MIAMI COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect who absconded from a work release program in Johnson County.

On Wednesday, police in Paola issued an alert to locate 38-year-old Jason Hale.

The known violent sex offender also wanted by the US Marshals office was last known to be in Gardner prior to coming to Paola to a local bank on Wednesday, according to Paola police.
The suspect purchased camping supplies, a bicycle and a Halloween “Jason” mask in Gardner before his capture.

Authorities did not release details of the arrest. Hale has a previous conviction for aggravated indecent liberties with a child from 2009, according to the Kansas Offender Registry.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – Authorities are investigating the deaths of a married couple at a Springfield home as suspicious.

Police said in a news release that the bodies of 32-year-old Torie Parrow and 36-year-old Melvin Parrow were discovered late Wednesday when authorities responded to a request to check on the well-being of the woman. Police say they don’t believe there is a suspect at large and feel there is no danger to the community.

Anyone with information is urged to call police.

 

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A man has been charged with stabbing a woman at least 10 times and killing her in a Springfield apartment.

40-year-old Charles Holsey was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of 39-year-old Toni Brooks. Police say Brooks was found stabbed to death on Oct. 10 inside an apartment.

Charging documents say items had been moved around in the apartment to barricade the doors. Holsey’s DNA was found at the scene. The charging documents say Holsey told police he cut his hand on a broken pipe before meeting up with Brooks to do drugs on Oct. 7.

He is jailed without bond. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The family of a slain Kansas City, Kansas, police captain has filed a formal complaint after the killer pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.

Capt. Robert Melton’s fiancee, Zeta Bates, says complaints were sent to the Kansas Attorney General’s Office and the Kansas Disciplinary Administrator’s Office. The family is upset after Jamaal Lewis pleaded guilty last week to first-degree felony murder in Melton’s 2016 death, which could make him eligible for parole after 25 years. Lewis originally faced a capital murder charge that would have sent him to prison for life without parole if convicted.

Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree said in a statement last week that a defendant can plead guilty to charges at any time and that the state didn’t enter into plea negotiations.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – The Latest on President Donald Trump’s final rally blitz before the midterm elections (all times local):

Missouri Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley says that on Election Day, voters are going to call his opponent, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, “fired.”

I love you Missouri! Under Republican leadership, America is BOOMING, America is THRIVING, and America is WINNING – because we are finally putting AMERICA FIRST. Get out and VOTE Josh @HawleyMO for the United States Senate! #MAGA🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/opp35qPPy3

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2018

Hawley said Thursday at a rally with President Donald Trump in Columbia that McCaskill wanted Missourians to call Hillary Clinton “Madam President.” He says McCaskill has spent a lifetime in politics “just like Hillary.”

Trump says he doesn’t want anything to go awry on Tuesday, Election Day, so he’s returning to Missouri before the election to drum up votes for Hawley.

The Missouri Senate contest is one of the tightest in the nation.

7:20 p.m.

President Donald Trump says voters must decide whether they want a booming America or want to allow the Democratic leadership in Congress and Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill to “wipe it all away.”

He says America is thriving under Republican leadership because the GOP is putting America first.

Trump spoke Thursday night in Columbia, Missouri, in his second rally in an 11-stop, eight-state tour designed to coax Republican voters to the polls.

Trump is supporting Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley, who is seeking to unseat McCaskill in a state Trump won by nearly 19 percentage points. Their Senate contest is one of the tightest in the nation.

At a rally on an airport tarmac, supporters waved red signs that said “Finish the Wall” and “Make America Strong Again.”

4:45 p.m.

President Donald Trump says his administration has spent a lot of time, money and effort to make sure that Tuesday’s midterm elections are “perfect and safe” in contrast to the Russian meddling that intelligence agencies said occurred during the 2016 presidential election.

He told reporters Thursday at the White House that “there will be, hopefully, no meddling, no tampering, no nothing.”

Trump had a meeting on election security Thursday with FBI Director Chris Wray, members of the Justice Department, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen (KEER’-sten) Nielsen and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats.

Trump criticized former President Barack Obama, saying he was told about potential Russian meddling before the 2016 election but didn’t take public actions because he thought Democrat Hillary Clinton would win the presidential election.

4:40 p.m.

President Donald Trump says Democrat Stacey Abrams is not qualified to be Georgia’s next governor “by any stretch of the imagination.”

Trump says that based on Abrams’ past and her plans for the state, Georgia “will be in big, big trouble very quickly and the people of Georgia don’t want that.”

Trump did not go into detail Thursday about why he thinks Abrams would be bad for the state.

Abrams is seeking to become America’s first black female governor. She is a Yale-educated attorney who served a decade in the Georgia Legislature, including a stint as minority leader.

She is facing Republican Brian Kemp, who is currently secretary of state. Trump says he’s “totally qualified” and will be a “fantastic governor.”

Trump is scheduled to campaign for Kemp on Sunday in Macon, Georgia.

4:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump is taking his immigration message to Missouri as he continues his campaign rally blitz leading up to the midterm elections.

Trump is set to appear Thursday night in Columbia, home of the state’s largest university. It will be his second rally in an 11-stop, eight-state tour designed to boost Republican turnout.

Trump is supporting Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley, who is seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in a state Trump won by nearly 19 percentage points.

