An Atchison, Kan. man is awaiting extradition after allegedly threatening Buchanan County authorities when his truck died after a brief chase.

Christopher Gray, 34 of Atchison is charged in Buchanan County with a felony for fugitive from out of state.

Col. Bill Puett with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday shortly before 11 a.m. deputies got a call about a possible stolen trailer on 59 Highway and responded to the area of the 13000 block of 59.

“While en-route they got a second call of an individual slumped over the wheel of a pickup truck matching the description,” Puett said. “The person in the truck took off and tried to hide.”

Puett said the truck had some mechanical issues and came to a stop a short while later in the area of 70th road.  He said when deputies tried to make contact with him Gray allegedly blocked the windows and threatened himself and the officers creating a situation.  The Special Response Team and negotiators were called in.  Puett said Gray was taken into custody without incident and no one was injured.

Atchison, Kan. Sheriff Jack Laurie said earlier this week that a trailer stolen out of Atchison was allegedly recovered in Buchanan County.

Gray is currently in custody in the Buchanan County Jail awaiting extradition back to Kansas on a warrant.  The investigation is ongoing.

Missouri Western State University’s Theatre Season began last week with a spelling bee. 

The Department of Theatre, Cinema and Dance at Missouri Western will present “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” again this weekend. 

Missouri Western Associate Professor of Theatre Tee Quillin said the performance is a musical comedy, but also features some bittersweet moments as it’s about growing up. 

“This is a fun show, it’s literally the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” Quillin said. “It’s a spelling bee, a bunch of kids that get up and we’re going to see the different things that go on inside their heads while they’re up there going through everything that they go through for the spelling bee.” 

Kelsey Garber plays Olive in the show. Garber said her character is shy and loves words. 

“She likes reading the dictionary and likes rhyming and anagrams and things like that, that’s something she takes comfort in,” Garber said. “As the show goes on, you kind of get to see her come out of that shell a little bit and grow into a more confident and mature adult. Most of the characters go through a journey similar to that, that’s kind of the foundation of the show is watching these kids go from these very young immature kids to becoming something bigger and more mature.” 

Other performances that will be part of Missouri Western’s 2016-2017 theatre season include Blur, December 1-4, Macbeth, February 24-26 and March 2-4 and The Wedding Singer, April 21-23 and 27-29. 

The second weekend of performances of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” take place at 7:30 each night on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Potter Hall Theatre on the Missouri Western campus.

Tickets can be purchased at the door or by clicking here.

Northwest Missouri State University collected enough units of blood at its recent drive to win a competition and impact 1,176 lives. 

According to a news release from the university, the Student Senate blood drive October 11-13 in cooperation with the Community Blood Center resulted in 392 units of blood collected, which won a competition with Missouri Western State University to collect the most blood. 

“Every day over 600 blood products leave Community Blood Center going to hospitals to treat the needs of patients,” David Graham, executive director of the Community Blood Center, said. “We could not meet this need and fulfill our mission without the generous support of volunteer blood donors and the hard work and dedication of individuals and organizations who sponsor blood drives. I am always grateful for the support we receive from area colleges and universities, but as a Northwest graduate I am especially proud of the productive blood drives consistently produced there.” 

Northwest outpaced its daily totals from last year’s fall blood drive, collecting more than 100 units on each day of the blood drive. 

In September, for the second consecutive year, the Community Blood Center recognized Northwest and its Student Senate as the top university among participating institutions in the area. In 2015, Northwest donors provided 768 units of blood, more than 530 more than the second-place university. 

Blood from volunteer donors assists cancer patients recovering from the rigors of chemotherapy, car crash victims needing blood for emergency surgeries or mothers needing blood as the result of traumatic birth deliveries. It is estimated three lives are saved with every unit collected.