(AP) – The Kansas City school district filed a lawsuit Friday seeking an accreditation upgrade that would stop it from being subjected to a state takeover and prevent its students from transferring to better-performing districts.

In October, the State Board of Education declined to grant the district provisional accreditation after it made its biggest academic improvement in years. The state board said the district’s improvements weren’t sufficient and that it wanted to make sure they were sustainable.

The district, however, stressed in the lawsuit filed against the Missouri State Board of Education and Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in Cole County Circuit Court that it would “suffer immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage” without court intervention. Kansas City also noted in the lawsuit that it fared better than the St. Louis district, which has regained provisional accreditation.

If it remains unaccredited, Kansas City could begin to see its students taking advantage of a state law to transfer to accredited school systems as soon as next fall, unless the legislature changes the law before then. The law requires unaccredited districts to pick up the tuition tab, and the cost is threatening to bankrupt two St. Louis County districts where transfers began this fall. A court case had held up the Kansas City transfers, but the district and its suburban neighbors lost their legal challenge this week.

The lawsuit also said a state consultant, Cities for Educational Entrepreneurship Trust, was working with state education officials on a plan to convert the district’s schools into charters. CEE-Trust, an Indianapolis-based firm supportive of charter school, plans to release its recommendation in January. The state has increased powers to intervene quickly in unaccredited districts under a change in state law.

Education department spokeswoman Sarah Potter said no statement would be released Friday.

The suit asks a judge to mandate that the state board grant the district provisional accreditation, conditioned upon it not losing academic ground in 2014 and 2015. Alternatively it asks that the judge temporarily grant the district provisional accreditation while a review is conducted to determine whether the state board’s actions were “unreasonable, unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise involves an abuse of discretion.”

The suit comes less than a week after The Kansas City Star reported that CEE-Trust was hired as a consultant even though its $385,000 contract bid was nearly three times higher than the closest competitor. The story, which was based on emails that the interfaith social justice organization MORE2 obtained through a Sunshine Law request, said the education department solicited proposals only after the state board balked at hiring the consultant without them. Two state administrators who emails showed had helped craft the original memorandum of understanding with CEE-Trust were among the evaluators who scored the bids. The Kauffman Foundation and the Hall Family Foundation are bankrolling the contract.

This week, a group of Democratic lawmakers called for Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro’s resignation while another has requested an investigation.

A Wichita man has been charged in federal court with attempting to explode a car bomb at Wichita Mid Continent Airport, John Carlin, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security and U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom announced today.

The defendant was arrested as part of an FBI undercover investigation, and the device used by the defendant was, in fact, inert and at no time posed a danger to the public.

Terry Lee Loewen, 58, Wichita, is charged in a criminal complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in Wichita with one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, one count of attempting to damage property by means of an explosive and one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

“There was no breach of Mid-Continent’s Airport’s security,” said U.S. Attorney Grissom. “At no time was the safety of travelers or members of the public placed in jeopardy.”

Loewen, who works as an avionics technician, is alleged to have spent months developing a plan that involved using his access card to airport grounds to drive a van loaded with explosives to the terminal. He planned to pull the trigger on the explosives himself and die in the explosion.

Agents arrested Loewen about 5:40 a.m. Friday after he attempted to enter the airport tarmac and deliver a vehicle loaded with what he believed were high explosives. Members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) took him into custody without incident.

Loewen has been under investigation by the Wichita Joint Terrorism Task Force since early summer 2013. It is alleged that, prior to his attempted attack, he made statements that he was resolved to commit an act of violent jihad against the United States. Over a period of months, he took a series of actions to advance the plot. According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Loewen:

Studied the layout of the airport and took photographs of access points.

Researched flight schedules.

Assisted in acquiring components for the car bomb.

Talked about his commitment to trigger the device and martyr himself.

On Friday, Loewen went to Mid-Continent Airport to detonate the car bomb. He was taken into custody when he attempted to open a security access gate. FBI Evidence Response Teams are executing search warrants related to the case. Although the investigation is ongoing, no additional arrests are anticipated.

FBI SAC Michael Kaste stated “Lone wolves – home grown violent extremists remain a very serious threat to our nation’s security. Today’s arrest emphasizes the continual need for the public to remain vigilant as law enforcement relies on the public’s assistance.”

If convicted, Loewen would face a maximum penalty of life in federal prison

The investigation was conducted by the Wichita FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes members from the FBI, Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office and Kansas Highway Patrol. Assisting with the investigation were the FBI Kansas City Division, the Transportation Security Administration, the Wichita Airport Authority, the Wichita Police Department.

