JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A woman who tried to hire a hit man to kill her estranged husband and a man who threatened on Facebook to cause “a blood bath” at a high school have agreed to give up their teaching certifications.

The agreements with Annette Burnia and Daniel Reed are among several the Missouri Board of Education is set to consider next week.

Reed pleaded guilty to making a terrorist threat. He was arrested in August 2011 after an investigation into the threat against East Newton High School.

Burnia has a substitute teacher certification, and Reed is certified to teach social studies to 7th- to 12th graders.

United States Attorney’s Office

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, and Barry R. Grissom, United States Attorney for the District of Kansas, announced that law enforcement officers and victim service providers from throughout a multi-state region are in Kansas City, Mo., this week to attend the 11th annual Protect Our Children Conference at the Airport Hilton in Kansas City, Mo., through Friday.

The Protect Our Children provides training for those who are in the trenches combating Internet crimes against children, child exploitation, child sexual assault, and child abduction. Dickinson, Grissom and Kansas City Police Chief Darryl Forte welcomed conference attendees this morning.

The three-day conference, which is hosted by United States Attorneys in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, and Indiana, rotates among cities each year. The event provides a multi-disciplinary approach for law enforcement, medical and mental health and victim service providers. Experts and practitioners present a comprehensive strategy to protect children and seek justice on their behalf.

The overall goal of the 11th Annual Protect Our Children Conference is to increase community awareness, improve investigative and prosecutorial practices, and provide resources to all participants. This year’s conference showcases presenters from across the country specializing in the investigation and prosecution of crimes against children and the treatment of child victims.

A special keynote address will be presented by Christopher Baughman, host of MSNBC’s new series on human trafficking, at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, 10, 2014.

Prior to Baughman’s retirement, he headed up the Pandering Investigation Team (PIT) and Human Trafficking Task Force for the Las Vegas Police Department, where his team arrested and convicted several of the city’s wealthiest and most violent criminals. He teaches pandering investigations to other departments across the nation, including members of the FBI, IRS, and Federal Parole and Probation Agencies. He is also author of the best-selling true crime human trafficking series, “Off The Street.”

At 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 12, 2014, closing keynote speaker Derek Clark will share his compelling personal testimony of the childhood trauma he endured and overcame, which has inspired thousands of people to overcome their own adversity. A published author and well-known expert in working with troubled children and youth, he will also share insight and training to equip us for dealing with young victims.

Plenary speakers will address such topics as “Trauma and Recovery,” “Neurobiology of Trauma,” and “Cyberbullying.” Sixteen workshops feature separate tracks with experts and topics that are specifically relevant to law enforcement, health care/medical, or victim providers. Special elective workshops will also be offered on a diverse range of topics.

WASHINGTON –More than one-third of “excess” military equipment supplied to local police departments through federal programs was either never used by the U.S. military or in new condition—a finding revealed in a Senate hearing today led by U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill examining the militarization of state and local police departments, following the fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Mo. police officer, and subsequent clashes between local police and protestors.

Among the hearing’s most shocking findings were that 36 percent of the equipment sent to local police departments through Department of Defense (DOD) was either never or little used by the military, due to a lack of coordination and accountability within the department. There have been more than 450 guns lost by state and local police departments that were sent as part of the DOD programs. Local police departments in 49 of 50 states have more Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) than their state’s National Guard units.

“I first approached Chairman Carper to hold this hearing because of the shock I felt as I saw events unfolding in Ferguson, Missouri, in the weeks following the death of Michael Brown,” said McCaskill, a former county prosecutor, who led today’s hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. “I heard reports from my constituents about aggressive police actions being used against protesters, well before any violence occurred. Like many of you, I saw armored vehicles with a sniper pointing a rifle at unarmed protesters in the middle of the day. I was shocked to see the way that the police were deploying this military equipment against residents of Missouri who were exercising their First Amendment rights.”

“One of the key lessons learned throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan wars was the idea that we had to win hearts and minds, and one of the ways the military tried to do that was by acting more like a police force—working with communities, helping to repair broken windows and damaged property and trying to appear less militaristic with their presence in the communities,” McCaskill added. “It is ironic that the Defense Department’s policies are now fostering the opposite mentality at home.”

McCaskill and her colleagues examined the federal programs that enable local police departments to acquire military equipment, including DOD’s 1033 program for surplus property, administered by the Defense Logistics Agency, the Departments of Justice’s (DOJ) Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne-JAG) for local law enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Grant Program.

The amount of funding flowing to local police departments is so great that, according to testimony at the hearing, local law enforcement agencies are using grants from the Department of Homeland Security to pay for the transportation costs of the military-grade equipment they’re getting for free from DOD.

In questioning federal officials charged with administering these programs—Alan F. Estevez, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics at the DOD; Brian E. Kamoie, Assistant Administrator for Grant Programs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency at DHS; and Karol Mason, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs at DOJ—McCaskill highlighted their failure to coordinate and communicate, asking, “Before Ferguson, had the three of you ever met?”

