We have a brand new updated website! Click here to check it out!

Griffons’ Ong wins second straight tournament as Western finishes 3rd at SJCC

ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western’s Shi Qing Ong earned her second win in just as many tournaments this spring, as the senior took first place at the Holiday Inn Express Classic at the St. Joseph Country Club on Tuesday. This also gives Ong her 11th win at Missouri Western. As a team the Griffons placed third out of the 14 teams in the tournament with an overall score of 645.

Ong topped a leaderboard that featured 82 golfers, winning the event by an entire five strokes. Ong finished with an overall score of 148 (+4) on the familiar course of the St. Joseph Country Club. Her best round came on Monday when she shot two-under par with a 70. Ong led the field with seven birdies, three more than the next-best golfer. She also scored 19 pars and led the field by going even on par-five holes.

Anna Bech earned the third top-10 finish of her freshman season as she tied for seventh with a score of 158. Bech entered Tuesday tied for 12th and jumped five spots after shooting a 78 (+6) on Tuesday. She finished with 21 pars and was in the top-seven in both par-three and par-five scoring.

Chong Yong tied for 25th after shooting 167 over the two rounds with 17 pars. She followed her 83 (+11) score on Monday with an 84 (+12) in round two.

Jenna Kosmatka finished with a score of 172 while Sabrina Galfano shot 179.

Missouri Western Women’s Golf will travel to Warrensburg for the Jennies Invitational on March 25-26.

— MWSU Athletics —

The Latest: Vice President Pence says federal help on the way after flood

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Latest on flooding in the Midwest (all times local):

Vice President Mike Pence says the Trump administration will expedite presidential disaster declarations for Nebraska and Iowa.

Pence was in Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday to tour areas ravaged by the flood that has killed at least three people and forced hundreds of Midwesterners from their homes.

Pence says he spoke to the governors of both states shortly after landing in Omaha to assure them federal aid will soon be on the way.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds were among a group of Republican leaders accompanying Pence during a brief tour of damaged areas. Others included U.S. Sens. Ben Sasse, of Nebraska, and Joni Ernst, of Iowa, as well as Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska.

___

4:50 p.m.

A small Missouri town is under a mandatory evacuation order as the Missouri River threatens it.

The Holt County Sheriff’s Department says the evacuation was ordered Tuesday in Craig, a town of about 250 residents 110 miles (177 kilometers) north of Kansas City, Missouri.

The sheriff’s office says anyone choosing to stay must go to City Hall to provide their name and address in case they need to be rescued.

Snowmelt and heavy rain have sent the Missouri River pouring over and through levees in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. Craig residents join thousands of others who have been displaced by the flooding.

———————-
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence is on his way to view flooding caused by heavy rains and snowmelt that damaged hundreds of homes and inundated tens of thousands of acres with water.

Flooding is expected throughout the week in several states as high water levels flow down the Missouri River. Swollen rivers have already breached at least a dozen levees in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The flooding, which started after a massive late-winter storm hit the Midwest last week, has been blamed for at least three deaths.

Pence is expected to arrive late Tuesday afternoon in Omaha, Nebraska, where the president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau estimates farm and ranch losses could reach $1 billion. Steve Nelson estimates $400 million in crop losses because of crops that will be planted late, if at all. He also estimates up to $500 million in livestock losses from the floods.

The Nebraska city of Fremont was walled off by flooding, but local residents got a lift from private pilots offering free flights to shuttle people to and from their hometown.

The Missouri River is forecast to crest Thursday morning at 11.6 feet above flood stage in St. Joseph, Missouri, the third highest on record. More than 100 roads are closed in the state, where the State Highway Patrol is watching from the air and has water patrol officers on standby to help.

There are widespread evacuations in two counties, including Holt County, where about 40,000 acres (16,188 hectares) and hundreds of homes have been flooded.

“This isn’t new to them,” Highway Patrol Sgt. Jake Angle said. “But it’s no less devastating.”

