JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri House lawmakers have passed legislationto allow public schools to offer elective social studies classes on the Bible.

The Republican-led House voted 95-52 to pass the bill Monday.

Some critics argued that public K-12 schools can already teach about the Bible and other religious texts.

But Republican bill sponsor Rep. Ben Baker says current law has sometimes been interpreted to mean full courses on the Bible are not permitted. Baker says his bill is aimed at clarifying that those classes are allowed in Missouri.

Missouri House lawmakers previously voted down a proposal to specify that schools can also offer courses on the Book of Mormon.

The bill now heads to the state Senate for consideration.

STONE COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 1p.m. Monday in Stone County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Ford Ranger driven by Daniel W. Cantrell, 68, Marionville, was southbound on MO 413 just south of Route M. The pickup crossed the center line and struck a 2008 Chevy HHR driven by Barbara J. Sutherland, 82, Crane.

Sutherland was pronounced dead at the scene. EMS transported Cantrell to Mercy Hospital. Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the MSHP.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas says she is committed to expanding health care access and combatting climate change.

Thank you to everyone who attended or watched our first town hall – it was a great chance to talk about the issues facing our community and country directly with the people of #KS03. And thank you to the @shawmissionpost for moderating! pic.twitter.com/IlQwXQzbl5

— Rep. Sharice Davids (@RepDavids) March 24, 2019

But during a town hall meeting Sunday in Olathe, Davids stopped short of endorsing “Medicare For All” or a “Green New Deal” pushed by many leading Democrats.

Davids says she is focusing on health care legislation that would get bipartisan support. She says she can’t say yet whether she supports a bill to give all Americans access to government-run health care.

She notes she is co-sponsoring legislation to give states incentives to expand Medicaid eligibility.

Davids said she isn’t currently backing the Green New Deal because it contains some specific policies she doesn’t support. But she agrees the country needs to find bold ways to address climate change.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Dashcam video released Monday shows a Kansas police officer shooting and wounding a man in a case in which the rookie officer told investigators she mistakenly fired her firearm instead of her Taser.

The video provided in response to an open records request is from the patrol vehicle of an officer who pulled over 35-year-old Akira Lewis for a suspected seatbelt violation in May 2018 near downtown Lawrence.

Lewis is heard in the video telling the white officer that he was pulled over because he is black and insists on seeing a supervisor. When he refuses to provide identification and continues arguing, backup officer Brindley Blood, who also is white, was summoned.

She is seen shooting Lewis when he punches and tackles the officer who initiated the traffic stop. Blood, who resigned from the police force in January after being placed on paid leave, is charged with aggravated battery. Lewis was treated at a hospital and is charged with several misdemeanors, including battery against a law enforcement officer.

The affidavit in the case against Blood said she didn’t realize she had shot Lewis until she looked for the Taser wires to see if they had hit their mark and realized there weren’t any. She said during her interview with investigators, “I shot, shot him, I pulled my firearm instead of my Taser,” the affidavit said.

The city initially denied the Journal-World’s request for the video, saying at that time the materials were “part of an ongoing investigation” and “criminal investigation records.” The newspaper again requested the video last week, after it was played in Douglas County District Court during a hearing for Blood.

Judge Peggy Kittel is weighing whether to bind Blood over for trial. Her attorneys argue that while Blood made a mistake she was not reckless, as the charge alleges, and that the case against her should be dropped. Kittel is scheduled to announce her ruling later this week.

Lewis’ attorney, Shaye Downing, said in a statement Monday that during the officers’ attempt to arrest Lewis for a “seatbelt violation” the officers “initiated physical contact and escalated a situation that could have been easily de-escalated by any number of interventions.”

“After this incident, there are serious concerns about the training officers receive and ongoing certification required to ensure that if an officer is faced with a situation where force is used, that they use only that level of force reasonably necessary for the given circumstances,” Downing said.

