COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A University of Missouri assistant professor is charged with misdemeanor assault in connection with a run-in with student journalists during campus protests last November.

Columbia city prosecutor Steve Richey filed the municipal court complaint Monday against 45-year-old Melissa Click.

The assistant professor of communications confronted a student photographer and a student videographer during the protests, calling for “muscle” to help remove them from the protest area.

That day’s demonstrations came after university system’s president and the Columbia campus’ chancellor resigned amid protests over what some saw as indifference to racial issues. The videographer filed a complaint with university police.

Click did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, and her listed home phone number is not in service.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — About 150 people from the Kansas City area who were stranded for 22 hours because of the East Coast snowstorm are back on the road again.

The group occupied four buses that traveled to Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life.

Deacon Rick Boyle of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Smithville told The Kansas City Star by email Sunday that the group left Bedford, Pennsylvania, early Sunday after staying overnight as guests of the American Legion Post 113 there.

About two-thirds of those in the traveling group were under age 20.

They’re expected to make it home early Monday.

Airline, passenger rail and bus services were dramatically curtailed by the blizzard, which dumped nearly 28 inches of snow on Central Park in New York City.  That makes it the second-largest blizzard ever to hit the Big Apple since records began.

At Kansas City International Airport, officials strongly suggested that you call your airline directly before heading to the airport for flights to the eastern U.S.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Attorneys for a southwest Missouri man charged in the death of a 10-year-old girl want copies of evidence they say could help the defendant.

Craig Wood is charged with murder, kidnapping, rape, sodomy and armed criminal action in the 2014 death of Hailey Owens.

The Springfield News-Leader reports Wood’s lawyers have filed a motion seeking video interviews police conducted in 2014 with four students at a school where Wood was a para-professional and coach. The motion says two of the students described Wood as “pretty cool” and “super nice.”

The prosecutor says he doesn’t believe he’s required to turn over the interviews.

A trial’s scheduled for September 26th in Greene County, with a jury from Platte County. Prosecutors say they’ll seek the death penalty if Wood is found guilty.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some lawmakers say efforts to repeal the Kansas death penalty may be stymied by the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding three Kansas death sentences.

A bill repealing the death penalty for crimes committed after July 1 was introduced Friday in the House.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a Kansas Supreme Court ruling and upheld the death sentences of three convicted Kansas murderers, including Jonathan and Reginald Carr, who killed five people in 2000. A third death sentence was also upheld.

Co-sponsors of the repeal say it may be hard for some to vote for repeal without appearing like they’re letting the Carr brothers off the hook. The measure, however, wouldn’t apply to the Carrs.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — As head of the governing board of Kansas’ state university system, Shane Bangerter figured the panel was in a no-win situation last week when faced with the need to adopt guidelines for how gun owners will be able to carry concealed firearms onto campuses and into some buildings next year.  Opposition to the law permitting concealed carry has been fierce on the system’s six campuses, largely on public safety grounds.

That disapproval is counterbalanced by a Legislature that holds strong gun rights majorities in both the House and Senate, controls the universities’ purse strings and has pushed to let gun owners carry their weapons as many places as possible.

Wednesday’s action by the board of regents drew approval from both sides. But the divide over guns at college is likely to continue simmering through July 2017, when the law passed in 2013 takes effect.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas Senate panel will consider a measure aimed at banning discrimination against gun dealers and manufacturers.

The measure would function like laws that prevent religious or racial discrimination and allow gun dealers to sue when they feel discriminated against. The bill will be heard Thursday by a Senate committee.

Senator Jacob LaTurner says the measure was in response to a 2013 federal initiative aimed at preventing fraudulent businesses from using the banking system.

The National Rifle Association and others have said that initiative has encouraged banks to sever ties with businesses deemed high risk by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

But a recent FDIC audit found no instances where the FDIC pressured banks to decline services to a firearms or ammunition dealer.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas State University professor has been nominated for two Grammy awards for his solo performance on an album with the Kansas City Chorale.

Bryan Pinkall, assistant professor of music, and the Kansas City Chorale were nominated in the categories of Best Choral Performance and Best Engineered Album for their album “Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil.”

 

The album was released last March and debuted at Number 1 on the Classical and Traditional Classical Billboard charts.

Pinkall previously served as manager of performance operations and direction for the Emmy-winning 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony. He also managed the production of Pope Francis’ Mass in Philadelphia in 2015.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An anonymous tip led Tulsa police to a man wanted in Missouri on several counts of rape.

The Tulsa World reports that police responded to a residence on Friday after an anonymous caller reported that 33-year-old David Bakstad was at the residence. Police say Bakstad was wanted in Newton County, Missouri on two counts of first-degree rape and two counts of statutory rape.

When officers arrived at the home, they met with a woman who said a man was inside. Authorities say that when officers contacted the man, he gave them a different name. Police say the man later acknowledged to the officers that he was Bakstad.

Tulsa County records indicate that Bakstad was booked into the county jail and is being held without bond.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 59-year-old man is being evaluated after holding police at bay for more than a day with several guns and fatally wounding an Omaha police dog.

The 25-hour standoff that began late Friday in northwest Omaha ended peacefully. But during the incident, police said the man fired at Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies and killed a 9-year-old K-9 named Kobus.

Chief Deputy Tom Wheeler says the man resisted negotiation and withstood tear gas and having the utilities to his home cut off. He gave in after firefighters pumped water into his cold basement.

Deputies were trying to serve a warrant ordering Mark L’Heureux to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Wheeler says L’Heureux, 59, will likely face several felony charges.

Omaha Police say Kobus was scheduled to retire in the next few months.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The publisher of the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newspaper known for persistent coverage of issues in the Catholic church, has retired.

Tom Fox announced his retirement Monday in NCR’s online edition.  The headline noted “NCR veteran decides to take ‘rewirement’.”

Fox, who started working for NCR in 1980, said NCR published its first major story on clergy abusing minors in June 1985 and was alone in that reporting for years.

NCR Editor Dennis Coday said Thursday that Caitlin Hendel, NCR’s CEO and president, replaces Fox as publisher of NCR, which recently celebrated its 50-year anniversary. The newspaper is published every other week and has a circulation of about 33,000. Its website gets about 1.5 million visitors a month.