Northwest Missouri State University is mourning after learning of the passing of one of its students.
According to a press release from Northwest, Lonnae Young, a junior psychology major from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, died unexpectedly Saturday morning at SSM Health St. Francis Hospital in Maryville. An autopsy is planned.
Young was a resident assistant on the second floor of Dieterich Hall and was involved with Sigma Society. She was well-connected at Northwest.
Students needing counseling assistance are encouraged to contact Wellness Services at (660) 562-1348, or contact University Police at (660) 562-1254 outside of regular business hours. Faculty and staff should call the University employee assistance program at (800) 964-3577. A county counseling support line also is available to all members of the Northwest community at (888) 279-8188.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has defrocked former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after Vatican officials found him guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing confession and sexual crimes against minors and adults, the Holy See said Saturday.
McCarrick
McCarrick, 88, is the highest-ranking churchman to be laicized, as the process is called. It means he can no longer celebrate Mass or other sacraments, wear clerical vestments or be addressed by any religious title.
The scandal swirling around him was particularly damning to the church’s reputation in the eyes of the faithful because it apparently was an open secret that he slept with adult seminarians. Francis removed McCarrick as a cardinal in July after a U.S. church investigation determined that an allegation he fondled a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible.
The punishment for the once-powerful prelate, who had served as the archbishop of Washington and had been an influential fundraiser for the church, was announced five days before Francis is set to lead an extraordinary gathering of bishops from around the world to help the church grapple with the crisis of sex abuse by clergy and systematic cover-ups by church hierarchy. The decades-long scandals have shaken the faith of many Catholics and threatened Francis’ papacy.
The Vatican’s press office said that on Jan. 11, the Holy See’s doctrinal watchdog office, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, had found McCarrick guilty of “solicitation in the sacrament of confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.” The commandment forbids adultery.
The officials “imposed on him the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state.”
McCarrick, when he was ordained a priest his native New York City in 1958, took a vow of celibacy, in accordance with church rules on priests.
The pope “has recognized the definitive nature of this decision made in accordance with (church) law, rendering it as ‘res iudicata,'” the Vatican said, using the Latin phrase for admitting no further recourse.
“Today I am happy that the pope believed me,” said one of McCarrick’s chief accusers, James Grein.
In a statement issued through his lawyer, Grein also expressed hope that McCarrick “will no longer be able to use the power of Jesus’ church to manipulate families and sexually abuse children.”
Grein had testified to church officials that, among other abuses, McCarrick had repeatedly groped him during confession.
Saying it’s “time for us to cleanse the church,” Grein said pressure needs to be put on state attorney generals and senators to change the statute of limitations. “Hundreds of priests, bishops and cardinals are hiding behind man-made law,” he said.
McCarrick moved from his Washington retirement home to a Kansas religious residence after Francis ordered him to live in penance and prayer while the investigation continued.
McCarrick’s civil lawyer, Barry Coburn, told The AP that for the time being his client had no comment. Coburn also declined to say if McCarrick was still residing at the friary in Victoria, Kansas.
McCarrick had appealed his penalty, but the doctrinal officials earlier this week rejected that, and he was notified of the decision on Friday, the Vatican announcement said.
The archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where McCarrick was posted at the pinnacle of his clerical career, from 2001-2006, said in a statement it hoped that the Vatican decision “serves to help the healing process for survivors of abuse, as well as those who have experienced disappointment or disillusionment because of what former Archbishop McCarrick has done.”
Complaints were also made about McCarrick’s conduct in the New Jersey dioceses of Newark and Metuchen, where he previously served.
It marks a remarkable downfall for the globe-trotting powerbroker and influential church fundraiser who mingled with presidents and popes but preferred to be called “Uncle Ted” by the young men he courted.
The Vatican summit, running Feb. 21-24, draws church leaders from around the world to talk about preventing abuse. It was called in part to respond to the McCarrick scandal as well as to the explosion of the abuse crisis in Chile and its escalation in the United States last year.
Despite the apparent common knowledge in church circles of his sexual behavior, McCarrick rose to the heights of church power. He even acted as the spokesman for U.S. bishops when they enacted a “zero tolerance” policy against sexually abusive priests in 2002.
That perceived hypocrisy, coupled with allegations in the Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing decades of abuse and cover-up in six dioceses, outraged many among the rank-and-file faithful who had trusted church leaders to reform how they handled sex abuse after 2002.
The allegation regarding the altar boy was the first known to involve a minor — a far more serious offense than sleeping with adult seminarians.
Francis himself became implicated in the decade-long McCarrick cover-up after a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. accused the pope of rehabilitating the cardinal from sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict XVI despite being told of his penchant for young men.
