Eric Charron -photo courtesy Tygart Valley Regional Jail
KINGWOOD, W.Va. (AP) — An armed Missouri man accused of threatening President Donald Trump during a traffic stop in West Virginia has been sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Eric Leonardo Charron of Kansas City pleaded guilty Wednesday in Preston County Magistrate Court to reckless driving and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. He was given credit for 36 days served.
State police say Charron was going 130 mph (209 kph) on Interstate 68 when he was pulled over March 27.
A trooper said in a criminal complaint that the 42-year-old Charron claimed to be running late to a dinner with Trump and also wanted “to meet with the leader of the Army to return a phone.”
Lawmakers in Mexico this week took a step towards implementing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico’s Senate approved a bill that overhauls the country’s labor code. The move was a pre-condition for U.S. Democrats in the House of Representatives for considering the agreement.
Bloomberg News reports Mexican lawmakers raced to pass the bill before the end of their session Tuesday to allow their counterparts in the U.S. to take up discussion of the trade deal. Mexico’s Senate voted 120-0 in favor of the bill that was previously passed by the nation’s lower chamber. The bill gives workers the right to vote on unions and labor contracts through secret ballots.
However, to complete USMCA, other conditions remain, including the desired removal of section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Canada has hinted that the nation may not approve USMCA until the tariffs are removed. U.S. lawmakers are expected to consider the trade agreement later this year.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on legislative efforts to expand Medicaid in Kansas (all times local):
Republicans have blocked a move in the Kansas Senate to expedite a debate on Medicaid expansion.
The vote Wednesday was 23-13 to pull an expansion bill from committee, one vote short of the 24 needed.
The House passed the bill in March but the Republican-controlled Senate has not acted on it.
Medicaid expansion is one of new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s priorities. Her plan for expanding Medicaid health coverage to up to 150,000 additional Kansas residents is based on a bill that passed in 2017 with bipartisan support, only to be vetoed by then-Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican.
GOP leaders say they want to wait until next year to vote on an expansion plan and that Kelly is trying to rush the debate.
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By JOHN HANNA
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Supporters of expanding Medicaid in Kansas are looking to block passage of the state’s next annual budget to force an expansion plan through the Republican-controlled Legislature over conservative leaders’ objections.
Legislators were set to reconvene Wednesday after an annual spring break, and the state Senate expected to vote quickly on expediting an expansion debate. The Senate has yet to act on a measure approved by the House in March, and top Republicans want to delay action until next year.
The next Senate vote would be on pulling an expansion billout of the committee where it’s been stuck for weeks, and supporters are not sure of success. Their doubts have them focusing on the alternative of tying up the $18 billion-plus budget that lawmakers must pass to keep state government operating after June.
“It’s the best leverage we have right now,” said House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat. “There’s been a lot of discussion.”
Medicaid expansion is one of new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s priorities and its approval would be her biggest victory so far in her first months in office. Expansion has enjoyed bipartisan support for at least several years, but Kelly’s conservative Republican predecessors were vocal critics of the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act that encouraged it.
During an Associated Press interview, Kelly brushed aside top Republicans’ concerns about needing more time to consider the details of an expansion as “just a stall tactic.”
“I don’t really believe that they can come up with a better product, given a year,” she said. “I think they are really not that interested in expanding Medicaid. They never have been, but I think they’re starting to recognize the inevitability of it.”
Top Republicans argue that Kelly is trying to rush the debate and that they want to avoid pitfalls that could drive up the state’s costs.
“It needs a lot of due diligence and structure to protect the patients as well as the taxpayers,” said Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican.
Kelly’s plan for expanding Medicaid health coverage to up to 150,000 additional Kansas residents is based on a bill that passed in 2017 with bipartisan support, only to be vetoed by then-Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican.
Denning called the House-passed expansion bill “regurgitated” and said the state needs policies in place to curb health costs and encourage Medicaid participants to seek preventative care. GOP lawmakers also have mentioned imposing work requirements and even drug testing.
Denning said he agrees with Kelly that expansion “is inevitable” but added, “She’s going to have to wait, I hope, until the second year so we can do the massive and complicated plan correctly, rather than in a rush.”
The Affordable Care Act was Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy and it encouraged states to expand Medicaid by promising that the federal government would cover most of the cost. Thirty-six states have expanded Medicaid or seen voters approve ballot initiatives.
