A Branson, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing hundreds of thousands of images of child pornography over the Internet.

Paul Young, 49, of Branson, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 12 years and seven months in federal prison without parole.

On Feb. 3, 2015, Young pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Law enforcement officers who were conducting an investigation into the distribution of child pornography identified Young’s computer as sharing images of child pornography through a peer-to-peer, file-sharing network. Officers executed a search warrant at Young’s residence and seized two computers and three external hard drives, which contained child pornography.

Investigators discovered more than 600,000 images of child pornography and more than 13,000 videos of child pornography on Young’s computers and hard drives. He also possessed depictions of dead women and children in a folder titled “Necro.”

Young also faces state charges in Taney County Circuit Court for possession of child pornography.

Missouri lawmakers are weighing in on Thursday’s ruling by the US Supreme Court upholding another section of President Obama’s health care overhaul.

On Twitter, Senator Claire McCaskill called on Republicans to start working with Democrats to make it better.

“Supreme Court decision on healthcare law=common sense,” the Missouri Democrat said in a tweet. “Time for Rs to stop the bashing and start working w/us to make it better.”

In a news release, Republican Missouri Senator Roy Blunt said he’d keep fighting to protect Missourians from what he called the president’s “flawed health care plan,” and would work to replace it with “a patient-centered system that lowers costs, increases choices and provides greater access to quality care.”

Blunt said the Affordable Care Act has been “one false promise after another,” and said he’s heard from “countless Missouri workers, seniors, and families who are facing higher costs and fewer choices” due to what he called “the president’s health care takeover.”

Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves also weighed in.

“I strongly disagree with today’s ruling, but it does not change my resolve to fully repeal Obamacare,” Rep. Graves said in a statement. “The president’s health care law has led to higher costs, fewer jobs, and tremendous uncertainty for families and small businesses.”

“What’s worse, Obamacare takes healthcare decisions out of the hands of patients and doctors and leaves them up to bureaucrats in Washington,” Rep. Graves continued. “Regardless of the outcome of this ruling, I will continue working to replace Obamacare with patient-centered, free market reforms that protect Americans from this harmful law.”

(Find more on the ruling here)

A visit to the 20th Reconnaissance Squadron at Whiteman Air Force Base has raised concerns with Senator Claire McCaskill over combat stress for drone pilots.

In a letter to the Air Force, McCaskill addressed the unique stresses felt by Airmen flying combat missions against enemy forces from bases on US soil and then immediately going home to their families without an adequate way to decompress.

“I also want to take this opportunity to note my concern about the effect of Airmen being ‘deployed on station,’” wrote McCaskill, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. “It is unprecedented in warfare for our men and women to fly combat missions, engage and kill our enemies, and a short while later go home to their families.

“A Remotely Piloted Aircraft pilot could be sitting down to a meal with his or her family less than two hours after killing Islamic State or Taliban fighters on the other side of the world. They could be playing with their children shortly after witnessing up close and in graphic detail the effects of a 500-pound bomb or Hellfire missile on a soft target. I am not sure we fully understand the consequences this has for our men and women in uniform, or on their families.”

McCaskill recently visited the 20th Reconnaissance Squadron at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, where she was briefed on operations and had the opportunity to speak with several pilots—some of whom were in their first enlistment and younger than 22 years old. McCaskill also recently questioned the Pentagon’s top Pacific commanders on the importance of addressing the stress levels of these pilots.

McCaskill’s letter continues: “I understand warriors at times feel the need to “decompress” after a stressful mission. Our uniformed men and women in a combat zone have various resources at hand to assist in this. It seems counter intuitive, but personnel at home may have less access to such resources given the strong desire to be home with family as much as possible… I ask that your office inform me and my staff of the Air Force’s plan to deal with this unique form of combat stress. Today’s pilots are carrying the weight of the Air Force’s armed ISR mission on their backs. We owe them the support they need to stay healthy, even at home.”

UNION, Mo. (AP) — Police are investigating after they say a Franklin County homeowner stabbed and killed someone who he said broke into his home, four months after killing another intruder.

The man says he woke up and found Eric M. Frazer holding an ax early Tuesday. Authorities say the homeowner told officers that Frazer broke into his home using his ax and threatened him, and that they had an argument.

Police say Frazer left in the homeowner’s vehicle and was later found in the car in a ditch. He was transported to a hospital where he died.

According to Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke, the homeowner shot and killed an intruder in February. He was not charged in the incident.

Toelke said a report of the current case will be handed over to prosecutors for review.

A married couple from India who themselves are unlawfully in the United States have been arrested on an indictment charging unlawful employment of aliens, document fraud, bank fraud and making false claims of U.S. citizenship.

Authorities arrested Satishkumar “Sam” Patel, 47, and his wife, Daxaben S. Patel, 36, both of McPherson, Kan., who are in federal custody and were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Wichita Wednesday.

The indictment also charges four other immigrants from India who allegedly were employed by the Patels, as well as Nitin B. Patel, 53, a Lawrence, Kan., business partner of Satishkumar Patel’s, and two companies owned by the defendants.

