ASSOCIATED PRESS: "Sexual Misconduct Plagues US Schools"

This is unreal- one HAS to wonder what the HELL is going on with people?

Here's the AP story. Join me in reading it- then shaking your head & looking off in space with a frustrating expression....

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Hey Channels 5 And 9 - You Missed A Fatality Fire Saturday Morning

As the 7am newscasts played this morning- WDAF FOX-4 News was the ONLY station in town to have the story of the fatality fire on West Armour.

A woman was found dead after a fire in a first-floor apartment of a 2-story building in Midtown around 5:30am.. Police are investigating this as a possible homicide.

Channels 5 and 9 had no mention of this fire on their local segments at 7- 7:30 and 8am. KMBC-9 did cover this story on their evening newscast- I don't know about KCTV-5.

Although the station I work for- KSHB NBC41- has no weekend morning newscast- you will find major overnight news- including this fatal fire- posted on this site- often before the 7am weekend newscasts begin. There was a NBC41 cameraman on the scene shortly after the body was found too.

A reminder too- this blog is my personal site. ANY and all opinions expressed here are STRICTLY my own and do not reflect those opinions of KSHB- Scripps-Howard- any of said employees of these organizations or even that of any rodents that may be found scurrying around the station....

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Mayor Funkhouser's Statement On La Raza Convention Flap

The statement was short and sweet from the Mayor's office:


"In response to the National Council of La Raza's decision to not convene its 2009 convention in Kansas City, Mayor Mark Funkhouser issued the following statement:

"I am disappointed that the National Council of La Raza has decided not to hold its convention here. We worked awfully hard to try to work out a compromise so they would come. I appreciate the efforts of Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, and those of federal mediator Pascual G. Marquez.""


So there you go people. The Funk stood his ground- whether you agree or not- you HAVE to give the man credit for sticking to his guns and not folding under the pressure of organizational extortion....

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The Kansas City MetroRegion Overnight News and Weather Report - Saturday, October 20, 2007

** ONE DEAD- MORE THAN A DOZEN DISPLACED BY KC-MO FIRES **

>>> The fatality fire is breaking news- in a 2-story apartment building in the 100 block of West Armour Boulevard.

The alarm came in at 5:20am- "an investigation" of a fire at that address. When the first fire companies arrived 3 minutes later- smoke was reported coming from the west side of the first floor of the building.

Firefighters advance a handline- get "a handle on the fire" by 5:33am and even report an initial search for any victims "all clear."

However at 5:44am- a unit on the scene reports "a fatality- found under fire debris" during the mop-up. That unit also requested police- for "a possible crime scene" here.

The Red Cross has been called for "at least 8 adults" displaced by this fire- and the crime scene investigation is underway.

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... Another fire just before 2am in KC-MO's Northland have 5 residents of a home seeking other lodging.

That fire was in the 4300 block of North Spruce. Two streams were used- and the flames were under control in 15 minutes.

No one was hurt and the cause of this fire is under investigation.

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** KC-MO POLICE CHASE ENDS IN CRASH **

*** Around 12:20am Saturday morning- police spotted and began chasing the "suspect vehicle in a shots fired call" in the area of 39th Street and Watkins Expressway. (U.S. 71).

The chase went south on Watkins at speeds up to "85 m.p.h." and around 87th Street- one officer threw out a spiked strip to flatten the suspect's tires. A minute later- the suspect vehicle and at least 2 other vehicles became involved in a crash south of Bannister Road.

The male driver of the suspect vehicle ran- leaving his injured passenger behind. That driver was later caught nearby after claiming to be bit by a police dog searching for him. He was taken to a hospital in police custody.

The four persons in the crash all suffered non life-threatening injuries.

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

Skies were clear overnight while breezes that freshened from the south kept MetroRegion temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above normal for morning lows.

The MetroRegion will see a mostly clear- warm and breezy fall day today.

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Kansas City's Breaking News Leader - NBC41 ACTION NEWS.
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Six Killed By Unusually Strong October Storm System In Midwest

The lowest barometric pressure I saw from this storm system was 29.08-inches as it rolled into the Northern Great Lakes yesterday. This is about as intense as low-pressure areas get in this part of the world.

In it's wake- six are dead in 4 states- one in Washington State- and more than 600 severe storm reports after severe thunderstorms and tornadoes raked the Mid-States Wednesday & Thursday- according to the Associated Press.

