A Frankfort, Kansas man missing for about a week has been found dead in his car in Brown County.

Authorities were searching for 78-year-old Francis Kramer, who was last seen alive a week ago on his way to the Sac & Fox Casino.

In a news release, Marshall County officials announced that Kramer was found deceased in southern Brown County at about 11:30 Friday morning.

According to Brown County Sheriff’s Office, Kramer’s vehicle apparently got stuck in the mud.

A farmer near the 105 St exit, off highway 75, stated that he found the vehicle with Mr. Kramer inside.

The cause of death is undetermined at this time. An autopsy is pending.

 

It’s been 10 months since family and friends gathered in Trenton and Jefferson City to send off about 170 Citizen-Soldiers with the 548th Transportation Company to southwest Afghanistan. While the unit has conducted hauling missions throughout the country, day-to-day business has continued at the Trenton armory.

This past year, the troops that remained stateside have carried on with monthly drills, the armory completed a major construction project and military vehicles continued to be serviced in their garage. At the helm is Sgt. 1st Class Casey Smith who temporarily came on board in Trenton to keep things running at the armory, and also look after the Soldiers in Afghanistan.

As the one year mark approaches, plans are being arranged to bring the troops
home. Smith has begun to coordinate the welcome home ceremony, as well as
orchestrate moving the unit and their equipment back to the United States. Though no date has been set, Smith is preparing for the unit’s return this spring.

Staff Sgt. Angela Scobee is a recruiter based at the Trenton armory and has a soft spot in her heart for these road warriors. Scobee enlisted nearly 30 of the troops currently serving in Afghanistan.

A St Joseph man wanted for alleged child abuse turned himself in to police Thursday.

Ricky Wilson, 29, is charged with Class A Felony Assault on a two-year-old boy who was in his custody in January.

Court documents show the infant had numerous bruises, abrasions and internal injuries consistent with abuse.

A judge set bond at $50,000 pending formal arraignment.

A new website developed for Northwest Missouri State seeks to increase donation to the university.

Pawtopaw.org was launched this week and targets university alumni through social media.

The website builds on the success Northwest holds from Facebook.  Northwest claims to have one of the largest Facebook followings of Division II schools in the nation.

The new website uses small increments to solicit donations starting at $25.

Click the link for more. http://www.nwmissouri.edu/pawtopaw/

The music department at Missouri Western State University will host the sixth annual MWSU Jazz Festival all day Saturday, Feb. 11.

Events are scheduled in the Fulkerson Center and the Blum Student Union.

The public is invited, and there is no admission.

The festival includes adjudicated performances and clinics for area high school groups.  It will conclude with a brief performance by the MWSU Jazz Ensemble under the director of Bob Long at 6 p.m. in the Fulkerson Center.

During the concert, individual performance awards for the day will be announced.

”The focus of the festival is to be an educational and musical experience for students and directors alike,” said Long, director of jazz studies.

Area high school instrumental and vocal groups will perform a set for adjudicators, who will immediately conduct a brief clinic for the group, working on specific areas of the performance. Instrumental groups will begin to perform at 8 a.m. in the Fulkerson Center. Vocal groups will start at 1 p.m. in the Hoff Conference Room, Blum 219. Adjudicators are Dick Redman of Pella, Iowa, and Doug Talley of Overland Park, Kan., in the instrumental room, and Ryan Howe of Creston, Iowa and Kathleen Holeman of St. Joseph in the vocal room.

Students will also have the opportunity to attend clinics for their specific instruments, conducted by Western instrumental music faculty. Master class instructors are Lee Harrelson on the trombone, Stephen Molloy on the trumpet, Mark Elting on percussion and Long on saxophone.

For more information, contact the music department at 816-271-4420, or email long@missouriwestern.edu.

The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office is hoping you will sign up for “Nixle,” the online alert system adopted by law enforcement across the country to get the word out.

Captain Mark Brock says one of his goals when he took over the Investigations Division was to go one-on-one with the public to get their help.  Brock expects to use Nixle to alert the public about weather and road conditions, missing persons, as well as “be on the look out” type alerts.

“Most of our tips, most of our crime solving, comes from the help of the public,” Brock said. 

“The theory has always been there, and it’s always worked, but now we’re trying to advance that with modern technology.”

St Joseph police have used the Nixle system to get the word out for several months.  To sign up, go to http://www.nixle.com/

Powerball’s $250,000,000 jackpot went unclaimed last night.  Nobody matched all six numbers to claim the top prize.  The jackpot jumps to an estimated $310,000,000 for the Saturday night drawing.

Players in five states, including Missouri,  matched five of the six winning numbers, to claim a $1,000,000 consolation prize.  The winning numbers Wednesday night were 17-28-38-39-and-51.  The Powerball was 33.