Another Peeve With Local Newscasts

Who hires these news orchestras?

Any more- EVERY news story HAS to have some symphonic musical opening before it's shown on a local newscast.

It's really- REALLY lame and adds NOTHING to these no-newscasts.

You don't see this on network news. What's up with this locals?

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Photo Of Phoenix News Copters Crashing

This photo apparently was shot by a newspaper reporter (credit on the photo) just after the 2 TV news helicopters collided in Phoenix yesterday- killing the four people on the 2 copters.

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FWH: AP- "Cheney's Heart Device Is Updated"

Doctors working for their best-medically-provided people in the world- American politicians- recently returned from Oz with a new heart device for VP Richard "Head" Cheney.

Doctors for years have been amazed at the VP's health- considering he had no organ to pump his blood.

Physicians installed a fake heart in Cheney early in this Administration- but were seeking a device that also simulated the emotions and other feelings associated with a real heart.

The last device rejected itself.






Here's the ACTUAL story....

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CENTRAL STATES WEATHER ALERT: Heavy Rains In SE Kansas And SW Missouri

Thunderstorms that formed over eastern Kansas and western Missouri this Saturday afternoon continue to slowly move southward into the alerted areas (click on images) as you can see by the latest NWS radar image.

Rainfalls (next image) are radar-indicated to be approaching 3 inches in some areas- with these small but intense rain-producing thunderstorms seemingly slowing down as they moved south into the alerted areas.
Please use caution while driving in SE Kansas and SW Missouri this afternoon and evening.

At this time- there is no thunderstorm activity threatening the KC Metro.

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Illinois Woman Pimps Child She Was Babysitting

This story comes out of Granite City-IL- where a 20-year-old young woman is charged with "pimping" the 12-year-old girl she was babysitting to a 48-year-old man the 20-year-old had been "romantically-involved" with.

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Three Young Boys Scarred Forever By Priest

They were young boys in the San Diego Catholic arch-diocese during the 1970's.

Read HERE how they each suffered over the years because of being sexually abused by one of the diocese's priests.

I truly wonder how the American Catholic church will survive this cancer and remain viable- much less believable....

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FOOD RECALL: Sara Lee Bread May Contain Metal

One hell of a way to get your daily iron- it's being reported that 27 brands of Sara "Everybody Doesn't Like Something" Lee bread may contain pieces of metal. The problem occurred at their Meridian-MS bakery.

According to the AP article: "The recall involves EarthGrains, Publix, Sara Lee Delightful, Sara Lee Hearty & Delicious and several other brands that were stamped "best if purchased by" July 25, 2007, to Aug. 7, 2007, and included the code "222."

The products were sold in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee."

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The Kansas City MetroRegion Overnight News and Weather Report - Saturday, July 28, 2007

*** KC-KS CYCLE CRASH LEAVES 1 DEAD- 1 CRITICAL-INJURED ***

... The crash happened just before 2 am at the intersection of College Parkway and Parallel.

The motorcycle with 2 people on it was struck by a car- the driver of the car was not injured.

The driver of the motorcycle was dead at the scene- his female passenger in her 20's was taken to an area trauma center with critical injuries.

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** MAN SERIOUSLY-INJURED IN LIBERTY-MO WRECK **

... A 48-year-old man was taken to an area trauma center after he crashed his pickup truck around 12:30 am.

The wreck happened at Kansas and Forest streets and the driver had to be extricated from the vehicle. It sounded as if alcohol played a part in the crash.

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<><><> OVERNIGHT WEATHER <><><>

Skies were variably cloudy overnight with a few showers moving through the Kansas part of the Metro into Cass County MO early this morning. Temperatures held in the low to mid-70's through dawn with winds calm or light generally from the north.

There will continue to be a chance of a few- light showers over the same areas until about mid-morning.

Once again later this afternoon into this evening there are thunderstorm chances. No severe weather is expected- but watch out for the cloud to ground lightning and very heavy rainfall in the storms. Temperatures will be around normal- but high dewpoints will make it feel hotter with light winds.