One Michigan couple who had just moved into their new house the day before died when a tornado destroyed it.

Another northeastern Missouri couple died when the mobile home they were in was destroyed by another tornado.

Damage is heavy in Napanee-IN after a tornado there injured 5 people.

National Weather Service storm reports from Wednesday & Thursday (Click on image to enlarge)

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HERE Is A TRUE 'War Hero'

Kansas Coal Plant Construction Shot Down

Give at least one Kansan high marks for thinking clearly anyway.

The secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) rejected the application for 2- 700-megawatt coal-fired power plants that were to be built near Holcomb-KS- according to the TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL.

The company wanting to build the plants- Sunflower Electric Power Corporation- through their spokesman "Steve Miller" said- "We've got a whole wheat truck of lawyers trying to figure out what our next move will be"- the TCJ reports.

Unconfirmed- but a young man named Nelson replied- "HaHa."

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Body Found In Belton Earlier This Month Identified

The body found by MoDOT workers near U.S. 71 and 163rd Street in Belton on October 11 has been identified.

Belton's THE STAR-HERALD newspaper says KC-MO Police identified the body as that of 26-year-old Celia M. Gonzales- a Hispanic female reported missing on September 18.

Ms. Gonzales' death is being investigated as a homicide.

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Montgomery-AL Crime Victim Turns Perp Into Maid

A couple in this Southern city returned from a trip to find their home was ransacked and robbed.

The husband sent his wife to her sister's- according to this AP article. The husband stayed to assess the situation- when lo and behold- the burglar returns.

The husband held the burglar at gunpoint- then forced the thief to clean up the mess he made.

The burglar reportedly complained to police about that when they arrived- the officer "laughed" and told the thug that he's lucky he wasn't shot dead by the homeowner.

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Johnson Countians Would Be Wise To Pitch Philll Kline

The extra 'L's' are for Loudmouth.

The man is a hack- and makes Johnson County- as well as the State of Kansas- look like it's populated by a bunch of fools.

I haven't spent a penny in JoCo and until the people get rid of this terrible joke that shall maintain.

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Metro K.C. Rain Keeps Fallin'

The way this weather pattern is going- some parts of the Metro could exceed 10 inches of rain for the month.

When October began- I had exactly 33 inches of rain and melted snow/ice so far this year. As of midnight- nearly 41.5-inches has fallen here near the virtually desolate Bannister Mall area..

I'm not the only one with more than eight-inch rainfalls- nor 40-inch-plus year-to-date totals. Some rainfall comparisons courtesy of Overland Park's (OP) Stormwatch.com.

Top 10 October 2007 so far:

Shawnee-KS- Johnson Drive and K-7 - 8.28 inches (in.)
KC-MO- 63rd Street at the Big Blue River - 8.12 in.
85th Street at the Big Blue - 8.08 in.
AS Toyta (103rd Street and Indian Creek) - 7.64 in.
JoCo-KS- Desoto Streamway Park - 7.52 in.
Merriam-KS- Johnson Dr at Turkey Creek Rain - 7.52 in.
KC-MO- Red Bridge at the Big Blue River - 7.49 in.
Shawnee-KS- Shawnee Mission at Mill Creek - 7.48 in.
JoCo-KS- Woodland Road at Clear Creek - 7.48 in.
OP-KS- O.P. City Hall (87th Street and Antioch) -7.41 in.

Top 10 2007 Year-to-date:
OP-KS- Porter Park (near 79th Street and Lamar) - 45.31 in.
Prairie Village (PV)-KS- 74th @ Brush Creek Rain - 44.57 in.
PV-KS- 75th at Brush Creek - 44.29 in.
OP-KS- O.P. City Hall - 44.25 in.
Mission-KS- Lamar JoCo (at Turkey Creek) - 44.13 in.
Near OP-KS- Mission Road at East Camp Branch - 43.10 in.
Olathe-KS- Old Highway 56 at Harrison - 42.80 in.
KC-MO- Kenneth Road at the Big Blue River - 42.63 in.
KC-MO- Brooklyn PS (at Brush Breek) - 42.59 in.
OP-KS- Mission Road at Negro Creek - 42.32 in..

As much rain as we've had- weather models indicate it's far from over. Storm systems will affect the MetroRegion late this weekend- early next week- then possible dual systems over the last few days of October.

The area could see it's first general frost around Halloween.

One of Kansas City's popular TV weathermen says the weather pattern in October is the one that establishes the pattern in the upcoming winter months.

