World Cup, Sporting Kansas City star gives SM East football team pep talk. SM East’s football team might not have gotten the jolt of spirit it expected from this year’s bonfire (canceled as it was on account of rain), but they did get a special pep talk Thursday. Sporting Kansas City star and member of Team USA’s World Cup crew Matt Besler, a graduate of Blue Valley West, stopped by the team conference last night.

SM East cross country runners break school records. It was a record-breaking weekend for the SM East cross country teams this weekend at the Chile Pepper Festival meet in Fayetteville, Ark., with both the boys girls 5K school records falling. John Arnspiger broke the 5K record that had stood since 2005 with a time of 16:15. The previous record of 16:19 had been set by John McCormick at the state meet. And on the girls side, Maddie Wilson broke Kelly Malarkey’s record set in 2001. Wilson’s time was 19:13, besting Malarkey’s record by seven seconds.

Johnson County issues 42 marriage licenses to same sex couples. In the day following Judge Kevin Moriarty’s order that Johnson County can no longer denied them, the county clerk reported that 42 same sex couples had sought marriage licenses. [Johnson County sees ‘steady stream’ of marriage applications from same-sex couples — Associated Press]

Bread and Butter releases name of new Westwood restaurant. Bread and Butter Concepts has announced that its new restaurant in Westwood will be called G. Berto Cucina and will feature modern renditions of traditional Italian food. [G. Berto Cucina for Westwood — Kansas City Star]

Polls paint conflicting pictures of Brownback-Davis, Roberts-Orman races. Two new polls out this week show starkly different results in the race for Kansas Governor. A SurveyUSA poll for KSN-TV released Wednesday finds Paul Davis leading Sam Brownback 47-42. In that same survey, Independent U.S. Senate candidate Greg Orman led incumbent Pat Roberts 47-42. In a poll conducted by Fox News and released the same day, Brownback led Davis 46-40 and Roberts leads Orman 44-39. Of note, the Fox News poll shows a significant swing for Brownback from its September poll, which put Davis up 45-41. The SurveyUSA poll, however, found that Brownback had gained just two points in the previous month, and that Davis’s numbers had remained consistent.

Barn Players revises 60th anniversary season. The Barn Players 2015 season has six shows and has been revised. The new lineup includes: Catch Me If You Can – February 27 – March 15; Avenue Q – April 17 – May 3; Six Degrees of Separation – May 29 – June 14; Equus – July 31- August 16; Thoroughly Modern Millie – September 18 – October 4; The Producers – November 6 – 22. The community theater in Mission also is selling a flex pass that offers six show tickets for the price of five and the ability to use them for individual shows or for selected shows with a guest.

Electronic waste recycling on Saturday. Electronic waste recycling and household hazardous waste will be collected Saturday from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., but you must make an appointment in advance. The collection facility is located inside the secured county wastewater treatment plant at I-35 and Lamar. Household hazardous waste is accepted year round through the week, but electronic waste is only accepted during special collection events. Call 913-715-6907 to make an appointment.

SM North alum shared Blue Man experience. Steve Wendt, a member of Blue Man Group, visited SM North to share his experiences last month while touring with the show in Kansas City. Wendt began his theater career his junior year at SM North playing the lead in the musical Footloose. He has a degree from the California Institute of the Arts.