The National Biodiesel Board thanked a handful of senators for introducing legislation that would require small refineries to petition for Renewable Fuels Standard hardship exemptions by June first of every year. The legislation would also require the Environmental Protection Agency to properly account for exempted gallons in the annual Renewable Volume Obligations it sets each November.
Kurt Kovarik, NBB Vice President of Federal Affairs, says his organization appreciates the efforts to end EPA’s rampant use of small refinery exemptions to undermine the RFS. “Over the past two years, EPA retroactively granted RFS hardship exemptions to nearly every refiner that asked,” Kovarik says. “When EPA issues retroactive small refinery exemptions and refuses to account for the lost gallons in annual volumes, it very-much cuts the legs out from under the RFS.”
He says the exemptions handed out in 2015,2016, and 2017 destroyed demand for more than 360 million gallons of biodiesel and renewable diesel. NBB says it conservatively estimates the demand destruction of 364 million gallons of biomass-based diesel. The University of Illinois estimates the economic harm to biodiesel producers to be $7.7. billion dollars.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Two women are charged with helping a relative who left Missouri with her daughter five years ago despite not having custody of the child.
Jillanne Pagano photo Cherokee County, NC Sheriff
A Missouri State Highway Patrol report says 23-year-old Julianna Pagano and 59-year-old Valerie Pagano, of Rocheport, are charged with obstructing/hindering law enforcement.
They are the sister and mother of 25-year-old Jillanne Pagano, who was arrested Wednesday by U.S. Marshals in Murphy, North Carolina. She is awaiting extradition to Missouri, where she was charged last year with felony child abduction.
Prosecutors say the child’s father was granted full custody of the girl in December 2016.
Julianna and Valerie Pagano were arrested late Friday. They were released after each paid a $5,000 bond. No attorneys are listed for them in online court records
There still aren’t any formalized plans for U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet at the upcoming G20 Summit in Japan. Politico says that’s the latest update from chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow. Trump has said there is no deadline for imposing even more tariffs on Chinese imports. However, he’s also threatened to make a move if Xi refuses to meet in Japan.
So far, the president has imposed a 25 percent tariff on Chinese goods, which caused China to set up retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, especially agriculture products like soybeans and pork. Trump is taking action to potentially impose the same tariff on almost all remaining Chinese imports, worth about $300 billion. Some of those import targets include things like cell phones, clothing, footwear, televisions, and other electronics.
Politico says Kudlow emphasized that the administration is still looking at strong-arming China. Kudlow recently took part in an on-stage discussion with Fred Bergsten, president emeritus of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He said there’s only one way to get to an agreement with China. “You kick some butt, in my best economic analytical quantitative regression analysis,” Kudlow says.
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — An eastern Missouri woman accused of attacking her 5-year-old son with a knife has been found not mentally competent to stand trial.
Syeda Sirajuddin photo St.Louis Co. Jail
A judge signed an order finding 35-year-old Syeda Sirajuddin, of Ballwin, mentally unfit for trial. She has been charged with felony assault, child endangerment and armed criminal action in the Jan. 9 attack.
Prosecutors say Sirajuddin tried to give sleeping pills to her 9-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son before stabbing the boy in the family’s home. Authorities say she also tried to smother her 2-year-old son with a blanket. The 5-year-old was hospitalized, but the other two children weren’t seriously harmed.
Sirajuddin will be confined to a state mental facility and be reevaluated within six months to determine if she is mentally fit to proceed.
DON, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a 47-year-old woman died after her golf cart overturned.
The patrol says Tisha Vanbarneveld, of St. Charles, was injured Saturday when her she was thrown from the golf cart after it went off a road and overturned in Eldon.
She was flown to University Hospital in Columbia but died Sunday.
Photo courtesy University of Kansas AthleticsPEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Gary Woodland of Topeka captured the U.S. Open, overcoming the back-nine pressure at Pebble Beach to hold off two-time defending champion Brooks Koepka for a three-shot victory.
The social media world exploded celebrating Woodland’s win. From the President of the United States and Kansas Governor and many others sent their congratulations.
Congratulations to Topeka native Gary Woodland! The former Shawnee Heights HS standout and Washburn University and KU student-athlete was just crowned golf's U.S. Open champion. Well done!
— Governor Laura Kelly (@GovLauraKelly) June 17, 2019
Congratulations to Gary Woodland in winning the United States Open Golf Championship. Fantastic playing, great heart – there will be more in Gary’s future!
— Senator Pat Roberts (@SenPatRoberts) June 17, 2019
Woodland all but sealed his first major title when he chipped off a tight lie on the green on the 17th hole to tap-in range at a pin tucked in the back left. His par there preserved the two-shot lead.
