A police chase through parts of Saint Joseph Tuesday night did not involve Saint Joseph officers. Deputies from the Doniphan County Sheriff’s Department pursued a stolen vehicle suspect across the river and into Saint Joseph shortly before 11 pm.
The chase ended when officers lost sight of the vehicle. No arrests were made and the suspect is still at large.
A St Joseph man accused of having sex with a girl under the age of six pleaded not guilty in his first court appearance Tuesday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled next month for Terry Lynn Matson on one count of Statutory Sodomy. According to court documents, the victim told investigators the sexual contact occurred in 2014 and continued into early this year.
Mr Matson has pleaded guilty to charges of Non-Support at least four times in Buchanan County. According to the court affidavit, he has a conviction for Battery in another state.
He appeared via video conferencing in the courtroom of Buchanan County Associate Circuit Judge Rebecca Spencer Tuesday morning.
Judge Spencer accepted his plead of not guilty and scheduled the matter for the preliminary hearing April 1. Matson remains in custody in lieu of $25,000 cash bond.
A new judge has been assigned in a Clinton County murder case involving a man accused of killing his wife.
Adam Baker is charged with Second Degree Murder and Armed Criminal Action in connection with the shooting death of his wife Holly Baker February 25.
Mr Baker was arrested and charged the same day, but the following day Clinton County Associate Circuit Judge Teresa Bingham recused herself.
A preliminary hearing scheduled March 5 was cancelled, and the Supreme Court of Missouri was asked to assign a new judge.
Last week, the Supreme Court assigned Eighth Circuit Associate Judge Kevin Lee Walden out of Carroll County to hear the matter.
So far, Judge Walden has not rescheduled the hearing. Mr Baker remains in custody in lieu of $75,000 bond.
The Blue Bell Creameries have recalled another series of its ice cream products due to an ongoing outbreak of a deadly disease.
Three people in Kansas have died because of an outbreak of Listeriosis. The outbreak was tracked to a hospital in Kansas that offered ice cream products from the Blue Bell Creameries. This is the second time Blue Bell has been linked to the spread of the Listeria organism. The hospital has quit serving all Blue Bell products, and the creamery has now recalled several of its products.
It should be noted that none of the products are sold in retail locations. They are only distributed to institutional settings, including hospitals, nursing homes and schools.
Blue Bell has recalled the following 3-ounce ice cream cups with pull tab lids:
*Ice Cream Cup Chocolate: No UPC – SKU #453
*Ice Cream Cup Strawberry: No UPC – SKU #452
*Ice Cream Cup Vanilla: No UPC – SKU #451
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment with assistance from the Kansas Department of Agriculture collected environmental samples from the kitchen area of the hospital affected by the listeriosis outbreak and collected containers from remaining Blue Bell ice cream products in the hospital. The hospital fully cooperated with the investigation. None of the environmental samples from the kitchen tested positive for Listeria. However, one sample taken from an unopened Blue Bell 3-ounce single serving ice cream cup tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes bacteria at the KDA Laboratory. That product was made at the Blue Bell Creameries facility in Broken Arrow, Okla., which was not part of the initial listeriosis investigation.
More information about the specific products recalled can be found on the Blue Bell website: http://cdn.bluebell.com/BB_withdrawal.
Officials say this is an ongoing investigation. Listeriosis primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems and Kansas health officials urge people in those groups not to consume any Blue Bell products until more details are known.
Symptoms of Listeria include fever, muscle aches, diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. Symptoms begin from three to 70 days after consuming the bacteria. Listeria cannot be spread from person to person.
The hospital affected by the Listeria outbreak stopped serving all Blue Bell products at the direction of KDHE on March 9.
On March 13, KDHE announced five people in Kansas had become ill due to an outbreak of Listeria associated with Blue Bell Creameries products. Three of those people later died and Listeria was a contributing factor to death.
Anyone who believes they may have become ill with listeriosis should contact their health care provider.
More information about Listeria can be found on the CDC website www.cdc.gov/listeria and on the KDHE website www.kdheks.gov/listeria.
The Kansas City Chiefs will get four compensatory draft picks under the NFL’s policy of rewarding teams that lose more or better players than they gain through free agency. The Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks will also get four picks.
A total of 32 compensatory choices in the upcoming 2015 NFL Draft have been awarded to 14 teams, the NFL announced Monday at the NFL Annual Meeting in Arizona.
According to a league announcement, the number of picks a team receives equals the net loss of compensatory free agents up to a maximum of four.
The 2015 NFL Draft takes place April 30 through May 2 and will be televised live on NFL Network.
