KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A former Garmin International employee has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for stealing GPS devices from the Olathe-based company.

The office of the U.S. Attorney for Kansas said in a release Wednesday that 32-year-old Terrence M. Heathington was sentenced Tuesday to two years and nine months in federal prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud. Heathington, who worked in Garmin International’s Olathe warehouse, also has to pay more than $2 million in restitution.

The indictment filed last year accused him of causing about 165 cases of stolen GPS devices valued at more than $1 million to be shipped in 2008 to his home and those of his friends in Atlanta.

He and his co-conspirators were accused of selling the devices on eBay and elsewhere.

 

WASHINGTON – Ahead of a crucial vote in Congress, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill has sent a letter to Missouri employers that directly benefit from resources made available through the federal Export-Import Bank, asking them to share their stories of how that funding has allowed them to create jobs in Missouri and compete in the global marketplace.

McCaskill sent the letter to companies that have grown their businesses with the help of Export-Import Bank resources. Without Congressional action, the authorization for the Export-Import Bank is set to expire on September 30.

“I am writing to you and other Missouri business leaders, because your company directly benefited from financing provided by the U.S. Export-Import Bank,” McCaskill wrote. “The Export-Import Bank gives U.S. companies a competitive edge and helps to level the playing field in an increasingly competitive global market … without reauthorization, other companies in Missouri and across the nation will lack this important tool that helps the U.S. create jobs and compete in the global market.”

The Export-Import Bank supports American jobs by helping to finance foreign sales of U.S. products through loan guarantees, direct loans, and credit insurance, all at no cost to taxpayers. Since 2009, the Export-Import Bank has supported $188 billion in U.S. exports and 1.2 million American jobs. The Export-Import Bank has supported $1 billion in exports from 96 Missouri companies since 2007. Nearly 85 percent of businesses supported by the Export-Import Bank are small and medium-sized businesses.

McCaskill continued in the letter: “I strongly support the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank to help the thousands of Missourians who benefit from the Export-Import Bank. This month, the Senate is expected to take up legislation to extend the authorization of the Export-Import Bank. Without similar action from the House of Representatives, the authorization for the Export-Import Bank will expire, and U.S. businesses will lose this valuable resource. We cannot let this happen.”

McCaskill wrote to 91 Missouri companies, including: LMC Industries, Inc., Continental Commercial Products, LLC, Hunter Engineering Company, American Piping Products, Mark Andy, Inc., Mecs, Inc., Sulfa Treat Company, M-I, LLC, Ellington Industrial Supply, Inc., Lumber Specialists, Inc., North American Natural Resources, Inc., Continental Manufacturing Company, Flex-O-Lite, Inc., International Ingredient Corporation, Koller Enterprises, Inc., Semi-bulk Systems, Inc., Biomerieux, Inc., Everwear, Inc., Synergetics USA, Inc., True Fitness Technology Inc., BBC Industries Inc., American Railcar Industries Inc., Chemical Piping Systems, Inc., Patriot Machine, Inc., Bunge Mextrade LLC., Camie Campbell, Inc., Carboline Company, Children’s Factory, Inc., Duke Manufacturing Co., Emerson Electric (Us) Holding Corporation, Filtration Technologies, LLC. Global Systems Inc., The Gund Company, Inc., Hager, C. & Sons Hinge Manufacturing Company, Intoximeters Inc., Lange-Stegmann Company, M K T Manufacturing Inc., Marquip Ward United Inc., Packaging Concepts Inc., Ribus, Inc., Roeslein & Associates, Inc., S.M. Arnold, Incorporated, Sales Resource Inc., Smith & Loveless Inc., Eastman Chemical Company (formerly Solutia Inc.), Steretaxis, Inc., Terrasource Global Corporation, Treloar Enterprises International Inc., Weber Industries Inc., Willert Home Products, Inc., Williams Patent Crusher and Pulverizer Co., Inc., Zisser Tire Company Incorporated, Elemental Holdings, Ace Manufacturing & Parts Co., Spec-Tech Industrial Electrics, Inc., Fike Corporations, Tarmac, Inc., Texas Merchandising, Inc., Mike Brown Enterprises, Inc., Garden City Plastics Equipment And Supply Co Inc., Black & Veatch, Gavilon (formerly Debruce Feed Ingredients, Inc.), Honeywell International, Inc., Junk Architects Pc, Labconco Corporation, Polymeric Imaging, Inc., Southwest Technologies, Inc., Stuppy, Incorporated, Sustainable Community Development, LLC, Western Forms, Inc., Woodcredit, Inc. Dba Timberking, Sterling Deaerator Co, Sub-Technologies, Inc. /Dba/Sub-Tech USA, Moore Fans LLC, ProEnergy Holdings, Inc., K & W Popcorn Inc., 3d Corporate Solutions, LLC, Custom Metalcraft, Inc., Executive Coach Builders, Inc., International Division, Inc., Paul Mueller Company, and Tuthill Corporation, Glen Martin Engineering, Inc., Hubbell Power Systems, Inc., Environmental Dynamics International, Addison Biological Laboratory, Inc., Butler, Ja Companies Inc. (Prime Performance Nutrition), Environmental Sampling Technologies, Wireco Worldgroup Inc., Agxplore International Inc. Si03, Inc., and American Ramp Company.

