(AP) – Police say the owner of a Kansas City area automotive shop has been killed and his daughter wounded in a shooting at the business.
Authorities say 73-year-old Raymond Littrell was killed and his daughter was hospitalized with critical injuries after the shooting Friday at Clay County Engine Rebuilders in Claycomo.
Jack Foster, public safety director for Claycomo, says authorities believe the shooting stemmed from a domestic dispute. A man has been taken into custody for questioning.
Littrell was known for building high-end racing motors and for racing cars and boats.
It’s been a long cold winter, and it’s only January. Along with frozen livestock waterers and burst pipes, Missouri farmers are facing an emergency with propane supplies. Prices have doubled in the last few months and, according to my supplier for our greenhouse in northwest Missouri, went up 70 cents a gallon in one day. We’ve had localized reports of propane selling for nearly $5 a gallon. Suppliers are only receiving about half of their normal allocations of propane. Farmers with poultry barns, hog barns and greenhouses are facing an emergency situation.
Although farmers can lock in propane prices with local suppliers, we’re learning that doesn’t always work. At least one supplier has refused to honor those contracts when prices have moved against them, and farmers are facing the bleak prospect of actually losing baby chicks because they don’t have access to heating fuel. More well established, reputable suppliers are dealing with the shortage honorably, and as a result, they’ll gain loyalty from their farmer customers.
Propane is a byproduct of both oil and natural gas production. It seems strange to have a shortage, because U.S. production of both oil and natural gas is expanding rapidly due to the new technology of fracking. The shortage has been caused by a perfect storm. We’ve seen rapidly increasing exports of propane, a wet and late corn crop that increased the demand for propane for grain drying, and extremely cold and windy weather, along with some winter snow storms that have increased the difficulty of moving propane around the country.
Someone somewhere made a terrible miscalculation last year, as they collectively decided what inventories they would hold moving into the winter. The attraction of a growing export market pulled away supplies that are desperately needed here in Missouri and the Midwest. Farmers and homeowners are paying for those mistakes, and their memories are likely to be very long.
Adding to the misery, hog producers are concerned because allocating propane means increasing trips to every farm. Each trip adds to the chances that disease could be transmitted from one farm to another. Not only that, but at least one large poultry producer is cutting the number of chicks they place in their grower’s barns. That will decrease the supply of chicken and increase its price. Even if you don’t depend upon propane for heat, you’ll see the results of this winter’s miscalculation in your grocery bills in the future.
In Texas, regulations have been relaxed to ease transportation difficulties. People in the propane business are working around the clock to serve their customers, and propane users are desperately seeking ways to conserve. Missouri Farm Bureau is doing everything we can to improve the situation. As one long-time observer and participant in the industry commented, “This has never happened before.” Let’s hope that it never happens again.
Blake Hurst, of Westboro, Mo., is the president of Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.
– See more at: http://www.mofb.org/NewsMedia/CuttotheChase.aspx#sthash.RUUTtgYr.dpuf
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, child car seats would have to protect children from death and injury in side-impact crashes, under regulations proposed today by the government.
They would upgrade standards for child seats for children weighing up to 40 pounds, to include a new test that simulates a side crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration believes the standards will prevent the deaths of about five children and injuries to more than 60 others each year.
The new tests will simulate a “T-bone” crash, where the front of a vehicle traveling 30 miles an hour strikes the side of a small passenger vehicle traveling at 15 miles an hour.
Research shows that many child deaths and injuries in side-impact crashes involve a car carrying children that is stopped at an intersection, usually at a light or a stop sign. When the car begins to accelerate to go through the intersection, it is struck in the side by a vehicle traveling at a higher rate of speed.
The regulations won’t be final until the safety agency has reviewed public comments and addressed any important issues that may be raised. It typically takes months and sometimes years, but the agency says it wants to move quickly
Four people were injured in a Friday evening crash in Nodaway County.