River flooding has also surrounded a northern Illinois neighborhood with water, prompting residents to escape in boats. People living in the Illinois village of Roscoe say children have walked through high floodwaters or kayaked to catch school buses amid flooding along the Rock River.

Flooding along rivers in western Michigan also has damaged dozens of homes and businesses.

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday that he was staying in close contact with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem about the flooding in those states.

___

KANSAS CITY (AP) — The Latest on flooding in the Midwest (all times local):

Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Nebraska to survey damage from flooding in the Midwest.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted that President Donald Trump requested Pence go Tuesday to the Midwest to see the damage.

Sanders says Pence will be joined by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The tweet did not say where in Nebraska Pence would go.

__

3:30 p.m.

North Dakota’s largest city has declared an emergency and Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney is asking residents to help fill 1 million sandbags as the city prepares for major Red River flooding.

The National Weather Service says “significant” snowmelt flooding is likely this spring in the Red River Valley after last week’s massive late-winter storm in the Midwest. The chance the river will reach major flood stage in Fargo has increased from 50 percent to 90 percent.

The neighboring cities of Fargo and Moorhead, Minnesota, experienced a record flood 10 years ago. The two cities have implemented several measures such as home buyouts and levees since then.

But Mahoney says there are still areas that could be vulnerable. Sandbag-filling operations begin March 26.

___

3:10 p.m.

An Illinois town is bracing for potentially the worst flooding it has seen in at least a half-century.

Freeport City Manager Lowell Crow says the town of 25,000 residents west of Rockford could see an all-time record flood along the Pecatonica River. At best, the water level will get to its highest level in 50 years.

Several Illinois towns face flooding from the late-winter deluge that has ravaged several Midwestern states. National Weather Service readings show major flooding along the Pecatonica River at Shirland, Illinois, and along the Rock River in Moline and the Rockford area.

___

2:45 p.m.

The late-winter flood has compromised about 200 miles of Missouri River levees in four Midwestern states.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says levees that have been topped or breached in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas contributed to the flooding that has forced hundreds of people from their homes. Three deaths have been blamed on floodwaters, and two men in Nebraska have been missing since Thursday.

The National Weather Service says river levels have topped off along the Missouri River at Omaha, Nebraska, as well as at several Missouri River tributaries in Nebraska.

High flows and water levels remain throughout the river basin south of Sioux City, Iowa.

___

Floodwaters overrun levees in northwest Missouri, force MoDOT to close I-29 north of St. Joseph

Flooding in Craig

By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post

Floodwaters have rolled through breaches in levees in extreme northwest Missouri, threatening two towns and forcing transportation officials to close I-29 just north of St. Joseph.

Missouri Department of Transportation Assistant Engineer Marty Liles says the Missouri River has overrun its banks, sending floodwaters very close to two northwest Missouri cities.

“So, right now, the community of Craig unfortunately is really doing a bunch of levee work and sandbagging to try and protect their communities. Watson is an area that my understanding is that they never really have been impacted with floodwaters and now they actually for the first time have been impacted with floodwaters,” Liles tells reporters during a news conference held off I-29 at the Craig intersection.

Sandbags attempt to fortify a make-shift levee protecting the heart of Craig.

MoDOT had closed I-29 at Rock Port to keep traffic from running into a flooded interstate in Iowa. Now, transportation officials have closed I-29 at the intersection with U.S. Highway 71, not allowing traffic to travel north as floodwaters roll near the interstate in northwest Missouri. So far, floodwaters have not lapped over the interstate, but Liles says they have rolled up onto the shoulder near Rock Port.

Liles says he doesn’t know how long the interstate will be closed to northbound traffic.

“I really don’t,” Liles says. “We kind of look at this on an hour-by-hour, day-by-day basis. We’ll watch this throughout the day and into the morning and see how the interstate is impacted.”