The case is being handled by prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

In all cases, defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The charges merely contain allegations of criminal conduct.

AP) – State Sen. Ryan McKenna has been appointed director of the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Gov. Jay Nixon announced McKenna’s appointment Friday and said it will take effect next Wednesday.

Like Nixon, McKenna is a Democrat from Jefferson County. McKenna served eight years in the House before winning election to the Senate in 2006. He would have been prohibited by term limits from seeking re-election next year.

The labor department has been under an acting director since March, when director Larry Rebman was appointed by Nixon to new job as an administrative judge. The department’s former employment security director, Gracia Backer, also was replaced in March. She has alleged discrimination by Rebman, who has denied that.

Nixon on Friday appointed Nia Ray as the department’s employment security director.

(AP) – A 54-year-old southwest Missouri woman died when a road grader that was moving her car slid on an icy road and pinned her between two vehicles.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says Joy Spence of Caulfield died Thursday afternoon near Elijah in Ozark County.

The patrol says an Ozark County road grader was trying to move Spencer’s disabled pickup from the ice covered road. The grader slid out of control and pinned Spencer, who was standing outside her truck. She died at the scene.

(AP) – Missouri State University officials are trying to decide how, or if, to monitor fake guns used on campus during a popular Zombie game.

The “Humans vs. Zombies” game drew 500 students during a week in October. Participants try to tag other people, who then become zombies. The humans can defend themselves against the zombies by stunning them with Nerf guns or a balled-up sock.

During October’s game, a professor called 911 and put a classroom on lockdown after thinking he saw a gun. And the university’s safety and transportation department got several calls on its non-emergency number while the game was being played.

Department director Don Clark says banning the Nerf guns is a possibility but he is not sure that’s the right solution.

(AP) – Farmers in 27 Missouri counties will be eligible for federal aid because of drought conditions.

Gov. Jay Nixon says the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a disaster declaration for 14 counties that have suffered from extreme or exceptional drought. Farmers in 13 adjoining counties also can receive aid.

Nixon says farmers in some northern and central Missouri counties continued to struggle from drought even as many parts of Missouri received sufficient precipitation this year.

The designation allows farmers to receive emergency loans from the federal Farm Service Agency.

The 14 primary counties in the designation are Adair, Chariton, Clark, Knox, Lewis, Macon, Mercer, Putnam, Randolph, Saline, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby and Sullivan. The additional 13 counties are Audrain, Boone, Carroll, Cooper, Grundy, Harrison, Howard, Lafayette, Linn, Livingston, Marion, Monroe and Pettis.

On Thursday, Kearney, MO Police had asked for help finding Molly B. Unruh. The twenty-six year old woman had left her parents’ house with a friend on Thanksgiving and never returned.

On Friday, Police reported that Unruh had been located, but no additional details.

(AP) — The most recent edition of Missouri’s official manual now is available online.

Commonly known as the “Blue Book,” the manual was printed every two years until a 2010 law barred its paper publication. The goal was to save about $1.7 million in costs.

The Blue Book includes information about public officials and agencies, local governments, elections and political parties. The new online manual can be viewed at www.mobluebook.com .

However, the manual eventually could return to book form. Gov. Jay Nixon this year signed legislation allowing the secretary of state to provide an electronic copy of the Blue Book to a nonprofit organization. That group then can publish and sell the book in a paper format.

8:05 a.m. Because of the icy conditions on  I-70, Emergency responders are having a difficult time reaching vehicles that have been involved in the Friday morning accidents. Ambulance crews are using alternate roads to transport patients to hospitals in Manhattan and elsewhere.

7:51 a.m Due to the icy conditions, lanes are blocked by vehicles on I-70 and drivers are encouraged to avoid the area from Junction City to Topeka.

7:46 a.m.  KHP officials say travel on I-70 is dangerous on parts of I-70 in eastern Kansas.  Multiple vehicles are involved in accidents Friday morning. There are rollover accidents and numerous injuries being reported.

7: 34 a.m. Kansas Highway Patrol officials are reporting dozens of cars off the roadway on I-70 in portions of Riley and Geary County Kansas.  One report indicated as many as 75 cars may be involved. Some injuries are also being reported and some traffic lanes are blocked.  Stay tuned to Eagle Radio and check the Post for more details as they become available.