If you are in Topeka, please join us in fighting for Medicaid Expansion in Kansas! The vote is today, and 150k people will get coverage if it passes……✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼🗣🗣🗣🗣 pic.twitter.com/3n7R0UuUMQ
Kelly’s administration has projected that the first full year of Kansas’ expansion would come with a net cost of $34 million to the state. Some supporters believe the influx of federal dollars will spur economic activity, generate new state tax revenues and offset those costs. Many Republicans are skeptical and believe the state’s next costs could be much higher.
Kansas Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley -photo Kansas News Service
The Senate’s top Democrat, Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, of Topeka, notified colleagues the he would try to pull the expansion bill from committee. Under Senate rules, he needed 24 of 40 votes to do so. Supporters then needed 27 of 40 votes to put the bill at the top of the debate calendar against GOP leaders’ wishes.
Democrats hold only 11 seats in the Senate and must rely on Republicans to bypass the normal committee process. It could be a tough sell to some moderate GOP senators who lead committees themselves and don’t want to face a similar tactic in the future.
Blocking the budget is “all we have left,” said Rep. Susan Concannon, a moderate Republican and expansion supporter from western Kansas.
“If we support Medicaid expansion, that’s our leverage,” she said.
SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) — A 29-year-old man has been convicted in the stabbing death of a woman in a Sedalia apartment.
Justin Lewis photo Greene Co.
Pettis County jurors found Justin Lewis, of Lincoln, guilty Tuesday of second-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon in the January 2018 death of 33-year-old Heather McClellan.
Sedalia police Officer Bradley Arnold says he found McClellan lying on the floor in a blood-soaked shirt, gasping for air when he responded. Emergency crews took her to a hospital where she died. Court documents say she had eight stab wounds and a slit throat.
The prosecution’s case focused on witness testimony and DNA evidence found on Lewis’ shoes. The defense said law enforcement conducted a “lazy, sloppy investigation.”
The Trump administration this week signaled a willingness to provide more trade aid to farmers if needed. However, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says the claims are untrue. While in Iowa, Perdue stated, “I’m afraid that’s not accurate,” adding it could be miscommunication, as reported by the Des Moines Register.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters Monday that the Trump Administration has allocated $12 billion for farmers, and that they “stand ready to do more if necessary.” Perdue has repeatedly ruled out any new trade aid for 2019. The Department of Agriculture this week extended the deadline to certify acres under the Market Facilitation Program to May 17.
The program has already paid producers more than $8 billion for losses that occurred in 2018 as a result of retaliatory tariffs from China. Perdue says the President has not discussed any further trade aid for farmers with him. Talks with China could conclude within the next two weeks, and a possible agreement may be signed in June.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Hundreds gathered in Kansas to remember a Washburn University football player who was killed in a shooting that also wounded a friend who had been drafted hours earlier by the New York Giants.
Coach Craig Schurig said at Tuesday’s vigil for 23-year-old Dwane Simmons that the football field was his “piece of heaven.” The coach compared Simmons, a junior from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, to the candles carried by mourners, saying he “shined the light on everybody.” The university plans to create a scholarship named for Simmons.
A GoFundMe T-shirt fundraiser will provide 100 percent of the proceeds for the Simmons family, according to Washburn Athletics.
The shooting early Sunday outside an off-campus party also injured cornerback Corey Ballentine, whom the Giants drafted Saturday in the sixth round. The university says Ballentine is expected to make a full recovery. No one has been arrested.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. government searches of travelers’ cellphones and laptops at airports and border crossings nearly quadrupled since 2015 and are being conducted for reasons beyond customs and immigration enforcement, according to papers filed Tuesday in a federal lawsuit that claims going through electronic devices without a warrant is unconstitutional.
Photo courtesy Kansas City International Airport
The government has vigorously defended the searches, which rose to 33,295 in fiscal 2018, as a critical tool to protect America. But the newly filed documents claim the scope of the warrantless searches has expanded to enforce tax, bankruptcy, environmental and consumer protection laws, gather intelligence and advance ongoing law enforcement investigations.
Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement consider requests from other government agencies in determining whether to search travelers’ electronic devices, the court papers said. They added that agents are searching the electronic devices of not only targeted individuals but their associates, friends and relatives.
