CAMERON, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a Cameron man who is accused of threatening to shoot President Donald Trump and a Missouri sheriff had 30 firearms in his home when he was arrested.
Forty-two-year-old Christopher Kelley was charged Wednesday with possessing a firearm despite a domestic violence order of protection.
Federal charging documents say Kelley talked about killing the Clinton County sheriff and the president in October while at the county courthouse. He subsequently was banned from possessing weapons and denied having any when officers went to his home Monday. But after telling a witness he “might hurt somebody,” police obtained a search warrant. They found multiple shotguns, handguns and several M1 .30-caliber rifles.
Charging documents describe Kelley as a veteran with PTSD.
A 20-year-old St. Joseph man was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a fatal drive-by shooting last year.
Khaury D. El-Amin was sentenced Monday in the October 2017 shooting death of 26-year-old Donovan L. Smith.
As previously reported, in the area of 724 North 23rd Street, El-Amin was a passenger in a vehicle and he was seen firing a handgun at Smith, hitting the victim at least once. El-Amin fled the scene and Smith later died as a result of the gunshot wound.
According to online court documents, Circuit Judge Patrick Robb sentenced El-Amin to life without parole for murder and 25 years for armed criminal action.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The physical rush of Black Friday and the armchair browsing of Cyber Monday are increasingly blending into one big holiday shopping event as more customers buy items online and pick them up at brick-and-mortar stores.
Adobe Analytics reported Saturday that more customers are going to stores to get items they bought online. That trend contributed to a record $6.22 billion spent online Friday, up nearly 24 percent from last year.
But the fastest-growing online shopping day is Thanksgiving. Online sales totaled $3.7 billion on Thursday, up 28 percent from last year.
It’s a sign that retailers are merging online business with their physical stores even as fewer people travel to those stores on Black Friday. Walmart, Kohl’s and Target are among major retailers that are expanding the number of stores where shoppers can pick up online orders.
Adobe says a record $2.1 billion in sales were done from customers on their smartphones. About a third of online Black Friday sales were made from phones.
ShopperTrak, which tracks Black Friday foot traffic, reported Saturday there was a 1.7 percent decline from last year. But the research firm predicts that eight of the season’s 10 busiest in-person shopping days are still to come, aided by the fact that this year there are four Saturdays in December before Christmas.
PLATTE WOODS, Mo. (AP) — Court records say a police officer’s body camera captured him stealing prescription pills during an event near Kansas City in which the public could turn over unwanted drugs for safe disposal.
Richard Langley is freed on bond after his arrest earlier this month on a felony stealing charge. He’s no longer part of the Platte Woods Police Department, where he worked part time.
Issues arose last month in nearby Lake Waukomis during a National Prescription Drug Take Back Day event.
Court records say Langley “flagged” a portion of video recorded by his dash camera for deletion. Instead, the dash and body camera video were reviewed and submitted as evidence. Detectives say they seized 38 suspected painkiller pills from Langley’s truck.
Langley’s attorney didn’t immediately return a phone message.
FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A smoke alarm is credited with saving the lives of a Ferguson family, days after the alarm was installed.
Mary Thomas-Johnson woke up Sunday to an alarm going off. She could smell smoke and followed it to a basement door. Smoke was gushing out.
Thomas-Johnson and a 35-year-old nephew who lives in the home woke her 71-year-old uncle, grabbed the dog, and they all got out safely.
The family is temporarily displaced but the alarm allowed firefighters to arrive in time to save the house from being destroyed.
The Ferguson Fire Department and the American Red Cross installed three smoke detectors in the home eight days before the fire as part of an effort to get smoke alarms in homes that lacked them.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri bingo fans are hoping a change in regulations will reverse a steady decline in the number of games offered across the state.
Voters earlier this month approved an amendment to the state constitution that reduces the time people must belong to an organization before they can help run the games from two years to six months.
The vote also removes a prohibition on advertising bingo games. A U.S. District Court ruled in 1998 that provision was unconstitutional, but the language was never removed.
The vote may have seemed like a minor issue to many voters, but for bingo players and charitable organizations it was a “big, big plus,” said Tom Murphy, president of the Association of Charitable Games of Missouri.
