JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Missouri  man was charged in federal court Monday with the arson at the Columbia Health Center (operated by Planned Parenthood Great Plains) on Feb. 10, 2019.

According to the United State’s Attorney, Wesley Brian Kaster, 42, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Jefferson City, Mo., with one count of maliciously damaging a building, owned by an organization the receives federal financial assistance, by means of fire or an explosive. Kaster, who was arrested on Saturday, March 2, 2019, remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Thursday, March 7, 2019.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, surveillance video from Planned Parenthood and from neighboring businesses recorded Kaster in the early morning hours of Feb. 10, 2019. He parked his Toyota Sienna minivan (missing the right front passenger-side hubcap) nearby at about 2:30 a.m. and carried a seemingly heavy white bucket to the north exterior door of the Planned Parenthood building. Kaster broke the front door, the affidavit says, placed the bucket inside the building, and threw a Molotov cocktail-type device  inside the building. Kaster remained standing on the sidewalk outside the door, watching the inside of the building. Kaster then allegedly entered the building through the broken door. No explosion or fire was visible at this time.

At approximately 2:52 a.m., the affidavit says, two unidentified pedestrians approached and Kaster fled east across Providence Road. Kaster walked to where his vehicle was parked and drove away. At this time, there was no discernable smoke or active fire at the Planned Parenthood building.

Kaster returned at about 4 a.m., according to the affidavit. Surveillance video recorded Kaster walking to the Planned Parenthood door with what the affidavit describes as “an undiscernible item in his left hand.” At 4:03 a.m., smoke is visible billowing from the broken glass door of the Planned Parenthood building. Kaster fled north along the west side of Providence Road, and west along 4th Avenue, out of view.

The Columbia Fire Department received the fire alarm at the Planned Parenthood building at approximately 4:05 a.m. Firefighters observed that the north exterior door of the building, which was constructed of glass inside a frame, had been shattered and an accelerant fueled the fire that was set inside. The fire was fully extinguished by a fire sprinkler system before firefighters arrived, and only moderate fire damage was observed to the room and its contents. Among the evidence collected at the scene by investigators were two five-gallon buckets that had contained gasoline, one inside of the other, found lying on the floor just inside the broken doorway. Investigators also recovered the remains of a Molotov cocktail.

Investigators identified 55 Toyota Sienna minivans registered by Columbia residents, one of which was registered by Kaster. Investigators also received records from Lowe’s for a list of all recent purchases of five-gallon buckets from area stores in 2019, which included a purchase by Kaster. Surveillance videos related to that purchase, according to the affidavit, clearly captured Kaster’s face and physical features.

Investigators contacted Kaster’s employer, a light manufacturing business in Jefferson City, where he works as a floor supervisor in the welding shop. According to the affidavit, Kaster had acquired a pair of Ansell HyFlex gloves, which are cut and abrasion resistant, which were the same make, model, color and size gloves recovered from the Planned Parenthood building.

Investigators searched social media accounts connected to Kaster. On Oct. 25, 2015, a picture was posted to the Facebook page of Kaster’s wife depicting a handgun and the words, “Guns Don’t Kill People, Planned Parenthood Kills People.”

Multiple federal search warrants were executed on Saturday, March 2, 2019. Investigators searched Kaster’s minivan a few minutes after he left his workplace that morning and took Kaster to obtain hair specimens. Investigators searched Kaster’s residence, the affidavit says, where numerous items of evidence were collected that definitively tied Kaster to the crime scene at Planned Parenthood. Based on these facts, Kaster was arrested at 11:07 a.m.

The following statement is from Governor Laura Kelly:

In the seven weeks since the inauguration, my administration has been hard at work.

I presented a plan that balanced the budget, prioritized schools, paved the way for Medicaid expansion, invested in children and families, enhanced public safety, and left the largest ending balance in two decades.

My budget was structured to stabilize our fragile state finances and pay down the record amount of debt racked up during the last eight years. Not only that, my bipartisan Cabinet hit the ground running with the long, hard task of rebuilding our state agencies.

Together, we’ve increased transparency by sharing, honestly, the severity of the problems we uncovered at the Department of Corrections, Department for Children and Families, and Department of Revenue. We’ve shed light on the number of no-bid contracts hidden throughout state government.

Contracts worth tens of millions of dollars, that didn’t go through the proper channels, and may not be in the best interests of Kansans.

My team at the Department of Administration is currently in the process of developing new, stricter standards of ethics and accountability in the procurement process. We look forward to announcing that plan once it is finalized in the coming weeks. And we are just getting started. We understand the urgency of our work. Our work touches the lives of Kansans every day and we take that very seriously.

Unfortunately, I’m disappointed that the Legislature has yet to act with the same level of urgency, especially given the breadth of our challenges and the deadlines we face.

As a former legislator, I have deep respect for the legislative process. It is not unusual for many of the biggest issues of the session to be resolved later in the session. This is not a race. But the deadlines are real. And they are right around the corner. It’s frustrating that little progress has been made on the most critical issue of the session: school funding.