McCaskill’s letter appears below:

I am writing to you and other Missouri business leaders, because your company directly benefited from financing provided by the U.S. Export-Import Bank. The Export-Import Bank gives U.S. companies a competitive edge and helps to level the playing field in an increasingly competitive global market. The authorization for the Export-Import Bank is set to expire on September 30, 2014, unless action is taken by Congress. Without reauthorization, other companies in Missouri and across the nation will lack this important tool that helps the U.S. create jobs and compete in the global market.

The Export-Import Bank supports U.S. jobs by helping to finance foreign sales of U.S. products through loan guarantees, direct loans, and credit insurance, all at no cost to taxpayers. Since 2009, the Export-Import Bank has supported $188 billion in U.S. exports and 1.2 million American jobs. Nearly $1 billion in export financing support has assisted Missouri companies. But the Export-Import Bank has not just helped a few large multinational companies. Nearly 85 percent of businesses supported by the Export-Import Bank are small and medium-sized businesses.

I strongly support the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank to help the thousands of Missourians who benefit from the Export-Import Bank. This month, the Senate is expected to take up legislation to extend the authorization of the Export-Import Bank. Without similar action from the House of Representatives, the authorization for the Export-Import Bank will expire, and U.S. businesses will lose this valuable resource. We cannot let this happen.

As a beneficiary of Export-Import Bank financing, I have two requests for you today. First, that you share with my office, how Export-Import Bank financing has benefited your business, so that I can continue to advocate for the reauthorization and passage of the legislation. Second, that you also share your story with others in your community. Without this reauthorization, other American companies will not have access to this important tool to grow their business, create jobs, and compete globally.

Thank you for your time and attention. If you would like to share your story, please contact my Washington office by emailing exports@mccaskill.senate.gov. I look forward to finding new ways that we can help grow American businesses in the future.

Sincerely.

Claire McCaskill

U.S. Senator

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka official says United Airlines will end flights between the Kansas capital and Chicago on Sept. 2.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports  that Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority President Eric Johnson made the announcement Wednesday. There have been twice-daily flights since January.

Topeka will have no regularly scheduled commercial flights. Before the United service started, the last commercial service was to Las Vegas through Allegiant Air in 2007.

United reported that Topeka passengers filled 49 percent of the available seats, compared with 86 percent for all of United’s flights to Chicago.

Also, the Topeka airport authority burned through the $1.95 million in state and federal funds it received to guarantee United’s revenues by the end of May, forcing the airline to cover shortfalls after that.

