WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of a driver who fled from a collision that killed a horseback rider and injured a 6-year-old boy.

Police say a 2003 to 2005 silver or gray Mercury Grand Marquis likely struck the horse carrying 49-year-old Lloyd Ferguson and the child on July 5.

Ferguson died, and the child has been hospitalized. The horse was euthanized.

Investigators are using parts of the car knocked off by the collision to identify the vehicle.

Two witnesses who tried to help the man and boy were hit by a different car shortly after the first collision. The two witnesses were injured but are now at home recovering. The second vehicle stopped.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former insurance company for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is seeking to avoid paying for priest sexual abuse settlements.

The Chicago Insurance Company is claiming in a federal court filing that it has no obligation to cover a $2.25 million settlement the diocese reached with the parents of Brian Teeman.

The parents contended their 14-year-old son committed suicide because of repeated sexual abuse by a priest

The insurer also is seeking to deny coverage for six claims from a 2008 settlement.

 

Plaintiffs’ attorney Rebecca Randles told the AP that the diocese already paid the plaintiffs who were part of the 2008 settlement. She says the Teeman suit was settled on the assumption that there would be no insurance coverage.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri consumers may soon find it easier to turn to their local banks to get a short-term loan until their next paycheck.

Governor Jay Nixon signed legislation Friday that will double or triple the fees that Missouri-chartered banks can charge for short-term cash advances.

Bank officials have said that the state’s current maximum-allowed fees of $25 or 5 percent of a loan don’t provide enough financial incentive.

The bill raises the fee cap to $75 or 10 percent of a loan’s value.

The legislation could help banks compete with payday lenders, but it faced no opposition from the payday loan industry.

Some consumer advocates raised concerns about the bill, but only after it passed.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) — Three southeast Missouri cousins are sentenced to life in prison for distributing crack cocaine.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says cousins Corey E. Turner, Antonio Turner and Donald R. Turner Jr., all of Sikeston, were sentenced Thursday for conspiracy to possess more than 5 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute and several other distribution charges.

Evidence at the men’s trial showed that since the fall of 2009, the men bought cocaine from suppliers in Missouri and Arkansas. They then split the cocaine, cooked it into crack cocaine and sold it.

The three men all were sentenced to life in prison for the conspiracy charge and 360 months on the other charges. Another 14 co-conspirators have also pleaded guilty in the conspiracy.

NOVINGER, Mo. (AP) — A former county commissioner from northeast Missouri has died in an apparent all-terrain vehicle accident.

Former Adair County presiding commissioner Gary Jones of Novinger was found dead Wednesday after his all-terrain vehicle rolled over.

The 73-year-old Jones was four-wheeling Wednesday afternoon near Novinger. His body was found after he did not return home.

No foul play is suspected.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a body found in the Missouri River in May was that of a 64-year-old man who jumped into the river with his daughter.

The 29-year-old daughter’s body has not been found. Witnesses said the two, who lived in Peculiar, were holding hands when they jumped into the river from the Christopher Bond Bridge in Kansas City. Fishermen found the father’s body May 10.

The man’s ex-wife asked that names not be published.

She says the father’s body was cremated but won’t be buried until her daughter’s body is found.

Relatives had reported that the father and daughter battled depression.