(AP) – The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that it will not hear the cases of three cities whose red-light camera laws were challenged in lower courts.
The high court denied transfer requests by the cities of Creve Coeur and Kansas City, and red-light camera vendor American Traffic Solutions Inc. The high court also rejected a request that came from an appeals court ruling involving the city of Florissant.
The state Supreme Court has not yet addressed more recent rulings by the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District in cases involving challenges to the Ellisville and Arnold photo enforcement ordinances.
ATS spokesman Charles Territo said in a statement the company is hopeful the Missouri Supreme Court will take up one of the remaining cases.
Members of the Speaking Bearcats forensics team show off their hardware after competing at the Missouri Association of Forensic Activities State Championship Feb. 14-15. More recently, the duo of Emily Meyers and Nick Van Ross earned the national title in the Public Forum Debate category. –photo courtesy NWMSU
The Northwest Missouri State University Speaking Bearcats forensics team earned another national championship at the inaugural Public Communication Speech and Debate League National Tournament Feb. 22-23 at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa.
The duo of Emily Meyers, a freshman public relations major from Maryville, and Nick Van Ross, a freshman marketing major from Lee’s Summit, took the national title in the Public Forum Debate category. Meyers and Van Ross also placed second and third, respectively, in the Public Forum Speaker category.
Additionally, Tristan Newell, a freshman English major from Liberty, placed fifth in Radio Broadcasting as Northwest finished third in the overall team sweepstakes category and second in debate team sweepstakes.
“Northwest traveled just three novice competitors in two events, but those students had an amazingly strong showing against much larger teams from Simpson, Ohio, Marietta and Ottawa,” Director of Forensics Brian Swafford said. “The team of Emily Meyers and Nick Van Ross won all preliminary rounds of Public Forum and were the top-seeded team going into the final round.”
Meyers and Vann Ross are the third and fourth Speaking Bearcats team members to earn national titles in the last three years. Gabbi Ray won a national title in Program of Oral Interpretation in 2013, and Carl Stafford won a title in the same category in 2011.
The Speaking Bearcats entered the national tournament on a third-place finish in the individual events sweepstakes and fourth place overall at the Missouri Association of Forensic Activities State Championship Feb. 14-15 at the University of Central Missouri.
“It is always a bit of a disappointment when you don’t win the state tournament, but this speaks more to the level of talent across the state,” Swafford said. “I am incredibly proud of the work my students have put in over the past two weeks in anticipation of this tournament.”
Ray, a senior merchandising major from St. Louis, successfully defended her state title in Program of Oral Interpretation. Teammate TyQuan Baskin, a freshman speech and theater education major from Kansas City, earned third place.
Tony Pulford, a senior theater major from Independence, also had a successful tournament, earning third place in Dramatic Interpretation and Prose Interpretation as well as Dramatic Duo Interpretation with teammate Nataleigh Brull, a sophomore pre-nursing major from Overland Park, Kan.
Baskin, Meyers and Hugh Slaton, a freshman zoology major from DeSoto, Ga., were recognized as top novices at the state tournament.
The Speaking Bearcats began the spring trimester by competing at the Gorlok Gala at Webster University in St. Louis. Northwest finished eighth overall at the tournament, which is one of the largest invitational tournaments in the country.
Two tournaments remain in the Speaking Bearcats’ season. The team travels to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to compete in the Battle for the Capital tournament March 1-2 and then to the Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament March 20-23 in Indianapolis, Ind.
(AP) – Investigators are working to determine what caused a fire that killed a 34-year-old southwest Missouri woman.
Laclede County officials say Susan Addison died in the fire Monday night at her home south of Lebanon.
The sheriff’s office says Addison and her mother were sleeping when the fire apparently started in the kitchen. Addison’s father had left the house before the fire to go to work.
Firefighters used a backhoe to recover Addison’s body. She was found on the stairwell leading to the basement.
An investigator for the State Fire Marshal’s Office was not able to determine a cause of the fire Tuesday because of the extensive damage but found no signs of foul play.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Genetic experts are warning the federal government that it could take decades to confirm the safety of an experimental technique that would create babies from the DNA from three people, with the aim of preventing children from inheriting some debilitating diseases.
The Food and Drug Administration heard from supporters and opponents of the provocative technique Tuesday, as the agency considers whether to green light testing in women who have defective genes linked to numerous inheritable diseases.
Preliminary testing in animals suggests that combining the DNA of two parents with a third female donor could allow these women to give birth to healthy children. But even supporters of the approach warned that researchers would have to follow the children for many years to gauge their health.
Diane Woodward is among those urging Kansas policymakers to broaden the eligibility standards for the state’s Medicaid Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver, a program that currently serves more than 600 people. Photo by Mike Shields
By Mike Shields
KHI News Service
Officials at the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services have scheduled eight meetings around the state to collect public input on the home- or community-based Medicaid services that are provided to people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.
Currently, 619 people are enrolled in what is called the state’s Medicaid Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver program and are receiving the services, according to KDADS.
