COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri inmate has been charged with punching a detention officer who was attempting to bring him a lunch tray.
James -photo Boone County
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that 28-year-old Kelsey James was charged Tuesday with two counts of first-degree assault and misdemeanor property damage.
Court documents say James was jailed on a charge of domestic assault when he punched the detention officer while lunch was being served Tuesday afternoon in the Boone County Jail. The officer’s injuries required several stitches. James also is accused of punching another officer who came to help.
No attorney is listed for James in online court records. He is being held without the possibility of bond. Court records say he poses a danger to the victim and community and is a flight risk.
Photo courtesy Northwest Missouri State University
MARYVILLE, Mo. – Designated the state of Missouri’s arboretum in 1993, the Northwest Missouri State University campus is home to some of the oldest and most majestic trees in the region – and now it’s accredited.
According to a press release, the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program and the Morton Arboretum recently granted the Missouri Arboretum at Northwest a Level II accreditation for achieving standards and professional practices outlined by its global initiative. The ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program recognizes arboreta at various levels of development, capacity and professionalism.
“The trees provide welcome shade on hot summer days and a break from the strong, cold winds of winter,” said Pat Ward, an arborist who joined Northwest’s staff as arboretum director in February. “In the spring, the flowering trees brighten the day and in the fall, the leaf color is breathtaking. The importance of these trees has not gone unnoticed.”
For decades, the Missouri Arboretum has served as an outdoor classroom where students have learned plant identification, proper tree care, growth patterns and types of reproduction as well as the impacts of plant material on the environment.
“Some of our trees are more than 100 years old and we have a number of trees growing outside the normal range for their species,” Ward said. “Our accreditation with ArbNet opens new doors for us as it facilitates the sharing of knowledge, experience, resources and even plant material with other arboreta.”
Ward said the accreditation supports the goals of Northwest’s Arboretum Committee to add to the University’s tree collection and increase education programs and research opportunities for students as well as the general public.
Before Northwest’s founding in 1905, 85 acres of the 330-acre campus were part of a tree farm and nursery established by Thomas Gaunt in 1857. As the University set its own roots, fast-growing, short-lived trees and slow-growing, long-lived trees were planted. The Gaunt home, built during the 1870s, now serves as a residence for the University president and his family.
The Northwest campus, which also has earned a designation as a Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation, is home to more than 1,800 trees and more than 150 species cultivated from throughout the world. Three trails – the Gaunt Trail, Tower Trail and Chautauqua Trail – also traverse the campus to help visitors learn about the trees and get an up-close view of them.
SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) – Federal officials are investigating after a black U.S. postal employee from Missouri received a racist threat.
Post office in Sedalia-google image
The Sedalia Democrat reports that the Sedalia postal employee posted a photo of the note on her Facebook page Tuesday night. It includes a racial slur and was written on the back of an envelope.
Jeff Arney, of the Office of the Inspector General, says the incident is being investigated as first-degree harassment under Missouri’s criminal code. He says the office is working to determine if the threat was made or left by a postal employee.
Because the investigation is ongoing, Arney couldn’t say much else about the status of the case.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate and House Agriculture Committee leadership met Thursday to discuss the 2018 Farm Bill, prior to full Conference Committee discussions.
Photo courtesy Senator Pat Roberts
Agriculture Committee Chairmen Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Rep. K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, and Ranking Members Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., released the following statement after the meeting:
“We look forward to working together to get a Farm Bill finished as quickly as possible, and we’re committed to finding solutions to resolve the differences. We must keep working to provide American farmers and families with the certainty and predictability they need and deserve.”
A full meeting of the Conference Committee including Missouri 4th District Representative Vickie Hartzler will be announced at a later date. Congress leaves for their August vacation Friday.
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) – A search of three ponds in Joplin yielded no new evidence in the case of a 14-year-old Joplin girl who disappeared 26 years ago.
Tracy Pickett-courtesy image
Joplin police and Missouri Department of Natural Resources employees spent about 3.5 hours Wednesday searching the ponds with sonar equipment and ground-penetrating radar.
Police Capt. Larry Swinehart said searchers found no clues to help solve the disappearance of Tracy Pickett, who has been missing since August 1992.
The Joplin Globe reports searchers were acting on new information recently received from a relative of a suspect, who has since died.
