Thursday 11/14  10:30 a.m.   A medical examiner has confirmed that Tipton High School football player Chad Stover has died.

Stover was a junior and a member of the Tipton football team. He suffered a brain injury during a game two weeks ago.

 

Nov. 8 12:12 p.m.  Schools in central Missouri are rallying behind a high school football player who’s been hospitalized with a brain injury since a playoff game last week.
Chad Stover, a junior at Tipton High School, was injured during the game Halloween night and was taken by an ambulance to a hospital. Tipton School District Superintendent Scott Jarvis said Friday that Stover remains in critical condition.

Tipton residents have covered the town in red ribbons to honor Stover. The ribbons have also spread to the nearby town of California, where the high school has also put Stover’s No. 18 on their field.
Sacred Heart in Sedalia also came to a recent prayer vigil, and a Catholic high school in Columbia sent the school a card and offered a Mass for the Stovers.

AP) — Officials in the bistate Kansas City area are stepping up a campaign to host the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Officials recently submitted a letter to the Republican National Committee formalizing their intent to bid on the convention.

On Wednesday, a special bid task force was announced. Members include Kansas City Mayor Sly and Pinnacle Entertainment executive Troy Stremming, who also chairs the city’s Convention and Visitors Association.

Members from the Kansas side include Ed Eilert, chairman of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners, and Mark Holland, mayor and CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan.

Kansas City officials are also working on their sales pitch. They’re touting more than 30,000 hotel rooms and a $6 billion downtown redevelopment that includes the new Sprint Center arena.

(AP) – An Missouri brother and sister have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for growing marijuana in their apartment.

Twenty-four-year old David DePriest was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in prison, and his 36-year-old sister, Natalie DePriest, received a 15-year sentence. Both lived in Farmington at the time of their arrest.

Their attorney, Dan Viets had asked for probation. Viets is state coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Assistant St. Francois County prosecutor Pat King had sought the maximum sentence against David DePriest, calling it a large-scale operation and noting that he had guns and bullet-proof vests. Viets said 12 plants and eight baby sprouts in a closet are not a large operation.

 (AP) – A Missouri man has been sentenced to four years in prison for killing a cat with a hatchet.

Fifty-five year-old Grieg Ragen of Villa Ridge was convicted of felony animal abuse in September and sentenced Wednesday.

The crime happened in May 2012 in High Ridge, where Ragen lived at the time. The 11-year-old calico cat, Molly, belonged to Ragen’s neighbor.

Ragen told authorities it was a mercy killing after the cat was struck by a car. But a veterinarian found that the cat’s only injury was a severed spine.

The chances of the U.S. Congress passing a five-year farm bill by year’s end are a little better than 50/50 given the gridlock over food stamps for the poor, a top farm policy expert said this week.

“There is a slightly better chance than 50/50 that we will get a bill rolled into a budget at the end of the year. But it’s no better than that,” Barry Flinchbaugh, a Kansas State University agricultural economist who advises legislators shaping the U.S. farm bill.

The farm bill, already a year behind schedule, is the master legislation that directs government supports for farmers and food aid programs.
The bill is now with a conference committee of 41 members of Congress who are hammering out the difference between the House and Senate bills. The biggest difference: the Senate wants $4 billion cut from food stamps while the House wants to reduce the program by $40 billion

Three people have died after a car went off the side of a southern Missouri road and struck a dirt embankment.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol has identified the victims as 26-year-old Timothy M. Berry, 15-year-old Alex D. Hayes and 31-year-old Shanna R. Kendall, all from Willow Springs. A fourth person was flown to a Springfield hospital with serious injuries.
The crash happened Tuesday on a Howell County road three miles west of Willow Springs.

Congressman Sam Graves (MO-06), Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, today introduced a resolution to designate a Small Business Saturday and express support for America’s 28 million small businesses.

The bipartisan Graves resolution encourages people to shop locally at small businesses in their communities, particularly suggesting November 30, 2013 – the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The designation of a Small Business Saturday by Congress helps raise awareness of the impact of small businesses on the U.S. economy and the value of thriving small businesses to every community. Stores and other businesses throughout the country traditionally experience a major upswing in economic activity the weekend following Thanksgiving Day. Since 2010, Small Business Saturday has emphasized a “shop local” theme that follows up the “Black Friday” advertising of major retail outlets.

Small companies are often highly innovative, and account for half of America’s economy. An overwhelming 93 percent of Americans recognize the importance of supporting small businesses.

“Small Business Saturday is a great way to say ‘thank you’ to a small business near you, especially during the holiday shopping season,” Graves said. “America’s small businesses help define what communities are all about. Small firms create seven out of every ten new jobs, and employ nearly half of all private sector employees in the United States. Small businesses make a big difference in our nation’s economy and their growth is essential to a stronger recovery.”

Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) are original co-sponsors.

(AP)  A fund has been set up for four Springfield children whose parents died in what police have called a homicide-suicide.
Dr. Rudolph Fajardo and his wife, Stephanie Fajardo were shot to death in their home last week. The children, ages 1 through 7, were also in the home but weren’t injured.
Rudolph Fajardo was a physician in the CoxHealth medical system for several years. Police believe he shot his wife and then himself, but no motive has been suggested.
The Springfield News-Leader reports the Fajardo Family Crisis Fund has been established through the CoxHealth Foundation to help the children.

A northwest Missouri man who was shot by a Highway Patrol trooper while trying to flee from a traffic stop has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The Kansas City Star reports 42-year-old Alan Hampton, of Liberty, was sentenced Wednesday on multiple charges including resisting arrest and possessing a controlled substance.
Highway Patrol Corp. Cody Dunfee stopped Hampton for speeding in July 2012. He saw Hampton holding something and asked him to show his hands, but Hampton started driving away with the trooper clinging to the driver’s window.
Dunfee says he feared for his life and fired two shots, hitting Hampton in the left arm and left leg.