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2 former Missouri police officers accused of federal civil rights violations (7/11/24)ST. LOUIS — Two former police officers in a small St. Louis suburb are facing a federal indictment alleging that a man was beaten with a police baton while handcuffed. Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced the indictment accusing Samuel Davis and Michael Hill of federal civil rights violations. Both formerly worked as officers in Northwoods, Missouri, a town of about 4,200 residents...
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Appeals court orders release of woman whose murder conviction was reversed after 43 years in prison (7/10/24)KANSAS CITY — An appellate court has ordered the release of a Missouri woman whose murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years in prison, but the state attorney general is still trying to keep her behind bars as the case is reviewed. Monday's ruling by a panel of appeals court judges comes after a judge ruled that Sandra Hemme's attorneys had established “clear and convincing evidence" of “actual innocence." Judge Ryan Horsman said on June 14 that she must be freed within 30 days unless prosecutors decide to retry her.. ...
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Awwww! Four endangered American red wolf pups 'thriving' since birth at Missouri wildlife reserve (7/10/24)ST. LOUIS — The world's most endangered wolf species got a big boost at a Missouri wildlife reserve — four little puppies born this spring. The April 26 birth of a female American red wolf pup named Otter was followed by a litter of three other pups — Molly and her brothers Finn and Obi — on May 4, the St. ...
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Missouri man accused of imprisoning and torturing a woman for weeks indicted for murder (7/10/24)A Missouri man accused of keeping a woman hidden in his basement while repeatedly sexually assaulting her was indicted Tuesday for allegedly murdering another woman. Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said Timothy M. Haslett was charged with murder in connection with 36-year-old Jaynie Crosdale’s death, adding that she was killed “by an act of homicidal violence.” He said her remains showed impact wounds consistent with a gunshot...
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Gypsy Rose Blanchard pregnant soon after release from prison for conspiring to kill abusive mother (7/10/24)Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who recruited her former boyfriend to kill her mother after years of being forced to pretend she was gravely ill, announced Tuesday that she is pregnant and hopes to give her child everything she lacked growing up. Blanchard said in a YouTube video that the baby is due in January, which will be just a little over a year after she was freed from a women's prison northeast of Kansas City, Missouri...
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Missouri fire official dies when boat he was in capsizes during water rescue (7/9/24)COLUMBIA — An assistant fire chief in central Missouri died early Monday when the boat he was in capsized during a water rescue in a flash flood. The Boone County Fire Protection District said Matthew Tobben and another firefighter had just rescued two people from flooded Bear Creek in Columbia when the boat overturned. ...
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Hearing set to determine if Missouri death row inmate innocent; execution is month later (7/3/24)ST. LOUIS — A Missouri judge on Tuesday set an Aug. 21 date for a hearing to determine if Marcellus Williams is innocent of the murder that landed him on death row — a hearing that comes just a little over a month before Williams is scheduled to die. ...
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Former Missouri prison guards plead not guilty to murder in death of Black man (7/2/24)JEFFERSON CITY — Four former Missouri guards have pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of a Black man in prison, and a fifth has pleaded not guilty to accessory to involuntary manslaughter. Othel Moore Jr., 38, died on Dec. 8 in the Jefferson City Correctional Center. A criminal complaint filed Friday alleged that the guards pepper-sprayed Moore, placed a mask over his face and left him in a position that caused him to suffocate...
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Gov. Parson cuts $1 billion from state budget approved by lawmakers (7/1/24)More than 170 items were struck from the Missouri state budget Friday, June 28, as Gov. Mike Parson cut $1 billion from the spending plan passed this year by lawmakers. In a statement explaining his cuts, Parson said he vetoed earmarked items he believes were loaded into the budget for special projects and organizations without considering the future financial stability of the state. ...
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Search continues for identity of Mississippi River drowning victim (7/1/24)NEW MADRID — The New Madrid County Sheriff’s Department has released photos of a drowning victim’s tattoos in hopes of identifying the man. According to interim Sheriff Ronnie Adams, an autopsy was conducted Friday, June 28, on the body that was found floating in the Mississippi River on Wednesday, June 26, near Marsh Landing, approximately 8 miles east of Portageville. ...
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Missouri governor says new public aid plan in the works for Chiefs, Royals stadiums (6/28/24)JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday that he expects the state to put together an aid plan by the end of the year to try to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals from being lured across state lines to new stadiums in Kansas. Missouri's renewed efforts come after Kansas approved a plan last week that would finance up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums for the professional football and baseball teams...