Swinehart said the next step will be draining two of the ponds when it gets cooler and searching them by hand.
Pickett disappeared after accepting a ride home from an ex-convict, Lowell Billy.
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JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) – Authorities are searching three ponds in northwest Joplin for the remains of a girl who disappeared in 1992 and is believed to have been murdered.
Joplin police and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources were using sonar equipment to search the ponds for evidence of 14-year-old Tracy Pickett. She disappeared after going to Webb City on Aug. 11, 1992, to stay overnight with a girlfriend.
The Joplin Globe reports a deceased suspect in the girl’s disappearance formerly lived near the ponds.
Police were told the girl accepted a ride home from her friend’s house from the suspect, ex-convict Lowell Billy. He claimed he dropped her off in downtown Joplin but she was never seen again.
No one has ever been charged in the girl’s disappearance.
TOPEKA — One person was injured in an accident just after 6:30a.m. Thursday in Shawnee County.
Security camera image of the accident courtesy WIBW TV
A Subaru SUV driven by 82-year-old Peggy Turner, Topeka, was attempting to park in front of Banjo’s Café, 5824 SW Topeka Boulevard, according to Sgt. Eric Frey.
The vehicle accelerated over the parking curb and through the window of the restaurant.
Joyce Kasson, 80, was dining inside and was struck by the vehicle as it entered. She was transported to a local hospital with injuries that were later determined to be non-life threatening.
The driver of the vehicle, as well as all other diners refused medical treatment at the scene. Preliminary investigation shows the driver unintentionally pressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake when stopping.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Missouri county that includes Kansas City is the latest municipality to sue opioid makers, distributors and pharmacies over what it calls the “worst man-made epidemic in modern medical history.”
Jackson County says in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court that the epidemic has burdened the county with opioid-related hospitalizations, emergency medical responses to overdoses, babies born in withdrawal, incarcerations and child welfare cases. It says more than 300 people died of opioid overdose deaths in the county from 2013 to 2017.
The suit names 33 defendants, alleging that they used deceptive marketing and evaded regulations on selling controlled substances. The first defendant listed is Purdue Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Oxycontin.
Purdue has denied claims in lawsuits nationwide over the scourge of opioid abuse, saying it will defend itself.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say three suburban Kansas City police officers have resigned and more than 200 traffic tickets dismissed after an internal investigation into false seat belt citations.
Overland Park, Kansas, police Chief Frank Donchez Jr. says the officers overlooked traffic violations like speeding and instead cited motorists for not wearing seat belts when they’d actually been buckled up. He says he doesn’t know what motivated the officers, suggesting that perhaps they were “cutting someone a break.”
He says the officers turned off their dash camera audio, possibly to hide their actions.
Not all of the 200 citations were false. But Donchez says all of the seat belt tickets by those officers have been dismissed. Some $4,000 has been refunded to motorists who had already paid.
It is going to feel a bit more like early Fall to end the week. Cooler temperatures will move into the area today with a chance for showers and a few thunderstorms this morning for the KC Metro and areas south of the Missouri River. Highs today will be in the low to mid 80s. These cooler temperatures will continue into the weekend as will the chance of showers and thunderstorms. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: A chance of showers and thunderstorms between 11 a.m. and noon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. North wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 61. North wind 5 to 9 mph.
Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Light and variable wind becoming northwest around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Friday Night: A chance of showers after 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. North wind around 5 mph becoming east after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Saturday: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 4 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. Southeast wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 79.
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 80.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 60.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 84.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 61.
SIKESTON, Mo. (AP) — An Arkansas man has been convicted of participating in the killing of a Kansas man in Missouri.
Robinson, Coleman and Hamilton- photos Sikeston Police
Ronnie Carl Robinson Sr., of Little Rock, Arkansas, was found guilty this week of second-degree murder in the death of Larry Weaver, of Pittsburg.
Weaver’s body was found July 2, 2016, in a cotton field about seven miles from a hotel where he was staying in Sikeston, Missouri.
Surveillance video shows three suspects driving away that night with Weaver’s Harley Davidson motorcycle. Investigators said Weaver came out of the hotel room and jumped onto the truck’s trailer to try and prevent the theft. Witnesses said Weaver and Robinson later fought and Weaver was left in the field.
Larenzle Coleman and his wife, Elsie Coleman-Hamilton, are awaiting trial on murder charges.
