TGIF, Shawnee Mission!
🌤 Today’s forecast: Sunny with increasing clouds through the day. High: 90. Low: 70.
🚨 One thing to know today
Prairie Village native Kyle Hopkins won’t be eliminated from FOX’s reality cooking contest “MasterChef: United Tastes of America.”
At least for one more week.
Hopkins, a Shawnee Mission East alum who now lives in Brookside, earned this week’s immunity pin for cooking up the top dish on the show’s latest episode, which aired Wednesday.
That means he can’t be eliminated in the next round.
The theme of this week’s episode was “State Fair Food,” and Hopkins said he took his inspiration from the Minnesota State Fair.
Hopkins impressed the judges, including host Gordon Ramsey, with beer battered lobster fries, served with fennel slaw in a tarragon beer vinaigrette.
His dish was selected as the best of all those served among the 20 remaining contestants this season.
The show airs on FOX each Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time.
🗓 Weekend things to do
- The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle, Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park, Friday-Saturday [More info]
- Kansas City Festival Opera presents “Il Trovatore,” Asbury United Methodist Church (Prairie Village), Friday and Sunday [More details]
- Mission Backyard Campout, Friday, Anderson Park [More info]
- Merriam “Dive-In” Movie Night, Friday, Merriam Community Center [Details]
- “Divine Feminine” exhibit, Friday, Mission Arts Center [More info]
🚀 Post’s top Thursday stories
- After more than 100 years, this Roeland Park church will hold its final service
- Part of Mission Road in Prairie Village closing for flood control
- New Overland Park hazardous waste facility opening soon
- Strip’s Chicken, restaurant and ‘dive bar,’ heads to downtown Merriam
- Kansas school boards can now pay themselves — Here’s why Blue Valley won’t
📰 Other local news
- Overland Park man arrested for Miami County killing. Brian Meysenburg, 53, of Overland Park, faces a murder charge in connection to a deadly shooting at Hillsdale State Park on Tuesday. [Kansas City Star]
- Kansas faces aging “tsunami.” Pam Shernuk, a former member of the Johnson County Commission on Aging, argues in a new op-ed that local governments in Kansas face a “gray tsunami” in coming years as Baby Boomers age. [Kansas Reflector]
- Overland Park K-9 retires. An Overland Park Police K-9 named Jordy has officially retired. [Facebook]
📸 A thousand words
Baritone Paul Hindemith sings during a rehearsal of “Il Trovatore,” which will be performed by the new Kansas City Festival Opera this Friday and Sunday at Asbury United Methodist Church in Prairie Village. Photo credit Kansas City Festival Opera.
