five years has some residents smiling.

The big picture: The ditch at Third and Walnut in the River Market has transformed into a photo opp after local organizations banded together ahead of the tournament.

Catch up quick: The eyesore had been around since early 2021, after a vacant warehouse was razed to make way for apartments that never materialized.

Deborah Reiman, chair of the River Market Community Improvement District, tells Axios, "multiple entities came together to make it palatable," motivated by the World Cup.

Zoom in: Bridging The Gap (BTG), a local environmental nonprofit, used a $5,000 grant from Keep America Beautiful to help pay for clean-up, mulch, garden tools and a portion of a new River Market mural, which replaced a wall of graffiti.

• BTG also helped with trash pickup, and volunteers with River Market Garden Club, which Reiman also leads, laid the mulch and trees.
• The work finished in June.

What they're saying: "Since the lot will eventually be developed, we won't do anything more with it," Reiman says. "It won't ever look good, but at least it won't look as bad." She added that she often sees folks sitting on the bench in the evenings.

Mark Schlake and his wife, Janet, are two of those folks.

• "We just like all the movement of the people, the cars, the view of the City Market as the sun sets," Mark says, adding he hopes to continue visiting the bench "through our old age."

Go deeper

🏗️ Independence approved a six-month ban on new data centers while city staff update zoning and building codes. The pause doesn't affect two already-approved projects. (KCTV)

✈️ Frontier launched a nonstop route between KCI and Las Vegas, one of eight former Spirit Airlines routes the carrier picked up after Spirit's shutdown. (Kansas City Star)

Empty nesters are sitting on Kansas City's family-size homes.

Why it matters: The people who have the space aren't necessarily the ones who need it — and that's making a tight housing market even tighter.

By the numbers: Boomer empty nesters own 27.8% of KC homes with three-plus bedrooms, while millennial parents own 18.6%, according to a Redfin analysis.

• Nationally, those shares are 28% and 16%, and Gen Z parents own less than 1%.

Zoom in: KC's millennial families rank among the best-positioned in the country, tied with Indianapolis and Oklahoma City.

Between the lines: Older homeowners have plenty of reasons to age in place.

• Many are mortgage-free or locked into low mortgage rates.
• Boomers may also want to stay put to remain near family, keep their routines or avoid packing up decades of belongings.

Meanwhile, millennial families run into both supply and affordability challenges when trying to move into larger homes, per Redfin.

• There aren't enough family-size homes on the market, while high home prices and mortgage rates have priced many younger buyers out.

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