HICKORY COUNTY – One person died in an accident just after 6:30a.m. Saturday in Hickory County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Nissan Frontier driven by  Charlollette G. Shelton, 76, Hermitage, was westbound on MO. 254 just west of Galmey.

The truck ran off the right side of the road, became airborne, struck a tree and ejected the driver.

Shelton was pronounced dead at the scene. She was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (AP) – A rare fiddle believed to have once been owned by the late country music star Roy Acuff will be exhibited at a Tennessee museum after it was nearly sold at a Goodwill auction earlier.

WBIR-TV reports that owner Lamar Peek, of Missouri, is loaning the fiddle to the Mountain Music Museum in Kingsport, where it will go on display May 1.

Goodwill of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas had put the donated fiddle up for auction in December, but after bidding began, a member of the family that mistakenly donated the fiddle asked to have it returned.

Acuff’s fiddle was handmade by his uncle, Evart Acuff, in August 1945 in Maryville, Tennessee.

The museum’s executive director, Rick Dollar, says the exhibit is intended to capture that history and style.

MILLER COUNTY — A Missouri deputy died in an accident just before 6p.m. Friday in Miller County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Dodge Charger driven by Miller County Deputy Casey L. Shoemate, 26, was southbound on Route Y just north of Rabbit Hill Road with emergency lights and siren activated responding to a 911 call.

The driver attempted to pass another vehicle and stuck a 2017 Toyota 4-Runner driven by Robert M. Levin, 65, Florissant, head-on.  Shoemate was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Phillips Funeral Home.  An emergency medical helicopter transported Levin to University Hospital.

Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of accident, according to the MSHP

By DAN MARGOLIES

An Overland Park hospital that specializes in weight-loss surgery is suing government health officials after they cut off its participation in Medicare.

Blue Valley Hospital (BVH), an acute care facility at 129th Street and Metcalf Avenue, claims to perform 35 percent of all Missouri Medicaid bariatric surgeries, the umbrella term for weight-loss operations. If it loses its Medicare funding and has to shut down, “the residents of Kansas and Missouri will lose access to crucial bariatric procedures, which are necessary to prevent a multitude of life-threatening and life-altering conditions,” the suit alleges.

In order to be covered by Medicare, a hospital must “primarily engage” in providing services to inpatients. State health officials conducted an unannounced survey of BVH last November and found it did not have any inpatients at the time. The officials’ subsequent report cited data provided by the hospital showing about 309 outpatient surgeries over a yearlong period, compared with 146 inpatient surgeries.

Although BVH submitted a plan of correction, Medicare officials found the plan was “aspirational only, did not provide specific dates when BVH would be in compliance and therefore is unacceptable.” Last week, they informed BVH that it did not meet the requirements for participation as a Medicare provider.

In its lawsuit, BVH says federal officials’ decision was “arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of their discretion.” BVH is seeking an injunction to restore the status quo, claiming the hospital’s patients will otherwise suffer substantial and irreparable harm.

The lawsuit says that Medicare reimbursements are a crucial part of BVH’s funding and private insurers might also stop paying if the hospital isn’t Medicare-certified. It names Alex Azar II, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); and Jeff Hinson, the regional administrator of CMS.

Julie Brookhart, a spokeswoman for the regional office of CMS, said the agency does not comment on impending lawsuits.

The hospital’s CEO, Chris Dixon, said that none of CMS’ concerns related to patients’ safety or care. He otherwise declined to comment on CMS’ move or the lawsuit.

Dixon said the hospital was owned by private shareholders, but he declined to identify them. The hospital was incorporated in 2009 by Douglas Palzer, who was its original CEO, and opened in 2010. At the time, it primarily offered weight loss surgery, but Dixon said it has since expanded to other areas.

Palzer previously operated an ambulatory surgical center nearby specializing in weight loss. A 2010 release by the hospital said the practice began to move away from the ambulatory surgical environment and “into the hospital facility to help more of its patients obtain insurance approval.”