She also said Lewis has not received any help from the city of Lawrence for medical expenses for injuries he suffered during the confrontation.

 

 

 

MARSTON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man jailed in Texas is now charged with killing a woman at an Interstate 55 rest area in October.

27-year-old Eliot Bonner of St. Charles was charged Friday with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm. He does not yet have a listed attorney.

The body of 50-year-old Monica Keenlance of Morton, Illinois, was found Oct. 31 at a rest area along I-55 near Marston, Missouri.

ST. CLAIR COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 2:30a.m. Monday in St. Clair County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Dodge Dakota driven by Brent G. Green, 51, Appleton City, was westbound on Highway 52 just east of Appleton City.

The pickup crossed the center line and struck a semi head-on.

Green was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Hill and Son Funeral Home. A private vehicle transported the semi driver Jackie N. Davis, 39, Appleton, to Elliot Memorial for treatment of minor injuries.

Davis was not wearing a seat belt. The MSHP did not have information on Green’s seat belt usage.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas House gave first-round approval Monday to a bill that would require medical facilities and doctors to inform women that some medically induced abortions could be “reversed” if a doctor intervenes.

Opponents of the bill say the “reversal” method is scientifically unproven and disputed in medical circles, while supporters contend women should be made aware of the option.

The bill passed by a voice vote after more than two hours of debate. After a final vote Tuesday, it’s expected to head to the Senate, The Kansas City Star reported .

Medical abortions involve women taking Mifepristone, generally called RU-486, followed by a medication called Misoprostol. The bill approved Monday would require women be told that an abortion can be stopped after the first medicine is taken if a doctor administers a dose of progesterone.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, a strong supporter of abortion rights, was skeptical about the bill.

“I’m not sure that’s based on science,” she said during a news conference Monday.

The bill claims “it may be possible to reverse its intended effect if the second pill or tablet has not been taken or administered. If you change your mind and wish to try to continue the pregnancy, you can get immediate help by accessing available resources.”

“I want you to understand clearly this is a pro-women’s health bill, said Rep. John Eplee, R-Atchison, a physician who introduced the measure in committee. “We’re not putting a gun to their head, we’re not forcing them to have this procedure. We’re giving them an option.”

However, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 2017 disputed the usefulness of the procedure.

“Claims regarding abortion ‘reversal’ treatment are not based on science and do not meet clinical standards,” the group said. “Unfounded legislative mandates represent dangerous political interference and compromise patient care and safety.”

Democratic opponents of the bill repeatedly referred to the medical group’s statement and questioned whether the process detailed in the bill is safe.

“I think this really inserts politics into a private discussion between physician and patients and complicates that and interferes with that relationship,” said Rep. Eileen Horn, D-Lawrence.

If passed, any private office, surgical outpatient clinic, hospital or other facility that fails to post a sign about the reversal process could be fined up to $10,000. If a medical abortion is provided without the notification, the woman, the father of the unborn child, or the grandparent of a minor undergoing the abortion could sue for damages.

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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A bicyclist who died after being hit by a vehicle last week was a 71-year-old Olathe man.

Police said Monday Karman Wells died hours after being hit on Friday in southern Overland Park. Police continue to investigate the crash.

The driver has not been cited. Police say there is no evidence the driver of the vehicle was impaired.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — David Lunsford is an avid gun owner with a firing range on his Texas spread. With bump stocks about to be banned by the U.S. government, he grudgingly decided to sell off his and let someone else figure out what to do with them.

“If I get caught with one, I’m a felon, and it seems like to me that’s entrapment in the biggest way. I bought that thing legally with my hard-earned money,” said the 60-year-old Lunsford, who has at one time owned six AR-15 rifles that he built from kits, as well as a World War II German submachine gun.

