KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Kansas City, Kansas, police are investigating a drive-by shooting that injured a 3-year-old boy.
Police Chief Terry Zeigler says the boy was riding in a car Thursday night when shots were fired at the car from a passing vehicle.
Ziegler says the boy was hit in the arm and is in stable condition.
Police did not release a description of the suspect vehicle.
TodayA slight chance of showers between 3pm and 5pm. Patchy fog before noon. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 41. Light east wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
TonightA chance of showers, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 9pm. Low around 40. East wind 11 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.
SaturdayShowers before 9am, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm between 9am and noon, then showers likely after noon. High near 45. East wind 7 to 13 mph becoming west southwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday NightA chance of rain showers before midnight, then rain likely, possibly mixed with snow showers. Cloudy, with a low around 34. West wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.
SundayA chance of rain showers before 8am, then a chance of rain and snow showers between 8am and noon, then a chance of rain showers after noon. Cloudy, with a high near 38. West northwest wind around 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – A Kansas City man has been charged with fatally shooting a suspected car thief at a gas station.
Twenty-four-year-old DeAndre Simms was charged Thursday with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Keith Michael. He’s jailed on $100,000 bond. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.
Court records say Simms told police he parked his 2018 Volkswagen Jetta at the gas station and left it running while he went inside. He said he was defending his property when he shot at a person who was getting into his car. Simms said he called 911 afterward and waited for offices to arrive.
The shooting was captured on surveillance video. Simms told police he didn’t know the victim and didn’t see him with any weapons.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – A Columbia man has been acquitted of plotting on Facebook to kill his grandparents but convicted of attacking them.
Defense attorney Stephen Wyse says he was pleased jurors found 20-year-old Brian Kelley not guilty Thursday of conspiracy to commit murder. Wyse said the conversation in which Kelley and co-defendant Jared Bears discussed killing Kelley’s grandparents was a “fantasy.”
Jurors did find Kelley guilty of two counts of fourth-degree assault and one count of first-degree domestic assault.
The probable cause statement says Kelley threatened and choked his grandparents, then grabbed a board and metal pipe to swing at the victims on New Year’s Eve 2017. The statement says Kelley’s grandparents were able to subdue him using wasp spray and threat of a firearm.
Bears is awaiting trial.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democrats have picked a Kansas House member to fill Gov.-elect Laura Kelly’s former state Senate seat.
Their selection Thursday evening of Democratic state Rep. Vic Miller of Topeka came 34 years after Miller ran unsuccessfully for the same seat.
Miller would not say whether he would run for the seat in 2020.
Democrats in Wichita plan to meet Saturday to fill the former Senate seat belonging to Lt. Gov.-elect Lynn Rogers. Miller said the departure of both Kelly and Rogers from the Senate left Democrats needing someone with legislative experience to replace Kelly.
The 67-year-old Miller served in the House from 1979 through 1984 and lost a Senate race that year. He became a power in local politics and returned to the Kansas House in 2016.
BUCHANAN COUNTY — One person was injured in an accident just after 6p.m. Thursday in Buchanan County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1985 Chevy Silverado driven by Latham A. Novak, 40, St. Joseph, was northbound on Route AC.
The driver failed to yield as he attempted to turn west on Gene Field Road.
The SUV struck a southbound 2007 Toyota Camry driven by Katelyn R. Arthur, 22, St. Joseph.
Arthur was transported to Mosaic Life Care. Novak was not injured. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A former Kansas City paramedic has admitted to stealing fentanyl and morphine from ambulances.
Thirty-seven-year-old Michael Fostich pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to illegally obtaining a controlled substance.
While working for the Kansas City fire department, Fostich had access to fentanyl and morphine locked in safes in city ambulances.
In his guilty plea, Fostich admitted he stole fentanyl and morphine for his own use.
The Kansas City Star reported that Fostich would replace the drugs with another substance before returning them to storage in the ambulances.
In 2016, Fostich reported that he administered or disposed of 806 vials of fentanyl and 636 doses of morphine.
That was 39 percent of the fentanyl and 63 percent of the morphine used by the entire fire department that year.
KANSAS CITY – A Kansas man was sentenced today to pay a $5,000 fine for unlawfully importing endangered leopard cats, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
The leopard cat is a small wild cat native to Asia. It is considered as an endangered species under federal law.
Lawrence E. Payne, 34, Olathe, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Endangered Species Act.
The investigation began when Payne applied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a breeding license for Asian leopard cats. When investigators served a search warrant at Payne’s home, they found three Asian leopard cats. Payne admitted importing the animals.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri voters have approved medical marijuana, but it remains unclear whether thousands of welfare recipients will lose benefits if they opt for it.
The Missouri Department of Social Services told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the question remains under review, and offered no timeline for a decision.
Voters this month overwhelmingly approved Amendment 2, legalizing marijuana and marijuana-infused products to help patients who suffer from several serious illnesses.
A 2011 law resulted in a program to screen Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program applicants for drug use. The program provides cash benefits to about 25,000 recipients monthly.
Recipients are asked about drug use and some take drug tests. Those who fail to show up for the test or do not complete it are ineligible for benefits for three years.
TOPEKA — Gov.-elect Laura Kelly says she will not follow former Gov. Sam Brownback’s method of selecting appellate court judges.
Kelly will need to appoint a new Kansas Court of Appeals judge soon after she takes office in January because Judge Patrick McAnany is retiring.
According to a media release from her transition team, Kelly will have a nonpartisan nominating committee filter the applications and send her a list of three candidates.
That is similar to the procedure used before Brownback changed it to allow him to make judicial appointments directly, subject to Senate confirmation.
Kelly said in a statement Wednesday that she will use the merit-based process similar to that used for Kansas Supreme Court appointments. She said she believes that makes the process more transparent for the public.