Francis hasn’t responded to the claims. But he has ordered a limited Vatican investigation. The Vatican has acknowledged the outcome may produce evidence that mistakes were made, but said Francis would “follow the path of truth, wherever it may lead.”
Vatican watchers have compared the McCarrick cover-up scandal to that of the Rev. Marcial Maciel, perhaps the 20th-century Catholic Church’s most notorious pedophile. Maciel’s sex crimes against children were ignored for decades by a Vatican impressed by his ability to bring in donations and vocations. Among Maciel’s staunchest admirers was Pope John Paul II, who later became a saint.
Like Maciel, McCarrick was a powerful and popular prelate who funneled millions in donations to the Vatican. He apparently got a calculated pass for what many in the church hierarchy would have either discounted as ideological-fueled rumor or brushed off as a mere “moral lapse” in sleeping with adult men.
Joyce Luke. Photo courtesy Northwest Missouri State University.
MARYVILLE, Mo. – The family of a Northwest Missouri State University staff member who found her passion assisting student teachers with their field experiences has established a scholarship in her honor to aid future student teachers at the University.
The family of Joyce Luke has established an endowed scholarship, the Joyce Luke Education Scholarship, with the assistance of cash gifts totaling more than $10,000. She had served as the assistant director of field experiences since 2009 when she passed away last November, at the age of 54.
“She worked in the area of placing student teachers, and when she was in the hospital, we had a tremendous amount of text messages and social media messages from previous students she helped place, thanking her for going above and beyond and taking the time to help them,” Mike Luke, Joyce’s brother, said. “We just knew we needed to keep helping kids in her name.”
A Maryville native, Joyce earned her bachelor’s degree in public relations at Northwest in 1990. She was diagnosed with cancer at age 29 and could not have children of her own. That fueled her passion of supporting and helping students succeed at Northwest and in life, Mike said.
“No matter what life throws at you, you have to have a positive attitude,” Mike said. “If a person didn’t know her personally, they would never have known the struggles and hardships she was facing. She seemed to always think of others before herself.”
Joyce’s impact on the School of Education lives on as her colleagues remember her hard-working, outgoing personality and her dedication to students and the School’s mission. Dr. Shantel Farnan, an assistant professor of professional education and friend of Joyce’s for more than 20 years, recalls the way she made others feel as if they were her top priority.
“She was very passionate about her job, her student teachers, her faculty, her colleagues, her student workers and graduate assistants and brought a personal touch to each aspect of her career,” Farnan said. “The emphasis on ‘her’ is intentional – as, for Joyce, she felt personally and professionally responsible for the success and happiness of all who entered the office. Her joy, professionalism, problem-solving skills and compassion will live on in each of us who had the pleasure of working with her and those thousands of students she has sent on their way to success over the years.”
Recipients of the Joyce Luke Education Scholarship must be senior education majors with a minimum grade-point average of 3.0. The scholarship will be awarded to students during their student teaching semester with first preference given to student teachers in rural areas. Recipients will be determined by a committee of faculty in the School of Education.
The scholarship will help ease anxiety for students transitioning to student teaching and provide financial support for those students who may need to eliminate or decrease the hours they work other jobs because of their student teaching responsibilities.
“This scholarship is vital,” Dr. Timothy Wall, the dean of the School of Education, said. “A university education is a valuable investment in ourselves. In education, salaries are consistently less than in business, engineering or high-tech fields. So, every dollar of scholarship support lightens the load on a group of people who do such meaningful work without the expected future earnings in other fields. Joyce would have been thrilled to celebrate our students and support them, as she always did.”
To support the Joyce Luke Education Scholarship, submit a tax-deductible gift to the Northwest Foundation at 800 University Dr., Maryville, MO 64468 or visit www.nwmissouri.edu/GiveOnline. For more information, contact Northwest’s Office of University Advancement at (660) 562-1248.
– Northwest Missouri State University news release –
Gov. Laura Kelly has said she has an easy solution for funding schools. Just renew the finance plan the Kansas Legislature agreed to last year and fold in an adjustment for inflation. But over in the Senate, lawmakers are picking that proposal apart.
After months of wrangling last year, lawmakers approved a $500 million multi-year boost for schools in response to a state Supreme Court ruling in the long-running Gannon case.
The justices said that plan made strides, but still wasn’t enough to fulfill the mandate in the state constitution.
Kelly, a Democrat, branded herself as the “education governor” during the fall campaign. And she hammered on the issue during her first State of the State speech last month.
“We’re going to properly fund our schools this year. And next year. And the year after that,” she said. “Every year, every month, every day that I’m governor.”
A Senate committee held two days of hearings, where a parade of school administrators voiced support for the governor’s proposal.
They said last year’s funding boost, coupled with the inflationary adjustment, would allow them to continue investing in services for struggling students and plan ahead when hiring teachers.