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First with Metro Kansas City Breaking News - NBC41 ACTION NEWS.
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Four Dead After 2 TV News Helicopters Collide In Phoenix-AZ

TV news choppers from Phoenix stations KNXV and KTVK collided while covering a police chase and crashed to the ground in a city park- killing both pilots and photographers aboard.

No one on the ground was hurt.

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Citizen Letter From KC-MO's Mayor: "Notes From Funk's Front Porch" VIII

Funk's Front Porch

27 July 2007

Dear Folks,

Last night’s town hall meeting was out south. I didn’t Mapquest it because it was on 103rd Street and I know where that street is. Unfortunately, 103rd is cut up by the Grandview Triangle at the exact place where the meeting was, so as it turned out, I had no idea where we were going and Funk ended up being 3 minutes late. Funk hates being late. Luckily, the crowd was forgiving and we had another great meeting with lots of voices heard.

The City Manager’s contract automatically renews for another year – from April 30, 2008 to April 30, 2009 – if the City takes no action before October 25, 2007. The Finance Committee voted on Wednesday to terminate the existing contract so that the new Council can negotiate a contract with him that takes into consideration the Council’s goals and priorities. The Ordinance will go to the full Council next week.

Along those lines, the Council will participate in a daylong retreat to firm up their goals and priorities as a group over the next four years. They will hire a facilitator to make the most of their day. The hope is to come out of the retreat with a clear focus of not only what they want to accomplish as a group together, but also how they want to go about accomplishing it. The idea to work together as a group is very powerful, as they will accomplish far more for the City when working together rather than individually. This is not as hard as it seems as they pretty much have the same priorities already – who wouldn’t want to help prevent crime or make the city work better for regular folks?

The Economic Development and Incentive Task Force has begun to hold public hearings this week and will continue to meet on Wednesday evenings at various locations around the city. The schedule is on the Mayor’s webpage at www.funksfrontporch.com. If you would like your voice to be heard on this issue, please come out and participate.

Councilmember’s Cindy Circo and Russ Johnson have been working hard on the renewal of the one-cent sales tax for capital improvements. They make a great team; Cindy is especially good at meeting with groups and Russ is a great number cruncher. Both just came off the Public Improvements Advisory Committee so they know a lot about how the process works and how it could work better.

Funk’s first draft of his book is due on Tuesday. The shouts of joy coming from midtown on Tuesday evening will be attributed to me. It has been a long road and our family is glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In faith,
Gloria & Mark

You can respond to this newsletter at funksfrontporch@gmail.com.

Please help us by forwarding this email to as many people as you think might want to be more informed about their city government. They can sign up to receive the newsletter at, www.funksfrontporch.com.

The Mayor’s top ten priorities:

1. Establishing a good working relationship with the Council
2. Getting the City’s finances in order
3. Making downtown work
4. Tending to our neighborhoods
5. Implementing the Housing Policy task force recommendations
6. Improving the perception and the reality of public education in Kansas City
7. Reducing Crime
8. Repairing our sewer systems
9. Establishing an excellent regional transit system, which includes light rail
10. Improving citizen satisfaction with City services.

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Two Sewer Workers Missing In St. Paul-MN After Sudden Storm And Other Central U.S. Weather Woes

Yesterday afternoon a thunderstorm developed rapidly over St. Paul-MN- sending an NWS-reported 0.44 of rain in 30 minutes into storm sewer tunnels where a crew of workers were.

The crew made it to an exit point in waist-deep water- but two of that crew apparently didn't make it out- according to the Associated Press.

In south Texas- more rain is expected today and through the weekend- prompting Texas Governor Perry to place quick-response emergency crews on alert.

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KANSAS CITY-CENTRAL STATES WEATHER: Storms Possible Later Today

The Kansas City MetroRegion while expecting a chance of scattered thunderstorms in the area later today- thus far is NOT outlooked by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) to have any severe thunderstorms.

However- our sister city to the east- St. Louis- is on the western edge of a "slight" risk area for severe weather later (click on image)- as well as points east into the Ohio Valley.

If the situation here changes- will update....

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Elton John To Open Kansas City's New Arena

One of the biggest acts in the history of rock- Reginald Kenneth Dwight a.k.a. Elton John- will kick off the opening of our new Sprint Center arena downtown on October 13.