Here are the teams receiving compensatory picks this year, with the round and overall number of each pick:
Kansas City Chiefs: 3rd round (98), 5th round (172), 5th round (173), 6th round (217)
Denver Broncos: 4th round (133), 6th round (208), 7th round (250), 7th round (251)
Seattle Seahawks: 4th round (134), 5th round (170), 6th round (209), 6th round (214)
Baltimore Ravens: 4th round (136), 5th round (171), 5th round (175)
Houston Texans: 5th round (174), 6th round (211), 6th round (216)
New England Patriots: 3rd round (97), 7th round (253)
Cincinnati Bengals: 3rd round (99), 4th round (135)
San Francisco 49ers: 4th round (132), 7th round (254)
Carolina Panthers: 5th round (169), 6th round (213)
Green Bay Packers: 6th round (210), 6th round (212)
St. Louis Rams: 6th round (215)
Pittsburgh Steelers: 7th round (252)
Indianapolis Colts: 7th round (255)
Arizona Cardinals: 7th round (256)
Fire Inspectors for the St Joseph Fire Department say some leaves got too close to a meat smoker behind a house Sunday, sparking a fire that caused extensive damage when it spread to the porch.
The fire broke out Sunday afternoon at 1124 Corby Street. There were no injuries.
Officials say the family is getting assistance from the American Red Cross.
The Board of Governors at Missouri Western State University on Monday accept a bid for renovation of football practice fields used during the Kansas City Chiefs Summer Training Camp. They also approved a contingency fund to cover any unforeseen costs.
In a telephone poll Monday, the board accepted the low bid of $527,685 from MDH Turf of Shawnee, Kansas to renovate the practice fields. They also approved a contingency budget of 10% or $52,768 for any possible additional costs.
The project includes the replacement of the existing sod, regrading and expanding the fields, irrigation system improvements, a new sidewalk in front of the fan bleachers on the east side of the fields, additional electrical power to the fields and the addition of kicking nets behind the goalposts.
A total of four bids were received for the base project and three alternates, ranging from MDH Turf’s low bid to a high of $820,883.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Georgia couple is suing a Kansas organization that once helped run the state’s privatized foster care system, claiming that the company failed to inform them that one of the three children they adopted had abusive tendencies.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that in 2012, a couple adopted three brothers after being approached by TFI Family Services.
The couple alleges that one of the brothers, a 7-year-old, exhibited inappropriate behavior toward other children. After obtaining the boy’s medical records through a pediatrician, the couple learned that the child had been in therapy in mental health facilities, and had a history of attempting to molest other children. The couple eventually had the boy removed from their home.
TFI has denied all allegations of misrepresenting the boy’s history during the adoption process.
The Associated Press is not identifying the couple involved in the lawsuit to avoid identifying the child.
A St Joseph man is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday on a charge of Statutory Sodomy for allegedly having sex with a child under the age of six.
Terry Matson, 54, is being held in the Buchanan County Jail under $25,000 bond.
According to court documents, the victim said sexual contact happened in 2014 and continued into this year.
Online court documents show Mr Matson has been convicted and sentenced to jail time on several occasions for non-support. Investigators say he has failed to appear in court at least five times.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback’s appointment of a veteran Kansas Highway Patrol officer as the agency’s superintendent has been endorsed by a state Senate committee.
The Federal and State Affairs Committee voted unanimously Monday to recommend the confirmation of Maj. Mark Bruce as the patrol’s leader. The action sends Bruce’s appointment to the full Senate.
Bruce has served 25 years with the patrol and was named to its top job in January after Superintendent Ernest Garcia retired.
Meanwhile, another key Brownback appointee faces a confirmation hearing Tuesday.
The Public Health and Welfare Committee plans to consider Susan Mosier’s appointment as secretary of the Department of Health and Environment.
She’s held the job since former Secretary Robert Moser’s resignation in November and previously ran KDHE’s Division of Health Care Finance.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Senate committees are planning to hold confirmation hearings this week for two of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s major appointees.
The Federal and State Affairs Committee was meeting Monday to consider the appointment of Kansas Highway Patrol Superintendent Mark Bruce.
Bruce is a 25-year patrol veteran elevated by Brownback to its top job in January after Superintendent Ernest Garcia retired.
The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee scheduled a hearing Tuesday for Susan Mosier, who has been serving as secretary of the Department of Health and Environment since the resignation of then-Secretary Robert Moser at the end of November.
She ran KDHE’s Division of Health Care Finance before being named secretary.
Both Mosier and Bruce are expected to be confirmed by the full, GOP-dominated Senate.
