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Auction raises $30K for statue of batboy killed in ballpark accident

Kaiser Carlile via Twitter
Kaiser Carlile

LIBERAL, Kan. (AP) — The sale of a 1962 autographed World Series baseball has raised $30,000 for a memorial statue to honor the 9-year-old Kansas batboy who died when he was accidentally hit by a bat during a game.

Kaiser Carlile died on Aug. 2, a day after he was hit in the head by a Liberal Bee Jays player’s swing near the on-deck circle. The accident happened during a National Baseball Congress World Series game in Wichita.

The ball was donated to a silent auction by Randy Watson, whose 13-year-old brother Rudy died in 1966 after a foul ball struck his head at a baseball game.

The autographed baseball from the 1962 New York Yankees will be displayed at the Seward Community College in Liberal, Kansas.

Village to celebrate return of 122-year-old church bell

(AP)
(AP)

HALLAM, Neb. (AP) — A village in southeast Nebraska is celebrating the return of a 122-year-old church bell after a destructive tornado hit the area in 2004.

The Congregational United Church of Christ in Hallam will hold a dedication ceremony on Sunday.

Pastor Peggy McClain says the church will celebrate the bell and the hope it conveys to the 100-member congregation during the event.

An EF4 twister left a 52-mile trail of destruction on May 22, 2004. The church, which was founded in 1893, was destroyed and had to be rebuilt, but the original bell was intact. The bell tower was reconstructed and the bell was hung last spring.

McClain says the dedication of the bell signals a new beginning for the church after reconstruction.

University of Missouri professor sues over campus gun ban

University of Missouri campusCOLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A University of Missouri associate law professor has filed a lawsuit challenging the university’s ban on guns on campus.

The lawsuit filed Saturday by Royce de R. Barondes contends the ban violates a state law that allows guns on campus if they are stored in the passenger compartment of a vehicle. His attorney, Jennifer Bukowsky, also argues the ban violate Barondes’ right to keep and carry weapons on campus for self-defense. Barondes is licensed to carry a concealed firearm.

Barondes also cites a constitutional amendment passed last year that strengthened gun rights in Missouri.

The lawsuit names the University of Missouri Board of Curators and system President Tim Wolfe.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports university spokesman Christian Basi declined to comment because the lawsuit is pending.

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Fall enrollment down by 554 students at Kansas State

riggertKansasStateMANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Fall enrollment for Kansas State University is down for the first time since 2006.

The Manhattan Mercury reports that overall enrollment for 2015 is 24,212, down 554 students from fall 2014. President Kirk Schulz discussed the numbers Friday while presenting his annual State of the University address. He says the situation will be discussed as the university puts together an enrollment management task force to set goals and look for ways to grow.

The fall enrollment count has increased steadily each year since 2006, when the number fell by 40 students from 23,181 to 23,141.

Schulz pointed out classes haven’t yet reached the 20th day, which is the time of the official count for fall enrollment each year. The number is likely to fall slightly more by that time.

Springfield woman pleads guilty in tax fraud scheme

File Photo
File Photo

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Springfield woman became the 11th person to plead guilty in a tax fraud scheme that netted nearly $340,000.

Federal prosecutors say 33-year-old Claudia Dorsey entered the plea Monday to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the government.

A co-defendant, 43-year-old Cherie Dupius of Springfield, pleaded guilty in July to leading the scheme. She admitted that she and her co-conspirators filed fraudulent income tax refunds between 2009 and 2012.

Prosecutors say about $336,839 of the more than $340,000 claimed in the refunds was false. The actual tax loss to the IRS was $284,169.

Prosecutors said Dorsey let Dupuis use her computer and list her address on tax returns. She also filed false tax returns in her own name and for one other person.

120 days in jail for former Missouri women’s shelter director

jail prisonJACKSON, Mo. (AP) — The former director of a women’s shelter in southeast Missouri has been sentenced to 120 days in jail for stealing.

The Southeast Missourian reports that 44-year-old Allison Leonard was sentenced Monday. She pleaded guilty in August to felony stealing for misappropriating more than $20,000 from the Safe House for Women in Cape Girardeau. Prosecutors agreed to drop a second charge of fraudulent use of a credit device.

Leonard worked for Safe House for a decade before being named executive director in November 2013. She was fired last year and eventually charged for using Safe House’s credit card to buy items for personal use.

Illinois levees cited for possible Missouri flood risk

File Photo Mississippi
File Photo Mississippi

LOUISIANA, Mo. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is rebuking an Illinois levee district over “unauthorized alterations” the federal agency says make some communities on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River more prone to flooding.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Corps’ sanction makes the Sny Island Levee and Drainage District south of Quincy ineligible for federal repair money should any of its own agricultural levees sustain flooding damage.

The federal government says the Sny district has added three to four feet to the height of most of its levees without approval, an addition it estimates could add several feet of floodwater to some locations across the river.

The Illinois district disputes that its levees were raised above authorized levels.

New funds could bring med school to Joplin

joplin 003JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — An additional $750,000 has been raised to help establish a medical school in Joplin.

The money comes from the Joplin Tomorrow fund, which was established to help businesses recover from the deadly 2011 tornado.

Plans call for the osteopathic medical school to open in 2017 as a campus of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences.

Joplin Tomorrow president Dwight Douglas says the organization raised about $1.6 million and was looking for the best way to spend the money that remained. He says the organization determined that the capital campaign was “the best way to continue to help the business community.”

Fundraising officials say that with the gift, about $24 million of a previously established $30 million goal has been raised.

Kansas sunflower farm has fans around the world

sunflowersLAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A sunflower farm in northeast Kansas has drawn attention from across the world.

More than 25,000 people made their way to the Grinter Farms sunflower fields between Lawrence and Tonganoxie this year, including some from Japan and Guatemala and a BBC camera crew.

They came to see what acres and acres of sunflowers — an estimated 1 million plants — look like in full bloom.

Ted and Kris Grinter allow people to wander through the fields and take pictures, asking only for a $1 donation for every sunflower taken.

This year’s season is over. The sunflowers are starting to droop and harvesting has begun, so visitors are asked to stay away until next year.

Grinter harvests the sunflowers and sells the seeds as bird feed.

Double homicide under investigation near Columbia

Boone County Sheriff patchCOLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Investigators say the deaths of two men whose bodies were found at the site of a now-closed mobile home park near Columbia are the result of an apparent double-homicide.

A county road crew worker found the first body near the entrance of the former El Ray Mobile Home Park on Saturday morning.

Deputies who arrived at the scene were led by a K-9 unit to the body of a second man about 150 yards away.

The victims have been identified as 41-year-old James Richardson of Columbia and 42-year-old Kenneth Long of Mexico, Missouri.

Boone County Sheriff’s spokesman Tom O’Sullivan says the men were killed, but declined to provide other details.

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