JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Latest on the investigations of Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (all times local):
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Attorneys for Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens are renewing a request to have the judge, not a jury, decide the felony invasion of privacy case facing the Republican governor.
A court filing late Thursday cites negative publicity that has “destroyed any chance of obtaining a fair trial.”
The charge stems from an extramarital affair in 2015, before Greitens was elected. He has admitted to the affair but denied criminal wrongdoing.
Greitens is accused of taking an unauthorized photo of the woman while she was partially nude, blindfolded and bound.
In addition to negative news coverage, the motion criticizes the Missouri House for releasing reports so close to the trial. Jury selection begins May 10 and the trial is scheduled to start May 14.
Judge Rex Burlison in March denied Greitens’ first request for a bench trial.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – A University of Missouri student has been arrested in Texas in a shooting that wounded a man in a bar parking lot.
Hillegas-photo Ward County Texas
Twenty-one-year-old Miles Leighton Hillegas was arrested Wednesday in Ward County, Texas. He’s charged with first-degree assault and two other felonies in the April 26 shooting outside the Black and Gold Tavern in Columbia, Missouri. He’s awaiting extradition to Missouri, where he’ll be booked on a $500,000 cash-only bond. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.
Columbia police wrote in court records that the victim got into a confrontation with Hillegas while asking people to leave after the bar closed. The victim told police Hillegas began swinging a sledge hammer, tried to run him over with a vehicle and then shot him in the thigh.
MARION COUNTY – A Missouri man died in an accident just after 1a.m. Friday in Marion County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a southbound semi hit Jeffrey W. Hutcherson, 43, Bethel, as he ran northbound onto U.S. 61 north of County Road 57 five miles north of Hannibal.
Hutcherson was pronounced dead at the scene.
The semi driver Alan R. Wilson, 63, Miami, Missouri, was not injured.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A university says it’s looking into whether grant money was misused after a former political aide for Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens says he got paid from a grant to promote one of Greitens’ books.
Washington University spokeswoman Julie Flory says the St. Louis-based school takes accountability seriously. She says the school is reviewing issues related to a Greitens’ grant after the release this week of a House investigatory report.
The report included testimony from former Greitens’ political aide Danny Laub. Laub said he was paid simultaneously by Greitens and by a Templeton Foundation grant administered through Washington University.
Laub testified that he and Greitens had discussed ways to leverage the 2015 release of his book “Resilience” to help raise money and create support for his gubernatorial campaign.
SHAWNEE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on weapons charges.
Gayland -photo Shawnee Co.
On Thursday evening, police conducted a traffic stop in the 500 Block of SE Branner in Topeka, according to Lt. Manual Munoz. Officers determined the driver and a passenger had open containers of alcohol in the vehicle. They also located a loaded handgun that had been reported stolen, according to Munoz.
Officers determined that 34-year-old Robert Taylor Gayland had been in possession of the gun. He was taken into custody and booked on charges of felon in possession of a firearm, possession of meth and numerous traffic violations, according to Munoz.
What a wonderful way to end the work week. Light northwest breeze and afternoon highs in the mid to upper 70s! Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: Sunny, with a high near 77. Northwest wind around 10 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 51. West northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the evening.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 83. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the afternoon.
Saturday Night: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 a.m. Partly cloudy, with a low around 57. South southwest wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Sunday: A slight chance of showers before 1 p.m. Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. West wind 5 to 11 mph becoming north northeast in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 52.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 73.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 54.
Tuesday: A chance of showers after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 77. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tuesday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Wednesday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 78. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 57.
LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City man who was shot and wounded by police has been charged with ramming several patrol cars with a stolen vehicle.
Greenhalgh- photo Johnson Co.
Twenty-year-old Taylor Joseph Greenhalgh, of Lenexa, Kansas, is charged with five felonies, including aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and felony theft. Bond is set at $250,000. Prosecution also filed a motion to revoke his probation in an unrelated theft case. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.
Police said in a news release that officers surrounded a vehicle that had been reported as stolen Tuesday night in a Lenexa parking lot. The release says the driver was shot when he speed off and hit the patrol cars. The wounded driver then led officers on a 3 ½ mile pursuit before surrendering.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – Authorities are investigating a deadly Columbia shooting.