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Former staffers at Missouri Christian boarding school face civil lawsuit alleging abuse of students (6/27/24)JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Yet another civil lawsuit filed Wednesday against a Missouri Christian boarding school by a former student accuses staffers of forced child labor, physical abuse and tactics aimed at hiding mistreatment from authorities. The lawsuit, filed in Missouri's Western U.S. District Court, alleges fraud and negligence by five former employees of the now-closed Agape Boarding School. ...
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Former staffers at Missouri Christian boarding school face civil lawsuit alleging abuse of students (6/27/24)JEFFERSON CITY — Yet another civil lawsuit filed Wednesday against a Missouri Christian boarding school by a former student accuses staffers of forced child labor, physical abuse and tactics aimed at hiding mistreatment from authorities. The lawsuit, filed in Missouri’s Western U.S. District Court, alleges fraud and negligence by five former employees of the now-closed Agape Boarding School...
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Missouri, Kansas judges temporarily halt much of President Biden's student debt forgiveness plan (6/25/24)TOPEKA, Kan. — Federal judges in Kansas and Missouri on Monday together blocked much of a Biden administration student loan repayment plan that provides a faster path to cancellation and lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers. The judges’ rulings prevent the U.S. ...
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Kansas governor signs bills enabling effort to entice Chiefs, Royals with new stadiums (6/24/24)TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas’ governor signed legislation Friday enabling the state to lure the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Major League Baseball’s Royals away from neighboring Missouri by helping the teams pay for new stadiums. Gov. Laura Kelly’s action came three days after the Republican-led Legislature approved the measure with bipartisan supermajorities — an unusually quick turnaround that signals how urgently Kansas officials consider making the offers. ...
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Kansas is making a big run at Kansas City's pro teams with a plan to help pay for new stadiums (6/20/24)TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is making a serious run at becoming the new home for the reigning Super Bowl champions with legislators approving a plan Tuesday to lure the Chiefs and Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals away from Missouri. Bipartisan legislative supermajorities OK'd the measure to authorize state bonds to help finance new stadiums and practice facilities for both teams on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area of 2.3 million residents, which is split by the border with Missouri. ...
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Officials release autopsy of Missouri student Riley Strain (6/19/24)NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Riley Strain, a University of Missouri student whose body was recovered from a river after going missing in Tennessee’s capital for nearly two weeks, died from accidental drowning and intoxication, according to a newly released autopsy report...
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Missouri attorney general says not so fast on freeing woman jailed for 43 years in 1980 killing (6/19/24)Missouri top prosecutor asked a court Tuesday to put the brakes on releasing a woman from prison in a 1980 killing that her attorneys allege was committed by a now-discredited police officer. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey also said his office will ask the state appeals court to review a judge’s ruling last week that found Sandra Hemme’s attorneys had established evidence of actual innocence. ...
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Kansas lawmakers approve a plan to lure the Chiefs from Missouri by helping to finance a new stadium (6/19/24)TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas legislators approved a bipartisan plan Tuesday aimed at luring the Kansas City Chiefs away from Missouri by helping to finance a new stadium for the Super Bowl champions. The bill passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and sent to Democratic Gov. ...
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Supporters of bringing the Chiefs to Kansas have narrowed their plan and are promising tax cuts (6/18/24)TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas lawmakers hoping to lure the Kansas City Chiefs from Missouri are trying to win over skeptical colleagues by narrowing their proposal for encouraging the Super Bowl champions to build a new stadium and by linking it to a plan for broad tax cuts...
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Kansas lawmakers poised to lure Chiefs, Royals, despite economists’ concerns (6/17/24)TOPEKA, Kan. — A 170-year-old rivalry is flaring up as Kansas lawmakers try to snatch the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs away from Missouri even though economists long ago concluded subsidizing pro sports isn’t worth the cost. ...
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Judge rejects religious leaders’ challenge of Missouri abortion ban (6/17/24)A Missouri judge has rejected the argument that lawmakers intended to “impose their religious beliefs on everyone” in the state when they passed a restrictive abortion ban. Judge Jason Sengheiser issued the ruling Friday in a case filed by more than a dozen Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist leaders who support abortion rights. ...
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Missouri woman’s murder conviction tossed after 43 years; her lawyers say police officer did it (6/17/24)A judge has overturned the conviction of a Missouri woman who was a psychiatric patient when she incriminated herself in a 1980 killing that her attorneys argue was actually committed by a now-discredited police officer. ...
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Army Corps finds soil contaminated under some St. Louis-area homes, but no health risk (6/17/24)ST. LOUIS — The Army Corps of Engineers has determined soil is contaminated beneath some suburban St. Louis homes near a creek where nuclear waste was dumped decades ago, but the contamination isn’t enough to pose a health risk. ...