According to the Missouri Highway Patrol thirty-four year old Catrina G. Pelton of Maryville was driving a 2008 Pontiac Grand Am north on US 71 when she hit a 2013 Toyota Highlander, driven by 28-year-old Nicole R. Lutz of Maryville, which was stopped at a stop sign.
The crash into the driver’s side caused the Highlander to skid into the median facing south. The Grand Am skidded into the median and came to stop facing south.
Pelton and passengers Jerry D. Hughes age 35, Dalton D. Hughes age 10 and Zach D. Hughes were transported to St. Francis Hospital. Lutz was treated at the scene. Everyone was wearing a seat belt.
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill has released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Justice formally filed its complaint against USIS, the company responsible for conducting the background investigations for both national security leaker Edward Snowden and Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis. According to the Justice Department, the company allegedly directed its background check investigators to take shortcuts in their investigations while representing to the government that the investigations were complete and accurate:
“By now, the stunning failures of this company-and the resulting threats to our national security-are well-documented. But we can’t wait for the next disaster before tackling something as serious as lapses in protecting our nation’s secrets and our secure facilities. We’ve seen swift action to boost accountability over these contractors, and I’m now calling on my colleagues to pass our bipartisan bill that would strengthen background checks through automatic reviews.”
McCaskill-Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight-previously revealed at a Senate hearing that USIS was under criminal investigation, and sharply criticized the company’s oversight practices. McCaskill also questioned the fact that USIS had two separate contracts with the federal government-one to conduct background investigations, the other to oversee background investigations conducted by contractors, including USIS itself.
McCaskill has introduced a bill with Senator Jon Tester of Montana that improves oversight of the security clearance process by empowering the Office of Personnel Management to use resources from its Revolving Fund to audit and investigate contractors that conduct background checks. Separate versions of that bill have been approved by both the Senate and the U.S. House, and are awaiting final action to resolve those differences before heading to the President for signature into law.
In October, McCaskill also joined with Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine to introduce bipartisan legislation that would implement an automated review of public records and databases for any information that might affect the security clearance status of individuals who have such a clearance. That legislation is also sponsored by Senators Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.
(AP) – A suburban Kansas City man has pleaded guilty to the drunken driving death of a Missouri Department of Transportation worker on Interstate 70.
KMBC-TV reports 36-year-old David Murdick pleaded guilty Friday to involuntary manslaughter.
Murdick, a lawyer from Blue Springs, was charged in the death of Clifton J. Scott in Independence on Sept. 21, 2012.
Witnesses said the 50-year-old highway assistance worker was taking photos of an earlier accident around 3 a.m. when Murdick sped through cones and flares and hit the victim. Prosecutors said tests taken hours later showed Murdick with a blood-alcohol content of .184.
Murdick faces five to 15 years in prison. Sentencing is set for March 7.
AP) – Missouri senators are calling on Attorney General Chris Koster to investigate a recent spike in propane prices.
Sen. Mike Parson, of Bolivar, said Friday that companies are sending more propane overseas, leading to a shortage throughout the Midwest. He says the shortage causes prices to rise and gives big profits to corporations. He wants Koster to see if companies are price gouging.
The Missouri Propane Gas Association says the shortage is caused by more exports and increased demand due to colder weather and higher crop yields. Propane is used to dry crops after a harvest.
A spokeswoman for Koster had no immediate comment Friday. Parson says the attorney general’s office told him they would meet Monday to consider his request.
680 KFEQ Farm Director Micheal Clements is broadcasting live from the show. The booth is on the 2nd floor of the arena (click for a closer look)Plenty to see and do and eat at the Ag and Rural Lifestyle show. (click for a closer look)
The annual KQ2 Ag and Rural Lifestyle show is underway at the St. Jo Civic Arena.
The show runs through 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday. Stop by and visit the KFEQ exhibit along with dozens of other amazing displays.
(AP) – Police say the owner of a Kansas City area automotive shop has been killed and his daughter wounded in a shooting at the business.
