WASHINGTON D.C. – As part of his ongoing efforts to stop the Obama Administration’s job-crushing energy policies, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) co-sponsored the Clean Air, Strong Economies (CASE) Act today to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing costly ozone regulations that would increase energy prices, curb job growth, and hinder economic opportunity nationwide.

The bipartisan bill, which was introduced by U.S. Senators John Thune (S.D.) and Joe Manchin (W.V.), would stop the EPA from setting the ground-level ozone standard at an unprecedented low level, and require the EPA to focus on the worst areas for air quality before lowering the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone across the country.

“The Obama Administration’s war on consumers must end. The EPA is attempting to implement costly environmental regulations that will crush jobs and hurt families who are hit the hardest by bad energy policies,” said Blunt. “I’ll continue fighting to protect poor families and young people in Missouri and across the nation who can’t afford these costly and burdensome regulations.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Stover, Mo., man was charged in federal court Tuesday for making threats against the President of the United States, according to Tammy Dickinson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Cameron James Stout, 24, of Stover was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Jefferson City, Mo. Stout, who was arrested and had an initial court appearance today, remains in federal custody.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Stout threatened on several occasions to shoot and kill President Barack Obama.

A confidential informant approached a Morgan County sheriff’s deputy on Friday, March 13, 2015, and reported that Stout had solicited him the previous day for a rifle and assistance in his plan to shoot the president in the next few weeks, the affidavit says. The confidential informant, a former Aryan Nation member, reported that Stout said he was going to kill the president and that he was serious. According to the confidential informant, Stout said he didn’t have a high-powered rifle and needed to obtain one. The confidential informant told Stout he could put him in contact with a high-ranking member of the Aryan Nation to assist him in obtaining a rifle and to provide Stout with information which would assist him.

On Saturday, March 14, 2015, Stout again discussed shooting the president while he and the confidential informant worked on four-wheel ATVs. Stout drew two diagrams of the Washington, D.C., area and his shooting locations that he had identified through research on the Internet, the affidavit says, which he gave to the confidential informant (who turned them over to law enforcement). According to the affidavit, Stout told the confidential informant that he actually owns a .270-caliber Weatherby rifle with a high-powered scope that he had loaned to another person, but now has the rifle back and plans to use it to commit his crime.

On Monday, March 16, 2015, the confidential informant visited Stout’s residence then met him again later. According to the affidavit, they again discussed Stout’s intention to shoot the president and made arrangements for Stout to meet the confidential informant’s superior in the Aryan Nation.

Stout and the confidential informant met again this morning with an undercover law enforcement officer purporting to be the confidential informant’s superior in the Aryan Nation. According to the affidavit, Stout stated that his plan was to set up at Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo., and to shoot the president the next time he comes to Kansas City. Stout wanted the undercover officer to provide him with transportation to and from Kansas City. Stout allegedly stated that he was a competent shot up to 200 yards.

The undercover officer asked Stout if it was Stout’s plan to shoot the president, according to the affidavit, and Stout replied “Yes.” Stout allegedly told the undercover officer that he had done research for his plan on his home computer.

Dickinson cautioned that the charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence E. Miller and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Lynn. It was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Morgan County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.

JOPLIN (AP) – Joplin police say a fatal shooting during a home invasion was self-defense.

Police say 32-year-old Michael Dean, of rural Joplin, died early Monday at a house in Joplin. Dean was shot by a person who was staying at the home. The guest’s name has not been released.

Police Capt. Bob Higginbotham says the guest is considered a victim in the home invasion.

The Joplin Globe reports three men who were with Dean were arrested Monday night and charged Tuesday with second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree burglary. They also are suspects in another break-in before the home invasion.

They were charged under a state law that allows a murder charge when someone dies in the commission of a felony.

NEW YORK (AP) — Premera Blue Cross, a health insurer based in the Pacific Northwest, says it was the victim of a cyberattack that could affect 11 million people.

The company says hackers gained access to its information technology systems. The breach could have exposed members’ information including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, mailing and email addresses, phone numbers, member ID numbers and bank account information.

It says claims information, including clinical information as well as the personal information of people who did business with Premera, could also have been exposed.

The Mountlake Terrace, Washington, company says it has not found evidence that data was removed from its systems or that customer information has been used inappropriately.

The attack occurred May 5 and Premera discovered it Jan. 29.

JIM SUHR, Associated Press

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s oldest death row inmate was executed Tuesday night for the 1996 shooting death of a sheriff’s deputy after the state’s governor and the U.S. Supreme Court denied last-minute appeals to spare his life. Attorneys for 74-year-old Cecil Clayton had argued that Clayton has brain damage from a 1972 sawmill accident and worsening dementia.