Atchison County, in extreme northwest Missouri, has seen a couple of levees fail. A breach in one levee has widened. A make-shift mud levee, fortified with sandbags, has been erected in Craig as residents attempt to keep the Missouri River from overrunning the heart of the town.

Interstate 29, empty of traffic, south of Mound City.

Liles says MoDOT understands the impact of its action.

“It’s an impact. This is an interstate that brings through traffic up into Omaha and south from Omaha and brings goods and services,” Liles says, noting truck traffic is having to drive long distances on alternate routes to deliver their goods.

MoDOT is advising travelers to take I-35 north to I-80 west to get around the flooding and get back on I-29 north.

The Missouri River is at 27 feet at St. Joseph. The National Weather Service forecasts it to reach nearly 30-feet, a projection the Weather Service recently revised upward.

 

Kansas woman sentenced for killing ex, setting body on fire

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A woman has been sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years for killing the father of her child whose body was found inside a burning house near Lawrence.

Tria Evans stands next to her attorney Carol Cline during an appearance before Judge Kay Huff on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018 in Douglas County District Court-photo by Nick Krug courtesy Lawrence Journal World

39-year-old Tria Evans appeared in court Tuesday for sentencing six weeks after a jury deliberated 1½ hours. She was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, arson and aggravated burglary in the November 2017 killing of 34-year-old Joel Wales.

Evans and Wales had a child together and a history of domestic disputes.

Judge Kay Huff says “it doesn’t get much more premeditated than this case.”

Wales was shot six times while house-sitting at his mother’s home just south of Lawrence. Gasoline was was poured over his body and lit on fire.

___

University of Missouri fires campus cop over blackface photo

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — University of Missouri officials say they have fired a campus police officer after verifying he was in a photo depicting him blackface.

The university said Tuesday in a news release that Marcus Collins acknowledged he was the person in the picture and that it was taken before he was hired with the police department in January 2018.

A message left for Collins was not immediately returned.

Chancellor Alexander Cartwright says that this type of behavior is not tolerated at the university, adding they understand how this impacts the entire community profoundly.

Spokesman Christian Basi says Collins is the only person depicted in the photo, but that he did not know when or where the photo was taken or any other context. He says university officials received the photo on Tuesday.

Update: Kansas teen jailed after crash, fire at Sam’s Club

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect following a hit and run crash and fire and have made an arrest.

Jacob Bosh -photo Shawnee County

Just before 7p.m. Monday, police were called to Sam’s Club located 1401 SW Wanamaker in Topeka for a report of a motor vehicle accident and fire, according to Lt. Aaron Jones.

Officers discovered a vehicle fully engulfed in flames on the back side of the building. The vehicle apparently struck the electrical service to the building. A fire resulted from the impact, causing a power outage affecting the entire building. The vehicle did not penetrate the building. Authorities evacuated shoppers from the business as a precaution.

Witnesses guided officers  to a man running east from the accident scene. Officers located the driver of the vehicle identified as 19-year-old Jacob Orlando Eugene Bosch  at the Days Inn in the 1500 block of SW Wanamaker, according to Jones.

After an investigation, police arrested Bosh and he is being held without bond on requested charges that include DUI, reckless driving, speeding, operating a vehicle without registration or tags expired, driving while license suspended and possession of drugs, according to a statement from Topeka Police.

View of the Monday night fire at Sams Club in Topeka photo courtesy WIBW TV

According to Jones, “The public deserves credit for the apprehension of the suspect in this case.  Sam’s Club remained closed Tuesday, without power.

————

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect following a hit and run crash and fire.

Just before 7p.m. Monday, police were called to Sam’s Club located 1401 SW Wanamaker in Topeka for a report of a motor vehicle accident and fire, according to Lt. Aaron Jones.

Officers discovered a vehicle fully engulfed in flames on the back side of the building. The vehicle apparently struck the electrical service to the building. A fire resulted from the impact, causing a power outage affecting the entire building. The vehicle did not penetrate the building. Authorities evacuated shoppers from the business as a precaution.

