GREENE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities have identified the man who died in an accident just before 4p.m. Saturday in Greene County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a Burlington Northern locomotive was westbound on Route OO just south of Springfield and hit a pedestrian identified as Jeff L. Dade, 57, Stafford, who was walking eastbound on the tracks.

There is no rail signal device at that location, according to the MSHP. Dade was pronounced dead at the scene.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City motorcyclist has been charged in a wreck that killed the woman who was riding behind him.

42-year-old Fredrick Wilson Kane, of Mission, was booked into jail Friday. He is charged with involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence in the death of 35-year-old Sierra Crooks. She was killed on June 25 when he crashed in Shawnee.

His bond is set at $250,000. His attorney, Keith Drill, didn’t immediately return a phone message.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas is launching a new lobbying firm even before her term in the U.S. House officially ends.

Jenkins chose not to seek re-election this year and her term will end the first week of January. Her new business, LJ Strategies, has already registered with the state.

Ethics watchdogs suggested Jenkins’ decision reinforces public distrust of politicians

Jenkins’ office said in a statement she consulted with the House Ethics Committee before forming the business. Her spokeswoman, Lee Modesitt, says the business won’t actively seek clients until Jenkins leaves office.

Jenkins, but not her firm, can’t lobby at the federal level for a year after her term ends. She will be able to lobby in Kansas immediately.

Jenkins business was registered with the state on Nov. 20,

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – A multidisciplinary team of Missouri professionals are rolling out a comprehensive prison reform initiative to tackle the state’s rising incarceration rates.

The coalition plans to implement parts of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative across three Missouri counties to prioritize an investment in mental health treatment and other social services.

Missouri possesses one of the nation’s highest incarceration rates. Women are being put in prison faster than in any other state.

The Council of State Governments is forecasting that Missouri would need to invest about $485 million in new prison infrastructure if its rate of incarceration continues.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is scheduled to address the key leaders and staff in the program at a public safety forum on Dec. 7 in Linn.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Despite concerns over a new process being used by the Kansas Department of Children and Families to choose care providers, the agency’s leader said the process is more transparent than at any time in the past.

The agency is now awarding grants rather than seeking bids for contracts to nonprofits and other providers for services such for foster care, adoption and family preservation. The new process will remove oversight by the Department of Administration and give the DCF more control over who receives the grants, The Kansas City Star reported .

Some critics are questioning why the agency changed a process it has used for decades.

“There was never a rationale given as to why they were going with grants,” said Lori Ross, a longtime child advocate in Kansas and Missouri. “Only now is the cloud lifting. DCF is able to pick and choose who they do business with. They can avoid going through bids, the blind process.”

On Thursday, DCF Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel introduced three providers that will soon receive grants for foster care and family preservation. She said awarding of the grants, and the period leading up to it, has been the “most transparent process we have ever had.” She said under the grants, the agency would have regular contact with contractors to oversee their services.

The grants run four years, starting July 1. The state expects to spend $245 million on foster care during the fiscal year beginning on that date, a 17 percent increase over the current fiscal year.

DCF announced in late May that it was moving to the new process and, in some cases, that would mean the Department of Administration isn’t involved and the secretary of the DCF would have final say on who receives the money.

In picking the grant recipients for foster care and family preservation services, two internal teams at the agency analyzed and blind-scored each bid submission and negotiated with those who submitted proposals.

John Milburn, spokesman for the Department of Administration, said issuing grants “is more the exception than the rule.”

“Typically, when you go through the bid process and you run it through a request for proposals, you’re being more transparent, you’re being more open about it,” Milburn said. “And hopefully, in most cases you’re going to get multiple bids to provide those goods and services.”

Meier-Hummel said even when contracts are awarded, the DCF always chose the service providers.

“So ultimately it was always the secretary’s decision who gets these grants and contracts … it’s just that the paperwork went through the Department of Administration and it’s not now,” she said.

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LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A driver has been convicted of dragging and injuring a Lawrence police officer with his car.

Jurors found 38-year-old Aramis Hernandez, of Topeka, guilty Thursday of battery on a law enforcement officer during a July 2016 traffic stop.

When the officer asked Hernandez for his driver’s license, Hernandez told the officer that he “didn’t need” a license. The officer explained that a license was required. Hernandez continued to argue that under “common law” it wasn’t necessary.

The camera system in the officer’s vehicle showed that after a few minutes, Hernandez started to pull away with the officer hanging onto the side of the vehicle. Hernandez then drove off. The officer was treated for cuts and bruises.

Sentencing is set for Dec. 21.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A 19-year-old Missouri man accused of killing a transgender teenager in 2017 will be tried in Greene County.

Andrew Vrba was scheduled to be tried in Crawford County for first-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Ally Steinfeld, who identified as a male-to-female transgender person.

Vrba was one of four people charged with killing or helping to dispose of Steinfeld’s body. Her remains were found in September in Cabool.

Investigators say she was stabbed several times, her eyes were gouged out and her body was set on fire. Authorities have insisted the killing was not a hate crime.

The Springfield News-Leader reports Texas County Prosecutor Parke Stevens Jr. intends to seek the death penalty.

The case was moved earlier this week because the Crawford County judge assigned to the case lost his re-election bid.