Ten inches of rain would roughly equal 100 inches- or more than 8 feet- of snow.

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KANSAS CITY MetroRegion BREAKING WEATHER: Tornado Watch No. 709 In Effect South

The extreme southern Missouri and Kansas counties of the K.C. MetroRegion are now under a Tornado Watch Number 709- until 6pm this Wednesday evening.

This watch DOES NOT include Metro Kansas City- but a flash flood watch DOES include the Metro.

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WT 709
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1045 AM CDT WED OCT 17 2007

TORNADO WATCH 709 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 600 PM CDT FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS

. ARKANSAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE BENTON CARROLL CRAWFORD FRANKLIN MADISON SEBASTIAN WASHINGTON


. KANSAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE ALLEN ANDERSON BOURBON CHAUTAUQUA CHEROKEE COFFEY CRAWFORD ELK LABETTE LINN MONTGOMERY NEOSHO WILSON WOODSON



. MISSOURI COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE BARRY BARTON BATES BENTON CEDAR CHRISTIAN DADE GREENE HICKORY JASPER LAWRENCE MCDONALD NEWTON POLK ST. CLAIR STONE TANEY VERNON


. OKLAHOMA COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE ADAIR CHEROKEE CRAIG DELAWARE HASKELL MAYES MCINTOSH MUSKOGEE NOWATA OTTAWA ROGERS SEQUOYAH WAGONER


ATTN...WFO...TSA...SGF...EAX...ICT...TOP...


(NOTE: Due to a problem with Blogspot- I am unable to upload any images at this time.)

More as received....

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This Girl Who Fell In A Midland-TX Well Is A Woman Now

Remember 1987- and the little girl "Baby Jessica" who fell down the abandoned well?

(Associated Press File Photo)

That "Baby"- Jessica McClure- is married now- with a child- according to this 20th anniversary commemorative story by the Associated Press.

Her life is going okay- but the lives of the REST of her family and some of her rescuers didn't turn out so well....

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KANSAS CITY'S WEATHER: A Lesser Severe STORM Risk Today

The Mid-States second severe weather season continues full-tilt...

In our continuing attempt to change K.C.'s climate simply by reporting it- the NWS-SPC has shoved the "moderate risk" area for severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes just south of the MetroRegion borders.

However- all of the Kansas City MetroRegion IS under a "slight risk" for severe storms- as well as a flash flood watch (our deadliest form of severe wx) that includes all of Metro K.C..

Many people have been washed away by flash floodwaters simply because they didn't SEE the water in front of their cars.

Delay travel or pull over when rain makes visibility extremely difficult.

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KANSAS CITY MetroRegion WEATHER: Flash Flood Watch In Effect For Wednesday

The NWS office in Pleasant Hill has issued a flash flood watch for Wednesday that covers much of their forecast area- and the K.C. Metro as well.

Here's the watch statement:


...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH
LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF KANSAS AND MISSOURI...
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS...IN KANSAS...ATCHISON KS...
DONIPHAN...JOHNSON KS...LEAVENWORTH...MIAMI AND WYANDOTTE. IN
MISSOURI...ANDREW...ATCHISON MO...BUCHANAN...CALDWELL...
CARROLL...CASS...CLAY...CLINTON...DAVIESS...DE KALB...GENTRY...
HOLT...JACKSON...JOHNSON MO...LAFAYETTE...LIVINGSTON...
NODAWAY...PLATTE...RAY AND SALINE.

* FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

* A POWERFUL STORM SYSTEM WILL BEGIN TO IMPACT THE REGION WEDNESDAY
MORNING AS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP ACROSS WESTERN
MISSOURI AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS. THIS ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO
INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY DURING THE DAY...WITH THE THREAT
OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL CONTINUING UNTIL A FRONTAL PASSAGE LATE
WEDNESDAY EVENING. THE COMBINATION OF DEEP SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE AND
THE LONG DURATION OF PRECIPITATION MAY LEAD TO EXCESSIVE RAINFALL
AMOUNTS ON THE ORDER OF ONE TO THREE INCHES ACROSS THE WATCH AREA.