Google map
Police said in a news release that 43-year-old Robert Eugene Jennings, of Columbia, was shot multiple times Thursday in the northern part of the city. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The release says detectives are working to identify and capture the suspect or suspects.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri lawmakers have passed legislation to change requirements for the state’s A+ college scholarship.
Rep. Hansen
House members voted 136-5 Thursday to pass the measure .
The bill would take away a requirement that students attend a qualifying high school in the state for at least three years immediately prior to graduation in order to be eligible for the scholarship. If it becomes law, students would only be required to enroll in a qualified high school for three years at some point before graduating.
Frankford Republican Rep. Jim Hansen says his bill is needed for students who move, take a leave for medical reasons or attend foreign exchange programs that interrupt their schooling.
Students who meet grade-point average, volunteer and attendance requirements can receive a scholarship for two years of community college tuition.
The Kansas Legislature has narrowly approved a controversial measure allowing faith-based adoption and foster care agencies in Kansas to be reimbursed by the state for placement services, even if they turn away prospective parents who don’t fit their religious beliefs.
FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
The bill that includes the provisions constituting the “Adoption Protection Act” passed the House shortly before midnight Thursday with the bare minimum 63 votes in favor with 58 against. The Senate followed suit a couple hours later on a 24-15 vote. In a statement Gov. Jeff Colyer said he would sign it.
Opponents argued the religious protections would open the door to state-sponsored discrimination, particularly against same-sex couples, but also single people and minorities.
“Christian slaveholders used the Bible and their strongly or sincerely held religious beliefs to justify slavery.” said Rep. Barbara Ballard, a Democrat from Lawrence.
Proponents contend the measure will keep more adoption agencies in Kansas at a time when more than 7,000 children are awaiting permanent homes. Department For Children And Families Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel endorsed the measure.
“Some might allege this bill would perpetuate discrimination, and nothing could be further from the truth,” said Rep. Susan Humphries, the Wichita Republican who sponsored the measure. “This bill simply ensures that all providers can stay in the field and continue to serve children, unafraid of government censorship”.
Humphries described the religious protections as “preemptive”, enabling faith-based placement agencies to weather lawsuits and withstand changes in state leadership.
Catholic Charities, which operates in Kansas, testified in support of the measure. The organization stopped offering adoption services in Massachusetts to avoid having to facilitate adoptions by same-sex couples there.
The Family Policy Alliance also lobbied for the Kansas bill, and it won a last-minute endorsement from Kansans For Life, the leading anti-abortion group in the state.
“Passage of the Adoption Protection Act means that more, rather than fewer, groups, will be able to assist in facilitating adoption, and that will result in fewer babies being aborted,” Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life said in a released statement.
The Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group, showed up at the statehouse last week to speak against the religious exemption, and took out full-page ads in state newspapers reading, “Keep Kansas Open To All.” TechNet, a network of large technology companies including Apple and Google, sent a letter to lawmakers expressing opposition to the bill.
“If we become a state that is shown to discriminate, how easy is it going to be for us to go out and recruit new talent, and retain them once we get them here ?” said NEJC president Deb Settle. “If they’re originally from Kansas, how are we going to keep them here, if we’re a state that’s showing discrimination?”
The debate threatened to torpedo long-needed updates to Kansas adoption law contained in the underlying bill – updates including a change to say “married couples” can adopt, rather than “husband and wife.” Earlier this session, the House rejected the original version of the religious protection measure, subsequently added to the adoption bill as an amendment.
The bill squeaked through with a compromise clarifying that the religious exemptions would only apply to foster care and adoption services, and not anything else that a faith-based agency might provide, like health care or housing.
For Rep. John Carmichael, the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, the refined language didn’t make the bill any more defensible.
“If you allow people to use state dollars in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs, for the purpose of discriminating against another religion … based on sincerely held religious beliefs, that shreds the purpose of the first amendment,” Carmichael said. “I cannot countenance that.”
At present, and under the bill, child placement agencies that refuse to place children with same-sex couples, single parents, or non-Christians, still get state reimbursement for the services they provide on behalf of a DCF contractor.
The state’s two case management contractors that handle most foster care and adoption placements – currently KVC Kansas and St. Francis Community Services – are excluded from the protections. Those contractors must serve all prospective foster parents and adoptive families referred to them by under DCF’s “no eject, no reject” policy.