FREDONIA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a man has died after a crane collapsed at a construction site in southeast Kansas.

Wilson County Sheriff Pete Figgin says deputies were called Friday to the site south of Fredonia, where a Fredonia Water Treatment Plant is under construction.

Figgin says officers found two adult men injured at the site. One man died and the other was treated for minor injuries.

The sheriff said the cause of the crane collapse hasn’t been determined.

No names have been released.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Campaign finance reports show Missouri’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill spent roughly $40 million on her unsuccessful bid to keep her seat.

McCaskill’s campaign on Thursday reported spending about $5.6 million in the final weeks before and after the November election.

McCaskill was unable to fend off Republican challenger Attorney General Josh Hawley despite her significant financial advantage.

Hawley spent about $11 million on his campaign. But he managed to defeat McCaskill by nearly 6 percentage points in the increasingly Republican state.

Hawley will take office in January.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Roman Catholic Jesuit province that covers Kansas, and 12 other Midwestern and Southern states, Puerto Rico and Belize said Friday that it has found “credible allegations” of sexual abuse involving 42 priests and other ministry leaders dating back to 1955.

Read the statement from Ronald A. Mercier, S.J. Provincial here.

The Jesuits U.S. Central and Southern Province, which is based in St. Louis, also released the men’s names. See the full list here.

Most of those on the list are deceased and others are no longer Jesuits

Eight had ties to Kansas or Kansas City. They include the following.

Paul C. Pilgrim – Rockhurst High School; multiple allegations; removed from ministry in 2003 and lives under supervision

George M. Peiper – Kapaun High School; multiple allegations; died in 1998

Burton J. Fraser, SJ –Rockhurst High School, Kansas City, Mo., St. Mary’s College, St. Marys, Kansas; a single allegation; he died in 1971

Chester E. Gaiter – Rockhurst High School; multiple allegations; died in 2010

John W. Hough – Kapaun High School (Wichita, Kan.); one allegation; left Society and priesthood in 1977

Francis J. Kegel – Rockhurst High School (Kansas City, Mo.); one allegation; left Society in 1953, died in 2009

Dennis P. Kirchoff – Rockhurst High School; one allegation; left Society in 1995

Philip D. Kraus – St. Francis Xavier Parish (Kansas City, Mo.), Rockhurst High School; one allegation; removed from ministry in 2003 and lives under supervision

A spokeswoman said four on the complete list are still members of the province but are not active in ministry and live in supervised housing.

The list names mostly priests, but it also names some brothers, who serve some ministry functions but who are not ordained, and “scholastics,” which are men training to become priests.

Jesuits West, a province that covers several western states, was expected to announce a similar list later Friday, and a third province, the Midwest Province, is due to release the findings of its internal examination on Dec. 17.

The Jesuits are a Catholic order of priests and brothers that includes more than 16,000 men worldwide. Jesuits also operate several high schools and universities, including St. Louis University and Marquette University. Jesuits take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and many also take a vow of allegiance to the Pope.

The Jesuits have previously settled lawsuits across the country, including a $166 million settlement involving about 500 abuse claims in Oregon in 2011, which was one of the largest settlements involving clergy abuse allegations.

U.S. Central and Southern Provincial Ronald Mercier, who heads the province, said the “storm” facing the Catholic church must be confronted with transparency.

“Words cannot possibly suffice to express our sorrow and shame for what occurred, our promise of prayers for healing, and our commitment to work with them,” Mercier said in a statement. “Caring for these survivors — and preventing any such future events — must be our focus as we move forward.”

Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul, Minnesota-based attorney who specializes in clergy abuse lawsuits, said publishing the list was the “right thing to do,” and it empowers victims to both come forward and move ahead in their lives.

“To a survivor who has been abused by one of these people, it helps them realize, ‘I’m not the only one, I’m not alone,'” Anderson said. “It can inspire them to get help, to share the secret, and to find a better way of life.”

David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, urged the Jesuits to “explain exactly when each of these allegations was deemed credible. That way Catholics will know just how many months, years or decades church officials have kept these men and their crimes hidden.”

Cases of sexual abuse by priests and other religious leaders have come under increased scrutiny since August, when a grand jury report in Pennsylvania detailed decades of abuse and cover-up in six dioceses. The report alleged that more than 1,000 children were abused over several years by about 300 priests.

The report led to new examinations in several states. Last week alone, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha (Nebraska) released a list of 38 priests and other clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct dating back to 1956; West Virginia’s archdiocese released the names of 18 priests or deacons credibly accused of child sexual abuse since 1950; and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in New Mexico announced it would file for bankruptcy protection after settling numerous abuse claims.

Pope Francis has convened a summit for Feb. 21-24 at the Vatican to address ways to prevent sexual abuse.

The list of names in the Jesuits U.S. Central and Southern Province was compiled as part of an internal investigation, but the province said it has hired a consulting firm to perform an independent review of the nearly 3,000 personnel files that date back to Jan. 1, 1955. Those findings are expected by the spring.

The Jesuits U.S. Central and Southern Province covers Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, southern Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee and Oklahoma, along with Puerto Rico and Belize.

Since the Catholic Church clergy abuse scandal broke nearly two decades ago, Jesuits have developed policies aimed at ensuring the safety of children and to better respond to allegations, church leaders said.