The officials testified that they had never met previous to the events in Ferguson—to which McCaskill replied, “Not good.”

McCaskill also explored the possibility of requiring local police departments to use federal funding to purchase body-cameras for officers before securing other military-grade equipment, as part of an effort to ensure proper use of such equipment—and underscored the lack of training provided to local law enforcement when military equipment is provided. She pressed federal officials to work with Congress on policy changes to strengthen transparency and accountability throughout these federal programs.

Other witnesses at Tuesday’s hearing included:

• Chief Jim Bueermann, President of the Police Foundation
• Dr. Peter B. Kraska, Professor, School of Justice Studies at Eastern Kentucky University
• Mark Lomax, Executive Director at the National Tactical Officers Association, accompanied by Major Ed Allen, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office
• Wiley Price, Photojournalist with the St. Louis American Newspaper
• Hilary O. Shelton, Washington Bureau Director and Senior Vice President for Advocacy at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) — A $12.5 million federal grant will pay for urgent repairs on the route of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief in western Kansas and eastern Colorado, but funding for upgrades in southern Colorado and New Mexico remains uncertain.

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado announced Tuesday the Transportation Department approved the grant after Kansas and Colorado communities committed $9.3 million.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari (mag-lee-AHR’-ee) says the money will pay for repairs allowing passenger trains to maintain 60- and 70-mph speeds.

Magliari says BNSF Railway, which owns the tracks, runs only slower-speed freight trains and doesn’t need to keep the track up to high-speed standards.

Magliari says Amtrak is discussing funding for repairs in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico with state officials and BNSF.

A BNSF spokesman didn’t immediately return a call.

By Julie Rovner
Kaiser Health News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Heading into the 2014 mid-term congressional elections, health care is not shaping up as a make-or-break issue, according to a new poll.

Health care trails jobs and the economy as a top issue on voters’ minds this fall, 21 percent to 13 percent. Only 3 percent of voters in the monthly tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation mentioned the health law by any name (Affordable Care Act/Obamacare) when asked about issues most likely to determine their vote. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation).
Health care is even less important to independent voters, those who frequently decide close races. While Democrats and Republicans both chose health care as their second ranked issues with 15 and 16 percent respectively, independents rank of health care tied for fifth with 9 percent.

The issue is, however, nonetheless playing a role in the current campaigns, particularly in key swing states where control of the U.S. Senate is at stake. Republicans need to capture a net gain of six seats to gain a majority in that chamber.

Nearly three-quarters of registered voters in the 11 states considered likely to decide Senate control said they saw or heard health-related election ads in the previous month. (The poll was conducted Aug. 25 to Sept. 2). In those states, 34 percent said they saw or heard more ads opposed to the health law, while only 4 percent saw more ads supporting the law.

Forty-eight percent of registered voters said they are “tired of hearing candidates for Congress talk about the health care law” and think they should move on to other issues, while 47 percent say the health care debate is important and should continue. Not surprisingly, more than 60 percent of Republicans favor keeping the debate going. About the same percentage of Democrats say candidates should move on, and independents are evenly split.

Republicans are thought to have an edge in the coming elections, partly because the party out of power traditionally does well in a president’s second midterm and partly because the Democrats are defending several seats in traditionally GOP states such as Alaska, Louisiana and North Carolina.

Republicans voters are also more enthusiastic than Democrats about voting this fall. But apparently the health law isn’t driving that enthusiasm to any great degree. When Republicans who said they were eager to vote were asked the reason for their enthusiasm, the top answers were giving Republicans control of the Senate (13 percent), wanting their vote counted (10 percent) and getting rid of incumbents (10 percent). The health law was named by 3 percent.

The poll was conducted in a telephone sample of 1,505 adults, including 1,239 registered voters. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points for both groups for the full sample.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Firefighters helped evacuate residents during a fire at an Overland Park apartment complex shortly before a roof collapsed.

No residents were injured during the fire early Wednesday at the two-story Aspen Lodge Apartments.

The fire was brought under control in less than an hour. The Overland Park fire department said in a news release that residents from 16 units are displaced. The apartment management and Red Cross are working to help find new homes for residents.

One Overland Park firefighter was taken to a hospital with minor medical issues.

Officials say the fire started after someone discarded a burning cigarette in a planter on a balcony and the blaze quickly spread to the wood roof and the rest of the building.

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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Firefighters helped evacuate residents during a fire at an Overland Park apartment complex shortly before a roof collapsed.

No residents were injured during the fire early Wednesday at the two-story Aspen Lodge Apartments.

The fire was brought under control in less than an hour. The Overland Park fire department said in a news release that residents from 16 units are displaced. The apartment management and Red Cross are working to help find new homes for residents.

One Overland Park firefighter was taken to a hospital with minor medical issues.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.