ST. LOUIS (AP) – An execution date has been set for next month for a man who killed a south-central Missouri mother and her two children.

Friday, the Missouri Supreme Court set an Oct. 29 execution date for 35-year-old Mark Christeson. It would be the ninth execution in Missouri this year and the 11th since November.

Christeson was sentenced to death for killing 36-year-old Susan Brouk and her children, ages 12 and 9, in February 1998. The bodies of the victims were found in a pond near their rural Vichey home.

Christenson’s cousin, Jesse Carter, was sentenced to life in prison after agreeing to testify against Christeson.

By Bryan Thompson, KPR

TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has received a $970,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aimed at developing strategies to prevent violent deaths. The federal grant will allow Kansas to share homicide and suicide data with the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) for the next five years.

The reporting system delves into not just how these deaths happen, but why. It collects data on homicides, such as the relationship between the victim and the suspect. In cases of suicide, it gathers details on depression, financial stress and relationship problems.

Lori Haskett, who’s in charge of injury prevention at KDHE, said there were more than twice as many suicides as homicides in Kansas in 2010.

“Suicide is a much larger issue. And when there is one suicide, it affects many more people than that one person — many family and friends,” Haskett said. “If we can prevent some of the suicides, it can absolutely make a difference in Kansas.”

There were more than 400 suicides in Kansas in 2010. According to Haskett, the suicide rate is four times greater among Kansas men than women. In fact, one of every 10 deaths among Kansas men younger than 45 is due to suicide.

NVDRS is the only data system for homicide that collects information from sources outside of law enforcement. Using this data, public health practitioners and violence prevention professionals hope to develop tailored prevention and intervention efforts to reduce the number of violent deaths.

“To stop violent deaths, we must first understand all the facts,” Haskett said. “NVDRS will provide a more complete picture of certain types of deaths in Kansas. Knowing the circumstances of violent deaths will help identify the right prevention efforts and put them in place.”

Kansas is being added to the NVDRS as part of CDC’s expansion of the system from 18 to 32 participating states. According to the CDC, the larger number of states will enable greater collection of critical data on violent deaths.

“More than 55,000 Americans died because of homicide or suicide in 2011 — that’s an average of more than six people dying a violent death every hour,” said Daniel M. Sosin, acting director of CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. “We know many of these deaths can be prevented. Participating states will be better able to use state-level data to develop, implement and evaluate prevention and intervention efforts to stop violent deaths.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight, today applauded passage of a bipartisan bill to eliminate unnecessary reports compiled by federal government agencies:

“I hope this bill will help Americans gain a little more confidence that their tax dollars are being spent wisely, by knowing that we’re helping put an end to printing lengthy reports that nobody needs or reads. It’s clear there’s still fat to trim in the federal government, and this is an easy place to start.”

In December 2012, the Office of Management and Budget published a list of Congressionally mandated reports identified as outdated, duplicative, or serving little use. This bill eliminates many of those reports.

McCaskill held a hearing, along with Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, on the Senators’ Let Me Google That For You Act, a bipartisan, bicameral bill to eliminate the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). NTIS attempts to sell government reports to other federal agencies and the public, a once-important service that has now been supplanted by the Internet.  With a money-losing profit model, NTIS has begun selling other services to government agencies, all of which are offered by other federal agencies, often at substantially lower cost.

TOPEKA- A semi was involved in an accident Friday morning in Shawnee County.

The Kansas Department of transportation reported the southbound U.S. 75 to eastbound Interstate 70 ramp is closed to all traffic.

A semi hit the overhead sign truss, damaging it. The truck as well as and strewn cargo are blocking the roadway. Law enforcement and first responders are on scene. The road is expected to be closed until mid afternoon Friday. No injuries are reported.

Eastbound Interstate 70 mainline lanes are fully open to traffic, just the ramp is closed. Southbound U.S. 75 traffic is being detoured onto westbound Interstate70 to Fairlawn Road to turnaround back onto eastbound Interstate 70.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — An administrative law judge has upheld a citation issued to the U.S. Postal Service after a carrier in Missouri died of excessive heat.

The Postal Service had contested the citation when it was issued in 2012 after 57-year-old John Watzlawick of Blue Springs collapsed on his route in Independence. Watzlawick had asked to be relieved from his duties because of the heat the day before he died. The high temperature the day he collapsed was 104 degrees.

An OSHA investigation found that the postal service did not have procedures to address worker concerns during times of excessive heat.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Lawrence police say they have identified several suspects in vandalism that included a racial slur at Lawrence High School’s football stadium.

Police say the vandalism, which was found Thursday, included a racial epithet written with shaving cream. Bleachers were egged and other damage was done at the stadium the day before a rivalry game between Lawrence High School and Lawrence Free State.

6NewsLawrence reports that Sgt. Trent McKinley says no arrests have been made.

Lawrence Superintendent of Schools Rick Doll said no permanent damage was done to the stadium. He says the school is “disgusted” by the racial epithet included in the vandalism.