 

The Associated Press

Since Texas became the first state to use lethal injection as its execution method on Dec. 7, 1982, some problems have been reported during the process nationwide. Those include delays in finding suitable veins, needles becoming clogged or disengaged, and reactions from inmates who appeared to be under stress. Some examples:

— July 23, 2014. Joseph Rudolph Wood gasped and snorted for more than an hour and a half after his execution began in Arizona, prompting his lawyers to file an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court demanding that it be stopped. Wood gasped more than 600 times before he was pronounced dead, one hour and 57 minutes after the execution started. Defense lawyer Dale Baich called it a botched execution that should have taken 10 minutes.

— April 29, 2014. Clayton Lockett’s execution in Oklahoma was halted by the state’s prison director after Lockett gritted his teeth, tried to lift his head and convulsed. Oklahoma was using a new sedative as part of its three-drug lethal injection procedure. Blinds were lowered to block the view of witnesses. When halted, Lockett already had been declared unconscious by a physician. The state corrections agency said Lockett died later of a heart attack. An autopsy was being conducted.

— Jan. 16, 2014. Dennis McGuire repeatedly gasped during the record 26 minutes it took him to die in Ohio’s execution chamber. The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said its review determined McGuire was asleep and unconscious a few minutes after the drugs were administered and “he did not experience pain, distress or air hunger after the drugs were administered or when the bodily movements and sounds occurred.”

— Sept. 15, 2009. In Ohio, inmate Romell Broom avoided execution after prison technicians were unable to find a suitable vein after trying for two hours. Broom even had helped to find a good vein. Then-Gov. Ted Strickland ordered the halt. Broom, who remains on Ohio’s death row, has complained that he was stuck with needles at least 18 times and suffered intense pain. He’s sued, arguing that a second attempt to put him to death would be unconstitutionally cruel.

— December 13, 2006. When Florida inmate Angel Diaz continued to move, was squinting and grimacing after receiving the injection, a second dose of chemicals was administered. Florida prison officials initially blamed the issue on Diaz’s liver problems. An autopsy later found his liver undamaged but that the needle had gone through Diaz’s vein and out the other side, meaning the chemicals went into soft tissue and not the vein. As a result, then-Gov. Jeb Bush suspended executions in Florida and named a panel to examine the process.

— May 2, 2006. In Ohio, Joseph L. Clark’s lethal injection was stalled for 22 minutes before prison technicians located a suitable vein. Shortly after the execution began, the vein collapsed and Clark’s arm began to swell. He raised his head and said: “It don’t work. It don’t work.” Curtains were closed while the technicians worked for 30 minutes to find another vein. Clark wasn’t pronounced dead until nearly 90 minutes after the process started.

— April 23, 1998. Texas inmate Joseph Cannon made his final statement and the injection process began. When there was no immediate reaction, he had a quizzical look on his face, then blurted out: “It’s come undone.” A vein in Cannon’s arm had collapsed and the needle popped out. A curtain was pulled to block the view of the witnesses. Fifteen minutes later, it was reopened and the execution was completed.

— July 18, 1996. Indiana inmate Tommie J. Smith’s lethal injection took 69 minutes when prison technicians were unable to locate suitable veins. A physician was summoned to give Smith a local anesthetic. The doctor also tried unsuccessfully to insert the lethal needle in Smith’s neck. A vein in his foot finally was successful 49 minutes after the process began. He was pronounced dead 20 minutes later.

— May 3, 1995. Emmitt Foster’s punishment in Missouri was halted seven minutes after it began when chemicals stopped. Foster gasped and convulsed and the blinds in the death chamber were drawn. He was pronounced dead 30 minutes later and the blinds were reopened so witnesses could see his body. A coroner who pronounced him blamed the problem on leather straps that bound Foster too tightly to the execution gurney and restricted the flow of the chemicals. The straps had been loosened to complete the punishment.

