HOWARD COUNTY— One person died in an accident just before 8p.m. Saturday in Howard County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Victory Motorcycle driven by Michael J. Fuemmeler, 45, Glascow, was southbound on MO. 3 just south of Route JJ. 

The driver failed to negotiate a curve, traveled off the road and struck a utility pole. The driver was ejected.

Fuemmeler was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to FRIEMONTH-FREESE FUNERAL HOME IN GLASGOW.  He was wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The number of untested rape kits with the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s crime lab has more than doubled since last August, when a new law requiring police to submit kits within 14 days took effect.

As of May 1, 403 kits sat untested, the Kansas City Star reported . There were 179 in August, according to the agency’s website, which posts monthly updates.

The figures indicate the kits are not being tested at a higher rate despite more continuing to be submitted. Advocates said increased kit testing should also be required.

There remains “quite a bit of work to do in Missouri,” said Ilse Knecht, director of policy and advocacy for Joyful Heart, whose objective is to alter society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, and support survivors.

At the highway patrol’s lab, numerous changes have been implemented to address the growing number of kits. Some lab workers are being moved within the division and a new section in the lab designed to screen kits is being established, MSHP director Brian Hoey said. Other kits will be sent to a private lab.

“It is a challenge, but we will meet the challenge,” Hoey said.

There were 4,889 untested rape kits across the state, according to a report published last year by the Missouri attorney general’s office. Five labs, 66 hospitals and 266 law enforcement departments sent responses for that survey. Other agencies didn’t, so it’s likely the figure was higher.

After the report, the attorney general’s office received a $2.8 million federal grant that is being used to compile a list of untested kits. The process should conclude in the next four months, spokesman Chris Nuelle said.

The funding will also be used to develop a forensic tracking system. Knecht said Joyful Heart backs this because it gives survivors an opportunity to check on the status of their kit, which gives them more power over the process.

“It comes back to the survivors and remembering that these boxes that we have sitting on shelves represent an individual,” Knecht said. “This represents a person’s life that was derailed by something that happened to them, something very violent and something very invasive. When we don’t do anything with this evidence, we don’t take it off the shelves and test it, we’re sending a terrible message to survivors that it doesn’t matter if you do this or not and that what happened to you doesn’t matter.”

TOPEKA — Authorities have identified the man who died in an accident Friday in Topeka.

Just after 6:00p.m. on Friday, fire crews responded to Heartland Motorsports near a maintenance building, according to Fire Chief Michael Martin.

Upon arrival fire and AMR crews located one adult male patient suffering from critical injuries sustained in an explosion. Despite efforts by EMS crews, 41-year-old Joshua Darryl Aubert  succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased on scene.

A preliminary investigation revealed the fire cause was accidental. Evidence indicates the victim was using a torch to cut open what was believed to be an empty metal drum labeled as methanol when the explosion occurred.

NEW YORK (AP) — Grocery stores owned by Kroger across the country are recalling store-label frozen berries because they might be contaminated with hepatitis A.

There have been no reported illnesses.

The stores include Kroger, Ralphs, Fry’s, Fred Meyer and other chains . The recalled fruit are branded “Private Selection” and include “Frozen Triple Berry Medley” in the 16-oz. and 48-oz. sizes and “Frozen Blackberries” in a 16-oz package.

Kroger announced Friday that it has removed the berries from store shelves, and that customers who have them at home should not eat them.

Hepatitis A, a contagious liver disease, may cause fatigue, stomach pain and jaundice. It can last a few weeks or several months and can cause liver failure in rare cases.

The Food and Drug Administration discovered the contamination.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Students from two Lawrence high schools are offering to digitally restore print photographs that were damaged when a tornado tore through Douglas County.

The large storm last month damaged trees, struck power lines and left a trail of debris on the southeastern edge of Lawrence, making some road impassable. County officials said six people were taken to the Lawrence hospital for injuries sustained in the storm.

Graphic design students at Free State and Lawrence high schools will begin restoring photographs this fall. It’s unclear how long it will take to return a restored digital file to each participant.

“Those tangible things that remind you of phases of your life are important,” said Barbara Tholen, a Lawrence High School teacher who pitched the idea to the two schools. “So hopefully we can restore some of that for people who lost them.”