Tickets will go on sale (will the Captain stand in line somewhere? Dunno yet...) at 10 am on August 6.

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Hope For America: Two Teens Walk Alone To Washington To Protest War

Two teens- one from New York and the other from California started walking May 21- just the two of them mostly- to Washington D.C. in protest of the Iraq war.

Ashley Casale- a 19-year-old college student from Clinton Corners-NY and Michael Israel- an 18-year-old recently graduated from high school in Jackson- CA are the 2 young patriots.

Ashley had started a Web site against the "war" in Iraq where Michael read of Ashley's goal- to walk from coast to coast in protest and hope other Americans might join them.

Micheal joined her- but few other Americans have joined the walk for any distance.

The two are due in Iowa City-IA today for a peace rally. Hopefully- fellow Iowa patriots will join them.

Bless you- Ashley and Michael- for exercising your American right of peaceful protest in such a grand way and against this war that is so wrong- wrong- WRONG!

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Army Doctors Wondered If Pat Tillman Was Murdered

The John Wayne- flag-waving story of NFL player turned soldier Pat Tillman continues to unravel.

New evidence has come forth that Tillman's death as a soldier in Afghanistan seemed suspicious to Army medical examiners- and the ME's thought Tillman's death should be investigated as a crime.

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Federal Government (Taxpayers) Stuck For $102-Million FBI Blunder

A federal judge says the Federal government is responsible for a $101.75-million judgement to be paid to or the family of 4 Italian-American men who were framed by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI in the mid-1960's war on organized crime.

The men spent years in prison before being exonerated in 2001.

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When News Photographers Become Obsolete

Hello everyone- welcome to Channel 103's Nightly News consisting of Retail Store Surveillance- traffic and Police dashboard camera video.

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Internet Flaming Becomes Real For A Texas Man

An online feud resulted in a U.S. Navy man driving to Texas to burn down another man's trailer.

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Petty Officer Russell Tavares even posted state border signs as he drove from Virginia to John G. Anderson's home near Waco-TX during that online tiff in 2005.

Tavares then attempted to burn down Anderson's trailer house. Anderson was burned as a result of the fire that destroyed his home.

Tavares was sentenced to 7 years in prison for the arson.

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Dr. Smith Works At NASA

The story has broke that a NASA employee sabotaged a computer due to fly up with the space shuttle Endeavor and be installed on the International Space Station (ISS).

The computer was being preped for loading on the shuttle for the flight in less than 2 weeks when the damage was discovered.

The perp has not been identified.

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KANSAS CITY'S BREAKING NEWS: KC-MO Northland Apartment Fire

A fire in a Northland KC-MO apartment building has been brought quickly under control.

It was in the 2000 block of Russell Road- just west of I-35 and Parvin Road. Five companies of firefighters responded on the alarm that sounded at 3:11 pm.

No occupants reported in the fire apartment- no injuries reported thus far- and with 2 streams used the fire is reported under control at 3:18 pm.

Damage seems to be limited to the apartment involved in fire and the unit above it. Four adults and 2 children displaced by this fire and the Red Cross was ordered for them.

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Constitution Is Convenient Today

Our judicial- legislative and especially the executive branches of OUR government only want to invoke the American Constitution at their convenience (see secret prisons- detaining people indefinitely without charges- etc.).

Many citizens and their towns and cities are tired of the Federal Government turning the blind eye on the estimated tens of millions of illegal immigrants in this nation.

One Pennsylvania town- Hazelton- tried to address this runaway problem that the Feds refuse to and enacted tough- anti-illegal immigration ordinances.

In the SECOND TIME IN TWO DAYS- the Federal government (judicial this time) has ignored the Will of The People and struck down the Hazelton anti-immigration ordinances- using the old convenient stand-by that "it's against the Constitution."

Oh- so even NON-CITIZENS have "Constitutional rights" then.

"Hello- White House?"

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Nix To South Johnson County-KS Connector Road

The Kansas City area needs ANOTHER 4-lane roadway in the middle of nowhere like America needs 4 more years of President Dubya.

