KANSAS CITY (AP) – The chairman of the Republican National Committee says Kansas City may have an edge over some other cities working to host the 2016 Republican National Convention.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said Thursday that Kansas City “has a nice little advantage” by being able to host the event in either June or July.

Priebus and the RNC site selection committee arrived in Kansas City on Wednesday to look over the facilities that would be used during the convention. The committee, which leaves Kansas City on Friday, visited Cleveland earlier this week and travels next to Dallas and Denver before making a final selection, likely in August.

Priebus says the start date of the convention is likely either June 27 or July 18, but a final decision hasn’t been made.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On his weekly press call today, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) told reporters he was pressing officials at the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center (KC VAMC) for information that the facility had an “unauthorized” waiting list for our nation’s heroes.

Less than three hours later, officials at the KC VAMC admitted to Blunt’s staff that the facility did, in fact, have an “unauthorized” list that compromised care for area veterans.

“These so-called ‘unauthorized wait lists’ for America’s heroes are simply unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” said Blunt, who serves on the defense appropriations and authorizing committees. “I’m going to do everything I can to ensure this stops immediately. Our veterans should not be forced to wait for care.”

Blunt’s office recently received a letter from the Director of the Veterans Affairs (VA) Heartland Network (VISN) 15 detailing several Missouri facilities where veterans waited for care for longer than 90 days. The letter noted two facilities in VISN-15 had “unauthorized lists” that “placed veterans at risk.” One of those locations was confirmed in Wichita, Kan. Blunt confirmed the other location is the KC VAMC.

Last week, Blunt visited the John Cochran VA Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. and the Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in Columbia, Mo. On May 12, 2014, Blunt and U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (Mo.) sent a letter to the VA Secretary and the VA St. Louis Health Care System demanding answers regarding serious allegations of delays and inefficiencies at the John Cochran VA. Blunt’s office has not received a response regarding the John Cochran allegations to date.

PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon Communications Inc., the country’s fourth-largest home Internet service provider, is telling Netflix to stop blaming it for bad video quality or face a lawsuit.

Verizon is reacting to messages appearing on the screens of some Netflix subscribers that blame poor video quality on their Internet service providers.

The “cease and desist” letter Verizon sent to Netflix on Thursday is a continuation of verbal and technological sparring between ISPs and Netflix, whose streaming service accounts for a third of U.S. Internet usage during peak evening hours.

Internet service providers want to be compensated for establishing fast links to Netflix, either directly or through intermediaries. Netflix says ISPs should swallow the costs.

“This is about consumers not getting what they paid for from their broadband provider,” Netflix Inc. said Thursday.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Nebraska-based maker of Chef Boyardee and Healthy Choice frozen dinners is eliminating more than 100 jobs at its St. Louis office.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
reports that ConAgra Foods is cutting its local workforce from 450 employees to 320. A spokesman says the Omaha company has no plans to close its downtown St. Louis location. ConAgra acquired St. Louis-based Ralcorp in 2012 for about $5 billion.

The company had said in March 2013 that it was committed to maintaining a corporate presence in St. Louis by keeping about 500 employees. But in February, ConAgra announced plans to trim $100 million in selling, general and administrative costs by the end of its 2016 fiscal year.

KANSAS CITY (AP) – Kansas City fire officials are working to determine what caused a house to explode, leaving five people injured.

Fire department spokesman James Garrett says the explosion Wednesday evening on the city’s southeast side was followed by several smaller explosions.

Garrett says two adults in the house are in critical condition and two children are in good condition at a Kansas City hospital. The fifth person refused treatment.

No one else was in the house.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt’s (Mo.) office posed several pointed questions today regarding extended and unacceptable delays for veterans seeking help at several Veterans Affairs (VA) Heartland Network (VISN 15) hospitals, which includes facilities in Missouri.

Blunt recently received a letter from the VA detailing Missouri facilities where veterans waited for care longer than 90 days, including 14 veterans in Poplar Bluff, Mo., 26 veterans in St. Louis, Mo., 19 veterans in Columbia, Mo., and 12 veterans in Kansas City, Mo. Click here to read the letter.

“It is unacceptable and intolerable that veterans in Missouri or anywhere in America would receive this type of inadequate treatment. But this serious and systemic problem at the VA won’t be fixed until the president shows leadership and takes action,” said Blunt. “I personally visited the VA hospitals in Columbia and St. Louis last week, and I’ll keep fighting to restore accountability at the VA and give our heroes the care they need and deserve.”

Earlier today, Blunt’s office posed the following questions to the VA regarding the extended wait times:

• Which specific facilities in Missouri had wait lists that “put veterans at risk” or used “secret wait lists”?
• Was the VA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) made aware of the unauthorized wait lists in VISN-15?
• Did VISN-15 conduct its own internal investigation without including the OIG?
• Is it standard practice to notify the OIG through the Hotline with information relating to wait times of this magnitude?

Last week, Blunt visited the John Cochran VA Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. and the Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in Columbia, Mo. On May 12, 2014, Blunt and U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (Mo.) sent a letter to the VA Secretary and the VA St. Louis Health Care System demanding answers regarding serious allegations of delays and inefficiencies at the John Cochran VA.

Blunt’s office has not received a response regarding the John Cochran allegations to date.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The percentage of school buses failing state inspections is on the rise in Missouri.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says slightly fewer than 85 percent of the roughly 12,000 school buses it inspected this year were initially approved. That’s the lowest percentage since 2010.

This year’s annual school bus inspections were conducted from Feb. 3 to May 20.