(AP) — A Kansas City, Kan., man has been found guilty of killing a man at a hotel with box cutter.

A Johnson County jury this week convicted 26-year-old Maurice Orlando Stewart of killing 57-year-old Stephen Cook of California at an Olathe hotel. He was convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and theft.

Olathe police found Cook’s body in June 2010 inside the bathroom of his motel room at an Econo Lodge in Olathe.

An autopsy found that Cook bled to death from numerous cuts. He also suffered a broken sternum and broken ribs.

Stewart had occupied the room next to Cook.

 Joplin officials say the city has issued nearly $1 billion in building permits since a May 2011 tornado demolished sections of the city.

Bryan Wicklund, a city building inspector, says records show the city has issued about $970.8 million in permits in the 29 months since the tornado. The storm killed 161 people and caused an estimated $2.8 billion in damage.
The building permit numbers are through October.

The Joplin list includes 1,801 demolition permits, 4,418 permits for residential repairs and rebuilding, 1,119 for new homes, 614 for commercial projects and 200 permits for multifamily repairs and rebuilding.
Wicklund said “a very high percentage” of those permits could be attributed to the tornado.

(AP) — U.S. employers added 204,000 jobs in October, an unexpected burst of hiring during a month in which the federal government was partially shut down for 16 days.

The Labor Department says the unemployment rate rose to 7.3 percent from 7.2 percent in September, likely because furloughed federal workers were counted as unemployed. The report noted that the shutdown did not affect total jobs.

Employers also added 60,000 more jobs in the previous two months than earlier estimated.

The figures suggest hiring has picked up in the fall. Employers added an average of 202,000 jobs from August through October, up from 146,000 from May through July.

The percentage of Americans working or looking for work fell to a fresh 35-year low. But that figure was likely distorted by the shutdown, too.

(AP)   A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of anyone responsible for the stabbing death of an Independence man.
The family of 22-year-old Corey Laykovich contributed $4,000 to the reward fund.
Laykovich died after being stabbed overnight on July 27.
The Independence Examiner reports he told friends who dropped him off near his home that night that he was going to a nearby QuikTrip but it’s unclear whether he made it there. He returned home and a sibling discovered him in his bedroom suffering from stab wounds. He died later at a hospital.

(AP) — Pet food manufacturer Crosswind plans to move from Parkville, Mo., to Topeka.

Crosswind president and CEO Doug Kinsinger told business officials Thursday that the move would create 62 jobs in Topeka.

Crosswind’s pet food division produces foods and treats for generic and name brands. The company plans to spend about $4 million to convert a vacant Topeka building for its use.

Crosswind Petfoods, Inc. is the largest pet food and treat contract manufacturer in North America with 130,000 square feet of manufacturing real estate.

(AP) — A northeast Kansas trial judge will sit with the state Supreme Court in December to hear a case involving attorney discipline.

District Judge Martin Asher, who serves Atchison and Leavenworth counties, was named Thursday to sit with six of the high court’s justices.

Justice Marla Luckert recused herself from hearing the discipline case involving attorney Brendon Patrick Barker. Asher will only hear the one case on the docket and will participate in the court’s deliberations and drafting of the opinion regarding Barker.

(AP) — The Kansas Corporation Commission has approved a route for a Texas company’s proposed $7 billion high-voltage line that would funnel power from wind farms in southwest Kansas to out-of-state sites.

The KCC said in a release Thursday it’s approved Clean Line Energy’s route for the Grain Belt Express direct current line. In Kansas, the transmission line would run 370 miles from wind farms in Ford County to Missouri, across Illinois and into Indiana.

Houston-based Clean Line Energy still needs approval in Missouri and Illinois.

The proposed line has drawn objections from Kansas residents. Marshall County filed to intervene in its development, saying the project is a burden because it’s tax exempt for 10 years, residents can’t use the energy and the county would have to provide police and fire protection.

(AP) The family of a 3-year-old killed in a northern Missouri house fire is outraged after police used a stun gun on the boy’s stepfather as he tried to run back in and save the child.

Riley Jeffrey Rieser Miller died early Oct. 31 in the Mississippi River town of Louisiana. A city police officer fired his stun gun at Ryan Miller, 31, as he tried to re-enter his burning home, according to a city official. The house was destroyed.

“It was police brutality,” said Miller, adding that she was also threatened with arrest. “We’re still trying to mourn.”

City Administrator Bob Jenne called the police response a “judgment call.” Jenne said Thursday that he is waiting to review a police report from the fire.

Emily Miller said the police response directed at her brother-in-law was “heartless.”

Jenne said the fire started in an electrical outlet in the rear recreation room where Riley’s parents fell asleep watching television. By the time they awoke, smoke and flames prevented Ryan and Cathy Miller from reaching their son, whose bedroom was at the front of the house. They fled through the back, with Ryan Miller trying unsuccessfully to re-enter the home before the second attempt that led to his arrest.

Jenne said a firefighter tried save Riley, but the house was too hot to enter.

Miller was taken to the city jail and released without being charged. He and his wife were later treated for minor burns at an Illinois hospital.

Lori Miller said the family is considering legal action against the city. And Jenne said he expects a lawsuit.

Jenne, who has served as a police officer and firefighter as well as a police chief in suburban St. Louis, said Thursday that he is waiting to review a police report from the fire.

Calls to the Louisiana police department were referred back to Jenne. The officer in the incident has not been placed on leave.

“Ultimately, their concern was that he himself might become a casualty of the fire as well,” Jenne said of Ryan Miller.

Lori Miller said her son was preparing to adopt Riley. The family had lived in the rental home, which was within walking distance of the home of Ryan Miller’s parents, for eight months.