In case you haven't heard- Johnson County wants to build a 4-lane roadway in the more-sparsely populated part of the county to connect U.S. 69 with U.S. 71 in Cass County MO..

Then the other day- the JoCo Clueless said they couldn't AFFORD the commuter rail and will settle for busses that are subject to weather & traffic delays like cars not to mention they don't exactly run on water.

Of course you don't have much money for public transit Johnson County- you spend it all doing or re-doing roadways.

If people want to move out into the boondocks and work in the city- let THEM figure out the best and fastest way to work- GEEZ- quit the slash and pave of our landscape.

Guess it will take the soon-to-come $4 and $5 per gallon gas to even get the Clueless' attention....

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Was This Kevorkian's Cat

Here is a story of a Providence-RI nursing home feline- Oscar- that seems to be able to accurately predict the residents' demise.

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Boo-Hoo- Mobil's Profit Drops In 2nd-Quarter

I'm sure you-all are as sad as I am that Mobil Oil Company ONLY made $10.26 BILLION last quarter.

Yeah- it just BREAKS our collective hearts.

I hope the chairman of Mobil chokes on his caviar.

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Feds Disregard Will Of The People- Again

From the If This Don't Make You Mad files:

In 1996- California voters- a.k.a. The People- passed a law allowing the use of medically-prescribed marijuana in their state.

Earlier today- the Feds "busted 10 marijuana clinics." And it's not the first time.

So much of that lame saying "By The People and For The people...."

As Imus might say- Morons.

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Nevada Leads The Nation In "Global Warming"

A new study by the "U.S. Public Interest Research Group" in regard to this phenomena known as global warming- has found that the state of Nevada leads in the biggest average temperature increases in the past 30 years.

Reno and Lost Wages- er- Las Vegas were the top 2 warmest cities.
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Senate Doing SOMETHING- Sticking It To Smokers- Again

Now our not-so-great pollys in D.C. want to shift the responsibility of tobacco to the Food And Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA can't even assure us of a SAFE food supply- what do you think that turning tobacco over to them is going to DO? That's right- illegal cigarettes eventually and a black market develops for tobacco like drugs.

Idiots.

Boos and catcalls to the Senate for keeping us un-health insured and in the middle of a bogus "war" too.....

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Huge Gas Plant Fire Near Downtown Dallas

A fire in a liquified gas facility just west of downtown Dallas has virtually shut down traffic in downtown Dallas.

Explosions in gas cannisters have forced evacuations of people within a half-mile radius and have closed I-35E and I-30 in Dallas due to the exploding cannisters.

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'Little Switzerland Of The Ozarks' Eases Pot Enforcement

It hasn't turned into a toker's mecca yet- but "little has changed" since voters in Eureka Springs-AR approved an ordinance giving approval for their police to look the other way when "small amounts of marijuana" are involved.

Eureka Springs is not far from Branson- check it out if you ever get a chance. You'll think sometimes walking the town that you're in Europe.

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Worldwide- Expensive Pants

Even astronauts' pants don't cost $54-million. Yet that's what Judge Roy Pearson had tried to sue the owners of Custom Cleaners- Jin Nam Chung and Soo Chung for.

The Chungs' had lost Pearson's pants but later found them-even offering Pearson as much as $12000 to forget about the whole thing. However Pearson continued his suit- and raised the stakes. That lawsuit was thrown out (like the judge should have been).

Now fellow Americans concerned about the Chungs' stifling legal bills are pitching in to help with a fundraiser.

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What's In YOUR Son's Closet

A father in Palm Beach Gardens-FL found out- it was a dead teen aged girl his son had abducted.

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Latest American Dead In Iraq

The latest number of Americans killed in Bush & The Republicrat party's Folly is 3636 as of Monday- according to the Associated Press.

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When Celebrity News Belongs In The A-Block

Somebody needs to tell Channel 4 News what news REALLY IS!

Unless Lindsey Lohan DIES- she ain't it.

Geez...................................................................

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NBC's Predator Show Sued

The family of a dead Dallas area man is suing the NBC TV show after the man committed suicide while being surrounded by police and TV crew at his home.

