We have a brand new updated website! Click here to check it out!

Montana search may be linked to bank robberies, Kansas shooting


HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Federal agents say a weekend search of a south-central Montana residence that turned up homemade bombs was connected to a bank robbery investigation.

FBI Los Angeles spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says numerous agencies were investigating whether evidence found in the search in Roundup, Montana, was connected to a series of bank robberies in California, Washington state, Idaho and Nebraska.

In 2012 and 2014, a man the FBI called “the AK-47 bandit” robbed several banks. The robber shot and wounded a police officer in Chino, California.

Officials with the Musselshell County sheriff’s office in Montana say the weekend search was linked to 39-year-old Richard Gathercole, who was arrested last week in Nebraska. He was wanted after someone fired shots at a Kansas trooper. The trooper wasn’t injured.

Officials did not say how Gathercole was connected to the residence where the bombs were found.

Man killed in ATV wreck in northeast Kansas

HAVENSVILLE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a northeast Kansas man died after an all-terrain vehicle on which he was riding went into a ditch and hit a power pole.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says 49-year-old Alex Blow of Havensville died in the accident shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday in Pottawatomie County.

Havensville is about 50 miles northeast of Manhattan, Kansas.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Missouri NAACP issuing a travel advisory against the state

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri NAACP is issuing an advisory telling travelers to be careful while in the state because of a danger that civil rights won’t be respected. The advisory cites a bill passed by lawmakers and awaiting action by Gov. Eric Greitens that would make it more difficult to sue for housing or employment discrimination.

State chapter President Rod Chapel said Monday that the organization is considering a full boycott of the state. The NAACP in February launched an economic boycott in North Carolina.

The Missouri advisory also cites other issues, including a recent attorney general’s report that shows black Missouri drivers last year were 75 percent more likely to be stopped than whites.

Greitens has not yet said whether he’ll sign the discrimination bill. A spokesman didn’t immediately comment Monday.

4 charged with smuggling after search of Kansas City jail

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two corrections officers are among four people charged with smuggling contraband cell phones and other items into the county jail in Kansas City, Missouri, after roughly 200 law enforcers searched the facility.

The U.S. attorney’s office says the indictment naming Jackson County Detention Center corrections officers 26-year-old Andrew Lamonte Dickerson and 29-year-old Jalee Caprice Fuller was unsealed Monday after their arrest and the search. Also indicted last week in the bribery scheme are 32-year-old jail inmate Carlos Laron Hughley and a friend, 36-year-old Janikkia Lashay Carter.

The prosecutor’s office says they don’t immediately have attorneys who can speak on their behalf.

The early Monday search began after law enforcement from several agencies were bussed to the jail and lasted several hours. Previous searches have uncovered drugs, weapons and other contraband.

Supreme Court rules for Missouri church in playground case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that churches have the same right as other charitable groups to seek state money for new playground surfaces and other non-religious needs.

The justices on Monday ruled 7-2 in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri. The church sought a grant to put a soft surface on its preschool playground, but was denied any money even though its application was ranked fifth out of 44 submissions.

Chief Justice John Roberts said for the court that it “is odious to our Constitution” to exclude the church from the grant program. Roberts said that’s true even though the consequences are only “a few extra scraped knees.”

Supreme Court lets travel ban mostly go into effect

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Supreme Court’s decision on the Trump administration’s travel ban (EST):

10:33 a.m.

The Supreme Court is letting the Trump administration mostly enforce its 90-day ban on travelers from six mostly Muslim countries, overturning lower court orders that blocked it.

The action Monday is a victory for President Donald Trump in the biggest legal controversy of his young presidency.

The court did leave one category of foreigners protected, those “with a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States,” the court said in an unsigned opinion.

The justices will hear arguments in the case in October.

Trump said last week that the ban would take effect 72 hours after being cleared by courts.

The ban would apply to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The Trump administration said the ban was needed to allow an internal review of the screening procedures for visa applicants from those countries.

__

3:10 a.m.

The focus is on the Supreme Court as the high-stakes legal fight over President Donald Trump’s travel ban awaits action by the justices.

The court is expected to decide within days whether the Trump administration can enforce a ban on visitors to the U.S. from six mostly Muslim countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Trump rolled out a travel ban just a week after his Jan. 20 inauguration, but lower federal courts have blocked it and a revised version — and one court also has blocked a 120-day halt on refugee arrivals in the United States.

The president casts the travel ban as critical to deterring possible terrorist attacks in the United States. Opponents say it targets Muslims in violation of federal law and the Constitution.

Nebraska firework sellers scramble for new business in Iowa

Firework for sale (photo courtesy Missourinet)

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska fireworks retailers are scrambling into Iowa after that state’s ban ended last month and brushing aside concerns that the new policy could hurt sales for their existing shops along the border.

Retailers say they’re excited to expand into the new market after former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed a law last month to legalize bottle rockets, roman candles and other consumer fireworks.

Iowans have traditionally bought fireworks in neighboring states that allow them. Many of the sales take place in Missouri, which offers year-round sales, but also in the Omaha area and South Sioux City, Nebraska.

Many of the Nebraska-based retailers are regional chains that already do business in multiple states.

Sexual assault accusations divide Kansas town

Jacob Ewing

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The northeast Kansas town of Holton will be torn again as the second in a series of trials starts for a well-known local man accused of sexually assaulting several women.

The polarizing accusations against 22-year-old Jacob Ewing in the community of some 3,300 people have prompted his supporters to put up signs in their yards and to pack court proceedings wearing T-shirts emblazoned with messages of support.

An advocacy group for the women called “I Support the Victims of Jacob Ewing” is organizing volunteers to sit in the courtroom.

Ewing was acquitted in May of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl, but faces trials on rape accusations levied by five adult women.

The trial that begins Monday is on charges of rape and aggravated criminal sodomy involving two women.

Brownback signs $15.6 billion Kansas budget

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a state budget for the next two years that will use a $1.2 billion income tax increase to fund government and schools, but he complained about “excessive spending.”

Brownback signed the $15.6 billion budget bill on Sunday. It will provide raises of up to 5 percent to state workers who haven’t had any in recent years.

He vetoed two items that imposed some limits on programs for people with disabilities and mental health programs. Lawmakers will have a chance to override those vetoes Monday.

Brownback already had signed a separate plan to increase school spending to meet a state Supreme Court mandate.

He vetoed a bill that rolled back tax cuts, but lawmakers overrode that veto.

AAA predicts record heavy travel over July 4th weekend

DALLAS (AP) — Americans are expected to put down the TV remote and hit the road in record numbers for the July 4th weekend.

Auto club AAA said Thursday that it expects 44.2 million people will travel at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home, a 2.9 percent increase over last year’s record for the holiday.

The vast majority will go by car. But airline travel over the holiday is also expected to rise for the eighth straight year.

Copyright Eagle Radio | FCC Public Files | EEO Public File