DICKINSON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with a stolen pickup.

Just after 1p.m. Sunday, a 38-year-old Salina, Kansas, man reported his black 2010 Ford F150 stolen from the parking lot at Lowe’s, 3035 S. Ninth, at 1:05 p.m. Sunday, according to Police Captain Paul Forrester

Shortly before 2 p.m Sunday, Salina Police were contacted by the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office because the pickup had been located in Herington, Kansas. Deputies found the vehicle with the doors open and the motor still running.

Deputies arrested Marty Rickey, 43, of Hollister, Mo., on requested charges of possession of stolen property and interference with a law enforcement officer.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A bill dubbed the “Jedi Disposal Act” could soon make Missouri the first state to allow outdoor cremations.

The bill would allow licensed funeral directors to organize outdoor cremations at licensed crematoriums or private sites that have permits. The bill got its name from the “Star Wars” movie franchise, in which two Jedi Knights are cremated in public ceremonies.

The bill passed with nearly unanimous consent in this year’s legislative session and is awaiting Gov. Mike Parson’s decision on whether to sign it.

Sen. Jason Holsman, a Kansas City Democrat, said he proposed the measure in part because outdoor cremations have been performed “since the dawn of man.”

“This is the way that our ancestors took care of their remains,” Holsman said Thursday. “The Native Americans did it in trees. The Vikings did it in boats. Outdoor cremation has been around many cultures forever.”

The only place in the country where public outdoor cremations are legal is the small Colorado town of Crestone, about 160 miles southwest of Denver. The Crestone End of Life Project (CEOLP), a not-for-profit organization, receives state permits to organize ceremonies for people who live or own land in surrounding Saguache County.

CEOLP said it has organized about 65 outdoor cremations during the last 12 years. Some ceremonies attract as many as 300 people in a town with a population of only 143, said Stephanie Gaines, founding director of CEOLP.

“It’s part of the fabric of our community,” Gaines said. “The cremation is the frosting on the cake. For us, it’s about community support in a transitional time from end of life, terminal end of life, through supporting the family and the individual after death.”

Holsman, 43, said his interest in the subject began in part because of his northern Germanic and Viking ancestry. He said he would prefer to be cremated in the open air, “just like the Native Americans.”

Funeral directors initially resisted the proposal out of fear people would host impromptu bonfires of deceased loved ones in their backyards, said Don Otto, executive director of the Missouri Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association. They dropped their opposition when health and safety requirements were added to the bill.

Otto said he expects the state board to enact more detailed rules for how licenses will be granted.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Two women are charged with helping a relative who left Missouri with her daughter five years ago despite not having custody of the child.

A Missouri State Highway Patrol report says 23-year-old Julianna Pagano and 59-year-old Valerie Pagano, of Rocheport, are charged with obstructing/hindering law enforcement.

They are the sister and mother of 25-year-old Jillanne Pagano, who was arrested Wednesday by U.S. Marshals in Murphy, North Carolina. She is awaiting extradition to Missouri, where she was charged last year with felony child abduction.

Prosecutors say the child’s father was granted full custody of the girl in December 2016.

Julianna and Valerie Pagano were arrested late Friday. They were released after each paid a $5,000 bond. No attorneys are listed for them in online court records

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — An eastern Missouri woman accused of attacking her 5-year-old son with a knife has been found not mentally competent to stand trial.

A judge signed an order finding 35-year-old Syeda Sirajuddin, of Ballwin, mentally unfit for trial. She has been charged with felony assault, child endangerment and armed criminal action in the Jan. 9 attack.

Prosecutors say Sirajuddin tried to give sleeping pills to her 9-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son before stabbing the boy in the family’s home. Authorities say she also tried to smother her 2-year-old son with a blanket. The 5-year-old was hospitalized, but the other two children weren’t seriously harmed.

Sirajuddin will be confined to a state mental facility and be reevaluated within six months to determine if she is mentally fit to proceed.

DON, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a 47-year-old woman died after her golf cart overturned.

The patrol says Tisha Vanbarneveld, of St. Charles, was injured Saturday when her she was thrown from the golf cart after it went off a road and overturned in Eldon.

She was flown to University Hospital in Columbia but died Sunday.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Gary Woodland of Topeka captured the U.S. Open, overcoming the back-nine pressure at Pebble Beach to hold off two-time defending champion Brooks Koepka for a three-shot victory. 