“We can talk all day about teacher quality, but if we can’t plan on how many teachers we’re even going to staff, it hurts,” said Goddard Public Schools Superintendent Justin Henry. “You just don’t find them in July.”
The school districts suing the state said they would sign off on the proposal as a resolution to their lawsuit.
“Keep it simple, fix the problem, as this bill does, and end the litigation,” said Bill Brady, speaking on behalf of a coalition of 40 school districts, including the four plaintiff districts.
The Republican chairwoman of the special senate committee created to study school finance was listening, but isn’t convinced simply passing the governor’s proposal would end the legal fight.
“I don’t think we have the assurance that it will be over,” Sen. Molly Baumgardner said in an interview.
The districts have asked that the court retain the authority to monitor the issue in the coming years to make sure lawmakers follow through on any funding promises.
Republican Sen. Molly Baumgardner is skeptical adding millions more for schools would end the long-running lawsuit over funding.
CREDIT STEPHEN KORANDA / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Baumgardner also worries that the inflationary factor would cause costs to balloon even if student enrollment does not. After four years, school funding would increase automatically based on the Consumer Price Index.
“We are in unknown territory,” she said.
She doesn’t believe the governor’s proposal will advance in its current form.
The legislation is also missing funding for things that Baumgardner and other lawmakers consider priorities, such as classroom supplies and free ACT tests.
Republican House Speaker Ron Ryckman is also unconvinced that the governor’s numbers are sustainable. The state has a projected ending balance approaching $900 million for the current fiscal year, but the forecasts for coming years aren’t so rosy.
“Right now, if we do what the governor’s asking, we’ll never be able to pay that bill,” Ryckman told reporters earlier this month.
Ryckman’s skepticism partially stems from his objection to refinancing the state’s pension debt, as the governor has suggested, to free up money for schools.
Lawmakers have so far shown little interest in reamortizing KPERS. Without that, Ryckman doesn’t believe the state can fund schools as Kelly has proposed.
“We have to find another way to do this,” Ryckman said.
Proponents have characterized the governor’s proposal as the last small step to reach a resolution on school funding.
To Republican House Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch, adding $360 million more is no small step.
“That’s not ‘almost there’ when you’re talking about a $6 billion budget,” Finch told reporters. “It’s a massive spend.”
Senate President Susan Wagle has broken up the governor’s bill so that lawmakers can tackle it in pieces.
The Senate’s budget writing committee will consider the sections that essentially encompass the current school finance formula. A new committee formed by Wagle will take on Kelly’s plan to further boost spending.
Wagle isn’t offering any hints on what those committees could produce.
“I have no idea yet … how the debate will unfold,” she told reporters.
Democrats, meanwhile, are continuing to promote the governor’s proposal as the swiftest way to satisfy the court. Lawmakers are under pressure to arrive at an agreement so the attorney general can file legal briefs by an April deadline.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley said Kelly’s proposal is a path to ending the Gannon lawsuit, and Democrats will offer it as an amendment to any school funding bill that comes up for a vote.
“This is a critical issue and it ought to be resolved, and we ought to do it in an expeditious manner,” Hensley told reporters.
House Democratic Leader Tom Sawyer said lawmakers don’t have time to craft a new deal from scratch.
CLINTON COUNTY — Three people were injured in an accident just before 2p.m. Friday in Clinton County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Ford Flex driven by Elsa L. Morris, 37, Chillicothe, was southbound on Interstate 35 two miles north of Holt.
The vehicle approached stopped traffic, swerved to miss another vehicle, traveled off the road and struck an embankment.
Passengers in the vehicle Michael Harboard, 40; Rachel Morris, 9, and Teriseta Morris, 5, all of Chillicothe, were transported to Cameron Regional Medical Center. Elsa Morris was not injured.
All four were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the MSHP.
BARNHART, Mo. (AP) — A dog found in an eastern Missouri ditch with electrical and duct tape around his mouth and legs has been reunited with his owner.
Authorities believe the dog was in a ditch in cold temperatures for about 12 hours before a Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy found him Saturday . He was dubbed “Jimmy” while he recovered.
Garcia -photo Jefferson Co.
The sheriff’s office said the dog — whose name is “Flick” — had “an emotional” reunion with his owner Friday and was headed home. An area funeral home paid for the dog’s care.
Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak said Thursday 39-year-old Paul Garcia of Barnhart was charged with felony animal abuse and armed criminal action. Marshak says investigators believe Barnhart taped the dog and threw him out of a window. A motive hasn’t been disclosed.
Kansas U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran is one of several Republicans who expressed concern about President Donald Trump’s declaration Friday of a national emergency to fund construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Like any agreement in divided government, the funding bill signed today is not perfect. But, it does prevent another shutdown, and provides funding to increase security at the border and support programs that greatly benefit MO
Both Moran and fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts voted for a bipartisan appropriations bill, which prevented another partial shutdown of the federal government and passed the Senate 86-16. Democrat Sharice Davids was the only member of Kansas’ U.S. House delegation to support the measure, which passed 300-128 in the House.
