SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Springfield police are investigating the death of a man dropped off at an area hospital with gunshot wounds.
The Springfield News-Leader reports 33-year-old Matthew Cline died on Monday after a man took him to the emergency room. It’s unclear how many times he was shot.
No arrests have been reported.
Raleigh, N.C. – Public Policy Polling’s final polls, conducted over the weekend, for the Senate and Governor in Kansas found both of the races couldn’t be much closer.
Paul Davis leads Sam Brownback 46/45 and Greg Orman leads Pat Roberts 47/46. What’s interesting is that even though the top of the ticket is incredibly competitive, everything else in Kansas pretty much looks like a normal election- Secretary of State Kris Kobach has a 5 point advantage and beyond that the Republican candidates for down ballot offices lead by 11 points for Insurance Commissioner, 27 points for Attorney General, and 28 points for Treasurer, pretty normal sorts of numbers for elections in Kansas.
It continues to be Brownback and Roberts’ unique unpopularity that’s making their races so competitive. Brownback has a 37/54 approval spread, and Roberts’ is 34/54. Usually politicians with those kinds of approval ratings are doomed for reelection but Kansas’ deep red hue is still giving them a shot.
WARRENSBURG (AP) – The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a 28-year-old man has died after he crashed his truck into the back of a dump truck.
Troopers say John Stewart was pronounced dead Monday at the scene near Warrensburg on U.S. Route 50. They say his truck caught fire after responders removed him from it.
The 52-year-old dump truck driver suffered minor injuries. She sought her own medical treatment.
It’s unclear what caused the crash.
TARKIO- A Missouri woman was injured in an accident just before 12-noon on Monday in Atchison County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Ford F 150 driven by Jordan C. Schlenker, 28, Montpelier, ND., was westbound on U.S. 136 five miles east of Tarkio.
The truck crossed the centerline, swerved left to avoid a vehicle, swerved back and hit an eastbound 2000 Ford Explorer driven by Sierra D. Kirkpatrick, 20, Clearmont.
Kirkpatrick was transported to Fairfax Community Hospital. Schlenker was not injured.
The MSHP reported both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Kansas voters aren’t exactly known for an independent streak. Not since 1932 have they elected someone other than a Republican to the U.S. Senate.
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts was looking to continue his party’s good fortunes Tuesday against a surprisingly staunch challenge from independent candidate Greg Orman.
Roberts has described his re-election campaign as crucial to Republican hopes of regaining the Senate and providing a check to the policies of Democratic President Barack Obama. He’s tried to portray Orman as a liberal Democrat.
Orman has described Roberts as part of a broken partisan system that has ground Washington to a halt. He’s vowed to bridge political divides and has emphasized his business expertise.
Orman became the main alternative to Roberts after Democratic nominee Chad Tayler dropped out in September.
WARRENSBURG, Mo. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a Johnson County commissioner with arson after they say he tried to burn down his own business.
KCTV-TV reports Commissioner Scott Sader was arrested on Oct. 31 and charged with second-degree arson. Police say he tried to burn down Scooter’s gas station in October 2013.
Authorities say surveillance footage from the store shows Sader alone in the building near where the fire started. They say flames broke out in multiple locations less than two minutes after Sader left.
Sader didn’t attend Monday’s commission meeting and he wasn’t available for comment when a reporter from the station went to his home.
The Johnson County presiding commissioner says there are no plans to take disciplinary action against Sader. He questioned the validity of the charge.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republicans were expected to hold on to their sizable majorities in the Missouri House and Senate in Tuesday’s elections, but Democrats hoped to win enough seats to deny them veto-proof powers.
Republicans were seeking to retain supermajorities of at least two-thirds of the seats in each chamber, a threshold that allows them to override vetoes of Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon without having to get any support from Democratic lawmakers.
Half of the 34 Senate seats and all 163 House seats are up for election, though only a portion of those featured competitive races.
Before the voting even began, Republicans were assured of keeping a Senate majority because of their number of unopposed candidates and incumbents not up for re-election. In the House, Republicans were assured of holding at least one-third of the seats and Democrats one-quarter of the seats because of unopposed candidates.
It takes 18 Senate seats and 82 House seats for a political party to hold a majority. A two-thirds majority requires at least 23 Senate seats and 109 House seats. Republicans just barely exceeded those marks during the past year, controlling up 24 Senate seats and 110 House seats at any given time.
During the 2014 session, Republicans used their large majorities to cut income tax rates, lengthen the mandatory abortion waiting period and enact a training program for teachers to carry concealed guns in classrooms. They overrode Nixon’s vetoes in each case but never by a purely partisan vote, because they always picked up support from at least one Democratic lawmaker.
Republicans were hopeful that Tuesday’s elections would give them an even larger majority for the 2015 session, which would allow them more leeway to enact their agenda even if some GOP lawmakers were absent or disagreed on certain votes.
If Democrats are able to gain just a few seats, they could force Republicans to compromise more often in order to assure there is enough support to pass bills that are potential veto targets.
U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill had contributed $590,000 to the Missouri Democratic State Committee heading into the final week before election with the intent of helping to finance Democratic state legislative candidates. Other top Democratic officials, including Gov. Jay Nixon and Attorney General Chris Koster, also had contributed to the state party’s efforts.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri conservation officials say hunters took nearly 5,700 turkeys during fall firearms season, down about 200 from last year.
