JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri lawmakers are trying to change a Department of Revenue practice of awarding certain contracts partially based on how much money is promised to come back to the state.
Democratic state Sen. Gina Walsh said Thursday it’s a “pay-to-play scheme”
Businesses and nonprofits run offices that issue vehicle and driver’s licenses and collect a fee for each transaction. Missouri in part awards contracts to run the offices based on how much of the resulting profits bidders promise to give back to the state.
Department of Revenue spokeswoman Michelle Gleba says the system is objective and competitive.
Walsh is one of several lawmakers crafting legislation to ban that practice. She says it threatens nonprofits that instead keep the money from license fees in local communities.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Effective safe-driving campaigns and increase in suicides have pushed firearm deaths ahead of car crashes as the leading nonmedical cause of deaths in Missouri.
The Kansas City Star reports 880 people were killed by guns in Missouri in 2013, the most recent federal data available, while 781 died in car crashes.
Safety advocates say some of the same approaches used to reduce traffic fatalities could be used to lower the number of people killed with firearms.
But gun advocates like Kevin Jamison, head of the Gladstone-based Western Missouri Shooters Alliance, says the two issues aren’t related because nobody is trying to outlaw cars.
On the suicide issue, there were 80 firearm homicides in Kansas in 2013, while there were 240 firearm suicides.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Two brothers who owned businesses in Springfield, Joplin and Webb City, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to their roles in a $6.7 million conspiracy that involved the distribution of approximately 2,253 kilograms of synthetic marijuana, commonly referred to as K2 according to Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Jeremy W. Elliott, 42, of Rogers, Ark., and his brother, Travis L. Elliott, 38, of Springfield, Mo., pleaded guilty in separate appearances before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
Travis Elliott was the registered agent of “A Head of Our Times, LLC.,” which ran a retail store in Springfield. He employed a manager and others at this store. Jeremy Elliott was the owner of “Mr. Nice Guy,” which operated retail locations in Joplin and Webb City.
Both Travis and Jeremy Elliott admitted they engaged in a conspiracy between Oct. 29, 2009, and Nov. 6, 2012, to distribute (via FedEx) Kryp2nite products, which were falsely labeled as “incense” and “not for human consumption,” but in reality contained synthetic marijuana that was intended for human consumption as a drug. Conspirators manufactured and distributed K2 to retail outlets in Springfield, Joplin, Webb City and elsewhere through a Springfield business, ThirdEye, Inc.
Joplin police officers seized Kryp2nite products from the “Mr. Nice Guy” store in Joplin on two occasions, including a seizure of 21.7 kilograms of synthetic marijuana on May 7, 2012.
Law enforcement officers also executed a search warrant at the “Mr. Nice Guy” store in Webb City on May 7, 2012. Records seized during the execution of the search warrant indicated that during the month of March 2012, the Webb City store sold $205,675 in inventory. Records indicated that during April 2012 the store sold $146,204 in inventory. Approximately 10.7 kilograms of synthetic marijuana was seized.
An employee at the Webb City location told officers that she knew people were ingesting the synthetic marijuana products she sold to them. She stated that employees were instructed not to sell synthetic marijuana to customers who overtly spoke of ingesting these products. This employee also admitted to smoking these products to get high.
Springfield police officers made undercover purchases of K2 from “A Head of Our Times” in Springfield. On June 12, 2012, police officers executed a search warrant at the business and seized approximately two kilograms of Kryp2nite, as well as records documenting the purchase and delivery of synthetic marijuana.
Officers observed signage in the store that read, “Incense, Sachets and Potpourri Blends are not for human consumption!” and “Talk of smoking it or otherwise using it illegally will result in the loss of the sale and you may be asked to leave. Thank you! @.” The products labeled as incense were located in proximity to smoking devices such as bongs and vaporizers.
Both Travis and Jeremy Elliott received shipments of Kryp2nite products from ThirdEye, a Springfield business owned by co-defendants Douglas K. Franklin, 56, and his son, Brandon D. Franklin, 28, both of Springfield, who also have pleaded guilty to their roles in the mail fraud conspiracy. Douglas and Brandon Franklin also pleaded guilty to participating in a money-laundering conspiracy related to conducting financial transactions involving the proceeds of unlawful activity, which were designed to conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, ownership and control of the proceeds.
Charges against Douglas Franklin’s daughter, Caitlyn E. Franklin, 26, of Springfield, were dismissed following a pre-trial diversion agreement. Co-defendant DeWayne T. Barnhart, 38, of Joplin, who managed the Webb City store, pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing misbranded drugs and was sentenced to a term of probation.