The president has made his hard-line immigration policies the center of his closing argument, trying to raise anxiety about several caravans of Central American migrants traveling to the southern border and threatening to end the constitutionally enshrined right of birthright citizenship by executive order.

 

OZARK COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 6p.m. Thursday in Ozark County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Honda ATV driven by Allen J. Ray, 10, Wasola, was traveling on private property off County Road 130 one mile north of Mo. 5 in Almartha. The driver was ejected from the ATV after it impacted the ground and became airborne. The ATV impacted the ground a second time and overturned.

Ray was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — The longtime owner of a barbecue restaurant pleaded guilty to using customers’ credit cards to fund spending sprees.

Matthew Sander, owner of Smokin’ Joe’s Bar-B-Q in Olathe, pleaded guilty Thursday to seven counts of identity theft, four counts of theft and one count of criminal use of a credit card.

A plea agreement calls for Sander to serve a year in prison and make full restitution.

Assistant District Attorney Alex Scott said two of the cases Sander pleaded guilty to involved him using credit cards customers had inadvertently left behind at the restaurant.

In a third case, Sander stole a woman’s purse from her seat at a restaurant bar in Overland Park and used her debit card.

He will be sentenced Jan. 9.

KANSAS CITY  (AP) – A Kansas City hospital says an employee who posted photos of herself and another person in blackface no longer works there.

Saint Luke’s Health System spokeswoman Laurel Gifford says its Saint Luke’s East Hospital became aware of the photos on Monday and an investigation was initiated.

A screen shot of the Facebook post showing the employee and a man in blackface, dressed as Beyoncé and Jay-Z. The woman’s Facebook page has since been removed. She doesn’t have a listed phone number.

Gifford says she can’t comment on personnel matters, other than to say that the individual is no longer an employee.

The situation arose after Megyn Kelly was fired from her NBC morning show after suggesting it was OK for white people to wear blackface at Halloween.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The legal definition of what constitutes a lake was the focus of a court hearing concerning a tourist boat accident in Missouri that killed 17 people.

A federal judge heard arguments Thursday on whether Table Rock Lake in Branson is a “navigable waterway.”

A ruling on that question could determine the scope of damages Ripley Entertainment would be required to pay to survivors or relatives of people who died when a duck boat sank in July on the lake.

Ripley, the owner of the Ride the Ducks operation, argues an 1851 law limits the amount of damages it would have to pay — if Table Rock Lake is a navigable waterway.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys contend the law doesn’t apply.

The judge did not rule after Thursday’s hearing.

MANHATTAN — Sonny Perdue, U.S. secretary of agriculture was the featured speaker for Kansas State University’s Landon Lecture Series  Thursday.

Watch a replay of the lecture here.

Secretary Perdue’s speech, “Leave It Better Than You Found It: Lessons in Public Service I Learned on the Farm.”  Perdue is the 179th LandonLecturer.

“Secretary Perdue joins a long list of secretaries of agriculture who have participated in the Landon Lecture Series and shared their vision on issues facing an industry that is vital to this university, Kansas, the nation and the world.”

The secretary’s life was shaped and fashioned growing up on his family’s farm. His lecture will focus on the lessons that he learned from family, school, church, sports and caring for the land and animals that formed a foundation of serving others. He has applied the lessons he learned while growing up on the farm to transform the culture of public service to focus on serving the citizens.

Nominated by President Trump, Perdue has been serving as the nation’s 31st secretary of agriculture since April 25, 2017, and brings a strong background in agriculture, public service and agribusiness to the post. He grew up on a dairy and diversified row crop farm in rural Georgia. As a young man, he served in the U.S. Air Force, rising to the rank of captain. After his military service, he went on to earn his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Georgia and worked in private practice in North Carolina.

Perdue pursued a political career next and served as a Georgia state senator for 11 years. He also was elected president pro tempore by his senate colleagues. As a state senator, he was recognized as a leading authority on issues including energy and utilities, agriculture, transportation, emerging technologies and economic development, and for his ability to grasp the nuances of complex problems.

Elected to two terms as governor of Georgia, from 2003-2011, Perdue was credited with transforming a budget deficit into a surplus, dramatically increasing student performance in public schools, and fostering an economic environment that allowed employers to flourish and manufacturers and agricultural producers to achieve record levels of exports. He was named Public Official of the Year in 2010 by Governing magazine.

The secretary followed his public service with a successful career in agribusiness, focusing on commodities and transportation in enterprises that have spanned the southeastern U.S. He also has served as a board member for the National Grain & Feed Association and as president of both the Georgia Feed and Grain Association and the Southeastern Feed and Grain Association. Perdue has long-standing, close relationships with the leadership of the American Farm Bureau and has been recognized by the Georgia 4-H and FFA programs, among others, for his leadership in agriculture.

One of the most prestigious lecture series offered at a U.S. college or university, the Alfred M. Landon Lecture Series was instituted in 1966 by former Kansas State University President James A. McCain. The series is a tribute to Alfred M. Landon, who served as governor of Kansas from 1933-1937 and delivered the first lecture in the series, “New Challenges in International Relations,” on Dec. 13, 1966. Perdue will be the 179th speaker and 11th secretary of agriculture to take part in the lecture series.