INDEPENDENCE, Kan. (AP) — The city of Independence has declared a water emergency after a powerful thunderstorm knocked out power to the local treatment plant.

Officials say it could be 18 hours before Westar Energy can repair the damage caused by the storm around 8 a.m. Monday in the southeastern Kansas community.

 

The outage occurred when a possible microburst toppled a pole that supports transformers and power lines that supply the water treatment plant.

City officials were working to shut down heavy water users such as fast-food restaurants, while nursing homes and industries were being asked to conserve water.

More than 3 inches of rain fell during the morning.

LONDON (AP) — Palace officials say Prince William’s wife Kate has given birth to a baby boy.

The birth announcement, via a press release from Kensington Palace, said the boy was born at 4:24 p.m. weighing 8 pounds 6 ounces.

The infant will become third in line for the British throne after Prince Charles and William.

Kate checked into a private wing at St. Mary’s Hospital in central London early Monday morning.

William spent the long hours of labor at her bedside. This is the couple’s first child.

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A 3-year-old boy is expected to make a full recovery after being pulled from a St. Louis County swimming pool.

Two teenage lifeguards helped save the child Saturday afternoon at the Chesterfield Municipal Pool.

The boy was taken to a hospital and is recovering.

Firefighters say two girls saw the boy at the bottom of the pool.

They yelled for the lifeguards, who pulled the child from the water and performed CPR. The child’s name has not been released.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The National Weather Service says a small, weak tornado that touched down briefly east of downtown Springfield did only minor damage.

The EF-O tornado was reported Sunday evening. The weather service says it was on the ground for only about a minute and for less than a mile.

The tornado had winds of 65 mph, the lowest speed necessary to be classified as a tornado.

The weather service says the twister damaged several trees and did minor damage to roofs in the area.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City area woman whose 4-month-old baby lost seven fingers to a pet ferret has been sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Carrie Waldo, formerly of Grain Valley, pleaded guilty to second-degree child endangerment. Waldo and her husband, Ryan Waldo, were accused of leaving the baby unsupervised with the ferret in 2011.

Ryan Waldo pleaded guilty to second-degree child endangerment and was ordered to serve 40 hours of community service and take parenting classes.

Carrie Waldo was ordered to complete a 30-day inpatient drug program. But her lawyer told the judge Friday that Waldo had not been able to find an inpatient program.

After 30 days in jail, Waldo will get another chance to find an inpatient program.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Actors Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle and Jason Sudeikis are playing cards in Kansas City for a good cause.

They’ll be attending this weekend’s 4th Annual Big Slick Celebrity Poker Tournament and Party to benefit the Cancer Center at Children’s Mercy. Last year’s event raised more than $500,000.

The actors also will get some time Friday morning with a small group of Children’s Mercy patients.

Other celebrities scheduled to attend this year include Wilmer Valderrama of “That 70’s Show”; Angela Kinsey of “The Office”; Damon Wayans, Jr. of “Happy Endings”; Sarah Chalke of “Scrubs”; Kevin Pollack of “A Few Good Men” and Olivia Wilde of “House, M.D.”

Tickets for the event start at $75.  Find out more here.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Hallmark Cards Inc. says it’s eliminating about 300 positions at its distribution center and main office in Canada.

Staring in January, about 230 positions will be cut in Hallmark’s Canadian headquarters.

The Kansas City-based firm is also consolidating some operations into U.S. operations.

 

About 75 distribution center jobs in Toronto will be eliminated. Hallmark spokeswoman Julie O’Dell said Wednesday that about 1,000 Hallmark jobs will remain in Canada.

The greeting card company also says it’s converting about 315 temporary and on-call workers from Hallmark employees in Kansas City to employees of Guidant Group, a business process outsource company.

The outsourcing is effective August 26th.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Hostess Brands says demand for Twinkies and Cupcakes is at a record high since the snack cakes returned to shelves.

The treats disappeared from shelves almost eight months ago when the predecessor company that made them shut down its plants and said that it was going out of business. The cakes are back under new ownership.

The Twinkies are a bit smaller than before, but that hasn’t shrunk their popularity.

Hostess says sales of its products are seven times greater than historic levels. Orders are three to six times greater than its production capacity, even though it is running bakeries at maximum levels.

Numerous retailers told Hostess this week that they had sold out of the snack cakes within hours of them being displayed.