JIM SALTER, Associated Press

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Police and about 200 protesters clashed again in Ferguson, Missouri after another tense day in the St. Louis suburb.

Several hundred people congregated on a busy Ferguson street Friday night as protests continued nearly a week after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer.

It was peaceful until about midnight, when a large crowd broke into the convenience mart that Brown allegedly robbed the day he was killed.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson said some in the crowd began throwing rocks and other objects at police. Police used tear gas to disburse the crowd but no arrests were made.

One officer was hurt, but information on his injuries was not immediately available. No protesters were hurt.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A 19-year-old Lawrence man will go to prison for raping a 13-year-old girl with whom he said he had consensual sex.

Mackenzie Lottinville was accused of having sex with the girl last October after sneaking her into the trailer where he lived with his parents. The Lawrence Journal-World reports he pleaded guilty in June to one count of raping a child younger than 14.

6NewsLawrence reports a Douglas County judge on Friday sentenced Lottinville to nearly 13 years in prison.

Lottinville told the judge that he had simply been hoping to make a new friend and “have some fun.” He also said the sex was consensual but that he understood he was guilty.

Lottinville worked as a night custodian in Lawrence schools from late January until his arrest in February.

 

WESTMORELAND, Kan. (AP) — A man who was wounded by police after firing shots at a Kansas motel has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The Manhattan Mercury reports 34-year-old Dustin Monroe, of Wamego, told the judge at Thursday’s proceeding that he was ashamed of himself.

Monroe pleaded no contest in May to charges including aggravated assault on an officer.

Police were called to the Quality Inn in Manhattan last Dec. 10 and found Monroe outside, firing a shotgun into the air and at the building.

Officers shot Monroe several times after he fired at them. No one else was injured.

A defense witness said Thursday that Monroe had been suffering from a drug-related delusion that he was being pursued by the “Mexican mafia” and was firing shots to attract police attention.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – The Kansas City Council has approved city subsidies and rezoning necessary for Cerner Corp.’s 10-year, $4.45 billion expansion plan.

The incentives and zoning passed Thursday will allow the health care information technology company to build a sprawling office campus on 290 acres in south Kansas City. The campus will have 3.7 million square feet of office space, with room for 16,000 employees.

The council approved $1.7 billion in incentives for the campus. The Kansas City Star reports the project will include shops, restaurants, a hotel, parking, a conference and training facility and an employee health clinic.

Cerner says site preparation is expected to start this year and the first office building will be ready for occupants by the end of 2016.

MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — An investigation into a potentially dangerous blunder at a government lab found that a scientist kept silent about the accident and revealed it only after other employees noticed something fishy.

Officials on Friday released the results of an internal probe into the accident, which happened in January at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

A deadly strain of bird flu was accidentally mixed with a tamer strain. The mix was sent to another CDC lab in Atlanta and to an outside lab in Athens, Georgia.

No one was sickened by bird flu. But unsuspecting scientists worked with the viral mix for months before it was discovered.

CDC officials have called this the most worrisome in a series of lab safety problems at the government agency.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the convictions and sentence of a northeast Kansas girl who was 13 when she was charged with murder during a botched carjacking.

Justices unanimously agreed Friday that the district court was justified in prosecuting Keaira Brown as an adult for felony murder and attempted aggravated robbery in the 2008 killing of Scott Sappington Jr. The 16-year-old victim died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Sappington had just dropped off his younger siblings at his grandmother’s house and was on his way to work when he was killed.

Brown, of Kansas City, Kan., will be eligible for parole after serving 20 years.

The Supreme Court held the mandatory minimum sentence could be constitutionally applied to a person under 18 years of age.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the felony murder conviction of a southwest Kansas man in the 2009 death of his girlfriend’s baby daughter.

The justices on Friday rejected all arguments raised by Gabriel De La Torre on appeal.

At his first trial, a jury convicted the Dodge City man of abusing 11-month-old Joselyn Hernandez but deadlocked on the murder charge. A jury at a second trial convicted him of felony murder.

Authorities said the baby had more than 40 bruises on her body when De La Torre brought her to a hospital on Sept. 6, 2009, because she had stopped breathing. Her mother was at work at the time.

De La Torre testified the girl was injured when he tripped while carrying her and fell on top of her.

 

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Police reports say that the unarmed 18-year-old fatally shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri, and his friend were suspects in a convenience store robbery on the day of the shooting.

Reports released Friday by Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson say Michael Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, took a box of cigars from a store in Ferguson the morning of Aug. 9. Jackson says the officer who shot Brown encountered the men after reports of the robbery circulated on police radio.

VALLEY FALLS, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Board of Regents gave preliminary approval to a $38.6 million budget for specific projects.

However, the Regents on Thursday rejected a request for $23.8 million to increase funding for post-secondary school to cover inflation.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports  the board will finalize the recommendations in September and forward it to Gov. Sam Brownback to consider while he devises a budget to present to the Legislature.

The list included top priorities from each of the state’s post-secondary schools, including $10 million to build a technical institute in Dodge City as part of a proposed merger with Fort Hays, $5 million for ongoing funding of a drug and discovery institute at the University of Kansas, and $5 million to renovate and expand Seaton Hall at Kansas State University.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — American Royal officials asked a Kansas City Council committee to recommend tearing down Kemper Arena, rather than renovating it.

American Royal wants to replace the little-used arena with a smaller building for equestrian-related and other events. The proposal conflicts with one offered by a developer, who wants to renovate Kemper for use as a youth sports complex.

Royal officials told the committee Thursday that they plan to spend $60 million to demolish the 40-year-old Kemper and erect a new building.

The Kansas City Star reports the Royal has a long-term lease that requires the city to provide space for its events through 2045.

The committee hopes to make a recommendation to the full city council next month, after a public hearing on Aug. 25.