KANSAS CITY—A Kansas City man has been charged with seven counts of distributing crack cocaine, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and one count of distributing 28 grams or more of crack cocaine.
Simpson photo Wyandotte Co.
Lionel Simpson, 21, Kansas City, Kansas, allegedly committed the crimes in February, March and April 2019 in Wyandotte County, according to the United States Attorney. Upon conviction, the charges carry the following penalties:
Distributing crack cocaine (counts 1-5, 7 and 8): Up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $1 million.
Possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking (counts 6 and 10): Not less than five years consecutive to any other sentence imposed and a fine up to $250,000.
Distributing 28 grams or more of crack cocaine (count 9): Not less than five years and up to life imprisonment and a fine up to $5 million.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Catani is prosecuting.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Kansas finally abandoned a Prohibition-era rule that restricted certain stores to only sell beer with up to 3.2% alcohol content, but the stronger beer that’s now allowed doesn’t contain much more alcohol.
Kansas this month ended its law dating back to the 1930s, allowing groceries and convenience stores to stock beer with up to 6% alcohol by volume. Beer drinkers are unlikely to notice a big difference because the outdated law measured alcohol by weight but alcohol is now measured by volume.
Chantel Fletchall, who handles brand registration for the Kansas Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said that a 3.2% beer measured by weight contains as much alcohol as a 4% beer measured by volume.
Popular light beers, such as Miller, Coors and Bud Light, are between 4.1% and 4.2% alcohol by volume. For a 12-ounce can of light beer that wouldn’t have been permitted under the old law, it might contain just seven to 14 more drops of alcohol than the 3.2 variety.
Regular beers from the same brands have 5% alcohol by volume, which is roughly three-quarters of a teaspoon more alcohol per 12-ounce can than the 3.2% varieties.
But the change still helps brewers, according to Michael Uhrich, chief economist for the national industry group Beer Institute.
“When you operate a beer business across several states, it’s always easier if you can produce the same products for sale in every state,” he said. “Raising the limit to 6% alcohol by volume won’t mean that every beer will be available in grocery stores, but popular brands will be there, and the brands that will be available will no longer have to be brewed exclusively for Kansas.”
The law change that went into effect this month also allows liquor stores to sell more non-alcoholic products, such as shot glasses, mixers, lottery tickets and tobacco products.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A barred owl caught a lucky break when a snorkeler banded with wildlife officials to rescue the bird from a fishing line tangled in trees above the James River.
Bill Hulsebus was visiting the Springfield Conservation Nature Center last week when he came across the injured owl. Hulsebus tells the Springfield News-Leader that firefighters attempted to release the owl’s wing from the line, but their equipment couldn’t reach.
He says conservation officials had fastened a tree trimmer to a long pole when a snorkeler nearby realized he could help. The man waded into the cold river and used the pole to cut the line, freeing the owl.
Volunteers took the owl to a rehabilitation center, where it was given a feather transplant to repair its damaged wing.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and have arrested a suspect.
Brandon Craig -photo Sedgwick Co.
Just after 8:30 a.m. Friday, police responded to a shooting call at a home in the 800 block of south Emporia in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Upon arrival, officers located 21-year-old Justin Lane of Grain Valley, Missouri, deceased with a single gunshot wound to the head. Lane was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation revealed Lane and 22-year-old Brandon Craig of Independence, Missouri, were visiting a friend who lived at the home.
During the visit, a disturbance occurred between Craig and Lane. Craig fired one shot from a handgun striking Lane in the head, according to Davidson. Police arrested Craig on a requested charge of first-degree murder.
Investigators will present the case to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — A University of Missouri-Kansas City student is facing charges after he sprayed a substance toward conservative political commentator Michael Knowles during an anti-transgender speech.
Police arrest protester image courtesy UMKC News
Knowles was giving a speech titled “Men are Not Women” on the Missouri-Kansas City campus Thursday when protesters disrupted the event. Authorities said that during the disruption, student Gerard Dabu used a water gun to spray a substance at Knowles, who was not injured. Police tackled and subdued Dabu with a stun gun near the stage.
Chancellor Mauli Agrawal said in a letter to the campus Friday that police reacted that way because they didn’t know if the substance was dangerous. Tests later determined it was lavender oil and other non-toxic household liquids.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indianapolis-based company has issued a recall for melon products sold in 16 states after being linked to a salmonella outbreak.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday that the recall includes cut watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe produced by Caito Foods LLC. The fruit has been sold under various brands or labels at Kroger, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Target and Whole Foods.
The affected states are Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Health officials advise consumers to check packaging to determine if the melon was distributed by Caito Foods, and, if so, not to eat it. They advise stores to pull the products from shelves.
