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Third suspect arrested in killing at Mark Twain National Forest

PoliceSPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A man wanted in the killing of a southwest Missouri man has been arrested at a Springfield residence.  The Springfield News-Leader reports 27-year-old Timothy Murray was arrested Wednesday by investigators with the U.S. Marshals Service.

Murray is one of three people charged last week with first-degree murder in the June 2014 shooting death of 35-year-old Christopher Younes, of Marshfield, in the Mark Twain National Forest.

Prosecutors say Younes was killed because the suspects believed he was a drug informant. An investigation into a drug distribution ring in the Springfield area was going on at the time of his death.

One suspect, Albert Romero, is currently serving a federal prison sentence for drug-related crimes. Twenty-seven-year-old Gabriella Shields was arrested Wednesday in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Kansas residents sue over voter restrictions

Ks AG Kris Kobach
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach predicts the lawsuit is “going nowhere.”

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two Kansas residents have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s proof-of-citizenship requirement for new voters and plans to remove people who haven’t complied from voter registration rolls.

The two residents of northeast Kansas’ Douglas County filed the lawsuit Wednesday against Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

Kobach predicted the lawsuit is “going nowhere.”

Kobach is the architect of a law requiring people registering for the first time in Kansas to document their U.S. citizenship.

He enacted a regulation requiring county election officials to purge voter rolls of registrations incomplete for more than 90 days. It takes effect Friday.

Prospective voters Alder Cromwell and Cody Keener sought to register months ago but haven’t met the proof-of-citizenship requirement.

They’re seeking a court order to block the purge and the proof-of-citizenship requirement.

Police: Rail worker killed by train at Kansas rail yard

Union Pacific LogoKANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating after a Union Pacific Railroad employee was found dead under a rail car in Kansas City, Kansas.

According to police, officers responded to reports of a person trapped under a train in a rail yard around 11:20 a.m. Tuesday. Police say when they arrived they found a man in his 40s dead.

Officer Patrick McCallop with Kansas City, Kansas, police said the man was working in the rail yard on a train when he was struck by another train and pinned underneath.

The man’s identity has not been released and an investigation of the incident is ongoing.

Fourth teen charged as adult in Missouri hammer killing

hammer-719066_1280ST. LOUIS (AP) — The last of four teenagers who St. Louis police say used hammers to kill a Bosnian immigrant last year is charged as an adult.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports 17-year-old Travis Kidd was certified as an adult Monday and charged the next day with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He’s jailed on $300,000 cash bond.

Police say 32-year-old Zemir Begic was heading home from a bar with a friend and his girlfriend early last November 30 when several juveniles approached and began damaging his car. Investigators say Begic got out to confront the teens and was pummeled by them with hammers.

A motive for the attack remains unclear.

Kidd has been in juvenile detention since at least December.

Online court records don’t show whether Kidd has an attorney.

Prosecutor: Man held in shooting of fan after Cardinals game

Busch StadiumST. LOUIS (AP) — Prosecutors say a man is being held in connection to a shooting and robbery after a St. Louis Cardinals game that may have left an Army veteran paralyzed.

Susan Ryan of the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office said Wednesday that the person of interest is being held on an unrelated charge in St. Louis County while St. Louis police investigate the shooting.

Forty-three-year-old Christopher Sanna and his girlfriend had just left the Cardinals game Friday night and were in a parking lot a few blocks from Busch Stadium when two men demanded the couple’s belongings. The woman gave up her purse and the couple turned to run when one of the gunmen shot Sanna in the back.

Sanna’s mother says doctors told the family her son probably won’t walk again.

States competing for data centers extend $1.5B in tax breaks

board-780314_1280KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — States across the county are competing to attract the data centers that serve as the brains of the Internet, usually by offering tax breaks.

An Associated Press analysis of state revenue and economic-development records shows that government officials extended nearly $1.5 billion in tax incentives to hundreds of data-center projects nationwide during the past decade. The actual cost to taxpayers is probably much higher. In many cases, cities and counties forgave millions more in local taxes.

The benefits are debatable. Although they cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build and equip, the centers employ relatively few workers. That means they produce little in the way of new income taxes but could provide a surge in property and sales taxes — if governments don’t waive those taxes, which many do.

Mistaken text message leads to love for Misouri couple

iphone-926235_1280ST. LOUIS (AP) — A married St. Louis couple is sharing their unlikely love story about three years after the mistaken text message that forged their relationship.

In June 2012, Kasey Bergh accidentally sent a text to Henry Glendening, a complete stranger. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the pair continued communicating after realizing they had a lot in common and met in person for the first time a week later.

Despite a 30-year age difference, Bergh and Glendening’s connection flourished, and they moved in together within two months.

Exactly two years after the errant text message, Glendening proposed.

The couple married June 27 near the St. Louis riverfront.

Missouri summer jobs program places more than 3,100 youths

Gov. Jay Nixon kicks off Summer Job League in KC March 5.  Photo courtesy @GovJayNixon
Gov. Jay Nixon kicks off Summer Job League in KC March 5. Photo courtesy @GovJayNixon
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A new Missouri summer jobs program provided more than 3,000 low-income youth with work experience.

Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon said Tuesday that about 3,100 St. Louis and Kansas City-area residents between the ages of 16 and 24 found work through the program.

Money set aside to pay the youth primarily came from unused funds from the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. Nixon says participants received up to $8 an hour for up to 240 hours of work throughout the summer.

The goal was to find work for about 3,500 youths in the areas. But Nixon spokesman Scott Holste says not all applicants met income, age and geographic eligibility requirements.

Nearly 800 employers partnered with the state to offer the summer jobs and internships.

Missouri sex offender arrested riding a bike in women’s clothing sentenced

jail prisonSPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A southwestern Missouri registered sex offender has been ordered to spend a decade in federal prison for possessing child obscenities uncovered after he was found riding a bicycle in women’s clothing.

Thirty-five-year-old Rusty Mann also was sentenced Monday in Springfield to lifetime post-prison supervised release.

Mann, who has previous convictions of child molestation and sexual misconduct involving a child, pleaded guilty in March.

He was arrested in October 2011 when a Springfield police detective saw him approach a playground on a bicycle while wearing a mini skirt and women’s knee-high boots. Federal authorities say Mann was identified as the person who had been leaving soiled diapers and clothing on the playground.

Authorities say Mann’s cell phone contained images of suspected child pornography and obscene cartoon depictions of minors.

‘Black Lives Matter’ sign at Kirkwood church vandalized

protest Black lives matterKIRKWOOD, Mo. (AP) — Police are investigating after graffiti was scrawled on a “Black Lives Matter” sign outside a suburban St. Louis church.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that black paint was sprayed on the sign that hangs outside Eliot Chapel, a Unitarian church in Kirkwood.

The sign was dedicated on Aug. 9, the one-year anniversary of the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The shooting helped spur the national “Black Lives Matter” movement.

The Rev. Barbara Gadon and her congregation have been involved in the Black Lives Matter movement since Brown’s death. She says the vandalism will not intimidate the congregation.

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