A 13-year-old boy is in custody after law enforcement officials said he displayed a handgun at Lathrop Middle School.
Missouri State Highway Patrol, Lathrop Police Department and the Clinton County Sheriff’s department responded to a report of a white male displaying a handgun in the Lathrop Middle School lunch room around 11:35 a.m.
According to Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop H Sgt. Jason Angle, when authorities arrived school faculty had already disarmed the boy. Lock-down procedures were put into place and authorities made a routine sweep of the school to make sure there were no other individuals involved in the incident.
There were no injuries reported.
Sgt. Angle said it was not clear if the boy planned to use the gun or was showing it off. An investigation is underway into the incident. Sgt. Angle said the boy’s parents were notified and the boy has been taken into custody by Juvenile authorities in Clinton County for further investigation.
After law enforcement deemed the building to be safe the lockdown was lifted and students resumed classes. However, law enforcement officials remained on scene for the remainder of the day.
KANSAS CITY- A Kansas semi driver was injured in an accident just after 11 a.m. on Friday in Wyandotte County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Peterbilt semi driven by Irving S. Haney, 53, Topeka, was northbound on U. S. 73 at Polfer Road in Kansas City.
A 2005 Honda Pilot driven by Susan M. Gardner, 39, Independence, Mo., drifted into the semi’s lane.
The semi attempted an avoidance maneuver, but struck the Honda pushing it up the roadway and causing it to spin out. The semi went to the right, and the trailer flipped.
Haney was transported to KU Medical Center. Gardner was not injured. The KHP reported both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University and prolific biographer, will be the featured speaker at the 21st R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues at Missouri Western State University at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4 in the M.O. Looney Complex on the Missouri Western campus. The Convocation is free and open to the public. Brinkley’s most recent book is “Cronkite,” a New York Times bestselling biography of St. Joseph native son Walter Cronkite, and he is speaking on the topic “The Most Trusted Man in America: Celebrating the Life and Journalistic Integrity of Walter Cronkite.” He will speak on what would have been the legendary newsman’s 98th birthday.
Dr. Brinkley will also participate in a question-and-answer session at the annual Convocation Luncheon at noon Nov. 4 in the Fulkerson Center. The cost of the lunch is $40, and reservations are requested by Oct. 27. Contact Jenna Stevens at 816-271-5646 or jstevens18@missouriwestern.edu.
Douglas Brinkley currently is a professor of history at Rice University. His most recent book is “Cronkite,” a New York Times bestseller, in which he brings the American icon into focus as never before by drawing on unprecedented access to his private papers as well as interviews with the anchorman’s family and friends. He is a sought-after commentator on U.S. presidential history and has written books on Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan as well as presidential candidate John Kerry.
Six of Dr. Brinkley’s books have been selected as New York Times “Notable Books of the Year.” “The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast” (2006) was the recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award. “The Great Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America” (2009) was the recipient of the National Outdoor Book Award.
Before coming to Rice, Dr. Brinkley served as professor of history and director of the Roosevelt Center at Tulane University in New Orleans. From 1994 to 2005, he was Stephen E. Ambrose Professor of History and Director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans, co-writing two books with Dr. Ambrose. On the literary front, Dr. Brinkley has edited Jack Kerouac’s diaries, Hunter S. Thompson’s letters and Theodore Dreiser’s travelogue. He has also written books on Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks and Cold Warrior Dean Acheson.
He won the Benjamin Franklin Award for “The American Heritage History of the United States” (1998) and the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Naval History Prize for “Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal” (1992). He was awarded the BusinessWeek Book of the Year Award for “Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company and a Century of Progress” (2003).
Dr. Brinkley is a contributing editor for “Vanity Fair,” “The Los Angeles Times Book Review” and “American Heritage.”
Dr. Brinkley completed his bachelor’s degree at Ohio State University and received his doctorate in U.S. Diplomatic History from Georgetown University in 1989. He lives in Austin and Houston, Texas with his wife and three children.
Missouri Western inaugurated the R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues program in 1993. The program was started as part of an overall commitment to offer enriching experiences to students while bringing together the college and community. The Convocation is held in honor of R. Dan Boulware, former president of the Board of Regents. Previous Convocation speakers include: Bill Bradley, James Carville & Mary Matalin, Sam Donaldson, Steve Forbes, Thomas Friedman, David Gergen, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Newt Gingrich, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jeane Kirkpatrick, Jerry Linenger, David McCullough, Joseph Nye, T. Boone Pickens, Colin Powell, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Daniel Schorr, Patricia Schroeder, J. C. Watts and Bob Woodward.
The Convocation on Critical Issues and Convocation Luncheon are sponsored by the Missouri Western State University Foundation.
The Maryville Public Safety Department released information on social media today to let the public know that an arrest has been made in a string of burglaries.
According to the department’s facebook page, officers arrested a 23-year-old Gloria Clark Thursday in connection with a recent rash of burglaries. Clark was charged with two counts of Class C felony, 2nd degree burglary and three counts Class C felony stealing in connection with the rash of recent burglaries in the Maryville area.
