Missouri Western State University will host a celebration of the Chinese New Year at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30 in the Hoff Conference Room, Blum Student Union room 218. The celebration is free and open to the public.

The celebration will serve as an introduction to the legends, traditions and customs of this most important Chinese festival, including music, a tai chi fan performance, games and samples of traditional dumplings and other Chinese food.

A husband and wife from Chillicothe face charges of filing false income tax returns in connection with what prosecutors call a nearly four million dollar embezzlement from the woman’s employer.

U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson says a grand jury returned an indictment listing 21 criminal counts against Donna M. Preszler, 60, and her husband Terrance W. Preszler, 63.

This superseding indictment replaces a federal indictment that was returned last June

It adds the husband as a defendant in one count of making a false income tax return.

Donna Preszler was employed at Burdg, Dunham & Associates from 2001 until June 2012, working as an accounting manager since 2004. BDA is a general contractor specializing in retail construction of malls, strip centers, family life centers, and other stand-alone projects. BDA serves customers in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada, primarily building for national retail organizations.

The indictment alleges that Preszler embezzled $3,912,000 in a wire fraud scheme from June 30, 2006 through June 15, 2012. Preszler allegedly used her employer’s accounting software to create payroll data files that contained unauthorized false and fictitious payments to her bank accounts and others.

The new indictment alleges that Donna and Terrance Preszler failed to report the fraudulently obtained funds on their federal income tax returns for tax years 2007 through 2012. During that time, according to the indictment, the Preszlers should have paid $1,236,690 in taxes on their unreported fraudulent income from BDA.

The indictment also charges Donna Preszler with six counts of wire fraud and 14 counts of money laundering.

The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Preszler to forfeit to the government any property derived from the proceeds of the alleged violations.

According to the government, that would include a money judgment of $3,912,000, and the forfeiture two residential lots, two 14kt diamond rings, 10 vehicles, three ATVs and several bank accounts and funeral trust accounts. Dickinson says most of those items have been seized by law enforcement agents.

St Joseph Transit is adding more bus runs for customers in Elwood, Kansas, starting next month.

Service to Elwood is on demand, meaning that riders must call St. Joseph Transit to schedule a pick-up.

Service to Elwood will be available on the #18 King Hill bus route, inbound and outbound, at five different times.

Those times are 6:15am, 9:15am, 12:15pm, 2:15pm, and 4:15pm. The change will become effective February 3, 2014.

The #18 King Hill route provides direct service to the south Wal-Mart and connections to all busroutes at the downtown transfer station at 6th and Angelique. To schedule a pick-up, riders should call 816-233-6700 at least 30 minutes in advance, although more advance notice is preferable.

“The Federal Transit Administration provides funding for transit service between Elwood and St. Joseph,” said Andy Clements, assistant director of Public Works & Transportation. “Past experience proves there is a need, so we are pleased to be able to provide some additional service at this time.”

For more information about this route change or any St Joseph Transit service, call 816-233-6700 or visit the website at www.stjoemo.info.

School Superintendent Dr. Fred Czerwonka says he wants to assure parents and the community that students at Hosea Elementary School are safe and are being taken care of by the staff.

Czerwonka says as a parent and educator he understands how frightening are the allegations of what he calls “seriously inappropriate student behavior.” He says it’s especially frightening that the allegations involved kindergarteners.

Parents of at least five young girls say a boy in kindergarten touched their daughters inappropriately.

Czerwonka says his heart goes out to all concerned. He says Hosea Principal Kevin Carroll handled the situation by the book, notifying and cooperating with authorities and taking action to ensure the safety and welfare of all students.

Czerwonka says the Saint Joseph School District will continue to examine its procedures and policies, and will continue to put children first.

(AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder says the Justice Department is committed to tracking down the thieves who stole information from millions of customers of Target Corp.

In an appearance Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder said that the government also will hunt down any people and groups that exploit the stolen data through credit card fraud.

Hackers stole about 40 million debit and credit card numbers in the pre-Christmas data heist. They also took personal information — including email addresses, phone numbers, names and home addresses — of another 70 million people.

Minneapolis-based Target says it is working with the Secret Service and the Justice Department in response to the data breach.