Under federal statutes, Travis and Jeremy Elliott are each subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.
These convictions are the result of a large-scale investigation by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies into the distribution of K2, the slang term for synthetic marijuana products. K2 is a mixture of plant material that has been sprayed or mixed with a synthetic chemical compound similar to THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. K2 products are often labeled as “incense,” but in reality are intended for human consumption as a drug.
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The autobiography of prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder is proving to be a blockbuster for the South Dakota Historical Society Press.
The small state-owned publishing house released “Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography” in November. Wilder penned the popular children’s series of “Little House” books, but her autobiography was written for an adult audience and gives a more realistic, grittier view of frontier living.
The book was the No. 1 best-seller on Amazon late last week. It was still in the Top 10 on Friday. Publishing house Director Nancy Tystad Koupal calls it “a definite blockbuster.”
The initial print run was 15,000 copies. A second run of 15,000 copies was made, and a third run of 45,000 copies is on the press. Koupal says a fourth run is now being considered.
POLO- A woman was injured in an accident just before 6 p.m. on Friday in Caldwell County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1995 Ford van driven by James S. McCart, Caseyville, IL., was northbound on Mo. 13 two miles north of Polo. The vehicle traveled partially of the east side of the road. The driver overcorrected, the vehicle slid across the road down an embankment and hit several trees.
A passenger in the van Belinda L. Batchelor, 34, Caseyville, IL., was transported to Cameron Regional Medical Center. McCart was not injured.
The MSHP reported both were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the top Democrat on the Senate Aging Committee, used a hearing today to examine the financial exploitation of seniors and the difficulty of prosecuting family members who exploit and defraud their elderly family members.
“We cannot shy away from holding these perpetrators accountable for their actions,” said McCaskill, a former Jackson County prosecutor. “The fraud and abuse perpetrated on our seniors is absolutely unconscionable. It is really a fairly recent phenomenon that we have started discussing these types of cases in this criminal arena because for far too long they were dismissed as family matters… and financial exploitation cases involving the elderly are very difficult to prosecute. You need competent and trained professionals at every level, from the detectives and mental health professionals all the way up to the [District Attorney]’s office.”
McCaskill addressed the difficulty of prosecuting cases of senior financial abuse, especially by a family member, saying: “This is the constant refrain that families hear from law enforcement – there’s no gun, there’s not blood on the street, there’s no pressure from the sergeant or from the head of detectives to close the cases, this isn’t a statistic that’s generally tracked. There’s very little to get the law enforcement community engaged other than a prosecutor who feels pressure from either their own compass or some outward source. So what would be the thing that we could do that most light a fire under local law enforcement and state DAs?”
Page Ulrey, the Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the Elder Abuse team in King County, Washington, addressed that issue: “Many of these cases stop when that message is heard in the community that prosecutors are not going to prosecute the case. [Adult Protective Services] doesn’t bother referring to law enforcement, law enforcement doesn’t bother investigating, and the public doesn’t bother reporting. So having a prosecutor who is stepping up and saying ‘we will take on this issue’ is crucial to it being addressed properly.”
McCaskill began the hearing by thanking her friend and colleague, Chairman Susan Collins, saying: “If a year ago I had been approached in the hallway by one of those pesky people with a microphone, and I were asked, ‘if the Democrats were to lose control of the Senate, and you were to take over as a ranking member… who would you pick for your Chairman?’ I would have said, without hesitation—my friend, my mentor, and my role model—Susan Collins.”
The hearing’s other witnesses included Philip Marshall, the grandson of the late Brooke Astor—who testified about how his father, Anthony Marshall, mistreated his mother and mismanaged her assets while she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
Voluntary conservation plans are talked about in coffee shops, schools, after church, in meeting rooms and just about every place else in Kansas. Landowners, farmers, ranchers, home owners and builders see such measures as a way to protect land, wildlife and valuable water resources but also as a way to keep them in business.
Talk to western Kansas ag producers and some will tell you they’re the ones who should be listed on the threatened or endangered species list. Many believe the federal government is already too close to mandating how cattlemen raise livestock; how, where and when farmers plant, nurture and harvest crops; and whether or not they’ll be able to pass their family farms to the next generation.
Many Kansans believe the listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species is unnecessary and unwarranted, especially during a tough drought that lasted three to five years in the western part of the state.
Western Kansas farmers and stockmen believe this endangered listing could stop some agricultural production practices including irrigation and pesticide use.
They believe forcing them to take drastic measures now to aid the lesser prairie chicken doesn’t make sense. It will only make farmers’ and ranchers’ current financial distress due to the drought even worse.