Authorities say 93 people have been sickened, 23 of whom were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.
Salmonella Carrau is described as rare. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.
It’s easy to complain about air travel, but the latest Airline Quality Rating study shows, overall, it’s getting better for passengers.
Passengers wait in line at KCI photo courtesy Kansas City International Airport
The 29th annual Airline Quality Rating produced by researchers at Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University tracks key airline metrics such as on-time arrivals and departures, baggage handling and customer complaints.
Overall, the report found that airlines performed better in 2018 in three of the four factors tracked, but slipped in the most important category: on-time performance.
The report also shows that airlines bumped passengers less frequently than in any year since the study started. That’s likely due to the backlash from the highly publicized bumping of a man who had to be physically dragged off a United Airlines flight in 2017.
“If the public says something, the airlines just might do something,” said Dean Headley, emeritus professor at Wichita State and co-author of the study. “Which they did in this case, and that made a big difference in this year’s numbers.”
With almost 25,000 flights a day in the United States, Headley said it’s amazing that airlines have an on-time rate of 80%, don’t lose many bags and involuntarily bumped virtually no one in 2018.
It’s a much better performance now than it was a little more than 10 years ago.
As for individual airline performance, Delta came out on top. It accomplished that by having the fewest number of involuntary removals, finishing second for on-time arrivals and third in both baggage service and customer satisfaction.
The complete rankings are:
Delta Airlines
JetBlue
Southwest Airlines
Alaska Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines
United Airlines
Spirit Airlines
American Airlines
Frontier Airlines
Brian Grimmett reports on the environment, energy and natural resources for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @briangrimmett.
LAFAYETTE COUNTY— One person died in an accident just after 1 p.m. Friday in Lafayette County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2018 Freightliner semi driven by Brian A. Messenger, 30, Bradenton, FL., was eastbound on Interstate 70 just west of the Lexington exit.
The semi rear-ended a 2015 Volvo semi and a 2012 Ford passenger vehicle that had slowed for traffic. Messenger was transported to Lafayette Regional Medical Center where he died.
The driver of the Ford Steven L. Dehart, 63, Plattsburg and the Volvo semi driver Mykola Poyras, 70, Sacramento, Ca., were not injured. All three were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the MSHP.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Officials at a Missouri nonprofit organization accused of bribing Arkansas lawmakers also illegally used the charity’s money to funnel campaign contributions to Missouri politicians, according to a federal indictment.
Three former Republican Missouri lawmakers confirmed Friday to The Associated Press that they had participated in fundraisers and received campaign donations from people affiliated with the Springfield-based nonprofit Alternative Opportunities Inc., a provider of mental health and substance abuse services that has since merged with Preferred Family Healthcare Inc.
But former state Sen. Ryan Silvey, former state Sen. Bob Dixon and former state Rep. Ward Franz each said they didn’t know the nonprofit’s resources may have been used for the political fundraising, as alleged in the federal indictment released Thursday.
None of the Missouri lawmakers are accused of wrongdoing in the indictment, which targets former nonprofit executives Tom and Bontiea Goss and former Arkansas state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, who is the nephew of Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The Gosses and Hutchinson have pleaded not guilty.
The indictment is the latest in a long-running investigation overseen by the U.S. attorney’s office in southern Missouri that already has resulted in several guilty pleas and convictions involving former nonprofit officials and Arkansas lawmakers. The details of the nonprofit’s involvement in Missouri politics are included in the indictment’s list of acts constituting an alleged conspiracy.
Federal law prohibits charitable organizations such as Alternative Opportunities from making contributions to or participating in political campaigns for candidates.
The indictment alleges that between 2013 and 2015, Alternative Opportunities illegally funneled $40,000 in contributions to the campaign of “Missouri Senator A” by passing the money through the Cranford Coalition, a lobbying firm affiliated with former charity executive Rusty Cranford. It also alleges that the charity paid for catering and other expenses for a Feb. 16, 2012, fundraiser for the same state senator.
The dates and dollar amounts mentioned in the indictment are similar to those listed in Silvey’s campaign finance reports.
Silvey told the AP that Tom Goss is his cousin and confirmed that Goss had helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for Silvey’s political campaigns over the years.
But “I did not know that charity funds were being funneled to me,” Silvey said. “Tom and Bontiea Goss did host a fundraiser for me, but I had no idea they were diverting charitable funds to do it. That’s not something that I would have signed off on.”
Silvey, who now is chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, said Goss never asked him to do anything in exchange for the contributions. Silvey declined to comment about whether officials from the FBI or U.S. attorney’s office had spoken with him as part of the investigation.
The indictment also alleges that Alternative Opportunities paid the expenses for a fundraising reception held for “Missouri Senator B” on Sept. 7, 2010. Campaign finance reports indicate that Dixon received donations from Goss and Alternative Opportunities executive Marilyn Nolan around that same time.
