(Update 1:35 p.m. Wednesday) An Atchison resident was killed in a crash with a semi Tuesday morning.

As previously reported, the crash between a Buick LaCrosse and a semi-truck occurred around 8 a.m. Tuesday on 59 Highway at Parker Road.

The driver of the LaCrosse, 56-year-old Jeffery A. Smith of Atchison was pronounced dead at the scene. According to St. Joseph Police Dept. Traffic Unit Supervisor Sgt. Chris McBane, it appears the Buick crossed the center line and hit the semi-truck head on.

The driver of the semi-truck, 45-year-old Dennis Rhodes, Jr. of Moline, Illinois, was not injured.

According to police, the investigation is still ongoing.

 

CAMDEN, Mo. (AP) – A northwest Missouri couple is charged with more than 50 felony counts of child abuse and neglect involving a 9-year-old girl.

Ray County authorities say the girl was abused for months, including allegedly being struck with an ax.

The Kansas City Star reports 29-year-old Mario Barreto, of Camden, is charged with 29 counts of child abuse or neglect. And 25-year-old Melissa Holloway, also of Camden, faces 22 counts of child abuse or neglect and one count of hindering prosecution. The child was in the care of Barreto, a relative of the girl.

Both pleaded not guilty Tuesday.

Court records indicate the girl was hospitalized in February with several injuries, including fingers on her right hand that were allegedly crushed with an ax head.

Online court records don’t indicate the couple has attorneys.

A man was transported to the hospital after being shot in the leg Tuesday afternoon.

A report of multiple shots fired in the area of 18th and Charles Streets came in around 1:30 p.m.

According to Capt. Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department, the man was transported to the hospital for treatment of injuries and no suspects are in custody at this time in reference to the shooting.

TOPEKA – Today Governor Jeff Colyer, issued Drought Declarations for Kansas counties with Executive Order 18-11 at a press conference with Secretary of Agriculture Jackie McClaskey and Kansas Water Office Director Tracy Streeter. The declaration includes all 105 counties either in an emergency, warning or watch status.

“The entire State of Kansas has been considered in drought or abnormally dry conditions for the past several weeks,” said Governor Colyer. “This has led to an extremely high risk of fire hazards and many have already occurred.”

The drought declaration placed 28 counties in emergency status, 29 into a warning status and 48 into a watch status. This action was recommended by Tracy Streeter, Director of the Kansas Water Office and Chair of the Governor’s Drought Response Team. Over the past six months the state-wide average precipitation was only 66 percent of normal and in January and February the state-wide average precipitation was even less, at 43 percent of normal.

“While wildfires are the most urgent concern at this point, water supplies can be dramatically impacted in a very short period of time, especially as we start to enter into spring and summer months,” said Streeter. “The Governor’s Drought Response Team will continue to monitor the situation closely as future outlooks call for drought persisting and make recommendations to the Governor as necessary.”

Secretary of Agriculture McClaskey, who was also present at the press conference, remarked on the potential impact the drought could have on Kansas agriculture, saying “The Kansas Department of Agriculture is committed to serving Kansas farmers and ranchers, especially during challenging times like the current drought. Whether that means making sure regulations and statutes are in place to move hay or working with our federal partners to gain access to additional grazing land, we stand ready to work with farmers and ranchers and all of our partners in agriculture.”

Counties who are in emergency stage are eligible for emergency use of water from certain state fishing lakes due to the Kansas Water Office (KWO) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks and Tourism (KDWPT).

County Drought Stage Declarations:

Drought Emergency:

Barber, Barton, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray, Hamilton, Harper, Haskell, Hodgeman, Kearny, Kingman, Kiowa, Meade, Morton, Pawnee, Pratt, Reno, Rice, Sedgwick, Seward, Stafford, Stanton, Stevens, Sumner

Drought Warning:

Allen, Butler, Chautauqua, Chase, Cowley, Dickinson, Elk, Ellis, Ellsworth, Greeley, Greenwood, Harvey, Lane, Lincoln, Marion, McPherson, Montgomery, Morris, Neosho, Ness, Rush, Russell, Saline, Scott, Trego, Wallace, Wichita, Wilson, Woodson

Drought Watch:

Anderson, Atchison, Bourbon, Brown, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Clay, Cloud, Coffey, Crawford, Decatur, Doniphan, Douglas, Franklin, Geary, Gove, Graham, Jackson, Jefferson, Jewell, Johnson, Labette, Leavenworth, Linn, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, Miami, Mitchell, Nemaha, Norton, Osage, Osborne, Ottawa, Phillips, Pottawatomie, Rawlins, Republic, Riley, Rooks, Shawnee, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Thomas, Wabaunsee, Washington, Wyandotte

For more detailed information about current conditions, see the Kansas Climate Summary and Drought Report on the Kansas Water Office website at: www.kwo.ks.gov

LUDLOW, Mo. (AP) – An attorney for a northwest Missouri school principal says his client is “emphatically pleading not guilty” to charges that he stole prescription drugs.

Christopher Scott Calhoun, principal at Southwest Livingston County R-1, is charged with two counts of felony stealing.

The Livingson County Sheriff’s office said Percocet and Adderall were stolen from a locked cabinet in the school at Ludlow after a school nurse reported the missing pills.

Calhoun, who has been placed on leave, has a preliminary hearing scheduled March 28.

Calhoun’s attorney, Andrew Christie, said Tuesday that the public should remember that Calhoun is considered innocent until proven guilty.

Southwest Livingston County has 28 staff members for 173 students in grades kindergarten through high school.

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LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MO. — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a drug theft from Southwest Livingston County R-1 School and have made an arrest.

The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) had been investigating a reported theft of prescription medications (Percocet and Adderall) from a locked medicine cabinet. The prescriptions were being properly monitored by the school nurse and was promptly reported when some of the pills turned up missing, according to a media release.

Additional investigation and assistance from school officials resulted in the arrest of  school principal Christopher Scott Calhoun, 44, of Chillicothe, for 2 counts of the alleged theft.

Calhoun has since been charged in Livingston County Associate Circuit Court with the alleged 2 counts of class D felony Stealing with bond initially set at $10,000 cash.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 28.