The season ran Oct. 1 through Oct. 31. The Conservation Department said Monday that Greene County had the highest number of turkeys checked at 165, followed closely by Franklin and St. Clair counties.
The agency also reported selling about 14,000 fall firearms turkey hunting permits this year. That’s a decline of 5 percent from last year.
Central Missouri saw an 8 percent increase in the number of turkeys checked. Most other regions recorded decreases from last year.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is awaiting a verdict from Kansas voters on whether his conservative tax-cutting experiment went too far.
Brownback was in a close race ahead of Tuesday’s election with Democratic challenger Paul Davis and faced a revolt from GOP moderates.
The 58-year-old governor painted Davis as a liberal and tried to tie him to Democratic President Barack Obama.
Davis is a 42-year-old Lawrence lawyer and the Kansas House minority leader. He ran as a centrist who would have a bipartisan administration.
Personal income tax cuts enacted in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging dropped the state’s top rate by 26 percent and exempted the owners of 191,000 businesses altogether.
A budget shortfall of $260 million is predicted by July 2016, but Brownback contends the economy is growing.
Thirty minutes in, the big play that Kansas fans await each gameday came through via a Kelly Oubre, Jr. breakaway dunk delivered by a grinning Wayne Selden, Jr. Kansas downed Washburn, 85-53, in the unofficial start to the 2014-15 men’s basketball season Monday night inside Allen Fieldhouse.
Squaring off in exhibition play for the first time since 2012 and the 40th time overall, No. 5 Kansas and Washburn were heartily welcomed by the Allen Fieldhouse crowd, eager to watch the latest edition of the Jayhawks in action. High-octane recruit Cliff Alexander played to his hype, leading the Jayhawks with a game-high-tying 14 points on 6-for-8 accuracy and coming in just one rebound short of a double-double. His three blocks, all in the first half, led his team’s solid defensive effort as the Jayhawks chalked up nine rejections and held the Ichabods under 30 percent shooting.
KU’s other freshman All-American, Oubre was also solid in his debut with nine points, including his thunder dunk inside the 12-minute mark. By night’s end, all 15 Jayhawks checked in and 12 scored en route to a 30-for-53 field-goal performance (56.6 percent). Nine of those came from behind the arc, only one shy of KU’s best three-point total a year ago (10 vs. Iowa State, 1/29/14).
Sophomore guard Frank Mason started the game at point, flanked on either side by Selden and freshman Devonte’ Graham, the only newcomer to crack the starting lineup. All-Big 12 returnee Perry Ellis reclaimed his starting spot, while junior forward Jamari Traylor would have registered his second career start had the game counted.
Mason looked the part at floor general, dishing out a game-high seven assists to just one turnover while turning in 13 points with only one missed shot on the night. Sophomore forward Landen Lucas posted a perfect 4-for-4 show to tally nine points and six rebounds. He, Traylor, Alexander and junior forward Hunter Mickelson all swatted multiple shots in the win.
On the opposing bench, senior guard Korey Fisher tied Alexander for the game’s lead with 14 points. He hit two of Washburn’s three three-pointers on Monday as the Ichabods were held to 3-for-20 from long range.
Senior guard Kyle Wiggins connected on a long jumper to put his team ahead 2-1, but the early lead would be the Ichabods’ last. Selden answered with a three on the other end to fuel an 8-0 run, capped by Graham’s first fastbreak layup as a Jayhawk. Not 15 seconds after he checked in, Alexander turned KU’s run to 12-straight points with back-to-back buckets. Halfway through the opening 20 minutes, Ellis already had a three-pointer to his credit and four of KU’s five freshmen had checked into the game. Like Alexander, Oubre also wasted no time collecting his first basket as he drained a three from the corner in hurry.
The rookies shared their night of firsts with Mickelson, who at long last heard his named called after sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. He scored a put-back layup, a turnaround hook shot and blocked a shot to power KU’s lead past the 20-point plateau. Moments later, a three from Mason pushed it over 25 points.
Three minutes remained in the first half when a runner through the lane by Fisher finally put the Ichabods in double-digits. By halftime, KU’s defense had taken its toll, pestering Washburn with seven blocks and five steals. While Kansas shot 52 percent in first frame, the Jayhawks forced the Ichabods to miss 25 of their 30 first-half shots to take a commanding 42-13 lead to the lockerroom.
Scoring was slower to start the second half as nearly five minutes ticked away before free throws from Ellis and Mason saw KU eclipse 50 points. The ‘Svi for Three’ call from the PA announcer rang out for the first of, what the Jayhawk fan base hopes many, times this season after freshman guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk connected from three-point territory, and the Jayhawks found themselves ahead by 30 points, 59-29.
Firmly in command, Kansas utilized various lineups for the rest of the night – all of which are likely to appear in the regular season. Graham spent some time in the point guard spot and fired off five late points, before Evan Manning, Tyler Self and Josh Pollard replaced the backcourt for the final minutes of the 85-53 win.
UP NEXT
Kansas will conclude exhibition play when it plays host to Emporia State on Tuesday, Nov. 11. Tip time is set for 7 p.m.
— KU Sports Information —
