KSHB investigative reporter Ryan Kath is off to Boston (or, Kansas City loses another great journalist)

We’ve long been admirers of KSHB 41 Action News investigative reporter Ryan Kath. By the end of February, we will have to admire him from afar.

The news station’s top on-air gun is leaving Kansas City for Boston’s CBS affiliate, WBZ. He will join that station’s investigative team in one of North America’s largest television markets.

His departure isn’t terribly surprising. Kath has given local television news, and KSHB in particular, added gravitas with a series of notable scoops. It was just a matter of time before a larger market came calling.

Kath joined KSHB’s investigative team in 2010 and has since amassed a trove of industry awards for his work.

Kath tracked down the reason for former Grandview Mayor Steve Dennis’ resignation last year. His reporting uncovered that Dennis had set up a charity under dubious circumstances, which solicited donations that he later used for his personal expenses. It turned out that Dennis was dining on the taxpayer dime by using a city-issued credit card for lunch meetings purportedly with other local officials. When contacted by Kath, those officials said they didn’t have those lunch dates on their calendars.

Former Kansas City Councilman Michael Brooks has Kath to thank for ultimately resigning in disgrace. Kath reported in 2013 that the married pastor was sexting a woman who was not Mrs. Brooks, compromising behavior that later dragged him into a scheme where he pulled $15,000 of city funds to promote an event that never happened. Brooks was finished when KSHB broke news that he had choked his legislative aide.

Kath also spearheaded the station’s probe into the J.J.’s explosion on the Country Club Plaza.

There are other local officials who owe their public shaming to Kath’s relentless reporting, and there are probably others still who are relieved to see him go.