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Police: Partially-clothed man found sleeping in Missouri home

PoliceWENTZVILLE, Mo. (AP) — A 53-year-old man has been charged after police say he entered a Wentzville home, removed some of his clothes and went to sleep in an empty bedroom.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Gregory Trent Cole was charged Monday with felony burglary and harassment. Authorities say Cole entered the home and went into the bedroom early Sunday while the occupants of the residence were in another room. Police say the man was discovered later that day around 8 a.m., wearing only underwear and a shirt.

Cole was arrested and taken to the St. Charles County Jail, where he is jailed on $15,000 bond.

Man who escaped northwest Missouri jail sentenced to 15 years for rape

Brian Adkison
Brian Adkison

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A 25-year-old man who escaped a northwest Missouri jail cell has been sentenced to 15 years for rape.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that Brian Adkison was convicted in Boone County in July of raping a woman in 2013. He was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors sought a 30-year sentence.

While he was out on bond in the case, Adkison is accused of kidnapping the same woman in Caldwell County. He eventually dropped her off in Columbia and then led authorities on a manhunt near Lake of the Ozarks before they arrested him.

He later escaped from a Caldwell County jail in August 2013 and fled to Ohio, where he was arrested about a month later.

Adkison’s lawyer says his client should get a new trial.

University of Missouri police investigate report of racism

University of Missouri campusCOLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — University of Missouri authorities are investigating a report of someone using racial slurs on campus.

University police Maj. Brian Weimer told The Columbia Daily Tribune student members of the Legion of Black Collegians were rehearsing for homecoming after midnight Sunday when a white man interrupted them and used racial slurs.

Weimer says investigators are working to identify the man, and if he’s a student he’ll be subject to the university’s student disciplinary process.

Weimer would not provide details of what racial slurs were used because investigators are still speaking to witnesses.

Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin said in a statement the university needs to do more to address racism, which isn’t tolerated on campus. He also says past students found guilty of race discrimination have been suspended and expelled.

Police: Teen killed after crawling under school bus

school busST. LOUIS (AP) — An 18-year-old St. Louis man is dead after crawling under a school bus and being run over.

According to authorities, the incident happened around 4:15 p.m. Monday in the city’s Dutchtown neighborhood. The bus carrying about 15 students from Stanton Elementary School in the Rockwood School District stopped to drop off students, with its sign out.

Police say Joseph Bodle, who had been walking, crawled under the bus and laid down in front of a tire. The driver didn’t know he was there and ran over him.

He was taken to a hospital, where he died of his injuries.

No one on the bus was injured.

General Mills recalling 1.8M Cheerios boxes on allergy risk

food-20503_1280NEW YORK (AP) — General Mills is recalling 1.8 million boxes of Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios produced at a plant in Lodi, California, saying the cereal is labeled gluten-free but actually contains wheat.

The recall affects Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios that were made in July. The Minneapolis company says wheat flour was inadvertently used in a system that normally processes gluten-free oat flour.

The use of wheat flour means the cereals are not gluten-free, and people with conditions like wheat allergies or celiac disease who consume it might suffer an allergic reaction or discomfort.

General Mills Inc. said Monday it will take the cereals out of warehouses and off store shelves, and says customers who cannot eat wheat should contact the company for a replacement box or a full refund.

Former House Speaker leaves another job over sexting scandal

John-Diehl-01-07-2015-2-300x200JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former Missouri House Speaker John Diehl has left his job at a suburban St. Louis law firm months after admitting to exchanging sexually charged text messages with a Capitol intern and resigning from public office.  Husch Blackwell Office Managing Partner Bob Tomaso confirmed Monday that Diehl resigned from the firm Oct. 1.

Diehl did not immediately return an Associated Press request for comment Monday.

Diehl resigned as speaker and his elected job as a Republican representative from suburban St. Louis in May on the last day of the legislative session. His resignation came after he acknowledged exchanging sexually suggestive text messages with a college intern.

Tomaso declined to comment further on Diehl’s departure from the law firm.

Dispute over Kansas judicial funding moves to federal court

gavel and platformThe fight over a move by the Legislature to defund the Kansas judiciary’s budget has now landed in the federal courts.

A court notice shows Kansas has moved the lawsuit filed by four judges to U.S. District Court in Topeka.

The attorney representing the judges said Monday he is confident that whether it is heard in state or federal court the measure defunding the courts would be found unconstitutional. No decision has been made on whether to oppose the venue change.

Legislation passed this year nullifies the judicial branch’s entire budget if a 2014 law stripping the Kansas Supreme Court of its ability to appoint chief judges is struck down.

Kansas contends the lawsuit raises a federal due process claim.

The case is now before U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree.

Missouri budget in turmoil after ruling on tobacco settlement funds

Tobacco MoneyJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s budget director says the state can’t count on getting $50 million in anticipated tobacco settlement money.

Budget director Dan Haug says a September appeals court ruling means the state won’t get the money unless a planned appeal to the state Supreme Court is successful.

The money is part of an annual payment that tobacco companies make to states under a 1998 settlement covering the costs of providing health care to people with tobacco-related illnesses.

Missouri’s budget had banked on the money. Haug says the state is reviewing how to deal with the loss.

The announcement comes as Haug says there is concern about slow revenue growth. Collections increased only 1.6 percent in September compared with the same time last year.

Former navy pilot sues over VA diagnosis that cost him his job

VAKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Navy pilot who lost his job flying commercial planes after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder is suing the federal government for $35 million after a different psychiatrist said he never had the illness.  William Royster says in a lawsuit filed Friday that he was treated for bipolar disorder at the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center for a decade before his new doctor determined the diagnosis was wrong.

The 53-year-old says he was flying a jet in June 1996 on a training mission when he was shot down. He was treated for injuries and honorably discharged from the Navy later that year.

He says he flew commercial jets for United Airlines from January 1998 until April 2004, when a doctor at the VA hospital diagnosed him as bipolar.

Mental health care access getting worse

Nebraska State SealGRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Experts say the lack of access to mental health care in rural areas of Nebraska isn’t improving.

The June 2015 Nebraska Behavioral Health Workforce report says there wasn’t a mental health provider in 48 of Nebraska’s 93 counties in 2014.

According to the report, roughly 84 percent of psychiatrists are in metropolitan counties.

Dr. Howard Liu, director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska, says rural areas don’t have all the resources to support mental health care. He says the shortage could worsen, with the report showing more than half of the licensed workforce as being older than 50.

National Alliance on Mental Illness Nebraska Executive Director Tom Adams says people in rural areas can have a hard time simply finding others to talk with about mental illness.

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