The state’s current waiver is due to expire in June and in order to renew it an application must be submitted to federal Medicaid officials by March 31.
KDADS officials said the upcoming meetings would help them collect recommendations from members of the public about what features should be included in the program going forward.
Pushing for changes
At least one group, Advocacy Works, is pushing to have eligibility for the program expanded to include more people.
Diane Woodward, a spokesperson for the organization, has been talking with Kansas policymakers about possible legislation that would broaden eligibility to include children and also allow waiver services for people who have suffered “internally acquired” brain damage from stroke, encephalitis or other maladies.
Eligibility for the program currently is limited to people between the ages of 16 and 65 who have suffered brain trauma from external causes such as traffic accidents or gunshot.
Woodward, a Shawnee resident, is the mother of a 33-year-old daughter who suffered brain damage from encephalitis at age 6 and cycled through the state’s various other Medicaid waivers before qualifying for the TBI waiver in January 2013.
Woodward testified to a Senate Ways and Mean subcommittee earlier this month.
She said it was important to broaden eligibility for the program because currently it is the only waiver that allows for “rehabilitation within the community,” which helps the people who use it get the skills they need to work or otherwise become less reliant on state services.
“The overall goal…is self sufficiency in the individual’s home and community,” Woodward testified.
Meeting schedule
The first meeting scheduled by KDADS is from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Kansas City, Kan. office of the Department for Children and Families, 402 State Ave.
Here is the schedule for the others, one of which is a teleconference:
Topeka
From 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the St. Francis Health Center second-floor auditorium, 1700 SW 7th St.,
Conference Call
From 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. Dial toll-free 866-620-7326. The conference code is 5826736791.
Wichita
Two sessions. From 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and from noon to 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Independent Living Resource Center, 3033 W. 2nd St. North
Kansas City
From 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on March 4 at the DCF office.
Overland Park
From 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. on March 5 at the Overland Park DCF Office, 8915 Lenexa Dr. Park in the back and enter through the staff entrance.
Topeka
From 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on March 6 at the Shawnee Public Library, Marvin Auditorium, 101AB, 1515 SW 10th Ave
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The former president of the union representing Jackson County Department of Corrections employee faces charges accusing him of embezzling more than the $185,000 from the union.
The U.S. Attorney’s office for western Missouri says in a release that 38-year-old Jesse Morgan of Kansas City is charged in a 29-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City. Morgan was president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1707 from 2008 through Oct. 20, 2012.
Morgan is charged with 29 counts of wire fraud for allegedly stealing money from the local union from 2008 through 2012.
It was not immediately clear if Morgan had an attorney.
(AP) – Missourians could buy motorcycles on Sunday under legislation endorsed by a state House panel.
Many states have repealed bans on selling retail on Sunday, but Missouri still prohibits dealers from selling cars, trucks and motorcycles on that day.
The measure endorsed by the House General Laws Committee Tuesday would remove motorcycles from that list. Supporters argue it would make Missouri more competitive with neighboring states, including Kansas, that permit such sales on Sunday.
The legislation now heads to the Rules Committee and is sponsored by Republican Rep. Caleb Jones, of Columbia.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri says retiring CEO Peter Brownlie’s last day will be March 31.
Planned Parenthood lobbyist Elise Higgins said Tuesday that Vice President of Finance Ron Ellefrits will take over as interim CEO until the organization names a more permanent replacement for Brownlie.
Brownlie announced in November that he would retire after serving as the Planned Parenthood chapter’s top administrator since August 1999.
During his tenure, his organization has challenged anti-abortion laws enacted by Kansas legislators and been the subject of a lengthy but now-dismissed criminal case. Brownlie has been the public face of the organization and a key figure in the state’s abortion rights movement.
Brownlie also has been an administrator with Planned Parenthood affiliates in Michigan, Indiana and Texas.
(AP) – A Missouri inmate has been executed for abducting, raping and killing a Kansas City teenager nearly 25 years ago.
Michael Taylor was lethally injected just after midnight Wednesday. He was the fourth Missouri inmate executed by the state in as many months. His attorneys had argued that the state’s execution drug, purchased from a compounding pharmacy, could have caused Taylor inhumane pain and suffering.
But his last-minute appeals were denied by federal courts and the governor.
Authorities say 15-year-old Ann Harrison was waiting for her school bus on March 22, 1989, when she was abducted by Taylor and Roderick Nunley. The men took the girl to a house where she was raped and stabbed to death. Nunley is also on death row.
(AP) — Missouri senators have started debate over legislation seeking to address a student transfer law and unaccredited school districts.
The transfer law requires unaccredited districts to pay for students to transfer to better-performing nearby public schools. It has led to financial problems and generated concern about the ability of districts to control the number of students.
Debate began Tuesday and continued into the night. No vote was reached before senators adjourned.
The Senate is considering a measure that includes provisions seeking to limit tuition paid by unaccredited districts and allow receiving districts to establish transfer policies. It also would open the door for students enrolled in struggling schools to use district funds to attend private schools.
Senators have kept the private school option while adding standards for schools to qualify.
courts.
