A 25-year-old Atchison, Kansas man was killed in a rollover accident near Rushville Saturday evening. The Missouri State Highway Patrol says Derek Kuhnert lost control of his GMC Sierra along 116th Street north of Lewis and Clark Lake shortly before 7pm Saturday.
Kuhnert was not wearing a safety belt, according to an online report. Investigators say the vehicle left the roadway, struck a ditch and overturned, partially ejecting Kuhnert.
AT&T is expanding mobile broadband access and coverage in a 100-mile corridor stretching along U.S. 36 Highway from St. Joseph to east of Chillicothe.
Recent improvements will help ensure improved high-speed wireless connectivity for residents and businesses throughout Northwest Missouri.
Company officials say communications in rural America is changing. Land line telephone use is in decline, and fiber optic cables are expensive to install. AT&T is banking on wireless.
The company announced Friday it has expanded its mobile broadband coverage to allow 3G service along the highway 36..
The move will not improve coverage for cell phone calls, but will improve mobile data access in Buchanan, Clinton, DeKalb, Caldwell, Livingston and Linn counties.
Officials say about 10,000 vehicles use the highway corridor each day.
Access may vary the farther you are from US 36.
“We consider Missouri 36 ‘The Way of American Genius’ because of its historic ties to some of the most brilliant leaders and entrepreneurs in our nation’s history,” said Marci Bennett, executive director of the St. Joseph Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“AT&T’s investment in cutting-edge mobile broadband technology can only enhance the connection we are highlighting between the past and future economy of this part of Missouri.”
“Mobile broadband is important to farmers, businesses, healthcare providers, educators and even tourists,” said Senator Brad Lager.
“Today, access to the internet for information and communication is a critical tool for success. It’s not enough to have access to a four-lane highway infrastructure,” Lager said.
“You need access to the information highway. Northwest Missouri now has both and is in a better position to encourage job creation and economic development along 36 Highway.”
AT&T invested more than $2.3 billion in its wireless and wireline networks in Missouri from 2008 through 2011. During 2011 alone, AT&T made nearly 1,825 wireless network upgrades in four key categories in Missouri. These enhancements included:
* Activating more than 20 new cell sites or towers to improve network coverage.
* Upgrading nearly 300 cell sites to provide fast mobile broadband speeds.
* Deploying faster fiber-optic connections to more than 625 cell sites. Combined with HSPA+ technology, these deployments enable 4G speeds**.
* Adding capacity or an extra layer of frequency to cell sites – like adding lanes to a highway – with the addition of more than 875 of these layers, or “carriers.”
“As part of these local communities, we’re always looking for new opportunities to provide enhanced coverage as a way to help drive the local economy,” said John Sondag, president of AT&T Missouri.
Hundreds of folks turned out for the annual “Polar Bear Plunge” fundraiser for Special Olympics.
Melody Prawitz of Special Olympics of Missouri tells us he annual leap into the freezing waters of Lake Contrary is their premier fundraising event.
At least 400 “polar bears” registered for the event Saturday.
Supporters raise money in the form of sponsor donations to help pay for the uniforms, facilities, equipment and transportation for about one thousand Special Olympics athletes. Prawitz says the annual budget is about $52,000, and by late Friday, they had raised about half of that.
Here are some photographs from the event.
A truck driver suspected of shoving a St Joe woman out of his moving semi last month appeared in a Buchanan County courtroom Friday after his extradition from Florida.
Investigators believe 49-year-old Kent Harris met up with Kecia King at a local nightclub January 21. Her badly injured body was found that night along the shoulder of I-29 in St Joseph.
She died January 22 at the hospital.
Two days later prosecutors filed charges of involuntary manslaughter against Harris, who is from Greeenville, Mississippi. At the time of King’s death, Harris was employed by Best Mark Trucking in Strong City, Kansas. He was arrested in Broward County, Florida.
Harris was returned to Missouri after waiving his right to an extradition hearing.
He is being held in the Buchanan County Jail under $100,000 pending a court hearing March 9.
The Missouri Department of Transportation says that bottleneck on the Belt Highway is about to reopen. MoDOT closed the southbound lanes of the Belt Hwy. between 36th Street and Beck Road on Wednesday, Feb. 15 due to a water main break in the roadway.
Repair work continued Friday, with southbound traffic diverted into the turn lane.
MoDOT anticipates reopening the southbound lanes of the Belt Hwy. in this location on Saturday, Feb. 18.
A 16 year-old Riverside High-School student was arrested this morning and charged for making a bomb threat earlier this week.
The suspect was arrested after Wednesday’s bomb threat to the Riverside West Campus in Wathena Kansas.
Wathena Police Chief Raymond Hall says the student was arrested at 10:30 this morning after an investigation into the threat.
Chief Hall says the threat was written on the bottom of a note found in the hallway of the school. A student found the note and turned it over to the principle which led to the evacuation and investigation.
While Hall says there may not of been any intent to follow through with the threat, he says it has to be taken seriously. Being a juvenile, the suspects name will not be released.
