The maker of Budweiser is using splashy newspaper ads to poke fun at a lawsuit that alleges its beer is watered down.

In full-page ads in U.S. newspapers nationwide Sunday, Anheuser-Busch InBev shows one of the 71 million cans of drinking water it has sent to the American Red Cross and other relief organizations in disasters.

“They must have tested one of these,” the ad says.

The class action lawsuit, filed in several states, accuses the brewer of cheating consumers out of the stated alcohol percentage by adding water just before bottling its beers.

Anheuser-Busch InBev has called the claims groundless. In the ads, the company calls its beer “the best beer we know how to brew.”

“We take no shortcuts and make no exceptions. Ever.”

Jamaal Charles, who rushed for 1,509 yards in 2012, has been named the Derrick Thomas Award winner as the Chiefs’ Most Valuable Player.

Charles was a consistent bright spot in Kansas City’s 2-14 season. His 91-yard touchdown run against the Saints in Week 3 sparked Kansas City to its first victory.

Charles went to the Pro Bowl after knee surgery had forced him to miss most of the 2011 season.

Nose tackle Dontari Poe received the Mack Lee Hill award as the club’s Rookie of the Year. Poe, the 11th overall pick in the 2011 draft, came on strong as the season progressed and finished with 38 tackles, including 28 that were unassisted.

Kansas City also announced that former defensive back Gary Barbaro will be the newest inductee into the Chiefs’ Hall of Fame. Barbaro, a three-time Pro Bowler, played for the Chiefs from 1976 through 1982.

 

A central Missouri jury has convicted a Moberly man of rape and other charges in a case in which a woman was assaulted and held in a freezer.

The Randolph County jury found Sean M. Williams guilty Thursday of being an accessory to kidnapping and first-degree assault, forcible sodomy and forcible rape. Sentencing is May 3.

Police had said it all stemmed from a drug deal that escalated.

Court documents say the 22-year-old victim was kidnapped at a Moberly hotel and taken to an abandoned basement. Prosecutors said the woman was beaten, trapped in an old deep freezer and raped.

The woman eventually escaped.

Four other co-defendants pleaded guilty to various charges.

A Colorado company that manufactures firearm accessories has stepped into the spotlight over the gun control debate as state lawmakers consider limiting ammunition magazines.

Officials at Erie, Colorado-based Magpul Industries have told legislators they will leave the state if the pass a bill to ban magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.  One potential destination could be across the state line to Kansas.

Lawmakers have tried to ease Magpul’s concerns by amending the proposal to specify the company can still manufacture magazines of any size, but they could only sell them out of state or to law enforcement and the military.

Company officials argue the limits on magazine sizes won’t prevent violence but will cause legal uncertainty for their business.

The company has been operated largely unnoticed since 1999. The firearm accessories they sell are used by gun enthusiasts, the military and law enforcement.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a jail inmate who claimed he was being discriminated against because he is Muslim.

U.S. Senior District Judge Sam Crow dismissed Jason Hachmeister’s lawsuit at Hachmeister’s request. Hachmeister had been seeking $100 million from defendants that included Shawnee County.

Hachmeister is awaiting trial for 1st-degree murder in the strangulation death of his mother, Sheila Hachmeister.

She was found dead in their Topeka home in September 2010.

Hachmeister accused officials at the county jail of not providing him with food that met the requirements of his Muslim faith.  He also claimed that Muslims aren’t allowed to witness to their faith in jail.

 

The Kansas Senate has tentatively approved legislation requiring drug tests for some people seeking certain welfare benefits, after amending it to require the same scrutiny of legislators.

Wednesday night’s vote advanced the bill to final Senate action Thursday. Passage would send it to the House.

The bill would require the state to screen applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits for illegal drug use.

Those identified with a suspicion of use would be subject to testing.

The state would provide drug treatment and job skills training to those who test positive.

Members of the Senate’s Democratic minority amended the bill during debate to include legislators, arguing it’s only fair to hold elected officials to the same scrutiny as individuals seeking government assistance.

The Navy has identified two sailors who perished during routine diving operations at a test pond at an Army site in Maryland.

Navy Diver 1st Class James Reyher of Caldwell, Ohio, and Navy Diver 2nd Class Ryan Harris of Gladstone, Missouri, died Tuesday at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in northeastern Maryland.

The sailors died during operations at Aberdeen’s Underwater Test Facility, dubbed “Super Pond.”

It is used to conduct shock testing of vessels, submarine systems and munitions.

Harris and Reyher were assigned to Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

 

The incident is under investigation.

A Kansas City man who had a heart attack while he was shoveling snow is alive after his neighbors dug out a stuck ambulance.

Fire department spokesman James Garrett says the ambulance became stuck Tuesday while rushing to the man’s home. The rescue workers grabbed their gear and ran the rest of the way.

While treating the man inside his home, neighbors picked up their shovels.

As many as 20 people helped excavate the stuck rescue vehicle and the street.

Garrett says the man made it to a hospital and was recovering Wednesday.

A Missouri man has been convicted of killing a 19-year-old man who was trying to help a woman and her children.

A Clay County jury on Wednesday found 31-year-old Marcus D. Smith of Kansas City guilty of second-degree murder and three other charges in the August 2011 death of Samir Clark.

Police say Clark was visiting a relative when a neighbor knocked on the door and asked for help. Clark and his relative took the woman and her children in. Smith fired several shots into the apartment, hitting Clark in the neck. Investigators said Smith had argued with several people before the shooting.

Clark was an Eagle Scout who planned to leave for Tennessee State University in Nashville the week he was killed.

An eastern Kansas sheriff and deputy have been charged with felony interference with law enforcement operations following a five-month investigation.

Franklin County Sheriff Jeffry Curry and deputy Jerrod Fredricks were arrested Wednesday by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Curry is also charged with misdemeanor official misconduct.

State and county authorities did not disclose details of the KBI investigation or the charges, saying more information would be released at the men’s first court appearances March 6.

Curry and Fredricks were taken for their safety to the Wyandotte County jail. The jail’s website showed both released later Wednesday — Curry on a $3,000 bond and Fredricks on a $1,500 bond.

The case is being prosecuted by the Shawnee County district attorney’s office.  Shawnee County DA Chad Taylor says the case will be prosecuted by Todd Hiatt, Senior Assistant District Attorney.

Media reports indicate the prosecutor in Ottawa has called for Sheriff Curry’s resignation, and has filed a petition for his ouster from office.