SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Springfield Public Schools has agreed to pay $425,000 to a settle a lawsuit alleging that a teen was critically injured in a mud pit because staff failed to properly supervise students at a back-to-school event.

The district denied any wrongdoing in the settlement with Megan Taylor. She was a 17-year-old cheerleader in August 2010 when she was hurt while attending “How Night,” an annual Student Council sponsored tradition at the school.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The sentencing for a Kansas home day care worker who was convicted in the death of a 9-month-old baby has been pushed back.

Sentencing for 44-year-old Carrody Buchhorn has been rescheduled for Jan. 18.

Two days have been set aside beforehand for her attorneys to make their case that Buchhorn deserves a new trial.

She got new attorneys after she was convicted in July of unintentionally but recklessly causing the death of Oliver “Ollie” Ortiz in September 2016 in Eudora. Her attorneys are challenging the testimony of the coroner, who ruled that the baby’s death was a homicide.

Buchhorn, who was on house arrest prior to her conviction, is now jailed without bond pending sentencing. She faces nine to 10 years in prison.

CAMDEN COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 9:30p.m. Tuesday in Camden County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1990 Toyota pickup driven by Cecil B. Gideon, 68, Stoutland, was northbound on Route T just north of North Davis Road.

The pickup crossed the centerline, ran off the left side of the road and struck a tree.

Gideon was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Allee-Hollman-Howe Funeral Home in Camdenton.  He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.

KANSAS CITY — A controversial billboard is receiving a lot of attention in Kansas City.

This week, Learn The Risk, identified on their website as a public awareness campaign educating on vaccine ingredients and risk, launched a billboard campaign in five cities around the country. One billboard on Blue Parkway in Kansas City honors a boy who the organization says died just days after receiving routine childhood vaccines.

The organization’s social media page says “Nothing will ever bring Nicholas back, but we can make sure he didn’t die in vain. Nicholas will save lives. He’s a true hero.”

In response, the Kansas City Health Department is reminding residents on the importance of immunizations. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment also has a Facebook page devoted to immunizations, vaccine education,  access programs, recommendations and promotion of safe vaccines to prevent illness.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a body has been found in the Missouri River near a Kansas City casino.

Police say that people aboard a barge spotted the body Tuesday afternoon floating in the river near the Ameristar Casino. Police are investigating the death as a homicide for now. The name of the victim wasn’t immediately released.

Anyone with information is asked to call police.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Joplin, Mo., woman was convicted by a federal trial jury Tuesday of illegally possessing a firearm, according to the United States Attorney.

Tracy Arlene Smith, 47, was found guilty of one count of being a felon and an unlawful user of cocaine and methamphetamine in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

According to evidence introduced during the trial, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Smith’s residence located in Joplin, on June 22, 2017.  During the execution of the search warrant, members of the Ozark Drug Enforcement Team seized Smith’s purse, which contained a CDM Prod. Inc., .22-caliber pistol, loaded with six rounds of .22 caliber ammunition. Officers also seized drug paraphernalia.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who is an unlawful user of controlled substances, or who has been convicted of a felony, to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Smith, who was on parole at the time she committed the offense, has five prior felony convictions for forgery, four prior felony convictions for possession of a controlled substance, and prior felony convictions for sale of a controlled substance (on three separate occasions) and assault.

Under federal statutes, Smith is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., deliberated for approximately 30 minutes before returning the guilty verdict to U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool, ending a trial that began Monday, Sept. 24, 2018.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A man who abruptly resigned from the Shawnee City Council after being placed on leave from his teaching job has been arrested and charged with having sexual relations with a student.

Thirty-three-year-old Justin Adrian was arrested on Tuesday, after he was charged on Friday with unlawful sexual relations with a student.

Adrian left his teaching position at Olathe East High School and resigned from the Shawnee City Council earlier this month.

Fox4KC reports court documents say the alleged incident occurred with an Olathe East student older than 16 at the school Sept. 7.

He was a social studies teacher at the high school.

Adrian’s next court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Screenshots of text messages show former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ staff used a message-deleting app on their state-issued phones to discuss government business with each other and people outside the governor’s office, according to a published report.

The Kansas City Star reported Tuesday that it obtained copies of screenshots that Greitens’ legal team turned over to a Cole County court as part of a lawsuit over Greitens’ staff’s use of the Confide app. The lawsuit claims the governor’s staff used Confide to circumvent the state’s open records laws. Although Greitens resigned June 1, his legal team continues to try to get the lawsuit dismissed.

David Steelman, a member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators whose wife was in Greitens’ cabinet, told The Star last week that he remembers venting to a friend at a dinner about Grietens, who had been governor for less than a year at the time.

“I think I said to (his friend), ‘Who’s (Greitens) listening to?’” Steelman recalled in an interview. “And he said ‘just get on Confide and you’ll see. if you want to know who is running government, there they are right there.’”

As part of the lawsuit, the governor’s office earlier this year turned over screenshots of text messages Greitens’ staff sent on Confide, which destroyed messages after they are read. The attorneys for the plaintiffs argue Missouri residents deserve to know what happened during Greitens’ tenure to prevent a similar problem in the future.

One exchange documented in the screenshots occurred last November between Steelman and Greitens’ former deputy chief of staff, Nick Maddux. Steelman sent Maddux a text message asking for a phone call and Maddux replied, “I’m jammed up until four. Just shot you a message on Confide.”

Earlier this year, The Star reported on another screenshot showing three Greitens’ staffers discussing using Confide to share talking points on one of the governor’s policy priorities. Other screenshots show numerous staffers texting colleagues to notify them that they had sent a message using Confide, or inviting them to download the app.