Then, he made it a three-shot edge when he knocked in a 30-foot birdie putt on 18. It pushed him to 13-under 271 — beating by one shot the score Tiger Woods posted during his 15-shot victory at Pebble in the 2000 U.S. Open.
Woodland shot 2-under 69 to become the fifth player to break 70 in all four rounds of the U.S. Open.
The fourth was Koepka, who wrapped up his round of 68 a few minutes earlier. He’s the first to accomplish that feat and not win.
Koepka failed in his quest to become the first player since Willie Anderson in 1905 to win three straight U.S. Opens. But this second-place finish adds to a runner-up at the Masters and his title at the PGA last month.
Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Chez Reavie and Justin Rose finished in a four-way tie for third and 7 under.
___
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — In front of Gary Woodland was a 263-yard shot to the scariest green on any par 5 at Pebble Beach, especially with a U.S. Open on the line. Behind him by one shot on the leaderboard was Brooks Koepka, the most dangerous figure in major championship golf these days.
The safe shot was to lay up on the 14th and take his chances with a wedge
“The idea was to play for the win,” Woodland said.
With an extra boost of confidence from his caddie — Brennan Little, who was on the bag for Mike Weir in his Masters victory — Woodland delivered the shot of his life with a 3-wood that narrowly cleared a bunker, settled on the edge of the green and set up a birdie that gave him the cushion he needed.
The rest was pure theater — a 90-foot pitch off the 17th green he nearly holed, a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 2-under 69 and a three-shot victory that denied Koepka’s bold bid to match a century-old record with a third straight U.S. Open.
Woodland’s pitch across the 17th green over a hump that checked and trickled to tap-in range effectively clinched it, taking its place with other big moments on the 17th green in the U.S. Open such as Jack Nicklaus and his 1-iron off the pin and Tom Watson’s chip-in birdie. It even got the attention of Nicklaus.
“Took a lot of guts,” Nicklaus said on Twitter.
Woodland had that it abundance, along with a message from an inspirational friend.
“You got this.”
Until Sunday, when he cradled the silver trophy at Pebble Beach, Woodland got more attention from one hole in a pro-am at the Phoenix Open. He was gracious and encouraging to Amy Bockerstette, a 20-year-old with Down Syndrome and sheer optimism. Woodland invited her to hit a shot on the par-3 16th (into a bunker). He wanted to blast it out of the sand but she said, “I got this.” She hit it out to 8 feet and made the putt. The PGA Tour-produced video has more than 20 million views.
“I told myself that a million times today,” Woodland said. “I’ve got this.”
Koepka didn’t make it easy, keeping the pressure on Woodland until the very end.
Both represent the modern athlete in golf. Both are unflappable.
Needing three putts to win, Woodland finished in style. He raised both arms in the air to salute the crowd, turned toward the Pacific and slammed down his fist.
“I never let myself get ahead,” Woodland said. “Once that went in, it all came out of me. It’s special to finish it off here at Pebble Beach.”
Koepka had to settle for a footnote in history. He closed with a 68, making him the first player with all four rounds in the 60s at a U.S. Open without winning.
“It was awesome to come this close to going three in a row. It’s incredible,” Koepka said. “I didn’t really think about it until I was done on 18 and realized how close I actually was to not making history, but tying it, I guess you could say. Just wasn’t meant to be this week.”
Distance was no problem for Woodland on the 14th hole. It was the potential outcome.
“Left is not good, right is out-of-bounds, long is not ideal and the bunker speaks for itself,” Woodland said. “So to execute that shot under the pressure, under the situation, that shot gave me the confidence. I felt better after hitting that shot on the golf course today than I had in a long, long time.”
He believes it allowed him to hit one just as good on the 17th.
Woodland dropped the 5-iron from his hands when it sailed well to the right of the green with the pin 90 feet away over a hump.
Up ahead on the par-5 18th, Koepka drilled a 3-iron just over the back of the green, leaving him a 50-foot chip for eagle to tie, with a birdie likely to do the trick considering what Woodland faced on the 17th. Koepka chipped to 10 feet and narrowly missed the birdie putt.
Woodland, unable to hit putter and get anywhere near the hole, opted to pitch it with a 64-degree wedge. He clipped it perfectly just over the hump, and it checked about 12 feet from the hole and trickled by the pin to secure par, and effectively the U.S. Open.
“I was just trying to get it over that hump,” Woodland said. “I thought it had a chance to go in, but it’s not one I want over.”
Woodland played conservatively down the 18th and made one last birdie that only mattered in the record book. He was aware that Tiger Woods had a 12-under 272 during his historic rout at Pebble Beach in 2000, and he topped him.