We started these negotiations asking for 230 miles of border wall – Washington left us now with 55 miles. Any Kansan can tell you that’s not a compromise worth taking.
Moran told the Kansas News Service last month during the government shutdown over the wall funding that he shared Trump’s concerns about border security, but that he hoped the president wouldn’t use emergency powers to circumvent Congress.
“Throughout my time in the Congress, particularly in the Senate, I have complained about administrations taking more and more of what is constitutionally the responsibility of the United States Congress,” he said. “But I also complain that Congress allows it to happen.”
The 1976 law that gives the president authority to declare a national emergency also gives Congress the power to terminate the order.
Photo courtesy Rep. Roger Marshall
On Friday, Trump signed the appropriations bill. The president then declared an emergency on Friday because the measure included only $1.3 billion of the $5.7 billion he wanted for the wall. Unless blocked by Congress or the courts, the declaration will allow the president to redirect money appropriated for the U.S. military and for disaster response.
In a statement, Davids called the bill a good compromise that “funds smart and effective security at our borders and many other important investments in our communities.” The congresswoman, who is serving her first term in the 3rd District seat she captured from Republican Kevin Yoder in November, also criticized the president’s emergency declaration as “dangerous to our democracy.”
The Republican House members from Kansas all opposed the funding bill.
“It is shameful that these negotiations failed to secure our border, so I understand and respect the president’s declaration (of a national emergency),” U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall said in a statement. Marshall, who represents the vast western Kansas 1st District, voted it down because it included only enough money to build 55 of the 230 miles of border wall sought by Trump.
“I’m fed up with it, and the more than 70 percent of Kansans in my district who want the wall built are sick and tired of the political games and dysfunction in Washington,” he said.
Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican from Wichita who oversees the 4th District, also said the lack of funding for the wall justified emergency declaration.
“Rather than President Trump needing to declare a national emergency to protect our country, Congress should have done its job to provide increased border security,” Estes said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Steve Watkins, a Topeka Republican serving his first term, ran as a “build the wall guy.” He said the funding bill doesn’t do what’s needed.
“Our border agents told us what it will require to secure our border and this is not it,” Watkins said on Twitter.
Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.
NEW YORK (AP) — Paylesss ShoeSource is shuttering all of its 2,100 remaining stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, joining a list of iconic names like Toys R Us and Bon-Ton that have been shuttered in the last year.
The Topeka, Kansas-based chain said Friday it will hold liquidation sales starting Sunday and wind down its e-commerce operations. All stores will remain open until at least the end of March and the majority will remain open until May.
The debt-burdened chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2017, closing hundreds of stores as part of its reorganization.
At the time, it had over 4,400 stores in more than 30 countries. It remerged from restructuring four months later with about 3,500 stores and eliminated more than $435 million in debt.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has three words for workers at the state’s most crowded maximum-security prison: “Please don’t quit.”
Gov. Kelly speaking this week to employees at the El Dorado Correctional Facility -photo courtesy KDOC
Kelly spoke to more than 100 employees at El Dorado Correctional Facility on Thursday, two days after the Kansas Department of Corrections declared an emergency there. She says to “Trust that we will work this out as fast as we can.”
The prison has 95 vacant staff positions while also housing 74 inmates over its limit. It’s had multiple inmate disturbances over the past two years. Several staff members raised issues of working long hours of overtime, sometimes with few breaks, and years of no pay raises.
Interim Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz told prison employees that “What’s happening here right now is not sustainable.”
Motorists are advised to avoid unnecessary travel on Friday because of escalated snowfall rates that at times could reach one inch per hour across parts of Missouri.
According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, roads are being impacted and visibility will be reduced, especially during the afternoon and into the evening commute.
The St. Joseph Police Department issued a Nixle alert shortly after 11:30 a.m. saying due to poor weather conditions and slick roads, they advise motorists to drive with caution and avoid driving at all unless absolutely necessary.
According to the National Weather Service, snow is expected most of the day on Friday. Total accumulations of 2 to 4 inches is forecast, with some locations getting even more snow. The storm will also bring sleet and freezing rain in the southern part of the state.
You can check road conditions on MoDOT’s Traveler Information Map at http://traveler.modot.org/map/ The map is also available as an app on your mobile device through Android Google Play and Apple iTunes, search MoDOT Traveler Information.
MoDOT also provides road condition information through its Customer Service Center. Dial 888-ASK-MODOT (888-275-6636) to speak with a customer service representative 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Northwest Missouri State University is mourning after learning of the passing of one of its students.