Tholen said she wanted to notify tornado victims of the free service before they start disposing of items that were damaged in the tornado.

The newspaper didn’t provide details about the restoration process.

Jennifer Dixon-Perkins, who teaches graphic design at the school, said personal items such as photos are irreplaceable and can provide a sense of normalcy after a catastrophe.

Free State teacher Michelle Salmans said she tries to find ways for students to apply their learning to real world scenarios. Salmans said her students will take the assignments more seriously knowing they’re helping return something someone lost.

Free State senior Greta Hayden said she was eager to help after learning about Salmans’ class project.

“Photos are so sentimental,” Hayden said. “I just want to help people have that back again.”

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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Charging documents say a suburban Kansas City nursing home worker stole rings valued at nearly $10,000 from a 99-year-old dementia patient by using lotion to slip them from the woman’s hands in the middle of the night.

23-year-old Leah Anne Goodall was arrested Saturday ahead of her preliminary hearing. The certified nursing assistant is charged with mistreatment of an elder.

A daughter of the elderly woman noticed her mother was missing four rings in April 2018. Court documents say staff at the Overland Park, Kansas, nursing home, told her that Goodall had cared for her mother the previous day and didn’t return to work.

When officers told her there was surveillance video of the room, Goodall allegedly admitted to taking the rings. They have been returned.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Health officials on Friday said they’re still seeking answers from Missouri’s only abortion clinic about why some patients were unaware that they remained pregnant after what the agency described as “failed surgical abortions.”

The state Department of Health and Senior Services said a March health inspection of the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic “identified serious concerns, one of those involving the handling of fetal tissue extracted from abortions.” The agency said that led it to investigate Boyce and Bynum Professional Services, which handles fetal tissue from abortions at Planned Parenthood.

The state health department said Friday in a news release that the focus of the review was “to determine why women remained pregnant after the abortion provider and the laboratory confirmed the presence of fetal parts and tissue in the post-surgical abortion pathological examination.”

The agency declined to provide additional details about allegations that some women remained pregnant after receiving abortions at Planned Parenthood and did not specify how many instances it reviewed, citing the ongoing investigation. Planned Parenthood says pregnancies can continue after abortions in extremely rare circumstances.

While the health department in its Friday statement said the lab provisionally lost accreditation with the College of American Pathologists on May 7, a spokeswoman for the accrediting association on Friday said that’s incorrect.

College of American Pathologists spokeswoman Catherine Dolf said in a statement that Boyce and Bynum voluntarily dropped its accreditation in January and at that time fell under direct jurisdiction of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

Dolf said the lab is currently applying for accreditation through the group again and notified the college that an earlier inspection found the lab out of compliance with federal regulations, but that the facility has since come back into compliance.

Boyce and Bynum did not immediately reply to a Friday request for comment, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not immediately comment.

Dr. Colleen McNicholas, an abortion provider at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, called the health department’s announcement a “diversionary tactic.” She said Williams is “revealing his lack of knowledge and experience with abortion care, and is fearmongering in order to justify his efforts to ban abortion in Missouri.”

The state is still investigating the St. Louis clinic, but officials have been unable to interview some physicians — a major sticking point in an ongoing fight over whether the health department will renew the clinic’s license to perform abortions. Planned Parenthood has said those physicians are not staffers, so it can’t force them to be interviewed.

In its Friday release, Missouri’s health agency defined a “failed surgical abortion” as a “very rare complication–in which a woman remains pregnant after a surgical procedure” that “can usually be detected by the examination of fetal tissue confirming the abortion was performed.”

Dr. Cara Heuser, of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Health, said a surgical abortion that still leaves a woman “completely pregnant” is “not something that happens.” She said the state could be referring to abortions in which part of the placenta remains behind, but that can happen with any pregnancy, no matter how it ends.

“The anti-choice groups will say things like ‘botched’ abortions or like ‘failed’ abortions, and I’ve always been unclear what they’re talking about,” she said. “The idea that you would start a procedure and get halfway through and not finish it is preposterous.”

