Bubble tea, also known as boba milk tea, is a refreshing drink favored by many. For those who enjoy tea yet want something with a little more excitement, boba can be a superb option. However, not all boba establishments are created equal. Despite each having that iconic fat straw, some boba cafés are more alluring than others. For anyone living in the Kansas City area, there may be more options to choose from than expected.

When judging what makes a good bubble tea, preferences are different. Nevertheless, a good bubble tea café should typically have several key factors: properly sealed drinks, evenly cooked boba, discernibly flavored tea, wide flavor variety, helpful staff and a pleasant atmosphere.

The Fat Bee Café is a popular choice for Kansas City residents. Online reviews describe The Fat Bee Café as “a solid boba option to natives and visitors alike.” Favorite bobas include the Crème Brûlée latte, Mango Jasmine Green Tea and Taro Milk Tea. The milk powder is of high quality, and the tea doesn’t have much water compared to other locations. This concentration enhances the tea’s flavor. The boba is soft and chewy: a great combination.

Bruú Café hosts tea of great quality with a comforting atmosphere to match. The matcha latte and Royal Milk Boba stand among many of the other flavors as top-notch. The décor inside the café is quite pleasant to look at and the staff is very helpful. Despite the café being rather small and not ideally sized for relaxing, it’s located on a plaza, so anyone strolling around can stop for a good boba drink and continue on their way.

Ari Delights is an ideal location for any boba tea fan. Several people who commented on the café remarked on the reasonable prices and the wide variety of flavors, such as the Hokkaido Milk Tea and Ari Goddess. For any lactose-intolerant customers, the store has a dairy-free substitute that can be used instead of milk. The boba is splendid; standing out in flavor and chewiness while not distracting from the beverage itself.

People have expressed their love of Ari Delights’ atmosphere as well. The café has a quaint aesthetic, and it is spacious enough to make anyone feel relaxed. The staff is quite courteous and friendly to customers. The store even has cards and board games for customers to enjoy while they sip their tea.

The three stores listed—despite being worth traveling to once or twice—are not possible for many people to visit regularly. The closest of these three locations, the Fat Bee Café, is 25 minutes away from William Jewell College. The farthest, Ari Delights, is a 40 minute trip. That being the case, Sonic and Dunkin’ Donuts both offer choices for boba, despite not specializing in bubble tea. So if all one wants is a quick boba tea, they can simply head to one of these locations.

On Oct. 6, an off-duty Kansas City firefighter was shot and killed at an Independence gas station following an altercation inside the store. 

Witness reports state that a customer, Ja’Von Taylor, “disrespected”  the gas station’s cashier, which the off-duty firefighter, Anthony Santi, overheard. Santi then attempted to intervene and the altercation escalated.

The witness continued, stating that Taylor ran outside and grabbed a firearm from his vehicle, which prompted a fight between Santi and Taylor over the weapon. Santi managed to get Taylor in a headlock. A released video shows a woman associated with Taylor holding the weapon, repeatedly asking Santi to let go of Taylor. The woman then shot Santi in the back, causing him to collapse and be taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. 

The witness, who was cited to have had medical training, reported that Taylor at the time was “totally defenseless…couldn’t talk or breathe and was turning purple.” The witness also believed that they heard Santi say “I’m killing you” to Taylor during the altercation.

The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office released a statement on Oct. 21, explaining why they will not be pressing charges against the woman who shot Santi. According to the Office, “the shooting female fired a single shot in defense of the man who was being strangled.” They acknowledge that the woman was in compliance with Missouri’s Stand Your Ground law, which grants a person the right to use deadly force to prevent serious injury or death to themselves or others.

After the initial decision was released, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office stated that they have received threats and harassment from numerous sources. One such threat included an anonymous call towards prosecutor Jean Baker: “We’re going to burn your f***ing house. We’re f***ing coming for you.”

Although the woman was not charged, Taylor was federally charged for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

One student at William Jewell College familiar with the area remarked that the event was unfortunate.

“This hits really close to home since my family lives down there,” the student, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “I am glad though that the woman was not charged because I feel like I would have done the same thing in that situation. I couldn’t imagine me or my family going to the gas station and being faced with that. I’m definitely sad that the firefighter lost his life, but I am also sad that all of this happened this way. Stand Your Ground and self-defense laws exist for a reason – for things like this, based on what the witness was saying.”

​On Sept. 19, the Kansas City Police Department became the subject of a federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The investigation is the result of the alleged long-term mistreatment of women and minorities by the KCPD, specifically in regard to its hiring practices.

