Police are investigating after a report of shots fired early Wednesday morning in the 2900 block of Seneca Street.

According to Sgt. Wayne Byrom of the St. Joseph Police Department, officers recovered shell casings and were still on scene investigating at 4:15 a.m.

 

Thousands of KCP&L electrical customers lost power in our area Tuesday night.

Shortly after 8pm, an outage map showed 3,903 customers in southern St Joseph and areas of Buchanan south of town were without electrical power.  The area extended from U.S. Highway 36 on the north to the town of Faucett on the south.

St. Joseph police, in a Nixle alert, said the utility is aware of the outage.

The cause of the outage was not immediately available.  Power was restored by about 8:30 pm.

Get the latest information directly from the utility on their outage map here.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A St. Joseph man with a prior murder conviction was sentenced in federal court Tuesday on charges related to child pornography.

Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that Robert W. Knorr, Jr., 47, of St. Joseph, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to eight years and one month in federal prison without parole.

On Feb. 4, 2016, Knorr pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing child pornography over the Internet, one count of receiving child pornography over the Internet and one count of possessing child pornography.

On March 11, 2014, an FBI Child Exploitation Task Force officer used peer-to-peer file-sharing software to connect to Knorr’s computer and download a 23-minute video of child pornography that depicts a pubescent female approximately 12 to 13 years of age. The officer downloaded a second video on May 19, 2014, that depicts the sexual assault of a 13-to-15-year-old female.

Investigators discovered evidence on Knorr’s computer of numerous Internet and peer-to-peer network searches for child pornography, including images of children as young as three years of age, and evidence showing the downloading of thousands of files.

In making a sentencing recommendation, the government referred to Knorr’s prior convictions for murder (for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison) and accessory to murder after the fact (for which he was sentenced to three years in prison) to demonstrate the extreme danger he poses to the public.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna. It was investigated by the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

City, county, school district and university officials joined Chamber of Commerce Diplomats Tuesday to celebrate the opening of the newly refurbished pool at Missouri Western State University’s M.O.Looney Complex.

Officials praised the leadership of the late U.S. Senator Thomas Eagleton, who helped secure the funding to construct the new Missouri Western campus and to enable the college to build the original pool in what was then known as the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building.

Hereafter, the pool will be known as the “Thomas Eagleton Indoor Pool.”

We spoke with the Physical Plant Director, Jerry Gentry who tells us they’ve accomplished quite a bit since the project got underway in May.

“We put in an all-new pool, a new pool liner, a new pool deck, new paint, new lighting, new duct work and HVAC, locker rooms and restrooms, new bleachers, and a new front entryway that we didn’t have before,” Gentry said in an interview.

Gentry says they just put the finishing touches on the project this week, and it was expected to be open for the first time Tuesday.

“Since it was a community project, it will be accessible for everyone to use,” he said. “You know, the city, the school district, the parks board, the county, everybody has partnered on this project to make it happen, so it’s just a matter of scheduling the times and reserving the spaces.”

Missouri Western and the City of St. Joseph have signed a five-year programming and use agreement for the pool. The city will make an annual payment to Missouri Western to offset part of the pool’s operating expenses, provide programming in the pool, and make the city’s aquatic recreation supervisor available to help manage the pool during the months of September through March.

The pool will be available for “open swim” recreational use by the general public at least 30 hours per week. A daily pass is $4.

In addition to the city, Missouri Western has worked with the YMCA, St. Joseph School District, Buchanan County and others to be sure all local pool users can be accommodated.

Bribery charges are pending against a Florida man after he was stopped by state troopers with drugs in his car, and then allegedly offered more than $2,000 cash to “just let him walk away.”

Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd says Stephen Medley, 29, of Tallahassee was pulled over by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on I-29 in northern Platte County August 26. Officers say they stopped him because his windows were tinted too darkly.

Officers found $2,092 in cash, about 2 pounds of marijuana, an ounce of cocaine, and a loaded handgun in his vehicle. Medley allegedly gave a false name to an officer after he was pulled over.

According to court documents, Medley told three Missouri Highway Patrol officers to take “all his money and just let him walk away.”

Zahnd says Medley is charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, possession of cocaine, unlawful possession of a weapon, and bribery of a public servant.

Medley is due back in Platte County court September 6, after his first appearance Monday. He will apply for a public defender. A judge set bail at $100,000.

Police have identified the body found Thursday in Atchison as the swimmer that went missing Wednesday morning in the Missouri River.

According to the St. Joseph Police Department, the drowning victim was identified as 24-year-old James A. Ford of St. Joseph.

As previously reported, emergency crews began searching for Ford in the Missouri River when another swimmer reported he was swept under by the current around 3 a.m. Wednesday.

 

As the fall semester begins, Missouri Western State University is reporting an increase in freshman class and transfer student enrollment.

According to a press release, the class is almost four percent larger than the class from a year ago.

“An increased freshman class is a very encouraging sign for our enrollment going forward,” Dr. Paul Orscheln, associate vice president for enrollment management said. “As has been the case in recent years, the incoming freshmen appear to be well prepared academically. We also are drawing from a wider area, with increases in the numbers of freshmen from Iowa, Illinois and St. Louis.”

Preliminary enrollment data indicates a freshman class of about 900 students, a 3.9 percent increase over last year. Missouri Western is also seeing significant increases in new transfer students (up 20 percent) and new graduate students (up 23 percent). Also encouraging, Dr. Orscheln said, is that Missouri Western once again expects to meet its freshman-to-sophomore retention goal.

Enrollment numbers will be finalized after the official census date four weeks into the semester. Last year’s total enrollment was 5,571 students.

Missouri Western students begin classes today.