KANSAS CITY – One person was injured in an accident just before 1:30 p.m. on Monday in Wyandotte County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Chevy Sedan driven by Kevin G. Dunne, 22, Elmhurst, IL., was northbound on Interstate 635 just south of 38th Street.
The vehicle began drifting onto the left shoulder, swerved back to the right.

The driver over corrected left, struck concrete median barrier and overturned as it crossed lanes of traffic to the right.

Dunne was transported to KU Medical Center.
The KHP reported he was properly restrained at the time of the accident.

ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — North Korea is experiencing widespread Internet outages. One expert says the country’s online access is “totally down.”

It’s not immediately clear if the Internet connectivity problems were an act of retribution for a major intrusion at Sony Pictures Entertainment that the FBI last week linked to North Korea.

President Barack Obama on Friday said the U.S. government would respond but didn’t say how.

The White House declined to comment Monday. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters that of the federal government responses, “some will be seen, some may not be seen.”

Doug Madory director of Internet analysis at Dyn Research, said the Internet connectivity problems were discovered in the last 24 hours and have gotten progressively worse to the point that “North Korea’s totally down.”

CAPE GIRARDEAU (AP) – Missouri farmers are hopeful as the U.S. and Cuba begin to normalize relations for the first time in half a century.

The Southeast Missourian reports that currently, exports to Cuba are limited by prohibitions requiring it to pay cash for the shipments it receives. If diplomatic ties are secured, U.S. exports such as rice, soybeans, poultry, beef and pork will be popular items to ship to the communist nation.

Rice is particularly promising because Missouri is among the nation’s top rice producers. Cuba is a huge consumer of rice.

Southeast Missouri State University’s Agriculture Department chairman Michael Aide says Missouri rice is readily exported throughout the Caribbean. He says there would be a great market opportunity for Missouri rice in Cuba.

JOSH FUNK, Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — When American freight trains delivered cargo after World War II, they commonly had seven people aboard — an engineer, a conductor, up to four brakemen and a fireman.

Since then, trains have grown much longer. And crews have been reduced in size — to five people in the 1970s and two in 1991. Now U.S. railroads want to put a single person in charge of today’s huge locomotives.

For now, freight trains generally have two people aboard — an engineer who drives the train and a conductor who oversees the long line of cars. Railroad executives want to reduce that to a lone engineer, saying advances in safety systems could keep the risks to a minimum.

Labor groups, some federal agencies and people who live near rail lines are skeptical.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has issued a blistering critique of the Vatican bureaucracy that serves him. He has denounced how some lust for power at the expense of others, live hypocritical double lives and suffer from “spiritual Alzheimer’s” that has made them forget they’re supposed to be joyful men of God.

Francis’ Christmas greeting Monday to the cardinals, bishops and priests who run the Holy See was less a joyful exchange of holiday good wishes than a sobering catalog of what Francis called the “ailments of the Curia” that he hoped would be atoned for and cured.

Francis has not shied from complaining about the gossiping, careerism and power intrigues that afflict the Vatican. But as his reform agenda gathers steam, he seems even more emboldened to highlight what ails the institution.

PITTSBURGH (AP) —A northeast Kansas man is among 19 people being honored with medals and cash from the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Heroes Fund Commission.

The commission founded in 1904 by steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie has now honored 9,737 individuals

Winners of Carnegie Hero medals announced Monday:

— Paul W. Mongiello, 57, of Overland Park, Kansas, who rescued two workers from a natural gas explosion at a Kansas City restaurant in February 2013.

— Frederick J. Levesque Jr., 52, of Stafford Springs, Connecticut, who rescued a 7-year-old girl from a burning apartment in Somers, Connecticut, in December 2013.

— Brett Allen Thoele, 36, of Shorewood, Illinois, who helped save a man from drowning in Branson, Missouri, in June 2013.

— Pawel L. Kruszewski, 28, of Auburn, Maine, who saved three men from a burning vehicle that crashed in September 2013.

— Donald Schaus Sr., 52, of Katonah, New York, who saved an 82-year-old man from a burning apartment in Bedford Hills, New York, in February.

— Bernard Kozen, 56, of Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, who saved others by subduing a gunman who killed three people at a municipal meeting in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, in August 2013.

— Richard Blessen, 45, of Crete, Nebraska, who saved two 14-year-old boys from drowning after they fell through ice in Duncan, Nebraska, in December 2013.

— Gregory D. Plancich, 58, and Daniel C. Hardwick, 53, both of Vashon, Washington; Jim O. Fultz, 48, of Siletz, Oregon; and Wayne Kitt, 35, of Loon Lake, Washington, who all helped save five members of another commercial fishing boat from drowning when it capsized near Kodiak Island, Alaska, in January 2012.

— Samuel Irick, 44, of Houston, Texas, who was fatally wounded rescuing a woman from an armed purse-snatching in November 2010.

— Clifford Faraci, 43, of Desert Hills, Arizona, who was burned trying to save a woman from a wrecked car in Phoenix, Arizona, in March 2013.

— Donald E. Thompson, 54, of West Hills, California, who rescued a 72-year-old man from a crashed, burning car in Los Angeles in December 2013.

— Jonathan A. Barthel, 21, of Lake Norden, South Dakota, who helped save a man and his 9-year-old son from drowning after their canoe capsized in April.

— James M. Kocker, 53, of Poulsbo, Washington, who helped save a man from downing after his car crashed into a pond in Ellensburg, Washington, in October 2012.

— Ronnie Lee Moore Jr., 42, of Hortense, Georgia, and John Shannon Gibson, 45, of Woodbine, Georgia, who rescued a woman from a burning car that crashed in Waverly, Georgia, in October 2013.

— Jeffrey A. Johnson, 48, of North Freedom, Wisconsin, who helped saved a man from drowning while ice fishing in Briggsville, Wisconsin, in April.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – An audit says the Missouri board that regulates accountants hasn’t been following state law when holding closed meetings.

A report from Auditor Tom Schweich says the State Board of Accountancy held 13 closed meetings during the past two years. In 10 cases, it says the board didn’t properly document the vote to close the meetings or the reasons for doing so.

The audit says the board also didn’t limit its closed-door discussions to the reasons that were publicly cited. It says that in one case, the board’s minutes say a closed session was approved to discuss complaints, investigations and disciplinary actions. But the audit says applications, professional education audits and exam issues also were discussed.

The board says it’s committed to complying with the Sunshine Law.