— May 10, 1994. Serial killer John Wayne Gacy’s execution in Illinois was interrupted as the lethal chemicals unexpectedly solidified, clogging the intravenous tube that led into his arm. Prison officials drew blinds to cover the witness window and the clogged tube was replaced. Ten minutes later, the blinds were opened and the punishment resumed. The problem was blamed on the inexperience of prison officials.

— May 7, 1992. Texas prisoner Justin Lee May had an unusually violent reaction to the lethal drugs, gasping and coughing and rearing against the leather belts that restrained him to the death chamber gurney. Amid groans, he lifted his head. His eyes and mouth remained open as he died.

— December 13, 1988. Texas inmate Raymond Landry was pronounced dead 40 minutes after being strapped to the execution gurney and 24 minutes after the drugs started flowing into his arms. Two minutes after the drugs were administered, the needle came out of Landry’s vein, spraying the chemicals toward witnesses. The curtain separating witnesses from Landry was pulled, then reopened 14 minutes later after the execution team reinserted the needle. Texas prison officials described it as “blowout.” Subsequently, a plastic window was erected in the Texas death chamber to separate the inmate from witnesses.

CAMDENTON-   The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1993 Peterbilt dump truck driven by Randal D. Estes, 56, Warsaw, was northbound on Mo. 5 on the Niangua Bridge. The truck suffered a flat left front tire causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle. It crossed into the southbound lane striking a 2010 Ford F 250 pulling a boat and trailer head on.

Estes, the driver of the Ford Terry L. Schroeder, 50, Benson, IL., and passengers in the Ford Cindy Schroeder, 46, and Dylan Schroeder, 14, Benson, IL, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Another passenger in the Ford Donnie Schroeder, 14, Benson, IL., was transported to University of Missouri Hospital.

———————

CAMDENTON- Four people have died in a Wednesday accident in Camden County. The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported the accident occurred on Route 5 over the Niangua River. A fifth person was injured and has been transported to a hospital.

Few additional details are available.

Missouri transportation officials are suggesting drivers use alternate routes. The accident is still under investigation.

Check St. Joseph Post for more details as they become available.

By Dan Margolies
KCUR
Bryan Thompson
Kansas Public Radio

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Annie E. Casey Foundation, a child advocacy group, released its annual Kids Count report today, and Kansas ranked 15th overall and Missouri 29th. The report assesses overall child well-being based on four broad categories: economic well-being, education, health, and family and community.
Both Kansas and Missouri saw their indicators for education and health improve while their indicators for economic well-being and family and community mostly worsened.

Missouri slipped two places from last year and three from 2012. While Kansas went up one spot higher than last year, the numbers aren’t all that good in terms of Kansas kids’ economic well-being.

“Poor children will be especially vulnerable in this time of diminishing state revenues,” said Shannon Cotsoradis, president and CEO of the advocacy group Kansas Action for Children. “Public investments matter if we’re serious about lifting children out of poverty. Changing the trajectory for poor children is about making sure they have access to adequate food, shelter, health care and early learning opportunities.”
Cotsoradis said the long-term outcome for poor children will depend on their access to post-secondary education, including vocational, technical and higher education. She worries about how these programs will be affected by the state’s looming budget shortfall.

The annual Kids Count report – this one was the 25th – rated Massachusetts as the top state for overall child well-being, followed by Vermont, Iowa, New Hampshire and Minnesota. The worst state was Mississippi, followed by New Mexico, Nevada, Louisiana and Arizona.

Nationwide, the report said children continued to progress in the areas of education and health, but economic progress lagged, even after the end of the recession. A mixed picture emerged for family and community. While the teen birth rate hit a historic low, the percentages of children living in single-parent families and high-poverty areas increased.

Among the report’s Kansas findings:

• 135,000 children, or 19 percent, lived in poverty compared with 15 percent in 2005.

• 176,000, or 24 percent, had parents without secure employment.

