Mike Sanders pulls $1.8 million out of Santa’s sack for rapid rail study

Christmas came early for Mike Sanders. The Jackson County Executive landed $1.8 million in federal money to study his fanciful/awesome idea for a regional transit system.

Sanders sent out a press release on Tuesday in which he thanked five members of Congress for their help in shaking the money tree. The shout-outs to Kit Bond, Claire McCaskill, Emanuel Cleaver II, Sam Graves and Ike Skelton go to show how sprawling greater Kansas City has become without the kind of regional transit system Sanders wants to build.