Julie Burkhart, founder and CEO of Trust Women, which operates clinics in Seattle, Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kansas, said its consent forms tell patients that there is a less than 1 in 500 chance that would have a pregnancy continue after a surgical abortion and need another procedure. She deemed it “highly unlikely.”

She said issues sometimes arise that affect procedures such as women having multiple pregnancies that were not apparent, double uteri or ectopic pregnancies, in which a fertilized egg attaches itself somewhere other than in a woman’s uterus. But having cases in which another procedure is required does not mean a clinic is offering substandard care, she said.

“This feels like people in power have decided that they don’t want abortion in their state and by golly, they are going to go to whatever lengths, because they have the power, to make sure that providers aren’t able to provide that care,” Burkhart said.

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri health officials say they’re still seeking answers from the state’s only abortion clinic about why patients were unaware that they remained pregnant after what the officials described as “failed surgical abortions.”

The state health department said Friday that officials investigated why the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic and its contracted laboratory confirmed the presence of fetal tissue in biological material extracted during surgical abortions on some women who nevertheless remained pregnant.

Agency Director Dr. Randall Williams says the lab provisionally lost its license but was reaccredited Thursday “based on their willingness to fully comply with the investigation.”

The lab didn’t immediately reply to a Friday request for comment.

The state is still investigating the clinic but has been unable to interview some physicians. Planned Parenthood has said those physicians are not staffers, so the organization can’t force them to cooperate.

By BRIAN GRIMMET

The month of May was an all-timer in Kansas, as sites across the state recorded rain on all but two days. The deluge broke state and local rainfall records as well as setting several high water marks in Kansas’ rivers, streams, and reservoirs.

It rained, it poured, the old man snored

May, June and July are historically Kansas’ wettest months. But this May was by far the wettest on record, which goes back 125 years.

In fact it was the wettest month ever recorded — period. The previous record was set in June 1951.

The prolonged period of rain also helped set several local records.

On May 8, 8.22 inches of rain were measured in the south central Kansas town of Wellington besting the previous record for rainfall in a 24-hour period of 6.52 inches set on June 21, 1942.

In the northeast corner of the state, Horton also set a 24-hour rainfall record: 9.42 inches on May 24.

200 daily records, meaning the most amount of rain to ever fall on a particular day, were also set.

In addition, 19 weather stations in the state recorded monthly totals of more than 20 inches of rain.

Volunteer weather watchers with the Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network station in Rose Hill, just south of Wichita, took top honors, recording more than 30 inches of rain in the month of May.

The rainfall was uneven across the state, but followed typical patterns — drier in the west, wetter in the east. At the extremes, southeast Kansas stations averaged 17 inches of rain for the month, while west central Kansas stations averaged only 5.31 inches, which is still 175% of normal rainfall for the region in May.

Rivers, streams, and reservoirs full up

All of the rain has to go somewhere. With much of the ground already saturated from April showers, most of it ended up in a Kansas river or stream, making pit stops in flood control reservoirs along its way downstream toward the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico.

The amount of water moving through the system was as high as anything the U.S. Geological Survey’s Kansas Water Science Center has ever seen.

Reservoirs including Tuttle Creek Lake, Perry Lake, Milford Lake, and Cheney Lake came near to or exceeded their capacity.

Between April 29 and June 3, 104 of 136 streamgages in the state exceeded flood stage. 15 sites were above flood stage for at least 20 days.

While it’s still too early to assess overall impacts, experts say there will likely be extensive erosion and sedimentation issues from the increased flows.

Rain, rain could come again another day

The first week of June has been much drier than May and has allowed stream and reservoir levels to slowly drop back down. While the drier weather has provided much needed respite for people with flooded fields and basements, the chance for even more flooding persists.

With already saturated ground and reservoirs that are still mostly full, even a normal amount of rain in June could bring back flooding. And the forecast doesn’t offer much comfort.

The National Weather Service June forecast predicts a 50% chance for above normal rain in June.

Brian Grimmett reports on the environment and energy for KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KMUW, Kansas Public Radio, KCUR and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. Follow him on Twitter @briangrimmett or email grimmett (at) kmuw (dot) org.

Coverage of energy and the environment is made possible in part by ITC Great Plains and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.