Dixon, who now is the Greene County presiding commissioner, confirmed to the AP that officials from Alternative Opportunities hosted a political fundraiser for his previous Senate campaign.
But “I would be very surprised to learn that they were using charity funds,” Dixon said. He added: “They always seemed to be very upstanding people, and I never had any inclination that there was a quid pro quo of any kind.”
Dixon said he has not spoken with federal authorities as part of the investigation involving Alternative Opportunities.
The indictment also said that the charity’s board of directors held a meeting on March 15, 2012, in conjunction with a fundraiser for “Missouri Representative A, who was then a candidate for the Missouri State Senate.” Campaign finance reports show that Franz, who was running for the state Senate, received contributions from Bontiea Goss and Nolan around that same time.
Franz confirmed to the AP that Alternative Opportunities officials hosted a fundraiser for him and that he had served on the nonprofit’s board of directors. An Alternative Opportunities filing with the Missouri secretary of state’s office in March 2014 lists Franz as a board member, with an “Franzforsenate” email address.
Franz, who now is director of Missouri’s tourism division, said he didn’t think any charity resources were used for his political fundraiser and didn’t recall any discussions among Alternative Opportunities officials about reimbursing people for contributions to political candidates. Franz said he hasn’t spoken with federal authorities as part of the investigation.
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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Two former executives of a Springfield, Mo.-based charity and an Arkansas state senator have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a multi-million-dollar public corruption scheme that involved embezzlement, bribes and illegal campaign contributions for elected public officials in Missouri and Arkansas, according to U.S. Attorney Tim Garrison of the Western District of Missouri and Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Senator Hutchinson courtesy photo
Bontiea Bernedette Goss, 63, her husband, Tommy Ray Goss, also known as “Tom,” 63, residents of Springfield, Mo., and Boulder, Colo., and Jeremy Young Hutchinson, 45, of Little Rock, Ark., were charged on March 29, 2019, in a 32-count indictment by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo., which was unsealed today.
The indictment alleges that the Gosses, who were high-level executives at Preferred Family Healthcare, Inc. (formerly known as Alternative Opportunities, Inc.), and Hutchinson, who is an attorney and served as a state senator in the Arkansas Senate from 2011 to 2018, along with others, participated in a conspiracy from 2005 to November 2017 to embezzle and misapply the funds of a charitable organization that received federal funds, to pay bribes and kickbacks to elected officials (including Hutchinson), and to deprive the citizens of Arkansas of their right to the honest services of those elected officials. According to the indictment, in exchange for the bribes and kickbacks offered by the Gosses and other co-conspirators, Hutchinson and other elected officials allegedly provided favorable legislative and official action for the charity, including directing funds from the state’s General Improvement Fund (GIF).
The indictment also alleges that the Gosses and others defrauded the charity, and the governmental entities that funded the charity, by embezzling and misapplying charity funds for their personal benefit, including, but not limited to:
• causing the charity to pay for chartered air flights for the Gosses to commute between their home in Colorado and their work at the charity’s office in Springfield;
• providing millions of dollars in interest-free loans to their for-profit companies;
• charging the charity inflated prices to lease vehicles from their for-profit companies;
• renting charity-owned commercial real estate to one of their for-profit companies at below-market rates or, in some instances, for free; and
• using charity funds to pay for personal services for themselves, including child and pet care, housekeeping and cleaning their personal residences, picking up and delivering groceries, and shoveling snow, among other personal services paid for by the charity.
The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require the Gosses and Hutchinson to forfeit to the government any property obtained from the proceeds of the alleged offenses.
The charity was known as Alternative Opportunities, Inc. from its founding in 1991 until its 2015 merger with Preferred Family Healthcare. The charity, which is cooperating with federal investigators, provided a variety of services to individuals in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Illinois, including mental and behavioral health treatment and counseling, substance abuse treatment and counseling, employment assistance, aid to individuals with developmental disabilities and medical services.
The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle is trying to bar Gov. Laura Kelly from nominating a new state Court of Appeals judge after Kelly was forced to withdraw her first choice.
Senate President Wagle
The Senate’s top Republican sent a letter Friday to Attorney General Derek Schmidt asking him to file a lawsuit to keep the Democratic governor from submitting another choice to the Senate for confirmation.
Kelly withdrew her first choice of Labette County District Judge Jeffry Jack last month because of political posts on Jack’s Twitter feed in 2017.
Wagle contends that Kelly can’t make another nomination under a 2013 law. Wagle says the power to make the nomination now goes to Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss.
Kelly disagrees. Schmidt has urged legislative action to clarify the law.