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) – Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a man accused of killing two brothers in Leavenworth.
An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for 36-year-old Aundray Duashawn McDonald on two counts of first-degree murder and two weapons-related charges.
Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens says McDonald is a suspect in the deaths of 25-year-old Derrick and 28-year-old Marshall Jones. The two brothers were shot Dec. 16.
Kitchens said the shooting stemmed from a feud between the brothers and McDonald.
McDonald is already facing drug charges in Leavenworth County District Court.
Kitchens says McDonald should be considered armed and extremely dangerous.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – Two Lawrence police officers have been suspended after an FBI investigation into traffic tickets being fixed in exchange for University of Kansas basketball tickets over a span of several years.
City Manager David Corliss confirmed Thursday that the person whose traffic tickets were fixed is serving time in a federal prison related to a broader Kansas ticket scandal.
In that scandal, seven people, including top business officials in the athletics department, were convicted in the thefts of more than 17,000 Jayhawk basketball tickets and at least 2,000 football tickets. The tickets were illegally sold to brokers and others, with the defendants pocketing the money.
Officials declined to name the person whose tickets were fixed or the officers who were suspended. Dismissing traffic tickets in exchange for the Kansas basketball tickets violated the city’s gratuity policy, Corliss said.
Police Chief Tarik Khatib said his department began an internal investigation after he received an anonymous letter in May 2011 claiming that several police officers “were involved in dismissing some municipal traffic citations in exchange for KU athletic event tickets.”
When the investigation suggested that the matter might become a criminal case, the department contacted the U.S. attorney’s office, Khatib said. The FBI concluded last month there was no criminal activity for federal prosecutors to pursue and returned the matter to the police department, the chief said.
Khatib declined to estimate how many tickets were improperly dismissed.
“We’re almost complete with the internal investigation and will take appropriate actions,” he said. “It was originally alleged there might be some criminal violations, but this involves violations of either policy rules or regulations of the Lawrence Police Department or the city of Lawrence.”
Audience members for the opening night of “Arsenic and Old Lace” were the first to find out what plays will be produced at Missouri Western State University next season.
Assistant Professors Tee Quillin and Dallas Henry announced the season Thursday night.
10/4-10/7: “J.B.” (the book of Job)
11/28-12/12: “Annie”
2/21-3/3: “Private Lives” and “God of Carnage”
4/11-4/14: “Sweeney Todd”
The plays have all won Tony Awards for their Broadway productions. The season is called “The Year of the Tony.”
Some big changes are coming to Northwest Missouri State University this fall.
The university will layoff twenty people and cut back or realign from 19 to 11 academic departments.
The layoffs represent 2.8 percent of the school’s workforce.
The employees impacted were personally contacted prior to the campuswide announcement Thursday, and they have the opportunity to complete the fiscal year ending June 30.
“It is clear we will look different come July 1,” Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski said in a news release. “The University is in the midst of defining times, and during such, challenging, yet sound, decisions must be made.
“As Bearcats, we will keep our mission, vision and values at the forefront and accentuate our ability to focus on student success.”
Effective July 1, Northwest will transition from 19 to 11 academic departments, move several faculty members currently serving as department chairs to full-time teaching positions, and reduce adjunct faculty.
The Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) will be eliminated, but Northwest plans to realign four of the five FCS academic programs – child and family studies, merchandising, early childhood, and nutrition and dietetics – with other departments. The one program being eliminated from the FCS department is the bachelor of science in education degree in family and consumer sciences, which impacts 17 students. Three faculty positions in the FCS department will be eliminated. These faculty eliminations will be effective in June 2013 so faculty can work with impacted FCS students and ensure a smooth transition to the new academic model.
Northwest also will eliminate the dance program offered through the Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Dance is not a degree program and courses are offered only as electives. One faculty position will be eliminated because of the change.
Additionally, Northwest will make changes to other programs and services that include elimination of the summer program at the Horace Mann Laboratory School and closure of the Robert P. Foster Aquatic Center. The University also will implement business plans for Horace Mann and the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing to move those programs to financially sustainable models. A business plan will be implemented to move KXCV-KRNW, Northwest’s award-winning National Public Radio station, to a financially viable model as well.
Jasinski noted Northwest recently has made significant cuts to its operating budgets and saved millions through a variety of cost-saving measures. Among them, the University has implemented hiring pauses across all non-instructional positions to save about $1 million, changed employee sick leave and vacation policies to save about $1.4 million, renegotiated supplier contracts to save about $500,000, refinanced bonds to save about $400,000 and held salary increases for the last three years.
“We’ve held the line on tuition, allowing for accessibility, affordability and continued Northwest quality – while strengthening our financial position,” Jasinski said. “While the plan announced today equates to nearly $2 million in reductions, there is still much to be done.”
Jasinski said the University will continue to address organizational issues and environmental conditions from a holistic perspective and will continue emphasizing the extreme value Northwest provides to students and society.