“We were able to identify her as a suspect through an alert citizen seeing the vehicle,” said Public Safety Dir. Keith Wood.
Wood said they were able to make the arrest after a citizen saw the suspect description and vehicle description posted on social media.
“Sometimes we’re torn between not wanting the quote bad guy to know what we have or not but in this instance it was critical,” said Wood.
He said Clark allegedly used unlocked doors to commit many of the burglaries and took various items from cash to prescription drugs.
Clark is being held in lieu of a $35,000.00 cash or surety bond. The department notes that this is still an ongoing investigation so there is the possibility of additional charges being filed.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri said in a new report that surveillance devices in a part of St. Louis threaten what’s left of people’s privacy.
The organization described the devices installed in the city’s central corridor from the Mississippi River to Forest Park as an “unchecked rise” in surveillance of the public in their two-year study.
The group’s executive director, Jeffrey Mittman, said the surveillance network is maintained by various groups that often don’t coordinate and have few guiding policies. He said what’s more troubling is that there was little public discussion before the web of surveillance was established.
“We are becoming a surveillance society,” Mittman said Thursday.
According to the report, using such technology to track individual movements on a “mass scale” was once considered unlikely. Now, it can be done, because of the widespread use of surveillance cameras. Images can be saved for months or years.
The city of St. Louis is in the middle of expanding its surveillance capacity. Within the past two years, officials have linked four surveillance networks and established a central monitoring center at Soldiers Memorial.
The mayor’s chief of staff, Jeff Rainford, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1vYctF5 ) that the report exaggerates the extent of the city’s surveillance network. He promises city officials will seek public commentary before it’s expanded.
“Surveillance cameras, if they are done correctly and if they are monitored correctly, absolutely will make a neighborhood or a place safer,” Rainford said.
But the report says some studies suggest surveillance cameras have little impact on reducing crime.
Mayor Francis Slay’s office has been in talks with ACLU about surveillance technology, and “when we do start expanding the use of surveillance cameras, we will certainly take their point of view into account,” Rainford said.
ATCHISON- A Kansas woman was injured in accident just after 12-noon on Friday in Atchison County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Mitsubishi Montero driven by Jennifer Ann. Cotto, 35, Nortonville, was westbound on U.S. 59 at 14th Street in Atchison.
The vehicle failed to stop for the stoplight and struck a 2008 Ford F-150 driven by Gene A. Green, 74, Atchison, in the side.
Cotto was transported to Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph. Green and two children in the Montero were not injured.
The KHP reported Cotto was not wearing a seat belt.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Lawrence woman has pleaded guilty to arranging the shooting of her ex-boyfriend on a highway south of Lawrence.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 22-year-old Brittany Nicole Smith pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The victim, 24-year-old Skylar Workman, survived after being shot May 26 on Highway 59.
Testimony at a preliminary hearing in July indicated that Smith persuaded 25-year-old Edward Joseph Parker to shoot Workman.
Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 9.
Parker pleaded not guilty in July to attempted first-degree murder. His trial is scheduled for Dec. 1.
Road Work for Northwest Missouri, Oct. 27 – Nov. 2
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The following is a listing of general highway maintenance and construction work in the Northwest Missouri region for the week of Oct. 27 – Nov. 2 from the Missouri Department of Transportation. Weather conditions may cause postponements in planned work schedules. Other construction or maintenance work may occur on other roadways throughout the area. Many projects will include lane closures and delays can be expected. MoDOT reminds the public to buckle up, slow down and drive with extreme caution through work zones.
Andrew County
Interstate 29 – From Business 71 to U.S. Hwy 59 (Holt County); resurfacing project, Oct. 27 – 31
U.S. Hwy 169 – Mowing, Oct. 27 – 31
Various routes – Mowing, Oct. 27 – 31
Various routes – Shoulder work, Oct. 27 – 31
U.S. Hwy 71 – From Route B to Route M (Nodaway County); pothole patching, Oct. 28
Route N – CLOSED from Route B to 400th Street (Nodaway County); culvert replacement, Oct. 29, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats’ campaign arm is borrowing $10 million for a last-minute boost to their fundraising as officials see their majority increasingly in peril.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Friday said it also received $1.5 million from the Democratic National Committee and $6.5 million from donors between Oct. 1 and Oct. 15. DNC officials say their transfers to the DSCC will total $5 million by Election Day on Nov. 4.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee said it collected $10.1 million during the first two weeks of October. Of that, $4 million was from the Republican National Committee.
Democrats are trying to fend off Republicans, who could capture the majority for the first time since 2006’s elections if they can net six Senate seats.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri board has approved a bond issuance to finance a new mental health facility at the Fulton State Hospital.
The vote this week by the Missouri Development Finance Board authorizes the issuance of $98 million of bonds this year as an initial phase in the financing.
By approving the project, the board also signaled its intent to authorize up to a total of $220 million of bonds, with additional rounds of bonding expected in 2015 and 2016.
The Fulton State Hospital is Missouri’s only maximum-security psychiatric facility.
The bonding is the result of a measure passed this year by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jay Nixon. It will pay to demolish old buildings and replace them with 413,000 square feet of new facilities.