 

Here’s a look at the case:

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THE CRIME

Clayton was convicted of fatally shooting Christopher Castetter, a sheriff’s deputy in rural southwest Missouri’s Barry County. Castetter, then 29 and a father of three, was investigating a suspicious vehicle near Cassville on the night before Thanksgiving in 1996 when he was shot in the forehead while he was in his car. His vehicle was found against a tree with the engine racing and wheels spinning. Castetter died at a hospital the next day.

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INMATE’S CLAIMS

Clayton’s attorneys argued that he suffered from lingering effects of the sawmill accident in which a piece of wood shot through his skull. Surgeons removed about 8 percent of Clayton’s brain, including one-fifth of the frontal lobe that governs impulse control and judgment.

His lawyers said Clayton had an IQ of 71 and that psychiatric evaluations indicate he doesn’t understand the significance of his scheduled execution or the reasons for it, making him ineligible for execution under state and federal law.

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LAST-MINUTE APPEALS

Clayton’s attorneys appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court and asked the Missouri governor for clemency, insisting that the inmate’s deteriorating mental health left him convinced his conviction was a plot against him. They argued that Clayton also believed God would rescue him at the last minute, “after which time he will travel the country playing the piano and preaching the gospel.”

In part because of his dementia, his attorneys said in their appeal, the lethal injection would or would likely cause Clayton “excruciating or tortuous pain and needless suffering” and allow the state to use him as an experiment of its execution protocol on someone with severe brain damage.

The state countered by saying Clayton would be executed “rapidly and painlessly” in accordance with the constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

A divided Supreme Court denied the appeal Tuesday evening, saying four justices would have granted a stay.

The office of Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said in a statement Tuesday evening that the Democrat had denied Clayton’s clemency request.

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LEGAL SETBACKS

The Missouri Supreme Court had declined to intervene Saturday in a 4-3 ruling. The court’s majority concluded there’s no evidence that Clayton, despite his brain injury, isn’t capable of understanding his circumstances.

The dissenting opinion countered that Clayton’s attorneys “presented reasonable grounds to believe his overall mental condition has deteriorated and he is intellectually disabled.”

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SIMILAR CASES

Clayton’s claims of mental incompetence mirrored those of Ricky Ray Rector, who was executed in 1992 in Arkansas for fatally shooting a police officer. His attorneys failed to sway then-Gov. Bill Clinton that he had been left brain damaged by a self-inflicted bullet wound prior to his arrest.

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MISSOURI EXECUTIONS

Clayton’s execution was Missouri’s second this year. The state executed a record 10 people in 2014. Clayton’s execution was the first to be scheduled in Missouri for 6 p.m. Tuesday after decades of having lethal injections set to begin at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Jackson County prosecutor says a 28-year-old man had pointed a gun at a Kansas City police officer before the officer shot him earlier this week.

Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced Tuesday that Darnell D. Walker is charged with assault of a law enforcement officer and armed criminal action. He was treated at a hospital and released for booking.

Police were investigating an unrelated standoff Monday when they heard gunshots nearby. Several officers responded, and one officer had seen a man hiding behind a vehicle with a gun in his hand.

The officer ordered him to drop his gun, but he instead pointed his gun at the officer, prompting him to fire. Walker was arrested afterward and taken to the hospital.

Online court records didn’t list an attorney for Walker.

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — The principal of a suburban Kansas City middle school has resigned nearly a month after a student with Asperger’s syndrome was seriously hurt in a bullying incident.

Principal Dan Weakley of Liberty Middle School also will take a personal leave of absence for the remainder of the school year. The Liberty Board of Education on Monday accepted Weakley’s resignation and granted his request for leave.

Twelve-year-old Blake Kitchen suffered several injuries, including a cracked skull and a fractured jaw, in the Feb. 19 attack in the school’s cafeteria. The sixth-grader spent several days at a hospital and was later released.

A 14-year-old eighth-grader at the school admitted to the assault and was placed in the custody of the Missouri Division of Youth Services.

RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has recognized gay marriage for all of its congregations.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A measure to block local governments from banning or taxing plastic bags is moving forward in the Missouri Legislature.

The Missouri House gave first-round approval Tuesday to a measure that pre-empts local laws on plastic bags at grocery stores.

Republican Rep. Dan Shaul, of Imperial, says the measure will protect the choices of consumers and retailers to use either paper, plastic or their own bags.

The city of Columbia had considered banning plastic bags but has since dropped that proposal.

Opponents of the measure say that plastic bags harm the environment and that local communities should be able to make their own decisions on the issue.