The social media world exploded celebrating Woodland’s win. From the President of the United States and Kansas Governor and many others sent their congratulations.

Congratulations to Topeka native @GaryWoodland on winning your first U.S. Open! #RockChalk #FoldsofHonor https://t.co/wGOMqTxffB

— Senator Jerry Moran (@JerryMoran) June 17, 2019

Congratulations to Topeka native Gary Woodland! The former Shawnee Heights HS standout and Washburn University and KU student-athlete was just crowned golf's U.S. Open champion. Well done!

— Governor Laura Kelly (@GovLauraKelly) June 17, 2019

Congratulations to Gary Woodland in winning the United States Open Golf Championship. Fantastic playing, great heart – there will be more in Gary’s future!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2019

A HUGE congrats to Kansas’ own @GaryWoodland on winning the #USOPEN

— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) June 17, 2019

Congratulations, Topeka native and @KUnews graduate @GaryWoodland! https://t.co/TfVqHuGXrB

— Senator Pat Roberts (@SenPatRoberts) June 17, 2019

Woodland all but sealed his first major title when he chipped off a tight lie on the green on the 17th hole to tap-in range at a pin tucked in the back left. His par there preserved the two-shot lead.

Then, he made it a three-shot edge when he knocked in a 30-foot birdie putt on 18. It pushed him to 13-under 271 — beating by one shot the score Tiger Woods posted during his 15-shot victory at Pebble in the 2000 U.S. Open.

Woodland shot 2-under 69 to become the fifth player to break 70 in all four rounds of the U.S. Open.

The fourth was Koepka, who wrapped up his round of 68 a few minutes earlier. He’s the first to accomplish that feat and not win.

Koepka failed in his quest to become the first player since Willie Anderson in 1905 to win three straight U.S. Opens. But this second-place finish adds to a runner-up at the Masters and his title at the PGA last month.

Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Chez Reavie and Justin Rose finished in a four-way tie for third and 7 under.

___
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — In front of Gary Woodland was a 263-yard shot to the scariest green on any par 5 at Pebble Beach, especially with a U.S. Open on the line. Behind him by one shot on the leaderboard was Brooks Koepka, the most dangerous figure in major championship golf these days.

The safe shot was to lay up on the 14th and take his chances with a wedge

“The idea was to play for the win,” Woodland said.

With an extra boost of confidence from his caddie — Brennan Little, who was on the bag for Mike Weir in his Masters victory — Woodland delivered the shot of his life with a 3-wood that narrowly cleared a bunker, settled on the edge of the green and set up a birdie that gave him the cushion he needed.

The rest was pure theater — a 90-foot pitch off the 17th green he nearly holed, a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 2-under 69 and a three-shot victory that denied Koepka’s bold bid to match a century-old record with a third straight U.S. Open.

Woodland’s pitch across the 17th green over a hump that checked and trickled to tap-in range effectively clinched it, taking its place with other big moments on the 17th green in the U.S. Open such as Jack Nicklaus and his 1-iron off the pin and Tom Watson’s chip-in birdie. It even got the attention of Nicklaus.

“Took a lot of guts,” Nicklaus said on Twitter.

Woodland had that it abundance, along with a message from an inspirational friend.

“You got this.”

Until Sunday, when he cradled the silver trophy at Pebble Beach, Woodland got more attention from one hole in a pro-am at the Phoenix Open. He was gracious and encouraging to Amy Bockerstette, a 20-year-old with Down Syndrome and sheer optimism. Woodland invited her to hit a shot on the par-3 16th (into a bunker). He wanted to blast it out of the sand but she said, “I got this.” She hit it out to 8 feet and made the putt. The PGA Tour-produced video has more than 20 million views.

“I told myself that a million times today,” Woodland said. “I’ve got this.”

Koepka didn’t make it easy, keeping the pressure on Woodland until the very end.

Both represent the modern athlete in golf. Both are unflappable.

Needing three putts to win, Woodland finished in style. He raised both arms in the air to salute the crowd, turned toward the Pacific and slammed down his fist.

“I never let myself get ahead,” Woodland said. “Once that went in, it all came out of me. It’s special to finish it off here at Pebble Beach.”

Koepka had to settle for a footnote in history. He closed with a 68, making him the first player with all four rounds in the 60s at a U.S. Open without winning.

