(AP) – A Morgan County man died when the farm tractor he was driving slid backward down a hill and overturned.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says 87-year-old Ernest Gibbs, of Rocky Mount, was thrown from the tractor Thursday and died at the scene.
The tractor continued rolling backward and struck two nearby houses before it stopped.
(AP) – The chairman of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus is stepping down.
Democratic Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, of St. Louis, said Friday that she decided to resign because some members of the 17-member group were upset about her appearance with Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder at a news conference in December.
Nasheed and Kinder were criticizing the decision of a state commission to delay low-income housing tax credits, as part of an informal deal to pass new tax incentives for Boeing.
She became the chair in 2013, after her election to the state Senate. She previously served six years in the House.
Nasheed says the group’s vice-chairman – Democratic Rep. Brandon Ellington, of Kansas City – will take over her duties until the caucus elects a successor.
(AP) — The city manager of McCook in southwest Nebraska has announced his resignation and intention to take a job near his family’s farm home in central Missouri.
J. Jeff Hancock disclosed Wednesday that his last day of work in McCook would be Feb. 7 and that he’d do everything possible “to assist in the transition.” Hancock was named McCook’s city manager in October 2011.
Hancock says there’s a farm near Camdenton, Mo., that’s been owned by his mother’s family since the 1830s. He says he applied to fill the position of city administrator in Camdenton after the current administrator announced her retirement.
(AP) – A judge has ruled that a 16-year-old accused in the death of a northwest Missouri man who was bound, stabbed and left to bleed to death in a restroom will remain in juvenile custody.
The youth faces charges of first-degree murder, felony kidnapping, robbery and three counts of armed criminal action in the death of 58-year-old Mark Thomas, who was found dead last weekend in a restroom at Smithville Lake.
A Clay County judge ruled Thursday after a brief hearing. Another hearing will be held Feb. 6 to determine if the boy will face charges as an adult.
Police say Thomas, of Liberty, was attacked while driving two acquaintances of a family member home last Friday.
Twenty-year-old Zachary Lisle is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery in Thomas’ death.
Michael Armstrong has been named associate vice president for University Advancement at Missouri Western State University. Armstrong was previously major gift officer at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. He began his duties at Missouri Western Jan. 7.
“I’m pleased we were able to find someone with Mike’s experience and skill set in fundraising for higher education,” said Jerry Pickman ’85, vice president for university advancement and executive director of the Missouri Western State University Foundation. “In addition to our ongoing efforts to raise private support, we are in the planning stages of a potential capital campaign, and Mike will play a key role.”
Armstrong was at UCM for nearly seven years. As a major gift officer, he secured private support from university alumni and constituents, initiating more than 30 new scholarship and endowed funds. He also developed a comprehensive prospect management program that resulted in a 52 percent increase in gifts of over $10,000 in its first year of implementation.
At Missouri Western, Armstrong will help lead the Division of University Advancement, which includes development, alumni services, public relations and marketing, and campus printing and design services.
(AP) – Target says that personal information – including phone numbers and email and mailing addresses – was stolen from as many as 70 million customers in its pre-Christmas data breach. That was substantially more customers than Target had previously said were affected.
The chain also cut its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings forecast and outlook for a key sales barometer.
Target had announced in December that about 40 million credit and debit cards may have been affected by a data breach that happened between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15 – just as the holiday shopping season was getting into gear.
The retailer said Friday that the personal information stolen is not a new breach, but was discovered during its ongoing investigation.
Target Corp.’s stock fell in Friday premarket trading.
Two people were injured in an overnight crash in DeKalb County.
According to the Missouri Highway Patrol thirty-year-old Beth Wilson of Kidder, Mo was driving a 2000 GMC SUV west on US 36, just south of Osborn at approximately 3:30 a.m.
Wilson lost control on the ice; the SUV went off the south side of the road and struck an embankment where it came to rest. Wilson and a passenger Derek S. Abbett, age 28 of Kidder, were transported to Cameron Regional Medical Center. They were not wearing seat belts.
(AP) – Nearly 2½ years after a tornado devastated Joplin, three new schools reopened to an enthusiastic reception.
Irving and Soaring Heights elementary schools and East Middle School opened their doors to students Thursday. They were scheduled to open Monday but that was delayed for three days by snow and severe cold.
In all, 1,400 children entered new schools Thursday. They had been attending school in a warehouse, modular buildings and other schools since the tornado.
East Middle School principal Bud Sexson said no major problems were reported and most of the students were excited to be in a new building.
Superintendent C.J. Huff said some details still need to be completed, mostly related to technology and mechanics, at all three schools.
(AP) – A man already serving time in state prison was sentenced to 30 years for killing a young mother 11 years ago in southwest Missouri.
Philip Dodd was sentenced Thursday for second-degree murder in the 2003 death of 19-year-old Becky Sutton. The sentence will be served after he completes a 14-year sentence for robbery at a Joplin credit union.
Sutton disappeared from her apartment in Hollister in March 2003, leaving a 2-year-old son behind. Her body was found in a Taney County forest in 2004.
Investigators say Dodd was always a suspect in the death and confessed to the murder last October. Dodd told investigators he strangled Sutton when she resisted his sexual advances
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill this week met with the nominee to be the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, John Roth, to discuss how best to guard against waste, fraud, and abuse of power in the sprawling agency-specifically following allegations that former Acting Inspector General, Charles Edwards, abused his authority.
McCaskill serves on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is holding the confirmation hearing for Roth this week.
“We should hold our federal agencies to the highest level of accountability, and I plan on holding their watchdogs to that standard,” said McCaskill, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight. “Inspectors General are the eyes and ears of taxpayers within these agencies, and I look forward to working together with John to make sure the Office of the Inspector General can close this most recent chapter and get back to safeguarding taxpayers from waste, fraud, and abuse at the Department.”
McCaskill and Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)-the ranking Republican member of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight-recently released a joint statement after Charles K. Edwards, the Homeland Security Department’s former Deputy Inspector General who was under investigation by the subcommittee, stepped down from his post. Edwards was scheduled to face questioning from the oversight panel over allegations of misconduct, but the hearing was canceled following Edwards’ reassignment.
