KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A homeless Kansas City man has been charged with robbery and resisting arrest after police say he stole a squad car, led officers on a high-speed chase and abandoned the vehicle on a rural stretch of Interstate 35 in northern Missouri.

Joshua Boyd, 30, was still on the run Friday after stealing the Kansas City police cruiser from a gas station around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. He was charged with theft in Jackson County on Thursday.

An ambulance was called to the scene, but Boyd instead jumped into the patrol car and sped off, police said. An officer who tried to stop him from leaving by holding the gear shifter and trying to remove the key managed to get out of the way and was not hurt.

A pursuit hit speeds of over 100 mph on Broadway in the heart of the city before officers lost sight of him, police said.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol found the squad car alongside the interstate at 4 a.m. Wednesday near Pattonsburg, a tiny town of about 350 residents an hour north of Kansas City. State troopers and Daviess County sheriff’s deputies have continued patrolling the area in case Boyd surfaces, but so far they have no idea of his whereabouts.

“We’ve gotten zero on this thing,” said Jake Angle, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol. “We haven’t gotten a call. We haven’t gotten a tip. There’s been nothing.”

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has made State Court of Appeals judge Caleb Stegall his first appointment to the Kansas Supreme Court.

Brownback made the announcement Friday morning during a news conference at the Statehouse.

The other finalists were state Court of Appeals judge Karen Arnold-Burger and state District Judge Merlin Wheeler. Stegall will replace former Justice Nancy Moritz, who left to join the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Stegall was Brownback’s chief counsel before he joined the appeals court in January. Arnold-Burger has served on that court since 2011.

Wheeler is chief judge of the 5th Judicial District of Lyon and Chase counties.

Brownback’s appointee to the Supreme Court will not require state Senate confirmation.

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, issued the following statement in response to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) inspector general report released this week on operations at the Phoenix VA Health Care System:

“The latest findings by the VA inspector general simply confirm what we have known all along – systemic dysfunction and lack of leadership at the VA caused harm to our nation’s veterans. Along with the IG report, the VA released new statistics about the change in direction of the VA; unfortunately this information raises more questions than it answers, and makes is clear that the failures were preventable.

“If it was possible to reduce the new enrollee appointment request list by more than 60,000 veterans in two-and-a-half months, there is little excuse for the list ever reaching that level in the first place. Although the reductions in the Electronic Wait List are a step in the right direction, the fact that it was not addressed until now is absolutely unacceptable. If, in one month, the VA can schedule 200,000 new appointments, why had these same veterans already waited several months simply to see a doctor? The short time frame in which these issues were addressed indicates these same problems were allowed to grow for years without greater efforts being made to fix them.

“Although the VA has taken many positive actions in recent months to address the issues plaguing veterans’ health care, it is important to target the root of these problems. This should not, and cannot, ever happen again. The Senate and House have taken action and called on the VA to live up to its commitment to care for those who have sacrificed for our country. And while H.R. 3220 offers hope to veterans by including some of the most significant reforms that have been made within the VA in decades, Congress now has the even tougher job overseeing the implementation of these vital changes at the VA. Veterans have made great sacrifices for our nation, and I will continue working for a Department of Veterans Affairs that is worthy of their service.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Jackson County jury has recommended new, lower sentences for a man convicted of two murders in Kansas City.

Twenty-three-year-old Eria Doss was earlier sentenced to four life sentences plus 200 years for the April 2009 deaths of Andrew Eli and Justin Burdreau during a robbery at Eli’s apartment.

On Wednesday, the jury recommended 30 years each on two convictions of second-degree murder, 10 years for a first-degree robbery conviction and three years on three counts of armed criminal action.

He will be sentenced Sept. 26. Prosecutors will recommend the sentences run consecutively.

Two co-defendants are already serving prison sentences.

United States Attorney’s Office

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that an Eldon, Mo., business owner has been indicted by a federal grand jury for possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute.

Earl Dewayne Witt, 52, of Eldon, was charged in an indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Jefferson City on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014. The indictment was unsealed and made public today at Witt’s initial court appearance.

Witt is the owner of U Wrench It, located at 3035 Hwy. 52, in Eldon. The federal indictment alleges that he was in possession of marijuana, which he intended to distribute, on July 26, 2014.

Dickinson cautioned that the charge contained in this indictment is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart J. Zander. It was investigated by Mid-Missouri Drug Task Force.