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B-29 ‘Doc’ a step closer to airworthiness certificate

aircraft-726163_1280WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A World War II bomber is moving closer to achieving its Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness certificate.

Four volunteers attached a nameplate Monday to the B-29 Superfortress known as “Doc.”

The volunteers were among the earliest to work on the restoration effort and included Connie Palacioz. As an 18-year-old in 1944, she worked on the B-29 production line and riveted “Doc’s” nose section. She says she “never thought” she would see the restoration reach this point.

The Wichita-built plane was dubbed “Doc” after being assigned to a squadron of eight bombers named for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was finished too late to fly bombing missions during World War II, though it eventually served as a radar trainer during the Korean War.

University of Kansas class unveils new sustainable house

KU logoLAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas architecture graduate students are completing final touches on a newly constructed sustainable house in east Lawrence.

Officials at the university’s architecture school said that the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a detached garage is designed to meet two sustainable building standards: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum and the Passive House Institute standards.

The home is the latest design-build project of the Studio 804 class, which concentrates on environmentally-friendly development.

The house includes solar panels on the roof that will supply nearly all of its electricity needs and barn door-style sliding panels on the house’s exterior can be closed to clock sunlight in the hottest months.

There is also a concrete storm shelter in the back of the lot near the garage.

Suspended Kansas lawyer sentenced for mishandling trust

courtKANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A suspended Kansas City, Kansas, lawyer has been sentenced for misappropriating money from a disabled man’s trust fund.

The Wyandotte County prosecutor’s office says 65-year-old Don Charles Ball, of Parkville, Missouri, was ordered Friday to serve 60 days of shock time in the Wyandotte County jail and to pay more than $38,000 in restitution. He may avoid further incarceration if he successfully completes 36 months of intensive probation.

Prosecutors say Ball managed the affairs of a man with a disabling brain injury. The man had a trust and a probate judge ordered Ball to not spend trust proceeds without court approval. When the court ordered Ball to pay out money in the trust, he wrote a $32,000 check that the bank rejected for insufficient funds.

2 of 3 defendants plead guilty in death in home invasion

gunJOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — Two Joplin men who were robbing a home when a guest there fatally shot an accomplice have pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Monday 21-year-old Dakota Bate and 20-year-old Dakota Pliler also pleaded guilty in Jasper County to two counts of first-degree burglary. Prosecutors said the men bound an occupant in another home before breaking into the home where 32-year-old Michael Dean was killed in March 2015.

A judge accepted Bate’s plea and ordered him to serve 15 years after he finishes serving time for prior tampering, burglary and theft convictions. Another judge is waiting to act on Pliler’s plea agreement until a sentencing evaluation is completed. Under the plea, the sentence would be capped at 15 years.

Charges against a third defendant are pending.

Legislature overrides Nixon to block home-care wage hike

Jay Nixon JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Legislature has voted to override the governor and block a wage hike for home-care attendants.

House members voted 119-36 on Tuesday to undo Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto. Two-thirds of senators voted for the override in April.

By taking that action, lawmakers stopped a proposed Department of Health and Senior Services rule that would raise the pay for home-care attendants from the current $7.65 an hour to a range between $8.50 and $10.15. The workers care for aging Missourians and others who can’t care for themselves.

Lawmakers opposed to the rule argued the agency doesn’t have the authority to give those workers raises and said that’s the Legislature’s job.

Nixon and other opponents said those workers deserve a pay raise.

Legislature passes University of Missouri review commission

MU logoJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers have approved the creation of a commission to review the University of Missouri System’s policies and administrative structure.

The measure approved in the House on Tuesday follows months of legislative criticism over how the university handled protests over what some students saw as indifference to racism at the Columbia campus.

Columbia Republican Rep. Caleb Rowden says lawmakers are trying to work with the system to enact change. The commission is expected to recommend changes for the system by the end of the year.

The Republican House speaker and the Senate president pro tem will appoint members.

The measure has received pushback from some Democrats who say their party should also be involved in appointing members. One Democratic lawmaker has questioned whether the commission will be effective.

Mayor: Effort to reconfigure Kansas City airport on hold

KCI aerialKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Mayor Sly James says the city will not hold an election this year on whether to build a new, one-terminal airport.

The mayor announced Tuesday only 39 percent of people polled last week said they supported building a new, nearly $1 billion Kansas City International Airport. The city had discussed putting the issue on the August or October ballot.

The airports using the Kansas City airport said last week they supported the single terminal concept.

The current airport is nearly 50 years old and has three separate terminals. Supporters of the existing layout proposed renovating the terminals, rather than building one terminal.

James says he believes the city will eventually have a single-terminal airport, but now is not the time to pursue the project.

Moody’s changes outlook for Kansas credit rating to negative

Moody'sTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An international rating agency has revised its credit outlook for Kansas to negative from stable because of its ongoing budget problems.

Tuesday’s announcement from Moody’s Investors Service came a day after lawmakers approved a plan leaving most of the work of balancing the budget through June 2017 to Gov. Sam Brownback.

Even as Moody’s changed its outlook, it reaffirmed its Aa2 rating for Kansas for issuing bonds.

Its report cited the state’s problems in balancing its budget since lawmakers slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging to help stimulate the economy.

Standard and Poor’s Rating Services last week put Kansas on a “credit watch.”

Brownback told reporters Tuesday that Kansas faces financial strains because of slumps in agriculture and energy production.

Historic building in Liberty collapses


LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a building has partially collapsed on the historic square in the Kansas City suburb of Liberty.

Liberty city fire marshal Dustin Paddack says there are no known injuries but that a rescue team is searching the rubble as a precaution. The collapse happened around 8:50 a.m. Tuesday at the building, which is across from the Clay County Courthouse and Liberty City Hall.

The building was built in the 1880s and was last used as a furniture store. It was being expanded for retail space. A neighboring microbrewery also planned to use part of the building.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. Police have closed off several streets surrounding the building. Crews also are evaluating the structural integrity of neighboring buildings.

Missouri House passes ban on traffic-ticket quotas

Missouri House Chamber File Photo
Missouri House Chamber
File Photo
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House has passed a bill to bar cities, counties and law enforcement agencies from setting traffic-ticket quotas.

House members tacked on a number of additional provisions to the bill before voting 86-59 Monday to pass it. That means it will head back to the Senate.

The bill is aimed at stopping public officials from requiring police to write a certain number of citations. It also would prohibit supervisors from suggesting their subordinates issue more tickets.

The bill continues efforts to change ticketing and fine policies following the unrest in Ferguson.

House members also previously added a provision that would make footage from police body cameras recorded in nonpublic places be closed records. Judges could order that footage be made public.

Lawmakers face a May 13 deadline to pass the legislation before session ends.

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