​The inquiry came about after the Kansas City Star published several articles describing widespread police harassment against Black citizens and even amongst their fellow officers, causing many Black cops to resign. According to the Star’s reporting, 18 Black officers resigned over a 15-year period, and despite making up 27% of Kansas City’s population, Black individuals currently only make up 12% of the police force.

While ​public trust in the police from white citizens has remained steady, confidence from Black citizens has fluctuated over the past few years, a 2021 Gallup poll reported. They remarked that Black citizen’s confidence in police reached an all-time low in 2020 following nation-wide protests to police violence, and remains slow to recover. 

In a nationwide evaluation of policing practices, KCPD ranked among the lowest of Missouri’s 526 departments. The evaluation, compiled by the nonprofit organization Police Scorecard, reported that KCPD obtained more funding per capita, but consistently used more non-lethal and lethal force per arrest and spent more funds on misconduct settlements than 77%, 73%, 96% and 67% of other Missouri police departments respectively. The evaluation also reported that there was a greater racial disparity in use of deadly force than 62% of other departments.

On Oct. 14, a second bombshell report emerged, published by the Kansas City Defender and accusing the KCPD of failing to take concerns seriously as Kansas City community leaders reported that Black women were being targeted and kidnapped on Prospect Avenue. Just a week prior to the report on Oct. 7, a Black woman escaped captivity in Excelsior Springs, claiming that the suspect who held her in his basement kidnapped her from Prospect Avenue and also murdered several other women. Attempts to bring attention to the alleged kidnappings began in September, but according to the Defender, the KCPD addressed the disappearances as “completely unfounded” with no need for an investigation.

According to the DOJ, their investigation will specifically determine if KCPD promoted employment or hiring “pattern or practice of discrimination based on race” in violation of  the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Civil rights leaders, including  Gwen Grant who is president and CEO of Urban League of Kansas City, remain hopeful that the investigation is “just the beginning of a deeper dive that will also expand this investigation into patterns and practices of excessive and deadly force.”

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas spoke positively of the DOJ’s investigation at a news conference about the issue: “Most of our conversations, not just in Kansas City, but in the state of Missouri, have not looked at how we can make sure that our officers — particularly officers of color and women — can be taken care of, [and] have not looked at how we can become a more diverse department reflective of our city. I think no matter what becomes of this investigation, it’s important for us to take steps and make sure we’re doing right by our officers.”

​The interim Police Chief Joseph Mabin said the department plans to fully cooperate with the investigation.

Earlier this month, the internet forum Kiwi Farms was dropped by its primary service provider, Cloudflare, after intense public pressure protesting the website’s encouragement of hate crimes. 

Since its inception nearly a decade ago, Kiwi Farms has been known to be a platform for harassment campaigns, particularly against members of the LGBTQ+ community. The forum has historically been used for attacks on individuals, such as by swatting—sending a false tip to authorities so that police will raid an individual’s home—and doxxing—publishing an individual’s private info on the internet with malicious intent.

A new Kiwi Farms site went online earlier this week, but was reported to have major security flaws in protecting user data. As the site owner of the new Kiwi Farms forum works to resolve the security issues, they warn that account usernames, passwords, emails and IP-address may have been leaked following a massive data breach on Sept.19.

The effort to get Kiwi Farms removed from Cloudfare reached its peak after Clara Sorrenti, a transgender Twitch streamer known as Keffals, was repeatedly doxxed by the forum. Last month, she was swatted and arrested in her own home by London police. Sorrenti fled to Ireland out of fear, where she was found and targeted again in a matter of days.

These attacks resulted in Sorrenti reaching out to multiple news outlets and posting on social media about the harassment she endured. She led a #DropKiwiFarms movement on Twitter that quickly picked up traction.

In the midst of the situation, Cloudflare was hit with widespread backlash. The service ultimately decided to take down Kiwi Farms after violent threats escalated on the forum. Following their decision, users were met with a statement when attempting to access the site: “Due to an imminent and emergency threat to human life, the content of this site is blocked from being accessed through Cloudflare’s infrastructure.” 

Opponents of the take-down argue that by dropping the website, Cloudfare is censoring free speech. Others counter that the harm done by Kiwi Farms far outweighed any semblance of free speech protections that it claimed to have.

Since the removal of the Kiwi Farms forum, an anonymous individual  bought the URL kiwifarms.info and redirected it to the Transgender Law Center website, where people can donate to “advance the rights of transgender and gender-nonconforming people, defend our victories and ensure our movement’s strength.”