OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A lawsuit alleges that a boy sexually assaulted a girl at a suburban Kansas City middle school after school officials failed to report previous allegations against the boy to law enforcement.
The girl’s father is suing the Shawnee Mission School District. The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court alleges that the girl was assaulted “entirely against her will” earlier this year in a study hall classroom at Westridge Middle School.
The suit says the boy’s school records contain reports from three other female students about similar assaults and that none of them were reported to authorities.
Several current and former school and district officials are named as defendants. The district didn’t immediately return a phone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
HARRISONVILLE, Mo. (AP) – A 29-year-old Kansas City man who is charged in the deaths of two women who disappeared nearly a decade apart has pleaded not guilty.
Kylr Yust entered the plea Tuesday. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of abandoning a corpse in the deaths of 21-year-old Jessica Runions, of Raymore, and 17-year-old Kara Kopetsky, of Belton.
Runions disappeared in September 2016 after leaving a party with Yust. Kopetsky disappeared in May 2007, days after taking out an order of protection against Yust.
The two women’s remains were found in April in a wooded area south of Belton in rural Cass County.
Yust is being held in Cass County on $1 million bond. His next hearing date is set for Dec. 28.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Douglas County authorities say they do not suspect foul play was involved in the death of a man whose body was found in a burning car at a campsite near Clinton Lake.
Sgt. Kristen Channel told The Lawrence Journal-World this week that detectives have concluded their investigation.
The body was found March 7 after a burning car was reported at the Rockhaven Campground. Firefighters found the body after the fire was extinguished.
At the time, the park was closed for the season.
Channel says the body has been identified as a 45-year-old man from Independence, Missouri.
BRANSON, Mo. (AP) – A concrete truck driver with a history of driving drunk has pleaded guilty in a deadly crash near Branson.
Taney County prosecutor Jeff Merrell says 57-year-old Michael Dean Glidewell, of Branson, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 23. He faces up to 22 years in prison.
Merrell says Glidewell admitted last Thursday to first-degree involuntary manslaughter. On Nov. 30, 2016, he lost control of the concrete truck on a curve and flipped onto the car Talat Kopurtas was driving, killing the 34-year-old. The probable cause statement says Glidewel had alcohol in his system.
Glidewell also pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated five days before the deadly crash. He was charged as an aggravated offender in the earlier case because he has a history of drunken driving convictions.
The Worth County Public Water District will shut off water Wednesday while crews preform maintenance work.
According to Bobbie Gladstone, a Clerk with the water district, the outage will begin at 8 a.m. and could last for most of the day. The outage will impact the southeast section of the district along State Highway AA and State Highway C.
When water is turned back on, Gladstone said residents will be under a 48 hour boil advisory.
Democrat Paul Davis has raised $400,000 for his campaign for Kansas’ 2nd District seat in Congress. FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Democrat Paul Davis is off to a strong fundraising start in his bid to capture the 2nd District congressional seat being vacated by Republican Lynn Jenkins, who is not seeking a sixth term.
Davis recently announced that he had raised $400,000 despite getting a late start.
“We have a long way to go in this campaign, but Kansans of all political stripes rallied together in an incredible outpouring of grassroots support,” Davis said in a media release issued by his campaign. “I am deeply humbled by how many of my fellow Kansans chipped in to help build our early momentum.”
Davis, a former minority leader in the Kansas House, lost a 2014 bid to unseat Republican Gov. Sam Brownback but carried the 2nd District in that race.
Kelly Standley, a resident of St. Paul and former chair of the Neosho County Democratic Party, is challenging Davis for the nomination. His campaign has not yet reported fundraising numbers.
Only one of the four candidates running for the Republican nomination in the 2nd District has posted updated totals.
State Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, a conservative Republican from Leavenworth, raised $100,800 in the March 1 to June 30 reporting period but has not released totals for the most recent period, which started July 1 and ended Sept. 30.
However, Fitzgerald sent an urgent fundraising message to supporters last week urging them to help him “stop Davis.”
“This does not look good for Kansas,” Fitzgerald said. “Davis is expecting even more funding from the DNC and other radical leftist groups.”
The 2nd District is one of two congressional districts in Kansas being targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as part of an effort to regain control of the U.S. House. The 3rd District seat held by four-term Republican Kevin Yoder is the other.