That birdie put him at 13-under 271 and earned him $2.25 million, the richest payoff in golf.
The difference was Woods won by 15 shots and was the only player under par. With a marine layer blocking the sunshine, and no significant wind at Pebble Beach all week, 31 players finished under par.
Koepka started four shots behind in his bid to join Willie Anderson as the only players to go back-to-back-to-back in the toughest test in golf. He made up ground quickly with four birdies in five holes.
“I felt like, ‘We’ve got a ball game now,'” Koepka said.
He failed to get up-and-down from a bunker for birdie on the par-5 sixth, and missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventh. Still, he stayed within range, just like he wanted, knowing that anything could happen on the back nine of a U.S. Open.
Something wonderful happened to Woodland.
“Gary played a hell of a round today,” Koepka said. “Props to him to hang in there. To go out in style like that is pretty cool.”
Of the four other players who had a shot at three straight U.S. Opens, no one came closer than Koepka. He now has a victory in the PGA Championship and runner-up finishes in the Masters and U.S. Open.
Justin Rose was the only one who caught Woodland all day, with a birdie on the opening hole. Rose bogeyed from the bunker on No. 2 as Woodland birdied, and he never caught up. Rose fell out of the race with three bogeys in a four-hole stretch on the back nine. He shot 74 and shared third with Xander Schauffele (67), Jon Rahm (68) and Chez Reavie (71).
Woods birdied six of his last 12 holes and was never a factor. He tied for 21st, 11 shots behind.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A non-profit group is hoping to save historic homes that were damaged when a powerful tornado swept through Missouri’s capital city last month.
The Historic City of Jefferson is rounding up investors who are interested in salvaging historic homes that were damaged when an EF-3 tornado raked the city on May 22.
Donna Deetz, who runs the nonprofit, said owners who are considering selling or demolishing their homes have other options. The HCJ-organized group could step in to provide alternatives or purchase the home.
“If they’ve already gotten their insurance payment and they’re going to have to pay $30,000 to take it down, would they be willing to sell it for $30,000? That sort of thing,” said Deetz, who is also a commissioner on the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.
“We can save it and we don’t have these holes along East Capitol Avenue,” she added.
Jayme Abbott, the city’s neighborhood services manager, said damaged properties deemed a dangerous structures won’t be considered for purchase.
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Kansas man who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography was sentenced Thursday to 70 months in federal prison, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Joel Haines photo Kan. offender registry
In addition, the defendant was ordered to pay $5,000 to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act Fund and $3,000 to each of 15 victims who requested restitution.
Joel Haines, 61, Paola, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. At sentencing, the prosecutor said investigators found 1,433 digital child pornography images on Haines’ computer. The images included children under the age of two being sexually abused as well as images of girls ages 6 to 12.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Organizers have cancelled this year’s annual Symphony in the Flint Hills performance because storms did extensive damage to the tents and other equipment for the event.
Storm damage photo courtesy Symphony in the Flint Hills
The group that planned the performance doesn’t plan to offer refunds for the tickets that sold for between $50 and $95. Past events attracted roughly 7,000 people to rural Kansas.
Organizers initially delayed Saturday’s planned performance from Saturday to Sunday, but later decided that the damage from a Friday-night storm was too extensive. Sunday’s forecast also called for the possibility of more severe weather.
The event would have featured a performance by the Kansas City Symphony. The ticket sales raise money to help educate people about tallgrass prairie and preserve it.
DONIPHAN, Mo. (AP) — A small hospital in southeast Missouri that has been closed since October will not reopen.
The board of Ripley County Memorial Hospital in Doniphan voted Friday to notify state authorities the hospital will be dissolved. The vote came as the hospital’s certificate of need is scheduled to expire on June 28.
The Southeast Missourian reports the decision ends a desperate 13-month effort by the hospital board to find a health care provider to replace SoutheastHEALTH of Cape Girardeau, which announced plans to leave Ripley County in April 2018.
Karen White, CEO of Missouri Highlands Health Care, which began operating the Doniphan Family Clinic in December, said after Friday’s vote that the company is ready to begin work on opening an Urgent Care facility in the former hospital building.
The National Biodiesel Board thanked a handful of senators for introducing legislation that would require small refineries to petition for Renewable Fuels Standard hardship exemptions by June first of every year. The legislation would also require the Environmental Protection Agency to properly account for exempted gallons in the annual Renewable Volume Obligations it sets each November.
There still aren’t any formalized plans for U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet at the upcoming G20 Summit in Japan. Politico says that’s the latest update from chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow. Trump has said there is no deadline for imposing even more tariffs on Chinese imports. However, he’s also threatened to make a move if Xi refuses to meet in Japan.