Witnesses guided officers  to a man running east from the accident scene. Officers located the driver of the vehicle at the Days Inn in the 1500 block of SW Wanamaker, according to Jones.

First responders at the crash scene Monday night at Sams Club photo courtesy WIBW TV

Police have not released his name as they work to determine what caused the crash.

According to Jones, “The public deserves credit for the apprehension of the suspect in this case. The Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center was inundated with calls from the public that helped locate this driver. Sam’s Club was temporarily closed, without power.

MWSU softball changes schedule for this weekends Hy-Vee Classic

ST. JOSEPH – Forecasted flooding in the St. Joseph area has required significant changes to the 2019 Hy-Vee Classic schedule. Due to the threat of flooding at Bill McKinney Softball Complex at Heritage Park, games will only be played at the Spring Sports Complex on the Missouri Western campus.

The abbreviated schedule also brings changes to the participating teams and the dates and times of the event. The softball classic will now begin with two games on Thursday, March 21. Five games will be played on March 22 and March 23 with four games on March 24.

UPDATED HY-VEE CLASSIC SCHEDULE
March 21
2 p.m. – Missouri Western vs Northern State
4 p.m. – Northwest Missouri vs Northern State

March 22

10 a.m. – Central Oklahoma vs Augustana (S.D.)
12 p.m. – Missouri Western vs Augustana (S.D.)
2 p.m. – Northwest Missouri vs Winona State
4 p.m. – Missouri Southern vs Northern State
6 p.m. – Missouri Southern vs Minot State

March 23

10 a.m. – Missouri Southern vs Winona State
12 p.m. – Central Oklahoma vs Northern State
2 p.m. – Central Oklahoma vs Winona State
4 p.m. – Missouri Western vs Minot State
6 p.m. – Northwest Missouri vs Augustana (S.D.)

March 24
9 a.m. – Central Oklahoma vs Minot State
11 a.m. – Northwest Missouri vs Minot State
1 p.m. – Missouri Southern vs Augustana (S.D.)
3 p.m. – Missouri Western vs Winona State

The Latest: Man who escaped Missouri jail, Oklahoma patrol car captured

SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) — A kidnapping suspect who escaped from a Missouri jail and an Oklahoma patrol car was arrested Tuesday back in Missouri after being on the run for nine days.

Davis-photo Pettis Co.

Authorities said Travis Lee Davis, 30, was found in the early morning trying to hide in the attic space of a garage after a call from a citizen who believed Davis was in there.

Sedalia Police Chief Matt Wirt said that Davis tried to escape before he was arrested.

“He tried to get away from the officers through going over the rafters, but officers were able to grab him when he got over by a wall and quickly handcuff him,” Wirt said. “We didn’t give him the opportunity to run, to fight, and got him into custody quickly.”

Davis claimed he had a medical issue after being discovered and was transported by ambulance to the Bothwell Regional Health Center where he was found fit for confinement, according to a news release. Officers then took him to the Pettis County Jail, where Sedalia officers had brought him five weeks ago after a hostage situation in Buckner Court.

Davis had been the subject of a two-state manhunt since escaping from the Pettis County Jail in Sedalia on March 9.

He was recaptured four days later in Heavener, Oklahoma. But police said he was able to escape from a patrol car by crawling into the front seat while handcuffed. He drove the car about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) before crashing.

Police suspect he later stole a pickup truck and drove back to Missouri.

Davis is now in isolation at the Pettis County Jail, Bond said

————–

SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a kidnapping suspect who escaped from a Missouri jail and an Oklahoma patrol car has been arrested after returning to Missouri.

Travis Lee Davis, 30, was found early Tuesday trying to hide in the attic space of a detached garage. Sedalia Police Chief Matt Wirt says he tried to escape before he was arrested.

Davis has been missing from Sedalia since escaping from the Pettis County Jail on March 9.

