Lee’s Summit actress Sandra Campbell will shed some of her clothing during a special Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration performance Jan. 15 at the Silent Unity Chapel, 1901 N.W. Blue Parkway, Unity Village. But don’t get the wrong idea. Under the mid-19th century slave clothing Campbell will don for the 2 p.m. performance, she’ll be wearing a late 1860s U.S. Army uniform. That’s because Williams will be presenting a one-woman show about the life of Cathay Williams. In 1866, Williams posed as William Cathay – a man – so that she could join the Buffalo Soldiers, a group of black soldiers formed after the Civil War to help fight the Indian Wars and settle the West. According to Campbell, Cathay Williams was born on the William Johnson plantation in Independence. As a young slave girl, she was relocated to a plantation near Jefferson City. And in 1861, at age 17, was forced into cooking, cleaning and laundry duty for the 8th Indiana Volunteer Regiment.

During the past 15 years the city’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. event has evolved from a small gathering to a citywide celebration of diversity.

One of the Lee’s Summit Police Department’s most effective new tools for reducing speeding and accidents is a new member of the force who has yet to write one ticket.

The $68 million 182,000-foot expansion continues at Saint Luke’s East – Lee’s Summit, which includes the addition of a fifth floor, 58 new hospital beds, a new building for patient care services, additional parking and expanded emergency room and operating room capacity. The expanded neonatal intensive care unit is already complete with the ER to follow. The remainder will be finished mid-2013.

In the last few months, a new type of business has been catering to downtown Lee’s Summit customers, and while some are embracing the flavor, others have found a sour taste in their mouths. In October and November, two mobile food vendors applied for a special permit with the city of Lee’s Summit to cater to downtown patrons after hours.

The America Civil Liberties Union wants to talk to the first Kansas City student to complete the pre-registration process as part of an effort to transfer to the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District.

About a year ago it was announced that Exergonix, a new green-energy technology company, wanted to make Lee’s Summit its permanent home and headquarters.

The Missouri Highway Patrol’s investigation into Lee’s Summit’s first traffic fatality of the New Year will determine whether charges should be filed against a driver who rear-ended a car on the shoulder of westbound Interstate 470, Patrol Sgt. Bill Lowe said.

A student blog that used racially offensive language to describe life at Lee’s Summit North High School and that led to disciplinary action against its author last month roused concerns that there might be an underlying racism problem at the school.

The Lee’s Summit Police Department just got more visible.

At Wednesday’s Lee’s Summit Economic Development Council Quarterly Investor meeting, it was all about Eastern Jackson County.

Rick Roeber, a Lee’s Summit resident who has run 19,500 miles barefoot since October 2003, bares his soul in a new book of devotional writings, many of them inspired during his daily barefoot runs. According to Roeber, whose book can be purchased via his website, www.barefootrunner.org, he has been blogging for about five years and recently decided to publish some of his favorite posts from www.thebaresoul.blogspot.com in book form.

A Lee’s Summit man was ordered to stop his unregistered trading operation by the Missouri Secretary of State Tuesday.

“Mom, if I die, will you write a book about me so other guys will know and they won’t have to go through what I’ve been through?”