(AP) — Hundreds of pending child welfare investigations are at risk of being thrown out because they weren’t completed fast enough.

Missouri law requires child welfare workers to complete abuse and neglect investigations within 30 days after the initial hotline call unless there’s “good cause” for a delay. The law also requires that those accused be notified of the conclusion within 90 days of the hotline call.

Two accused women, one from West Plains and another from the Kansas City area, sued to clear their names. Lower courts sided with the women, finding the 90-day deadline wasn’t met. Now, the Missouri Supreme Court is preparing to hear arguments in the cases.

Child welfare advocates say the litigation has created uncertainty.

 

(AP) – Programs that help Missouri’s wine producers and urban gardeners are among those sharing $300,000 in federal funding.

State officials say the money comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

The largest grant – nearly $60,000 – will help Missouri State University research ways to make the Norton grape more resistant to fungal disease. The University of Missouri’s Grape and Wine Institute is receiving nearly $34,000 to help wine grape growers make good decisions about harvest and management.

Nearly $30,000 is going to the Kansas City Community Gardens. Money also will be used to research methods to improve production of nuts, berries, vegetables and flowers throughout the state.

(AP) — A utility company says a squirrel is to blame for a power outage that affected more than 3,000 customers in eastern Kansas on Thanksgiving.

Westar Energy said a squirrel apparently got inside a substation and caused fuses to blow.  Westar apologized to customers for the incident Thursday morning.

Westar said crews had the power back on to most customers by 12:30 p.m.

 

 (AP) – A southern Missouri medical center has received an energy efficiency loan from a state agency.

Ozarks Medical Center in West Plains is using the roughly $1.3 million low-interest loan to replace a hot water boiler, chiller and steam boiler. The improvements are expected to reduce its energy costs by about $155,000 a year, which will be used to repay the loan.

Ozarks Medical Center is a 114-bed, not-for-profit medical referral center. It serves 11 counties in south-central Missouri and north-central Arkansas.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development’s energy division makes the low-interest loans to not-for-profit and public hospitals, public schools, local governments and colleges.

(AP) – A long-neglected one-room schoolhouse will soon be restored and used to show how southwest Missouri children were taught during the first half of the last century.

Liberty School is being moved to the Gray-Campbell Farmstead. The building, which was built around 1900, will join Springfield’s oldest house as well as a log cabin, two-crib barn and a log granary.

The effort to save the Greene County structure started five years ago and has been filled with bumps. One of the biggest issues it that the cost of moving and restoring the building was more than double the original estimate.

But Norma Tolbert, who has been at the forefront of the effort, says the goal of raising more than $78,000 has been met.

(AP) – Police are asking the public for help after a man was found dead on a Kansas City sidewalk.

Police say the discovery was made Wednesday night as officers were responding to a report of gunshots. The officers who arrived on the scene found the victim dead from an apparent gunshot wound.

The name of the victim wasn’t immediately released. And police said no suspect information was available.

 

(AP) — Kansas City is getting ready for the next step in the competition to be the site of the 2016 Republican National Convention.

The  Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association has received its bid package from the Republican National Committee. Bi-state officials are still working out what the GOP will want from the host city as far as the number of hotel rooms and transportation requirements.

Each city submitting a bid will also be expected to raise substantial sums to defray costs of the summertime presidential nominating convention. The amount could be as high as $50 million or more.

Other cities that have expressed at least some interest in the 2016 convention include Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Cleveland and Detroit.

 

 (AP) – Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has appointed Deputy Probate Commissioner S. Margene Burnett to a circuit judgeship in Jackson County.

The appointment was announced Wednesday and fills the vacancy created by Judge Ann Mesle’s retirement from the 16th Judicial Circuit.

Burnett, of Kansas City, has spent 10 years on the probate bench, handling cases involving estate administration, mental health commitments, guardianships and conservatorships. She received her law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and was in private law practice before going on the bench.

Nixon chose Burnett from a three-member slate of nominees. The other finalists were Janette Rodecap, an attorney in the Jackson County prosecutor’s office, and Bryan Round, an attorney who also serves as a municipal court judge in Peculiar.

(AP) – A dying man in southwest Missouri has received his Star Wars wish.

Forty-two-year-old Todd Humbard of Carterville has terminal brain cancer. So a group of people who know he’s a huge Star Wars fan got together this week to fulfill one of his small wishes — to buy some Star Wars collectibles.

Since Humbard wasn’t physically able to get to the local Vintage Stock store to do the shopping, The volunteers brought the store to him, setting up collectibles on his couch along with a $100 gift card.

They also delivered a DVD player and a Star Wars cake.

Humbard says he was grateful for what the volunteers had done. Eventually, he says, the collectibles will end up with his young nephews.

(AP) — Experts say practicing good food safety is important to a successful Thanksgiving.

Taking proper precautions can help ensure that no one gets sick at your holiday gatherings.

It’s important to use a meat thermometer to make sure the turkey and any other meat dishes reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. That ensures any bacteria is killed.

Don’t leave perishable food out at room temperature for more than two hours.

Refrigerate any leftover turkey and use it within four days.

Make sure anyone helping in the kitchen washes their hands.