More than 99 percent of the money Davis raised is from individual contributors, most of them Kansans giving $100 or less, according to the media release from his campaign.
In addition to Fitzgerald and Fields, state Sen. Caryn Tyson, from Parker, and former Kansas Secretary of Commerce Antonio Soave are running for the GOP nomination.
Soave’s campaign appears to be off to a rough start. The Kansas City Star reportedin late September that Brownback forced Soave out of his Cabinet after learning that a former business partner had sued him for misuse of funds.
A St. Joseph man is accused of breaking into a woman’s home uninvited after sending her a sexually charged message.
Ronald Traas, 63 is charged in Buchanan County with a felony of second-degree burglary.
According to court documents, on September 17, Traas is accused of sending his neighbor a Facebook message stating what he wanted to do to her sexually. Det. Loehner with the St. Joseph Police Department reported in court documents, that the defendant and the victim had never had any kind of romantic relationship. Loehner said the message placed the woman in fear.
On Thursday, Loehner said the victim reported that she observed Traas in her home, uninvited and unwelcome.
“She was in the shower and upon leaving the bathroom observed the defendant. The victim was frightened and immediately called 911,” Loehner said. “The defendant fled the scene and sent a message…wanting to know if she was lonely.”
Police said pornography was located on the defendant’s computer. Also, authorities said women’s underwear was found in his home, including some of the victim’s underwear.
Traas is due in court Friday for an arraignment. He’s currently out on $10,000 bail.
The last day for voters in Buchanan County to register to vote in the November Special Election is Wednesday.
According to the Buchanan County Clerk’s Office, voters need to be registered by October 11. The Clerk’s office will be open Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. according to the county’s website. Anyone needing information regarding their voter registration can contact the Clerk’s office at (816) 271-1412.
The only item up for consideration on the Nov. 7 ballot is the St. Joseph School District Levy proposal. The proposition reads as follows:
“In order to replace and offset State funding reductions; meet the operating expenses of the District; continue existing programs; address instructional diverse student needs; retain and attract qualified staff; reduce class sizes; maintain its facilities; increase student safety; increase early childhood education opportunities; fund a 1:1 technology initiative; and continue installing and renovating heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems at the three High School gymnasiums and auditoriums and two remaining Middle Schools, shall the Board of Education of the St. Joseph School District, Missouri, be authorized to increase the operating tax levy ceiling to $4.2562 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation and to eliminate fully the Proposition C Sales Tax Rollback in its operating levy under Section 164.013 R.S.Mo.? (If approved, this proposition would fully eliminate the Proposition C Sales Tax Rollback and is estimated to increase the District’s adjusted operating levy from $3.0636, currently, to $4.2562 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation in the 2018 Tax Year and to be applied to the assessed valuation for each year thereafter.)”
CLICK HERE for the Buchanan County Clerk’s website.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Greene County officials have arrested two suspects in connection with a fatal shooting in Springfield.
The sheriff’s office says 28-year-old Tyler Rambo was found dead Saturday at a mobile home park southwest of Springfield. Investigators say he was killed in a drive-by shooting.
The Greene County online jail log indicates suspect Dameon Clinghan, 24, was booked for first-degree murder and and Hannah Prugger, 24 was booked for second-degree murder.
A probable cause statement says the Clinghan told police Rambo hadn’t paid some money he was owed.
Business owners wanting to sell their business or entrepreneurs interested in buying one can utilize a new website through Missouri Western State University to do so.
According to a news release from Western, the Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE) in the school’s Craig School of Business recently launched a website that connects existing business owners wanting to sell their business with prospective buyers.
The Business SUCCESSion web page, csb-cfe.missouriwestern.edu/biz-opps, is essentially a bulletin board of businesses available for sale, according to Annette Weeks, director of the CFE.
“It’s part of the CFE’s mission to promote succession planning and keep small businesses open while making opportunities available for new entrepreneurs,” Weeks said. “Small businesses are integral to our region, and retaining a successful business is an important part of that.”
The CFE, which opened in 2014, trains, mentors and supports business owners and entrepreneurs in the St. Joseph area and beyond. Since it opened, the CFE has provided free consulting services to more than 200 new and existing entrepreneurs.
To learn more or to set up a confidential, one-on-one consultation, email Weeks at aweeks@missouriwestern.edu or call the CFE at (816) 271-4283.