“It was awesome to come this close to going three in a row. It’s incredible,” Koepka said. “I didn’t really think about it until I was done on 18 and realized how close I actually was to not making history, but tying it, I guess you could say. Just wasn’t meant to be this week.”

Distance was no problem for Woodland on the 14th hole. It was the potential outcome.

“Left is not good, right is out-of-bounds, long is not ideal and the bunker speaks for itself,” Woodland said. “So to execute that shot under the pressure, under the situation, that shot gave me the confidence. I felt better after hitting that shot on the golf course today than I had in a long, long time.”

He believes it allowed him to hit one just as good on the 17th.

Woodland dropped the 5-iron from his hands when it sailed well to the right of the green with the pin 90 feet away over a hump.

Up ahead on the par-5 18th, Koepka drilled a 3-iron just over the back of the green, leaving him a 50-foot chip for eagle to tie, with a birdie likely to do the trick considering what Woodland faced on the 17th. Koepka chipped to 10 feet and narrowly missed the birdie putt.

Woodland, unable to hit putter and get anywhere near the hole, opted to pitch it with a 64-degree wedge. He clipped it perfectly just over the hump, and it checked about 12 feet from the hole and trickled by the pin to secure par, and effectively the U.S. Open.

“I was just trying to get it over that hump,” Woodland said. “I thought it had a chance to go in, but it’s not one I want over.”

Woodland played conservatively down the 18th and made one last birdie that only mattered in the record book. He was aware that Tiger Woods had a 12-under 272 during his historic rout at Pebble Beach in 2000, and he topped him.

That birdie put him at 13-under 271 and earned him $2.25 million, the richest payoff in golf.

The difference was Woods won by 15 shots and was the only player under par. With a marine layer blocking the sunshine, and no significant wind at Pebble Beach all week, 31 players finished under par.

Koepka started four shots behind in his bid to join Willie Anderson as the only players to go back-to-back-to-back in the toughest test in golf. He made up ground quickly with four birdies in five holes.

“I felt like, ‘We’ve got a ball game now,'” Koepka said.

He failed to get up-and-down from a bunker for birdie on the par-5 sixth, and missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventh. Still, he stayed within range, just like he wanted, knowing that anything could happen on the back nine of a U.S. Open.

Something wonderful happened to Woodland.

“Gary played a hell of a round today,” Koepka said. “Props to him to hang in there. To go out in style like that is pretty cool.”

Of the four other players who had a shot at three straight U.S. Opens, no one came closer than Koepka. He now has a victory in the PGA Championship and runner-up finishes in the Masters and U.S. Open.

Justin Rose was the only one who caught Woodland all day, with a birdie on the opening hole. Rose bogeyed from the bunker on No. 2 as Woodland birdied, and he never caught up. Rose fell out of the race with three bogeys in a four-hole stretch on the back nine. He shot 74 and shared third with Xander Schauffele (67), Jon Rahm (68) and Chez Reavie (71).

Woods birdied six of his last 12 holes and was never a factor. He tied for 21st, 11 shots behind.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A non-profit group is hoping to save historic homes that were damaged when a powerful tornado swept through Missouri’s capital city last month.

The Historic City of Jefferson is rounding up investors who are interested in salvaging historic homes that were damaged when an EF-3 tornado raked the city on May 22.

Donna Deetz, who runs the nonprofit, said owners who are considering selling or demolishing their homes have other options. The HCJ-organized group could step in to provide alternatives or purchase the home.

“If they’ve already gotten their insurance payment and they’re going to have to pay $30,000 to take it down, would they be willing to sell it for $30,000? That sort of thing,” said Deetz, who is also a commissioner on the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.

“We can save it and we don’t have these holes along East Capitol Avenue,” she added.

Jayme Abbott, the city’s neighborhood services manager, said damaged properties deemed a dangerous structures won’t be considered for purchase.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Kansas man who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography was sentenced Thursday to 70 months in federal prison, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

In addition, the defendant was ordered to pay $5,000 to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act Fund and $3,000 to each of 15 victims who requested restitution.

Joel Haines, 61, Paola, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. At sentencing, the prosecutor said investigators found 1,433 digital child pornography images on Haines’ computer. The images included children under the age of two being sexually abused as well as images of girls ages 6 to 12.