After seven weeks, I worry that some legislative leaders have allowed serious deliberations and the development of policy alternatives give way to partisan games and unnecessary name calling.

In 2011, the first year of the previous administration, the Legislature debated and acted on 99 more pieces of legislation by this point in the session than they have this year. At this moment, halfway into the session, just one piece of legislation has reached my desk.

I’ve met with leadership. I’ve met with lawmakers of both parties. And my door continues to be open. I’m eager to find bipartisan consensus when lawmakers return for the second half of the session. I’m looking forward to seeing their plans so we can begin negotiations.

On election night in November, I was hopeful that lawmakers could put our differences aside and work together on behalf of Kansas families. Today, I choose to remain hopeful. I am ready to find middle ground.

I was elected to rebuild our state following years of mismanagement and failed policy. I offered a plan to do just that. I hope lawmakers will join me in earnest when they return.

In the meantime, my team will continue to do our work – cleaning up messes and charting a more responsible path forward. We will continue to put the best interest of families first. We will prioritize schools, health care, roads, and job growth.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States has officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the U.S. Embassy to Israel.

For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy.

The symbolic shift hands authority over U.S. diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.

The announcement from the State Department came early Monday in Jerusalem, the merger effective that day.

“This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations,” State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement. “It does not signal a change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip.”

In a farewell video addressed to the consulate’s Palestinian partners, Consul General Karen Sasahara, who is leaving her post as the unofficial U.S. ambassador to the Palestinians and will not be replaced, maintains that new Palestinian unit at the embassy will carry forward the mission of the consulate, “in support of the strengthening of American-Palestinian ties, to boost economic opportunities for the Palestinians and facilitate cultural and educational exchanges.”

When first announced by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in October, the move infuriated Palestinians, fueling their suspicions that the U.S. was recognizing Israeli control over east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories that Palestinians seek for a future state.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the move “the final nail in the coffin” for the U.S. role in peacemaking.

The downgrade is just the latest in a string of divisive decisions by the Trump administration that have backed Israel and alienated the Palestinians, who say they have lost faith in the U.S. administration’s role as a neutral arbiter in peace process.

Last year the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocated its embassy there, upending U.S. policy toward one of the most explosive issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians in turn cut off most ties with the administration.

The administration also has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, including assistance to hospitals and peace-building programs. It has cut funding to the U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians classified as refugees. Last fall, it shut down the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington.

The Trump administration has cited the reluctance of Palestinian leaders to enter peace negotiations with Israel as the reason for such punitive measures, although the U.S. has yet to present its much-anticipated but still mysterious “Deal of the Century” to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, announced last month that the U.S. would unveil the deal after Israeli elections in April. The Palestinian Authority has preemptively rejected the plan, accusing the U.S. of bias toward Israel.

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LOS ANGELES — Luke Perry, who gained instant heartthrob status as wealthy rebel Dylan McKay on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” died Monday after suffering a massive stroke, his publicist said. He was 52.

Perry was surrounded by family and friends when he died, publicist Arnold Robinson said. The actor had been hospitalized since last Wednesday, after a 911 call summoned medical help to his home in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles.

“The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning,” Robinson said in a statement. At Perry’s bedside were his children, Jake and Sophie; fiancée Wendy Madison Bauer and his former wife, Minnie Sharp.

Perry had played construction construction-company owner Fred Andrews, father of main character Archie Andrews, for three seasons on “Riverdale,” the CW series that gives a dark take on “Archie” comics. A fourth season has been slated.

Born and raised in rural Fredericktown, Ohio, Perry gained fame on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” which ran from 1990 to 2000.

Perry has had roles in a handful of films, including “The Fifth Element,” ”8 Seconds” and “American Strays.” He appeared in HBO’s prison drama “Oz” and voiced cartoons like “The Incredible Hulk” and “Mortal Kombat.” In recent years he starred in the series “Ties That Bind” and “Body of Proof.”

The same day he was hospitalized, Fox TV announced that it would be running a six-episode return of “90210” that features most of the original cast, but Perry was not among those announced.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas priest announced at Mass this weekend that a woman who has twice accused him of abusing her has raised the allegation again.

The Rev. William Bruning told the congregation at Queen of the Holy Rosary Church that a woman in her early 30s says Bruning abused her when she was a minor at the Most Pure Heart of Mary School in Topeka. Bruning insisted the allegation was false.

The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas said in a statement Sunday that reviews begun after the woman made the accusations in 2015 and 2018 found they could not be substantiated.

The woman told the archdiocese last month she was not satisfied with that conclusion, prompting the archdiocese to share the information with church members during the weekend.

MEXICO, Mo. (AP) — Officials are investigating the cause of a gas pipeline explosion during the weekend in central Missouri.

The pipeline owned by Dallas-based Panhandle Eastern Pipeline ruptured Sunday morning along Missouri 15 about 1 mile north of Mexico in Audrain County.

Little Dixie Fire Protection District Fire Chief Steve Gentry said his crews weren’t able to battle the blaze when they first arrived because the flames were so intense.

No injuries were reported.

The highway was closed for several hours while debris blown into the air by the explosion was cleared.