“A lot of organizations have young members who are excited to help when they join,” Murphy said. “When they have to wait for two years, they go on to something else. If you can put them to work right away, people will be more active.”
The number of licensed bingo halls in Missouri has been dwindling for years, from 435 in 2006 to 227 in 2018, according to the Missouri Gaming Commission. Taxes to the state on products that bingo organizations buy — such as game balls and score sheets — dropped from $2.5 million in fiscal year 2006 to $1.4 million in fiscal year 2018.
Missouri law says only licensed charitable, fraternal, veteran or service organizations can organize bingo games. Proceeds must go to charitable or religious purposes.
Murphy, 80, said the average age of most bingo volunteers is 65, and they are “dying out or getting too old to continue volunteer work.” Many organizations told him that they might have to close their games if the amendment failed. The association surveyed bingo halls that have closed and found 85 percent cited a lack of workers as the reason, he said.
The Missouri Gaming Commission took no formal position on Amendment 4. But Barbara Whittle, charitable game manager for the agency, said she hopes the changes, which take effect Dec. 6, will stop the decline of bingo and help organizations keep members.
Gambling was illegal in Missouri until voters legalized bingo and related games in 1980. Murphy said the two-year requirement and ban on advertising was added because opponents feared “bad people” would take over the games and bring crime to the state. His organization and other bingo advocates have been fighting to change the rules for years and were disappointed when voters rejected similar changes in 1990 and 2000.
Bill Lee, a volunteer with the Knights of Columbus in Gladstone, said volunteers are excited about the changes, although many wish people could start helping with bingo as soon as they join.
“We do it for charity. We don’t get paid, so when volunteers who want to help can’t, that reduces how much we can give to our charities,” Lee said. “We’re extremely excited that staffing our bingo hall will be easier now.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A bridge connecting downtown Kansas City to the north across the Missouri River has been reopened to traffic in both directions.
The Buck O’Neil (Broadway) Bridge returned to full operation Wednesday morning. According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, crews repaired cables, railings, the medians and the expansion joints on the structure. The Buck O’Neil Bridge is more than 60 years old and sees on average of about 40,000 vehicles each day.
It had been partially closed to southbound traffic during a $7 million repair project that started in May. MoDOT let the bridge remain open to northbound traffic during the work, and people also had access to nearby Wheeler Downtown Airport.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The sheriff of a rural southeast Missouri county has pleaded guilty to federal charges for using the cell phones of a judge, other law officers and others to track their whereabouts.
Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud and identity theft. As part of a plea deal, he agreed to resign by Saturday. Federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss several other counts.
Sentencing is Feb. 28.
Hutcheson still faces unrelated charges in state court that include robbery and assault, but his attorney, Scott Rosenblum, says he expects those charges to be dropped. Rosenblum says Hutcheson is expected to plead guilty only to a misdemeanor state charge of improperly using a notary.
Rosenblum says Hutcheson takes responsibility “for the lapse in judgment he made.”
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is renewing a lobbying ban for members of his office.
Parson signed an executive order Tuesday revising an ethics policy implemented by his predecessor, former Gov. Eric Greitens.
Greitens’ first act as governor in 2017 was to issue an order banning executive branch employees from accepting lobbyist gifts and prohibiting governor’s office personnel from lobbying the executive branch if they leave their jobs.
But the lobbying ban only applied to Greitens’ administration. Parson’s order expanded it to cover his and future administrations. Parson took over after Greitens resigned amid personal and political scandal in June.
Parson’s order also tweaks what gifts executive branch employees are banned from accepting from lobbyists, opening the door for “educational” materials such as books and souvenirs valued at less than $10.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say they have located and recovered 18 missing children who ran away from foster homes in Kansas.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a news release Tuesday that the joint effort last week to find runaways from the Kansas Foster Care Program involved more than 100 federal, state and local law enforcement officers.
It focused on Sedgwick, Johnson and Wyandotte counties although the effort ultimately spanned several other Kansas counties and generated leads forwarded to other states.
Operation Hope was led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, the Office of Inspector General and Office of Investigations.
The KBI says law enforcement officials sought to ensure the well-being of the foster children and to identify waste, fraud and abuse occurring within the state’s foster care program.