He was recaptured last Wednesday in Heavener, Oklahoma. But police say he was able to escape from a patrol car by crawling into the front seat while handcuffed. He drove the car about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) before crashing.

Police suspect he later stole a pickup truck and drove back to Missouri.

————-

HEAVENER, Okla. (AP) — Authorities say a kidnapping suspect who escaped from a Missouri jail and then from an Oklahoma police car apparently stole a pickup truck and returned to Missouri.

The truck was found Sunday in Pettis County, Missouri. That’s where 30-year-old Travis Lee Davis broke out of jail just more than a week earlier. The sheriff’s office says the truck had been stolen Friday from a home near Heavener, Oklahoma, where Davis apparently stayed in a camper after his second escape.

Police say that escape happened Wednesday when he crawled from the back seat of a patrol car and into the front while handcuffed. Davis then drove the car about 1.5 miles  before crashing into a tree.

A search is underway. Authorities say Davis should be considered armed and dangerous.

Supreme Court rules against immigrants in detention cases

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday against a group of immigrants in a case about the government’s power to detain them after they’ve committed crimes but finished their sentences.

photo courtesy Department of Homeland Security

The issue in the case before the justices had to do with the detention of noncitizens who have committed a broad range of crimes that make them deportable. Immigration law tells the government it must arrest those people when they are released from custody and then hold them while an immigration court decides whether they should be deported.

But those affected by the law aren’t always picked up immediately and are sometimes not detained until years later. In the case before the Supreme Court, a group of mostly green card holders argued that unless they’re picked up essentially within a day of being released, they should be entitled to a hearing where they can argue that they aren’t a danger to the community and are not likely to flee. If a judge were to agree, they would not have to remain in custody while their deportation case goes forward. That’s the same hearing rule that applies to other noncitizens the government is trying to deport.

But the Supreme Court disagreed with the immigrants’ interpretation of federal law in a 5-4 ruling that divided the court along ideological lines. Looking at a statutory provision enacted by Congress in 1996, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that “neither the statute’s text nor its structure” supported the immigrants’ argument. The court’s conservative justices sided with the Trump administration. The administration argued, as the Obama administration did, that those affected by the law aren’t entitled to a hearing where they can argue for their release, regardless of whether they are arrested immediately after being released from custody or not.

Department of Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the administration was “pleased with the decision.”

Justice Stephen Breyer, in a dissent he read aloud in court, said that the larger importance of the case has to do with the power his colleagues’ ruling gives the government.

“It is a power to detain persons who have committed a minor crime many years before. And it is a power to hold those persons, perhaps for many months, without any opportunity to obtain bail,” Breyer said.

He wrote that in his view the law requires immigrants who have committed crimes to be detained “within a reasonable time after their release” from custody, “presumptively no more than six months.” If the person is not detained within that time, they should get a hearing where they can argue for their release, Breyer wrote.

The American Civil Liberties Union represented the immigrants in the case before the Supreme Court. ACLU attorney Cecillia Wang, who argued the case, said after the decision that the ACLU will call on Congress to clarify the law and will continue to pursue options in court.

Tuesday’s ruling was based on the text of the statute, and Wang said the ACLU will argue that the statute, as interpreted by the justices, is unconstitutional. Wang also called the decision an “extreme waste of taxpayer money,” saying it locks up individuals who are not a danger to the community.

The case before the justices involved a class-action lawsuit brought by noncitizens in California and a similar class-action lawsuit brought in the state of Washington. In those cases, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit sided with the immigrants, but other appeals courts had sided with the government in similar cases.

One of the lead plaintiffs involved in the California case, Mony Preap, has been a lawful permanent resident of the United States since 1981 and has two convictions for possession of marijuana. He was released from prison in 2006 but was not taken into immigration custody until 2013. Preap has since won his deportation case, allowing him to remain in the country.

The case is 16-1363 Nielsen v. Preap.

Copyright Eagle Radio | FCC Public Files | EEO Public File