• 215,000, or 31 percent, lived in single-parent families, compared with 27 percent in 2005.

• There were 34 teen births per 1,000, or a total of 3,306 births, an improvement from the 41 teen births per 1,000 recorded in 2005.

• 48,000, or 7 percent, had no health insurance, an improvement from the 8 percent in 2008.

• 62 percent of fourth-graders were not proficient in reading, better than the 68 percent in 2005.

• 60 percent of eighth-graders were not proficient in math, better than the 66 percent in 2005.

Among the report’s Missouri findings:

• 310,000 children, or 23 percent, lived in poverty compared with 19 percent in 2005.

• 433,000, or 31 percent, had parents without secure employment.

• 469,000, or 35 percent, lived in single-parent families, compared with 32 percent in 2005.

• There were 32 teen births per 1,000, or a total of 6,317 births, an improvement from the 42 teen births per 1,000 recorded in 2005.

• 98,000, or 7 percent, had no health insurance, unchanged since 2008.

• 65 percent of fourth-graders were not proficient in reading, slightly improved from 67 percent in 2013.

• 67 percent of eighth-graders were not proficient in math, compared with 74 percent in 2013.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – A Kansas City City Council committee has endorsed a measure that would ban people from openly carrying firearms in the city limits.

The Kansas City Star reports Mayor Sly James has pushed for the ban, noting that the tourist town of Lake Ozark also has voted for a similar prohibition, even by those with concealed carry permits.

The council’s Public Safety Committee on Wednesday endorsed the ban, which will go before the full City Council on July 31.

The future of the measure is uncertain because of a bill approved this year by Missouri’s General Assembly that would void any local ordinance prohibiting open carry for anyone with a concealed carry permit.

Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the bill, but the Legislature is likely to attempt an override in September.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says he supports phasing out a renewable energy requirement for Kansas utilities over four years and is urging critics of the rule and wind-energy advocates to work on a compromise.

Brownback said Wednesday that he’s backing a four-year phase-out of the requirement. It’s part of a 2009 law.

The law requires utilities to have wind and other renewable sources account for 15 percent of their peak electricity-generating capacity by 2016 and 20 percent by 2020.

The mandate has been targeted by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity and the powerful Kansas Chamber of Commerce. But wind-energy advocates have successfully blocked efforts to repeal the rule.

Brownback had an impromptu news conference with reporters, saying the debate’s big players should have talks toward striking a deal.

 

Jefferson City- Gov. Jay Nixon today announced that he has ordered the Office of Administration to conduct a comprehensive review of the Missouri Lottery’s operations to assess its ability to carry out its voter-approved mandate to provide a stable funding source for public schools.

“For more than two decades, Missourians have counted on the lottery to help provide the resources our schools need to deliver the high quality education our kids deserve,” Gov. Nixon said. “Today, we have a responsibility to make sure the lottery keeps its promise to our public schools in an efficient and effective manner. This comprehensive review will help ensure the Missouri Lottery continues to fulfill its mission of providing a stable funding source for Missouri schools now and for years to come.”

In 1992, Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment under which Missouri Lottery revenues are earmarked solely for public education. In Fiscal Year 2014, the percent of lottery revenues going to education dropped to 23 percent, its lowest point in at least a decade, while lottery ticket sales continued to increase.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri has apparently won another round in the continuing border war with Kansas that involves using tax incentives to entice businesses to move across the state line that runs through the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Leawood, Kansas-based Cbiz Inc. and Mayer Hoffman McCann PC have announced plans to move their headquarters and 450 employees to Kansas City, Missouri’s Country Club Plaza next summer.

The Kansas City Star reports the moves come as officials in Missouri and Kansas have been seeking a truce in the border war, in which each state has used tax incentives to lure businesses away from the other.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development says the moves will trigger millions of dollars in potential incentives from Missouri if the companies meet job creation and investment criteria.