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor for The Kansas News Service  You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis prosecutors on Friday charged Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens with a felony for using a charity donor list for his 2016 political campaign, adding to the woes of the first-term Republican governor who responded by calling it another effort to “smear” him.

The charge of tampering with computer data is in addition to an earlier charge alleging Greitens took and transmitted a nonconsensual photo of a partially nude woman with whom he had an extramarital affair in 2015. The new charge accuses Greitens of disclosing the donor list from The Mission Continues in 2015 without permission from the St. Louis-based charity that Greitens founded.

The Associated Press first reported in October 2016 that Greitens’ campaign obtained a list of top donors to The Mission Continues and raised nearly $2 million from donors who were on it.

Greitens has been facing increasing pressure to resign — including from fellow Republicans — since a special House investigative committee’s report released April 11 that detailed allegations from the woman with whom he had the affair. She testified that Greitens restrained, slapped, grabbed, shoved and threatened her during a series of sexual encounters that at times left her crying and afraid.

Greitens has denied committing any crimes and vowed to remain in office, calling the investigations into him a “political witch hunt.” On Friday, he accused Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, a Democrat, of wasting “thousands and thousands of taxpayer dollars.”

“Her original case is falling apart — so today, she’s brought a new one,” Greitens said in a statement. “By now, everyone knows what this is: this prosecutor will use any charge she can to smear me.”

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican whose office has been investigating The Mission Continues, announced Tuesday that he had found evidence to support a felony charge against Greitens, but said it was up to the St. Louis circuit attorney’s office to file charges. That office had to move quickly because the statute of limitations was approaching.

A probable cause statement says Greitens directed a person identified as K.T. to disclose the charity’s donor list to a political fundraiser on April 22, 2015. It doesn’t identify the fundraiser. The initials match those of Krystal Taylor, an employee of the Greitens Group who had previously worked at The Mission Continues.

The court filing says Greitens and K.T. knew the charity donor list had been taken without the permission of the charity and used without its consent. Federal law generally prohibits charities such as The Mission Continues from becoming involved in political campaigns, and the charity has repeatedly denied granting permission for Greitens — its former CEO — to use the list for political purposes.

House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, a Democrat, cited the new charge as additional grounds for lawmakers to try to quickly remove Greitens from office.

“One way or another, Eric Greitens’ short tenure as Missouri governor is about to end. The only person who doesn’t understand that is Eric Greitens,” Beatty said. “Since he will not resign, the House of Representatives must immediately begin impeachment proceedings.”

Republican House Speaker Todd Richardson, who also has called on Greitens to resign, said Thursday that a special House investigatory committee is moving expeditiously toward a recommendation on whether to impeach Greitens. He said a “substantial” number of House Republicans have already signed a petition calling for a special session to consider impeachment.

Hawley’s office has said that its investigation into The Mission Continues began after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in February that it had it had obtained a copy of an email indicating that Taylor had shared the charity donor list in January 2015 with Michael Hafner, who had been working for Greitens’ gubernatorial exploratory committee, and Danny Laub, Greitens’ first campaign manager. But that incident wasn’t cited in the criminal charge, because it was past the three-year statute of limitations.

When the AP first reported about the campaigns’ access to the charity donor list in 2015, Greitens initially denied to the AP that he had used the donor list for his campaign. But in April 2017, Greitens agreed to pay a $100 fine for failing to report that his gubernatorial campaign had, in fact, received the charity’s donor list. Greitens’ campaign filed amended finance reports referring to the list as an in-kind contribution valued at $600 and received March 1, 2015, from Laub.

Greitens’ attorney, Edward L. Dowd Jr., said the new charge “makes no sense at all,” noting that it was Greitens who built the charity and raised millions of dollars for it through “an extraordinary act of public service.”

“Now he’s being accused of stealing an email list from an organization he built? Give me a break,” Dowd said in a statement. “Not only did he create this list donor by donor, friend by friend, but the Mission Continues still has the list.”