Hoo-Boo! Hoo-Boo!
Sorry- Captain has little sympathy for adults shagging minors. There are plenty of +18-year-olds out there to corrupt you.

Frankly- I like stately wimmen my own age. With money of course....

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We're Killing Ourselves On The Highways Less

The (sigh) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says actual deaths from car crashes dropped and a new record low deaths-per-mile-travelled set in 2006.

On the other hand- the NHTSA reports more motorcycle drivers dying. Especially old bikers.

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Beam Me Up Mr. Scott

Don't sometimes- you feel like you are just screaming into an empty wormhole?

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KANSAS CITY MetroRegion/CENTRAL STATES WEATHER: Severe Storm- Flash Flood Threat

The NWS-SPC in Norman's "slight risk" of severe thunderstorms area has now shifted a bit further westward- now an oval with the eastern extent from extreme SW MN- W IA- NW MO- NE-E & S KS into the NE TX panhandle.

A rather long band of storms stretches south-southwest to north-northeast from northern Oklahoma now into northern Iowa. Viewing NWS-EAX/Pleasant Hill radar on the MetroRegion focus-many of the storms have remained virtually stationary- or have redeveloped over the same areas.

As shown on the next image of radar-indicated rainfall- areas in northern Wabaunsee County KS along I-70 west of Topeka have received more than 6 inches of rain already this morning- with additional storms upstream for a hundred miles. Much of this water will be flowing into Mud Creek then the nearby Kansas River..
Other areas in Kansas with heavy rains so far are Brown county- on the Delaware River drainage and Lyon county- on the Neosho River drainage systems.
Some of those areas indicate more than 4-inch amounts thus far.

The heaviest and repeat rains should stay in the north through west areas of the K.C. Metro through at least early afternoon.

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KANSAS CITY-CENTRAL STATES WEATHER: Storm Risk Today

For all but people from a Saint Joe to Topeka line- it is only a risk of thunderstorms today- as illustrated by the areas in brown on the image.

With the K.C. MetroRegion being the area inside the yellow dot- you see the "slight" risk area of possible severe storms runs generally west of a line from northwest Missouri into eastern then south-central Kansas and southwestward into the Oklahoma panhandle.

Regardless-an interesting day weather-wise today- with storm cell movements from the north-northeast to the south-southwest- as you see by 2 comparative radar images from Des Moines-at 11 PM Sunday night and the most recent at 2 AM Monday morning.

This storm cluster should move over the eastern portions of the MetroRegion later this morning- setting up an outflow boundary nearby and making things more interesting later this afternoon.

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Debate Pointless Over ILLEGAL Immigration

I was reading an Associated Press article dateline Farmers Branch-TX- a suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

The article tells of how things are in that community- since passing an ordinance requiring landlords to assert that their renters are American citizens or otherwise people with legal documents to prove they are here legally.

On the surface- any TRUE American would say hey- I don't have a problem with that. But- true to Bizzaro America form- some folks DO have a problem with that.

Again- for the umpteenth time- what is not understood about the word LEGAL??

I have absolutely nothing against people of different race-color-creed or religion wanting to live in America. In fact- I encourage the diversity and different viewpoints.

What I HATE is laws on the books not enforced- or done so in selective manner.

To those who govern us- start governing!

The laws are already in-place on how to handle the problem of ILLEGAL immigration- so get off your fat asses and ENFORCE THE LAWS CONGRESSPERSONS AND SENATORS!

Thank you.

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Randy Miller's "Not My Type"

At first I thought I was watching some crazy new Channel 5 experiment with newscasts- then I realized the show that's on KSMO-62 right now (5's other station in our local duopolys) is an ACTUAL non-news local production.

It's a dating show- and Miller fixes up people with others they'd never "go out with."

The stuff the locals do for ad bucks (ALL of the LOCAL news would be nice)....

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What Goes On Versus What's Reported

You would think two people shot in Westport early Sunday morning would be bigger news than a car chase during the day where no one was hurt.

Wrong. There are PICTURES of the car chase- no such luxury on the Westport shooting.

Read back over my overnight reports of all the gun violence this weekend then watch all the local stations' newscasts to see the very few shootings they even mention.