The new information about the searches was included in a motion the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
“The evidence we have presented the court shows that the scope of ICE and CBP border searches is unconstitutionally broad,” said Adam Schwartz, senior staff attorney for the EFF, based in San Francisco.
“ICE and CBP policies and practices allow unfettered, warrantless searches of travelers’ digital devices and empower officers to dodge the Fourth Amendment when rifling through highly personal information contained on laptops and phones,” he said.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. Both ICE and CBP said they did not comment on pending litigation.
When the suit was filed against the government in 2017, DHS officials said U.S. citizens and everyone else are subject to examination and search by customs officials, unless exempted by diplomatic status. The department has contended that no court has concluded that border searches of electronic devices require a warrant. Searches, some random, have uncovered evidence of human trafficking, terrorism, child pornography, visa fraud, export control breaches and intellectual property rights violations, according to the department.
The original case was filed on behalf of 10 American citizens and a lawful permanent resident from seven states who alleged the searches violated their constitutional rights. They asked the court to rule that the government must have a warrant based on probable cause before searching electronic devices at airports and other U.S. ports of entry.
A year ago, U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston rejected the government’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing the case to move forward. The ACLU and the foundation began gathering documents and deposition testimony. Based on the new information, they filed a motion Tuesday asking the judge to rule in their favor without a trial.
“This new evidence reveals that the government agencies are using the pretext of the border to make an end run around the First and Fourth Amendments,” said ACLU attorney Esha Bhandari. “The border is not a lawless place. ICE and CBP are not exempt from the Constitution and the information on our electronic devices is not devoid of Fourth Amendment protections. We are asking the court to stop these unlawful searches and require the government to get a warrant.”
The court documents claim that the agencies also assert the authority to search electronic devices when the subject of interest is someone other than the traveler, such as the business partner of someone under investigation. Both agencies also allow officers to retain information from travelers’ electronic devices and share it with other government entities, including state, local and foreign law enforcement agencies, the court papers claim.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A severe thunderstorm has spawned tornadoes that downed power lines and trees in parts of southwest Missouri.
Storm damage Tuesday photo courtesy KYTV
National Weather Service meteorologist Kelsey Angle says tornadoes were reported Tuesday afternoon near Wheaton, Rocky Comfort, Miller and Stella in southwest Missouri.
Angle says preliminary reports indicate some outbuildings were damaged.
David Compton, emergency management coordinator in Barry County, says one or two homes in Wheaton were damaged and several trees and power lines were down. He had no reports of injuries.
The line of storms is carrying heavy rain, hail and the possibility of more tornadoes as it moves east.
Numerous roads remain closed around the area due to flooding with numerous areal flood and river warning now in effect. pic.twitter.com/w0HwpVAFod
RAY COUNTY — Three people died in an accident just after 4p.m. Tuesday in Ray County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Buick Encore driven by Kara N. Frisch 24, Polo, was eastbound on Highway D just east of Highway C.
The vehicle traveled off the road, struck a tree, overturned and caught fire.
Frisch, Bradley S. Ahart, 42, Kingston and Andrew M. Fleming, 26, Polo, were pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the Frontier Forensics Center in Kansas City.
The MSHP did not have information on their seat belt usage.
FULTON, Mo. (AP) — A staff member at a Missouri elementary school is charged with enticement of a child.
Davonte Kyles-photo Callaway Co.
The Callaway County prosecuting attorney on Tuesday charged 23-year-old Davonte Kyles, who worked at Auxvasse Elementary School in the North Callaway School district. He also was a middle school track coach.
Authorities said Kyles had inappropriate contact with a student at the school. According to court records, the child was a female younger than 15.
The girl told investigators she exchanged social media messages with Kyles since October 2018.
The sheriff’s department said in a Facebook post that further charges are possible and no further information would be released.
Kyles remains in jail on $40,000 bond. Online court records don’t list an attorney for Kyles.
Lawmakers in Mexico this week took a step towards implementing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico’s Senate approved a bill that overhauls the country’s labor code. The move was a pre-condition for U.S. Democrats in the House of Representatives for considering the agreement.
The Trump administration this week signaled a willingness to provide more trade aid to farmers if needed. However, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says the claims are untrue. While in Iowa, Perdue stated, “I’m afraid that’s not accurate,” adding it could be miscommunication, as reported by the Des Moines Register.