The charge intensifies the feud between Greitens and Gardner. He has called her a “reckless liberal prosecutor” for leading the investigation that resulted in the invasion-of-privacy charge. His attorneys, in court hearings and filings, have painted a picture of an incompetent prosecutor who rather than working with police to investigate Greitens hired a private investigator who bungled the investigation, hid evidence and lied to the court.

Gardner’s office began investigating after KMOV-TV in St. Louis first reported on the affair on Jan. 10, the day Greitens was giving his annual State of the State speech. The governor acknowledged the affair but denied allegations that he had threatened to release a compromising photo of the woman if she disclosed the relationship. His trial in that case is scheduled to begin May 14.

Greitens, a former Navy SEAL officer and Rhodes Scholar, and Hawley both won election in 2016 as maverick political outsiders. Hawley is now running to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, and Democrats have been running TV ads linking Hawley to Greitens. Democrats have criticized Hawley’s earlier investigation that found no wrongdoing in Greitens’ use of a text message-destroying app, and claimed he stepped up his investigation of the charity only after it became politically beneficial.

In the Legislature, meanwhile, Senate leaders are considering holding off on sending bills to Greitens amid the multiple investigations. Republican Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard and Democratic Minority Floor Leader Gina Walsh have not made a final decision, but Walsh has said she doesn’t believe any bills signed by Greitens should become law.

___

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Missouri Legislature has approved a bill that makes several changes to local elections.

The proposal approved Thursday would allow voters to request absentee ballots by email, removes a barrier to run as an independent candidate and changes the amount of time candidates would have to get their names on ballots during special elections.

Proponents say the changes will improve state elections.

Opponents say some provisions could make it harder for people to participate in the democratic process.

Bills sent to Gov. Eric Greitens can become law if he signs them or without his signature after a specific amount of time.

FILLMORE COUNTY —Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) seized more than 1,850 pounds of marijuana and other drugs during a traffic stop on Highway 81 in Fillmore County.

Just before 6p.m. Wednesday, a trooper observed a 2017 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van driving on the shoulder Geneva, Nebraska, approximately 180 miles west of St. Joseph.

During the traffic stop, an NSP K9 detected the presence of a controlled substance inside the van, according to a media release.

Last night near Geneva, NSP Troopers seized more than 1,800 LBs of marijuana and other drugs. That’s nearly a full ton.

Estimated street value is more than $5 million.

Great work, @NSP_TroopC! pic.twitter.com/FfwZTQnbwi

— NEStatePatrol (@NEStatePatrol) April 19, 2018

Troopers then searched the van and located 1,853 pounds of marijuana, 8,779 doses of hash oil vape pens, and 46 pounds of loose hash wax. The street value of the drugs is estimated at more than $5 million.

The driver, Michael Cardis, 39, of Arvada, Colorado, was arrested on multiple charges, including possession of more than one pound of marijuana, possession with intent to deliver, and no Drug Tax stamp. Cardis was lodged in Fillmore County Jail.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Lab tests on an unknown substance sent to a Missouri lawmaker suggest it was pesticide.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Mike O’Connell said Friday that lab results suggested that the green, granular substance leaking from an envelope may have been a pesticide sold over the counter to consumers.

A Cole County hazmat team was called Thursday after a staff member for Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, Democrat of University City, spotted the envelope. It was not immediately clear if it was intended as a threat, although Chappelle-Nadal said she has received death threats since posting online in August that she hoped for President Donald Trump’s assassination. She later apologized.

Eight staff members were examined and released, and offices have since been re-opened.

There will not be additional lab tests.

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Leaders of the Missouri Senate say early indications are that an unknown green substance sent to a lawmaker at the Statehouse poses no danger, but investigators are taking extreme caution.

Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat from University City, said the envelope was addressed to her, but had no return address. The envelope was spotted Thursday morning by one of her assistants.

Three firefighters in protective gear spent about ten minutes in and near Chappelle-Nadal’s office and left with several sealed plastic bags.

Before the firefighters entered the offices, a statement from Senate leaders said several staff members had come into contact with the envelope but law enforcement believed the substance posed no threat to the public.