The indictment unsealed Wednesday contains 45 counts arising primarily from the Patels’ operation of a gas station and convenience store in McPherson called Route 56 Express. The indictment also seeks criminal forfeiture of money and property related to the alleged crimes, including the business, real estate, cash, and money held in bank accounts controlled by the Patels. U. S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Weednesday that many of those assets have already been seized.

According to the indictment, Satishkumar and Daxaben Patel unlawfully entered the United States in the 1990s and have never had any lawful status here, but were able to obtain Social Security numbers by claiming to be aliens authorized to work. Since then, the indictment alleges, the Patels have pretended to be U.S. citizens, buying a home in McPherson and engaging in business activities that didn’t result in checks of their citizenship or immigration status.

They obtained Kansas driver’s licenses using their Social Security numbers and swearing they were lawfully in the U.S., according to the indictment, resulting in charges of document fraud and use of a fraudulently obtained Social Security number, all felonies. Sastishkumar and Daxaben Patel also are charged with multiple counts of harboring aliens unlawfully in the United States, both by employing them and by providing housing at the Patel’s McPherson home.

The indictment alleges the Patels were able to obtain a mortgage loan to buy the home by falsely claiming on the mortgage loan application that they were United States citizens. Satishkumar Patel also is charged with wire fraud for allegedly filing false quarterly unemployment insurance reports with the Kansas Department of Labor that listed only one employee for the McPherson gas station when in fact at least four other employees worked there.

The charges against Satishkumar Patel and Nitin B. Patel arise out of their ownership of a liquor store in Lawrence in which Satishkumar’s unlawful status in the U.S. and his ownership of the store allegedly were not properly disclosed to the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. Foreign nationals are not permitted to obtain a retail liquor license in Kansas, and the identities of all owners of liquor stores are required to be disclosed.

Passenger traffic at Kansas City Airport continues to climb.

The City of Kansas City, Mo., Aviation Department reports that total May passenger traffic was up 3.3 percent from 2014 with 939,559 passengers arriving and departing through its gates during the month. During May, passenger boardings at KCI were up 3.8 percent, with a total of 482,130.

“Passenger demand for air travel continues to grow with May marking thirteen consecutive months of year over year traffic growth at KCI,” said Kansas City Director of Aviation Mark VanLoh. “Our airline partners have responded with additional flights and increased capacity on key routes such as Chicago, Seattle, Orlando and New York.”

Air cargo tonnages, which consist of both freight and mail transported by air, for all carriers at KCI were up 1.5 percent in May with a total of 16.1 million pounds handled. Air freight handled at KCI during May amounted to 15.4 million pounds, which represents a year-over-year increase of 0.3 percent. Air mail for May was up 23 percent from May 2014 with 635,923 pounds handled. The all-cargo carriers reported 5 daily departures for May.

A federal jury here today delivered guilty verdicts against four defendants charged with trafficking crack cocaine in the Junction City and Manhattan areas but returned not guilty verdicts for two other defendants.

During trial, prosecutors presented evidence that in late 2012 and early 2013 agents of Kansas Bureau of Investigation and detectives from the Junction City Police Department investigated a large crack cocaine trafficking organization in Junction City and Manhattan.

The group was led by Albert Banks and Anthony Thompson, who sold the drugs to distributors who resold them on the streets.

The jury returned guilty verdicts against:
Albert Dwayne Banks, 33, Junction, City, Kan.
Johnny Lee Ivory, III, 29, Topeka, Kan.
Martye Madabuti Madkins, III, 34, Junction City, Kan.
Anthony Caryle Thompson, 33, Junction City, Kan.

Defendants Zachary Carlyle Patmon and Otis Dean Ponds were acquitted.

Sentencing is set for Sept. 28.

A new study from Stanford University asserts that a swarm of earthquakes in Oklahoma is being caused by the unbridled disposal of saltwater produced in oil wells, and not, as has been asserted, by hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.”

The study’s lead author, Rall Walsh says the state of Kansas can draw the same conclusions.

“The geology doesn’t end at the political border, and the oil and gas production doesn’t end at the political border,” Walsh says. “In our study we do mention that that’s the case and that the earthquakes are happening on the Kansas side of the border.”

“We didn’t have the data to extend the study over the border,” Walsh said in an interview. He says Oklahoma regulators were able to provide monthly figures, whereas Kansas officials could only offer annual data.

Walsh says the study pretty much rules out hydraulic fracturing as a trigger for the quakes. The fracking process involves large volumes of water, sand and some chemicals injected at high pressure into oil wells to stimulate production. But Walsh says the numbers point to disposal and not fracking.

“The hydraulic fracturing wells are not the problem,” Walsh says. “The saltwater disposal wells, we think, are making the earthquake problem.”

“About 95% of the water injected in those wells, if not more, is produced water, and the remainder could be hydraulic fracturing flowback water.”

Oklahoma and Kansas have seen a dramatic increase in earthquakes in the last couple of years, which are increasingly seen as being caused by oil and gas production activities and the disposal of produced water.