Crop farmer Jarvis Garetson believes the listing of the lesser prairie chicken as endangered would have a devastating effect on his family farm and his ability to provide for his family, employees and Main Street.
Main Streets in Copeland, Manter, Ulysses and Minneola rely on farms and ranches surrounding these small communities. Agriculture remains the economic lifeblood for these communities and others in this region of Kansas. Without the ability to continue farming successfully these small towns will cease to exist.
“If we cannot operate our farm in the manner we’ve been doing and the lesser prairie chicken is listed as ‘endangered,’ this will be game over for a lot of folks,” Garetson says.
Jarvis farms with his brother, Jay, and parents, Jesse and Jerra, on nearly 7,000 acres in Haskell, Gray and Finney counties. He’s the fourth generation to farm the land homesteaded by his great-grandfather in 1902.
The farm includes irrigated corn, milo, wheat, triticale, soybeans, cotton, and dry land wheat, milo, and cotton on owned, cash rent and crop share acres involving 17 landlords.
Garetson and wife, Amber, have five boys and live in rural Haskell County. This family farm is committed to agriculture and to rural America.
“We’re raising our sons and running our farm with an eye to the future generations of our family who will feed the world from our lands,” he says.
Already the “threatened” listing of the lesser prairie chicken species has impacted his community and the region where his family farms.
The pursuit and development of oil and gas has dropped and several wind farms are slowing down, Garetson says. In some cases new development of wind farms has stopped altogether.
Continued growth and expansion in the oil, gas and wind energy industries has been instrumental in the growth of this region of Kansas for decades. Further expansion in these industries has helped offset hard economic times.
“We need all the income streams available to us,” the Haskell County crop producer says. “We can’t afford to have the lesser prairie chicken listed as an endangered species.”
Inhabitants of these southwestern Kansas communities and the farmers and ranchers surrounding them do not care for the far-reaching hand of the federal government telling them how to use their land and make a living.
“Whether it’s my grandparents, my parents or my own blood, sweat and tears, being told what to do with my farming vocation and lifestyle is not the American dream I grew up with,” Garetson says. “It feels like my freedoms are not only being taken away, but jerked away.”
During the short 40 years he’s been on this land, Garetson has experienced more than his share of droughts. He believes the lack of moisture has contributed to the once declining lesser prairie chicken populations.
He also believes with increased moisture, populations of all species will begin to increase again; however, this takes time.
“Living out here is part of an ever changing cycle,” Garetson says. “It’s the nature of this environment. I’m just thankful to be living in western Kansas.”
And while he understands that creatures like pheasants, coyotes, rabbits, and yes, the lesser prairie chicken will return with continued life giving moisture, Garetson would like to see an increase in the population of humans in this region of Kansas as well.
“Droughts are tough on animals, crops and the humans who live here as well,” Garetson says. “I’m convinced we can do a better job of weathering these cycles than intervention by the federal government.”
John Schlageck, a Hoxie native, is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.
ST. LOUIS (AP) – U.S. prosecutors say six Bosnian immigrants have been accused of sending money and equipment overseas to help terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida in Iraq.
All six people face charges of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists and with providing material support to terrorists. The indictment was unsealed Friday.
All six are natives of Bosnia who were legal residents of the U.S. Three lived in St. Louis, two in Illinois and one in New York.
The indictment alleges the defendant bought U.S. military uniforms , firearms, accessories, tactical gear and other equipment and shipped them overseas. The items and money eventually went to fighters in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.
The indictment says money was also sent to support the families of the fighters.
ST. LOUIS (AP) – For decades, Missouri executions have been scheduled to start at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesdays. But beginning with an execution scheduled for March, that will change.
The Missouri Supreme Court on Friday set a March 17 execution date for Cecil Clayton, convicted of killing a southwest Missouri deputy in 1996. The execution is scheduled for a Tuesday, and is set to start at 6 p.m., though the court’s execution order allows for it to occur anytime within a 24-hour period after that.
Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman David Owen says the change provides a time more practical for witnesses and for courts reviewing the case. He says the new time is more in line with start times in other states that carry out executions.
JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – Missouri’s attorney general says the state should create a scholarship to encourage diversity in law enforcement and update the state’s law on police use of deadly force.
Attorney General Chris Koster announced recommendations Friday to increase the number of minorities in law enforcement after panel discussions held last fall in St. Louis and Kansas City.
The meetings followed the fatal shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson.
Koster says the state should also encourage police use of body cameras by closing video collected by law enforcement under the state’s public records law.
His other recommendations include requiring local law enforcement agencies to report demographic information of employees and having a state task force review information collected on traffic stops.