The bump stock — the attachment used by the killer during the 2017 Las Vegas massacre to make his weapons fire rapidly like machine guns — will become illegal on Tuesday in the only major gun restriction imposed by the federal government in the past few years, a period that has seen massacres in places like Las Vegas; Thousand Oaks, California; Sutherland Springs, Texas; and Orlando and Parkland, Florida.

Unlike with the decade-long assault weapons ban, the government isn’t allowing existing owners to keep their bump stocks. They must be destroyed or turned over to authorities. And the government isn’t offering any compensation for the devices, which can cost hundreds of dollars. Violators can face up to 10 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.

Lunsford bought three bump stocks over the years and wanted to recoup at least some of the money he shelled out, but it bothers him that he and others have been put in this position.

“I’ve never committed a crime with it, and just because of that one killer up in Las Vegas that used one that killed a bunch of people, they’re going to make people pay for it,” he said.

But Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, said: “It was because of bump stocks that the gunman in Las Vegas was able to kill 58 people from a hotel window. … It just goes to show the incredible lethality and dangers of these accessories.”

The prohibition goes into effect less than two weeks after the mosque shootings in New Zealand that left 50 people dead. New Zealand’s prime minister reacted swiftly to the bloodshed by announcing on Thursday a ban on military-style semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives first ruled that bump stocks were legal in 2010, and since then, the government estimates more than 500,000 have been sold.

They were originally created to make it easier for people with disabilities to fire a gun. The device essentially replaces the gun’s stock and pistol grip and causes the weapon to buck back and forth, repeatedly “bumping” the trigger against the shooter’s finger.

Technically, that means the finger is pulling the trigger with each round fired, a distinction that led the ATF to allow the devices.

They were considered by most gun owners to be a novelty and weren’t widely known until a gunman attached bump stocks to several of the AR-type rifles he used to rain bullets on concertgoers outside his high-rise Las Vegas hotel room.

The attachments were swiftly condemned by even ardent gun supporters, including President Donald Trump, who directed the Justice Department to rewrite the regulations to ban them. The impending ban was announced in mid-December.

Owners are being advised to either destroy them by crushing, melting or cutting them up or set up an appointment with the ATF to hand the devices over.

A week before the ban was set to take effect, bump stocks were being sold on websites and by at least one company that took over the inventory of Slide Fire, the Texas manufacturer that was the leading maker and has since shut down.

Ryan Liskey, of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, said he isn’t sure what to do with his bump stock. He said he got the device as a lark after trying it on the range with some friends.

“Do they have authority to do this? No. Is it a machine gun? No,” the 30-year-old Liskey said. “So do I follow an unconstitutional edict from the Department of Justice or do we stand our ground?”

ATF spokeswoman April Langwell said “a number of people” have already turned in their devices to ATF offices across the U.S., but she wouldn’t say how many. Starting next week, a person in possession of a bump stock can face federal charges of illegally possessing a machine gun.

“We’re going to enforce the law and those in possession will be subject to prosecution,” Langwell said.

The rule was met almost immediately with resistance from gun rights advocates. A federal judge in Utah refused to block it last week, and in February, a judge in Washington said the Trump administration can move forward with it, saying it was reasonable for the ATF to determine a bump stock performs the same function as a machine gun. An appeals court is set to hear augments in the case on Friday.

Gun Owners of America, a gun-rights group, is among those challenging the ban. GOA’s executive director, Erich Pratt, said the measure is an abuse of power and an end run around Congress.

“We think it’s really dangerous for a regulatory agency to be able to just turn on a dime. For 10 years they said that bump stocks fit within the law, they were perfectly legal. And then they reversed themselves and said, ‘Oh, this piece of plastic is a machine gun,'” Pratt said. “If they can do that and wave the magic wand, they can say anything is a machine gun. It’s like banning smoking by declaring cigarettes are sticks of dynamite.”

Gun-rights advocates and gun-safety activists agree on one thing: The ban would have been seen as more acceptable had Congress tackled the issue and enacted a law, rather than relying on a federal agency to do it administratively.