A few mentioned the KC-KS cop shot-at Saturday morning- none so far even mention the two shot in Westport Sunday morning. One station so far covered the guy shot while sleeping earlier today in KC-KS.

But why would the Westport shooting be covered up???? Are we spoon-fed the news the stations WANT us to see?

Sadly- this is nothing new folks- led to my burnout on this business back in '99.

Good luck America....

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Traffic Camera Pix Of Overnight Wreck In Lenexa

Just before 12:30 am this Sunday morning- what I heard as at least 2 cars and a motorcycle got tangled up on northbound I-35 between 75th Street and the U.S. 69/Overland Parkway junction.
In some of the KC Scout traffic camera photos I screen-saved- you can see one of the cars involved into some trees off the east side of the northbound lanes.
One person each had to be extricated with the Jaws of Life from 2 cars here. One extrication took about 30 minutes.

One patient was termed "Code Red" or critical condition by Medact-EMS. Three others had lesser serious injuries.

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Australia To Be Renamed Steve Irwin

Heh- actually it's a large park that's being named after the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin.

Irwin Park will have more than 333000 acres. By comparison- Kansas City's Swope Park has 1800 acres (that's about 185 Swope Parks).

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Citizens Beware: USA Short-Staffed To Inspect Bad Food

With the food recall mentioned earlier comes THIS AP story that summarizes well the problem today's consumer in America has with food safety issues- and how amazingly little of our food supply actually IS inspected.

Chiller!!!

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The Kansas City MetroRegion Overnight News and Weather Report - Sunday, July 22, 2007

** GUNSMOKE IN KC-MO - ONE DEAD- 3 INJURED **

... The shooting resulting in the homicide was one of two reported shootings overnight in KC-MO- the other was in Westport.

The fatal call came in just after 4:30 AM. Police report the victim of a shooting that happened in the 2100 block of East 35th Street in Midtown was at a local hospital- and another person who had been shot was still at the house on 35th Street.

Police arrived at that residence about 10 minutes later- and find a person fatally shot. An investigation is underway at this report.

-----

The Westport shooting happened around 2 am Sunday morning at Westport and Mill.

A male victim is reported "shot in the leg" there- and about 10 minutes later a 2nd victim from the shooting arrives at a local hospital.

Police reported one suspect vehicle had a Shawnee County KS license plate.

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** KC-KS MAN SHOT WHILE SLEEPING **

... A 53-year-old man was shot in the face as he slept in the 900 block of Orville around 3:15 am Sunday morning. Police report the man was sleeping in a back bedroom when someone outside fired into the residence.

The victim's injuries were not critical- and there were no witnesses let alone suspects.

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** Car Rams Into Gladstone-MO Apartment Building **

... A car crashed "deep into" an apartment building in the 3500 block of Northeast 72nd Street just after 4 am..

From reports at the scene- the vehicle extended into a building's interior hallway- but amazingly- only one person suffered minor injuries- and they refused EMS transport to a hospital.

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** Probable Arson Fire Damages N.E. KC-MO House **

... The alarm went out to five fire companies to a structure fire at the intersection of Gladstone and St. John late in the midnight hour.

Heavy smoke was pouring from the one and a half story house when the first company pulled up- it took all hands working and 2 streams to extinguish the fire about 40 minutes later.

No one was injured- the structure was vacant- and the fire is being called arson.

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<><><> OVERNIGHT WEATHER <><><>

A lovely mid-summer's night throughout the MetroRegion with light winds and temperatures in the mid-60's to lower-70's at dawn.

Thunderstorm chances are there during the afternoon and evening over the MetroRegion all week long- with more general coverage possible late Monday and early Tuesday. Temperatures will remain near to slightly above-normal through late week.

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First with Metro Kansas City Breaking News - NBC41 ACTION NEWS.
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American Food Recall Expanded

The recall in an earlier story HERE about a "hot dog chili sauce" that made at least 4 people sick because of botulism has expanded to include all types of meat canned by the same company.

Those products- made by the "Castleberry Food Co. of Augusta-GA"- and the AP story found HERE.

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