INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A lawsuit claiming that that the Kansas City Chiefs fired an older maintenance manager because of his age has received fresh life.

On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court vacated a Jackson County jury’s decision that the club didn’t discriminate in Steve Cox’s firing. The judges found that it was wrong to preclude 20 other former employees from testifying that they also lost their jobs because they were older.

The Supreme Court has sent the case back to the lower court for reconsideration.

Cox was 61 in 2010 when he was fired and replaced with a 37-year-old worker. The Chiefs have argued that Cox was terminated for performance issues and insubordination.

A Chiefs attorney didn’t immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment on the ruling.

SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A 14-point whitetail deer head was removed from a state auction of illegally hunted trophy deer heads at the request of Gov. Sam Brownback’s office because of a continuing dispute over its ownership.

A spokesman for the governor says the Legislature asked that the state remove the deer head until lawmakers consider several issues raised by the ownership dispute.

The Salina Journal reports the owners of the land in Osage County on which the deer was illegally shot in 2011 is fighting for ownership of the deer head.

The Legislative considered a bill in 2014 that would require state government to give landowners first rights to buy wildlife illegally poached on their land.

The auction of more than 100 deer trophy heads, antlers, guns and boats brought in $90,000.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (AP) — A southeast Missouri woman has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for fatally shooting a man and an unrelated drug charge.

The Poplar Bluff Daily American Republic reports that Patricia Bales was sentenced last week after pleading guilty to first-degree involuntary manslaughter and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

The shooting happened in April in Bales’ Poplar Bluff apartment, killing 38-year-old Donald Perry of Sedgewickville. An assistant Butler County prosecutor says Bales did not shoot the gun but “participated in an agreement” with Perry to assault another man. That assault led to the confrontation in which Perry was killed.

Bales was sentenced to seven years on the manslaughter charge and five years for the drug charge, with the sentences to run consecutively.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) Activists are planning two initiative petitions that would ease restrictions on marijuana in Columbia and legalize the drug for medicinal use across the state.

The statewide initiative would amend the Missouri Constitution to allow patients to use small amounts of marijuana for medicinal needs. The Columbia petition drive would decriminalize the cultivation of six or fewer marijuana plants.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports supporters will begin collecting signatures next month and hope to get both issues on the November 2016 ballot.

Activist groups such as Show-Me Cannabis, Missouri NORML, Mid-Missouri NORML, MU NORML and the Missouri Civil Liberties Association will lead both initiative efforts.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri’s attorney general is taking Walgreen Co. back to court, alleging the nation’s biggest pharmacy chain is violating a settlement reached last year over its pricing practices.

Attorney General Chris Koster’s office on Tuesday asked a judge to hold the Chicago-based retailer in contempt for violating terms of the 2014 deal.

Koster sued Walgreen in 2013, accusing it of overcharging customers and using deceptive advertising and pricing schemes in Missouri. Koster says the undercover investigation began after consumers complained that display prices didn’t match up with what they paid at checkout.

But Koster now alleges that Walgreen violated the settlement by not removing expired sales tags from shelves, and deceiving customers about those products’ prices, in roughly 1,300 recent instances.

The company said it may publicly comment later Tuesday.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A 28-year-old Navy combat veteran is about halfway through his effort to swim the length of the Mississippi River. Chris Ring passed through the St. Louis area Monday as part of his goal of completing the 2,552-mile swim over six months.

He typically swims 14 to 16 miles per day, except on Sundays, and started June 6 in Minnesota.

A nonprofit called Legacies Alive is sponsoring Ring. Legacies Alive supports loved ones of fallen veterans.

It is believed that just one other person has been able to swim the length of the river — Martin Strel in 2002.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska residents who are eligible to vote will be able to register and update their registrations online under a new system that Secretary of State John Gale plans to launch this week.

The secretary of state’s office will unveil the project Tuesday as part of National Voter Registration Day.

Gale has said the new system will mark one of the biggest technological advancements in voter registration in years. It also has been shown to boost voter registrations in other states that adopted the technology. Nebraska joins 23 other states that have started using an online registration system.

Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, the executive director of Nebraskans for Civic Reform, says online voter registration is a major step toward modernizing the state’s election system.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The federal government has awarded grants for law enforcement body cameras to Wichita, Dodge City and Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Monday the U.S. Justice Department grants are among $23.2 million awarded to 73 law enforcement agencies in 32 states to increase the use of body cameras. President Barack Obama has proposed buying 50,000 body cameras for law enforcement agencies in three years.

Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, will receive $352,500; Wichita will get $250,000 and Dodge City will receive $45,205.   In Nebraska, U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg announced the Omaha Police Department had received a grant of $67,500.

The money can be used to establish a plan to use the cameras and provide training before the cameras are purchased.

The grants require a 50/50 local match. And the local governments must pay for long-term storage of information from the cameras.

 

 

 

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska-based unit of the Toro Co. has been awarded $24.3 million in a patent infringement lawsuit against Briggs & Stratton.

A  jury agreed with Exmark Manufacturing’s arguments that Briggs & Stratton violated a patent for a mulching mower deck with multiple blades.  The jury also decided redesigned versions of the mower don’t infringe on the patent.

Exmark spokesman Branden Happel says the company is pleased with the verdict in the 2010 lawsuit, and it will continue to defend its innovations.

Briggs & Stratton spokeswoman Laura Timm says her company disagrees with the verdict and will seek to overturn it.

Exmark is part of Bloomington, Minn.-based Toro.

ALBION, Neb. (AP) — The body of a 79-year-old man has been recovered from a grain bin of corn northwest of the Boone County town of Albion.

Boone County Sheriff Denny Johnson says his office was notified about the situation Thursday afternoon after a neighbor noticed that corn being taken from the bin was spilling out of a grain truck and that the truck driver didn’t seem to be around.

Johnson says Edwin Karel, of Albion, apparently became trapped after entering the bin to loosen corn that wasn’t feeding into the auger.