GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) — The Great Bend zoo’s oldest resident, a 50-year-old spider monkey, has died.
The monkey named Spidey died Monday at the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo.
Spider monkeys are expected to live about 20 years in the wild, but their life expectancy in captivity is about 40 years.
The zoo acquired the monkey in 1965.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Fire Capt. Garon Mosby isn’t ruling out the possibility of a hate crime involving predominantly black churches that have been set on fire in the area.
Police are looking for suspects and a motive. St. Louis Fire Capt.
Since Oct. 8, fire has damaged six churches, all within a few miles of each other in north St. Louis city and county. In each case, the front doors were set on fire.
Damage has ranged from a few hundred dollars at one church to the near destruction of another.
Five of the churches are predominantly black and one is racially mixed. The fires add to racial angst in an area still reeling from a police shooting and unrest in Ferguson last year.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is helping with the investigation.
CORTLAND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of two men who died in the crash of a small plane in southeast Nebraska.
Gage County authorities on Monday identified the men as 68-year-old Jerry Allder and 52-year-old David Schneider. Both men were from Lincoln.
The crash occurred around 8:45 a.m. Saturday, in a farm field about three miles west-southwest of Cortland.
The crash of the single-engine Van’s RV-4 aircraft is being investigated.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha schools are finding different uses for the extra 20 to 25 minutes added to the school day this fall. The Omaha Public Schools board voted in June to extend the school day, which was previously shorter than in surrounding districts.
Officials said Omaha students, who score lower on state tests than peers, could benefit from more classroom time.
Reported uses for the added time include silent reading, longer recess, and more of a focus on science and social studies. Many elementary schools are using it to devote extra attention to math, reading and writing.
The decision to extend the school day rankled parents and teachers. School board president Lou Ann Goding says much of the outcry over the decision seems to have dissipated.
STAFFORD, Kan. (AP) — Two adult whooping cranes have been reported at a wildlife refuge in central Kansas, marking an early fall return for the endangered birds.
The Wichita Eagle reports the two whooping cranes were seen this weekend at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in Stafford County.
Barry Jones, visitor services specialist at the refuge, says the earliest record of the birds arriving at Quivira was in 2000, when a pair arrived Oct. 6. The first sighting this fall was Oct. 10, when another pair of the whooping cranes rested in refuge’s south end of the Little Salt Marsh.
The two this weekend were in the northwest corner of the Little Salt Marsh.
About two dozen of the large birds pass through Quivira and nearby Cheyenne Bottoms in Barton County each fall migration.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A possible plan to replace Kansas City’s outdated animal shelter could include a public vote and private funding.
City Manager Troy Schulte told The Kansas City Star the new shelter plans are preliminary and that other details to be worked out.
City Councilwoman Teresa Loar says the shelter, which has been around for 43 years, is “woefully inadequate,” when compared to much larger, newer facilities like the 28,000-square-foot shelter in Independence, completed in 2013 and which serves half the animals that Kansas City does.
She says citizens would likely support a modest property tax increase to pay for a shelter and other infrastructure improvements. The cost of a new shelter is unclear, but could cost about $12 million.
The 43-year-old shelter takes in more than 10,000 animals per year.
POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (AP) — A pair of earthquakes hit southeast Missouri, but there were no reports of damage or injuries.
The U.S. Geological Survey said a 3.4-magnitude earthquake, followed 24 minutes later by a 3.2-magnitude aftershock, hit southeast Missouri on Friday afternoon.
The Daily American Republic reports residents in Butler, Ripley and Carter counties reported feeling the quakes.
Robbie Myers, director of the Butler County Emergency Management Agency, says the epicenter was 29 miles west of Poplar Bluff. Myers says the earthquake occurred a day after emergency management officials participated in the annual Great Central U.S. ShakeOut drill at area schools.
Myers says a resident told a dispatcher at the sheriff’s department “it felt like the front porch was going to shake off the house.”
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A Salina theater was evacuated after a man apparently shot himself in the leg with his concealed handgun.
The Salina Journal reports the theater was evacuated Friday after the handgun went off in the man’s pocket, hitting him in the upper leg.
Tim Coleman says he was sitting nearby when he heard a pop, smelled gunpowder and the man said “Oh my God! I shot myself.”
Coleman, an Army mechanic now with the Kansas National Guard, says first he checked to make sure his 14-year-old daughter and her friends were safe. He says people evacuated calmly, and several people called 911.
Coleman fixed a tourniquet to stop the man’s bleeding and made sure the weapon was secured.
Police say the incident remains under investigation. The man’s condition is unclear.
BETHANY, Mo. (AP) — A northwest Missouri nature preserve plans to add up to 20 bison to its existing herd of about 115 in an effort to improve genetic diversity. The Nature Conservancy’s Dunn Ranch Prairie uses bison and prescribed fires to manage grassland at the nearly 4,200-acre ranch, which has more than 300 native wildflower species.
Greater prairie chickens and other birds also nest there. The ranch is a research hub for scientists from a variety of fields and is open to the public for hiking and bird-watching.
The bison that will be added to the herd later this month will come from the Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will face a higher target than many other states as it tries to reduce carbon emissions under new federal clean air rules. Missouri could also face higher targets.
Kansas will need to reduce its rate of carbon emissions by 44 percent.
The Clean Power Plan is scheduled to take effect November 13th but 15 states, including Kansas, are suing to block the new rules.
The Environmental Protection Agency expects utilities to cut carbon emissions by 32 percent below 2005 levels. But states face different standards, based on their mix of coal and natural gas electric plants.
The two states’ rate reductions are high because the two states rely heavily on coal to produce electricity, while using a small amount of natural gas, which emits lower amounts of carbon.
