SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Crews battling a fire in north Springfield discovered the bodies of a man and a woman inside the house.
Police spokeswoman Lisa Cox said fire crews arrived at the house about 6:30 a.m. Thursday after witnesses reported the fire.
Cox says the cause of death has not been determined.
Springfield fire spokeswoman Cara Erwin says the house was significantly damaged.
No further information was immediately released.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander says he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2016.
Kander is the first Democrat to launch a challenge to Republican Sen. Roy Blunt. He announced his candidacy Thursday with a written statement and a video.
Kander was elected as secretary of state in 2012 and previously served in the Missouri House. He also served eight years in the Army, including duty in Afghanistan.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas’s Student Rights Committee has approved a resolution encouraging the Kansas Board of Regents to adopt a policy that ensures that students expelled for sexual misconduct at one state school cannot enroll at another one without the new school being notified of their past.
The Lawrence Journal World reports that the committee suggested to the Regents that nonacademic misconduct should be added to the transcripts of expelled or suspended students. The resolution also calls for those students to be prohibited from enrolling at another Regents school until the chief of student affairs officers at both schools approve the enrollment in writing.
Under the current policy when university students are expelled for nonacademic misconduct, it is noted on their transcript. There is no specification of what kind of misconduct occurred.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis County woman wants to go to Mars, and she’s inching closer to that opportunity.
KMOX Radio reports that 30-year-old Maggie Duckworth of Bridgeton found out this week that she is among 100 people still in the running for a permanent trip to Mars.
The Dutch non-profit Mars One is seeking 24 people to live and start a human colony on the Red Planet. Duckworth submitted her application video and remains enthusiastic about the opportunity.
The goal for Mars One is to begin launching six teams of four people each on the one-way trip in 2024. It isn’t clear when the final 24 will be chosen.
COLUMBIA (AP) – A Boone County judge has finally accepted a man’s guilty plea on the third try to an April armed robbery.
Circuit Judge Gary Oxenhandler in January threw out Derrick O. Webster’s first guilty plea because of confusion about whether Webster used a real gun to steal cash from a Columbia business.
Oxenhandler later tossed another guilty plea by Webster, because Webster said he thought his lawyer was ineffective.
On Wednesday, Oxenhandler accepted Webster’s guilty plea because Webster said he felt his public defender had adequately represented him.
Webster pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree robbery. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports the judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison.
Two other charges against Webster were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea.
LATHROP – A Missouri man died in an accident just before 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Clinton County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Toyota Highlander driven by Silas T. Buckland, 70, Jameson, was northbound on Interstate 35 four miles south of Lathrop.
The vehicle travelled into the median and the front undercarriage struck a gravel crossover causing it to become airborne.
The vehicle then struck the ground in the median and rolled. The driver was ejected through driver’s side window.
Buckland was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.
The MSHP reported he was not wearing a seat belt.
NEVADA, Mo. (AP) – An all-women college in the western Missouri city of Nevada has a new president.
Cottey College’s board has announced that Jann Rudd Weitzel replaces Doris Tegart, who resigned for personal reasons.
Weitzel has served as provost at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, near St. Louis. During her tenure, she oversaw Lindenwood’s development of new academic programs, including the first 12 degree programs for a new full-service campus in Belleville, Illinois.
Cottey College is an independent, liberal arts and sciences college owned by the global, 238,000-member P.E.O. Sisterhood. The college has a residential student capacity of 350.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder wants more money for doing his job.
The Republican officeholder is asking legislators to put money in the budget for a daily expense allowance when he is working in Jefferson City.
Kinder lives in Cape Girardeau and maintains a second home in Jefferson City.
He receives an annual salary of about $86,000. But Kinder says he’s experienced “gradual impoverishment” during his decade in office.
His salary is less than other statewide executive officials, but well more than the $36,000 that legislators receive.
One of the lieutenant governor’s duties is to preside over the Senate. Kinder wants to receive the same allowance that legislators get, which is $103 a day. He’s seeking a per diem whenever he’s in Jefferson City, not just when the Legislature meets.
CAMERON – Two people were injured in an accident just after 10 a.m. on Wednesday in DeKalb County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2009 Chevy passenger vehicle driven by Anthony S. Miles, 27, Cameron, was traveling on U.S. 36 four miles west of Cameron. The vehicle was in the crossover between east and westbound. The vehicle failed to yield and pulled into the lane of a 2007 Toyota driven by Suzan E. Stephens, 26, Cameron.
The Toyota struck the Chevy on the front passenger side.
Miles was transported to Cameron Regional Medical Center.
Stephens was transported to Mosaic Life Care with serious injuries.
The MSHP reported both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the collision.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators have been urged to reject Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal to increase alcohol taxes by beer and liquor industry lobbyists and even one of his former budget directors.
The House Taxation Committee had a hearing Wednesday on Brownback’s proposal to raise the state’s tax on packaged liquor, wine and beer to 12 percent from 8 percent.
The proposal is included in a bill that also would boost tobacco taxes, raising the cigarette tax to $2.29 a pack from 79 cents.
Former Budget Director Steve Anderson says the state should look at cutting spending first. Liquor and beer industry lobbyists say the alcohol tax increase would hurt businesses and consumers.
House Speaker Ray Merrick said before the hearing that he opposes the tax increases.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick says he opposes Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposals to increase tobacco and alcohol taxes to help close a projected budget shortfall.
Merrick said Wednesday that he opposes all tax increases. The Stilwell Republican added that lawmakers should look to trim spending first before they consider higher taxes.
The speaker made his comments as the House Taxation Committee opened two days of hearings on a bill containing the governor’s proposals. They’re a key part of Brownback’s plan for eliminating a projected shortfall of nearly $600 million in the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
The bill would boost the cigarette tax to $2.29 a pack from 79 cents and raise the tax on alcoholic beverages to 12 percent from 8 percent.
