State digest 01/12/06

New women's prison planned in Chillicothe

CHILLICOTHE, Mo. -- A new women's prison nearly tripling the capacity of one the state plans to close will be built in Chillicothe, Missouri Department of Corrections officials announced Tuesday. The state said two years ago that it planned to close the 525-bed Chillicothe Correctional Center, one of two state prisons for female inmates. City officials began an effort to keep a prison in their town and offered the state a 140-acre site for a new facility. The plans for a $120 million prison announced Tuesday include beds for up to 1,500 inmates. The current prison employs about 220 state and contract workers, a number expected to more than double.

Man exchanges gunfire with trooper, is wounded

SEDALIA, Mo. -- A man who fled police after pointing a gun at a Sedalia officer who stopped him was shot and wounded by a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper. Wayne Johnson, 60, of Pilot Grove, was shot twice in the abdomen Monday, said Sgt. Paul Reinsch of the patrol. He said Johnson's wounds were not life-threatening. Johnson was flown to Columbia, where the University of Missouri Medical Center would not release information on his condition. David Smith, a Sedalia police officer, said in a probable cause statement that trooper Chris Winter was chasing a car driven by Johnson on U.S. 50 when it crashed near Tipton on Monday night. Reinsch said the suspect and trooper then exchanged gunfire.

Families of pilots killed in Jefferson City crash sue

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The families of two pilots killed when their jet crashed into a neighborhood have filed wrongful death lawsuits against the plane's maker, an airline, three part makers and a maintenance company. Jesse Rhodes and Richard Peter Cesarz were flying a Pinnacle Airlines CJR-200 regional jet from Little Rock to Minneapolis in 2004 when they reported a double engine failure. The plane crashed in a residential area in Jefferson City, but no one on the ground was injured. The lawsuits allege that heat damage in the engine, caused by a faulty oil pump, were among the problems making it impossible for the pilots to restart the engines.

-- From wire reports