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Thieves go big, steal tiny home in Missouri

PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — Thieves targeting a so-called tiny home in Missouri decided to go big — and steal the whole house.

The Joplin Globe reports Missouri resident Lisa Stubblefield left the structure in a roped-off area in Springfield last week for the Food Truck Showdown. When she arrived for the festivities Saturday morning, it was gone.

Stubblefield says she’s surprised someone targeted the building, which is 13 feet (4 meters) tall and looks like a small house, complete with a covered porch, but has no plumbing. It’s designed to be a mobile clothing boutique.

Stubblefield’s Facebook post about the theft was shared more than 5,000 times and eventually caught the attention of a woman in Pittsburg, Kansas, a town about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west. Police found the house there the next day.

No arrests have been made.

Concealed carry applications fall in Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says applications for concealed carry licenses dropped to a record low last fiscal year after the state stopped requiring the permits.

Schmidt’s office announced Tuesday that it received 5,119 new applications for concealed carry licenses in the fiscal year ending June 30. That was the fewest applications received since the program began in Kanas in 2006.

In 2015, the Legislature eliminated a license requirement for Kansas gun owners. However, those who apply for the license can carry weapons in the 38 other states that recognize the Kansas license.

Schmidt said those who already have licenses continue to apply for renewals. He said the state received more than 21,000 renewal applications during the 2017 fiscal year.

More than 83,000 Kansans have active concealed carry licenses.

Voter fraud panel tells states to hold off on sending data

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s commission on election fraud is telling states to hold off on providing detailed voter information in the face of increasing legal challenges.

The commission had given states until July 14 to provide data including names, birth dates and partial Social Security numbers. But in an email Monday, the panel’s designated officer told states to hold off until a judge rules on a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed similar lawsuits in Washington, Florida and New Hampshire. A hearing set for Tuesday in New Hampshire was postponed in light of the email.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia are refusing to comply, while many others plan to provide limited publicly-available information.

Preliminary hearing postponed in Topeka triple homicide case

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A preliminary hearing for three suspects in a triple homicide in Topeka will be in September, after defense attorneys asked for more time to prepare.

The preliminary hearing for three of four suspects in the March 12 killings at a north Topeka home was scheduled for Tuesday. But Shawnee County District Court Judge Nancy Parish granted the motion and rescheduled the hearing for Sept. 25-26.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Brian Flowers, Joseph Lowry and Shane Mays are charged in the slayings of 19-year-old Matthew Leavitt, 38-year-old Nicole Fisher, and 20-year-old Luke Davis. Few details about the deaths have been released.

A fourth defendant, Joseph Krahn, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder. On Monday, Krahn’s public defenders withdrew, citing the possibility that Krahn might be charged with capital murder.

Kansas City man charged in a deadly road-rage crash

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City man has been charged in an April road-rage crash that killed another driver.

Twenty-eight-year-old Trenton Stanley was charged Monday in a warrant with first-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 24-year-old Krealonna Willis. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

Stanley told police that he saw Willis’ vehicle weaving in traffic before the crash. Court records say Stanley alleged that Willis swerved at him while yelling profanities. Stanley said he yelled back, passed Willis and stayed even with another vehicle to prevent her from passing him.

Investigators determined that Willis’ car struck a concrete barrier and flipped several times after being sideswiped by Stanley’s vehicle. She died at the scene.

Toxicology reports said both drivers had marijuana in their systems.

5 die in fiery, 6-vehicle pileup on I-70 in Kansas

Photo courtesy Missourinet

BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say five people have died in a fiery six-vehicle wreck that temporarily closed a stretch of Interstate 70 on the western edge of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Kansas Turnpike Authority spokeswoman Rachel Bell says the pileup started Tuesday afternoon when a tractor trailer hit a car, a sport utility vehicle and another tractor-trailer just west of Bonner Springs. The Kansas City Star reports that two people in the car and two in the SUV were killed. Both tractor-trailers were engulfed in flames.

Authorities later found the fifth victim and two other damaged vehicles while clearing the wreckage.

Bonner Springs Mayor Jeff Harrington described the wreck as “a tragedy” and offered condolences to the victims’ families.

The crash closed the highway in both directions for about two hours.

Fire in St. Louis destroys home built by Mark Twain’s uncle

ST. LOUIS (AP) — An historic St. Louis home built in the 1800s by Mark Twain’s uncle has been destroyed by fire.

The blaze broke out early Wednesday in the Greek-revival style home known as the James Clemens House, and it spread to at least two nearby buildings before more than 100 firefighters were able to bring it under control.

One man in one of the other buildings suffered minor smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Twain was born Samuel Clemens in Florida, Missouri, in 1835, and grew up in Hannibal, Missouri.. James Clemens’ home was sold to the Sisters of St. Joseph after his death, and a chapel was added. But the home had been vacant in recent years.

Backpage.com sues over Missouri human trafficking probe

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Backpage.com has filed a federal lawsuit aiming to block an investigation by Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley who says the classifieds website promotes human trafficking via adult-oriented ads.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the company says federal law and the First Amendment bar attempts to shut down or censor the website. The company says it takes efforts to prevent illegal activity with warnings and filters that block and remove improper ads.

The suit calls the investigation “enormously broad,” saying it requires “seven years’ worth of documents encompassing essentially all business operations of the company.”

Hawley’s office issued the investigative demand May 10.

Hawley described Backpage.com’s lawsuit as “frivolous” in a statement released Wednesday, saying “there is no First Amendment right to engage in human trafficking.”

Dog rescued from hot SUV outside St. Louis Zoo

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office is deciding whether charges should be filed against a dog owner who left a Chihuahua inside an SUV on a scorching hot day.

The Missouri Humane Society’s Animal Cruelty Task Force on Tuesday rescued the dog outside the St. Louis Zoo. KMOV-TV  reports that someone passing by saw the dog in a Ford Explorer that was parked in the sun on a day when the air temperature was in the upper 90s. The Humane Society says the dog was panting and appeared to be in distress.

The dog was taken to Humane Society headquarters and examined, and was determined to be unharmed.

Leavenworth police officer shoots, kills suspect

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Police say a northeast Kansas officer has shot and killed a suspect while investigating a vehicle theft.

The Kansas City Star reports that the shooting happened Tuesday night in Leavenworth. Police Chief Patrick Kitchens says the officer reported the shooting shortly after arriving to investigate the stolen vehicle.

Police have asked the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to review the shooting, as is standard procedure. No other details were immediately released. Police didn’t immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.

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