* GROUNDS REMAIN SATURATED ACROSS THE WATCH AREA AFTER HEAVY RAINS
BROUGHT TWO TO LOCALLY FIVE INCHES OF RAIN BACK ON SATURDAY.
SEVERAL RIVERS ARE STILL EXPERIENCING MINOR FLOODING. AS A
RESULT...THE POTENTIAL FOR ONE TO THREE INCHES OF ADDITIONAL
RAINFALL COULD LEAD TO WIDESPREAD RIVER AND AREAL FLOODING...AS
WELL AS LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR TRAINING
THUNDERSTORMS.

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR HEAVY
RAIN ACROSS THE WATCH AREA...WHICH MAY LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. IF
YOU ARE IN THE WATCH AREA...CHECK YOUR PREPAREDNESS
REQUIREMENTS...ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE INTERESTS ALONG AREA
RIVERS. KEEP INFORMED...AND BE READY FOR ACTION IF FLOODING IS
OBSERVED OR IF A FLASH FLOOD WARNING IS ISSUED.

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Congratulations - Colorado Rockies

Oops- I almost forgot our next-biggest town west on I-70- Denver.

A BIG congratulations to baseball's National League Colorado Rockies and the good people of Colorado on your team- and state's- first ever World Series appearance.

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Garth Brooks' Concert Telecast On November 14

Tickets go on sale Friday- for $10 plus the various- nefarious fees- for the November 14 telecast of Garth Brooks' final concert of nine shows at the new Sprint Arena downtown.

That telecast will be shown in 300 theaters across America.

Heh- Garth can retire for another 9 years after this series of K.C. concerts....

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Virginia Schools Close Due To Deadly Staph Bacteria

Many species on Earth can- over a period of time- adapt to changes in their environment- including chemicals that try to kill them.

Such has happened in Virginia- where- according to this Associated Press story- a high school student died Monday from an antibiotic-resistant staph infection known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus- or MRSA.

Officials then close 21 schools in an attempt to keep the deadly MRSA bacteria from spreading.

First- it's a brain-eating ameoba- now it's MRSA. Mother Earth is only too happy to rid herself of the pest we call Mankind.

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Alternate K.C. Weather Radar Sites

For Mark and all the others who want up-to-date weather information- I have obtained the CURRENT URLs for the local TV stations' weather radars.

Note- these are static images- and you MUST reload or refresh your browser to update the images:

KCTV-5 CBS: KC METRO TV: KCTV5cbs_1W-GVW
KMBC-9 ABC: KC METRO TV: KMBC9abc_IXD_area
KSHB-41 NBC: KC METRO TV: KSHB-41nbc RADAR
WDAF-4 FOX: KC METRO TV: WDAFfox-4 METRO RADAR

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Hospitals Add TV Ad Costs To Your Bills

One reason the cost of prescription medicines are so high is the added high costs of electronic/print media advertising.

Now- one HAS to wonder- with tens of millions with no health insurance and hospital bills so outrageously high- just why hospitals have to advertise?

I can see it now- I'm videotaping an accident scene and paramedics are wheeling an unconscious patient to a waiting ambulance. One of the paramedics mention a destination hospital- then- much to everyone's surprise- the patient regains consciousness and tells that paramedic to "take me to the hospital that the Hollywood actor advertises for."

Yeah- right.

Americans seem to act on very little and question things even less anymore.

Maybe somebody could logically explain to others and myself why hospitals have to advertise for business and in turn- add that cost to already sky-high hospital bills.

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Southeastern U.S. Gripped In A Terrible Drought

While concerns were high here for flash flooding this past weekend- up to 26% of the southeastern states are dealing with an "exceptional" drought.

There is no long-term relief in sight.
Lake Lanier- which supplies Atlanta with it's drinking water- is nearly dry with only a 90-day supply of water left. Plans are being made to implement water rationing in Atlanta and other areas of the South.

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KANSAS CITY MetroRegion's WEATHER: Increasing Severe Storm Risk Wednesday

The NWS-Storm Prediction Center has a large part of the southwestern MetroRegion- and even part of Metro Kansas City in a "moderate risk" of severe thunderstorms- and possible tornadoes- on Wednesday.
This is an increase from a "slight risk" for our area depicted on earlier forecasts.

Much of our risk for severe weather tomorrow will be highly dependant on how much sunshine we get. The SPC forecast calls for - among the other forms of severe weather- "possibly strong- long-lived tornadoes" with this outbreak- over most of eastern Kansas- the eastern half of Oklahoma and small parts of southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas.

This "Day-2" forecast will be updated later today- and it will be posted here. ALWAYS have a plan of where to go for shelter when severe storms strike....
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Armed Residence Robbery And Shooting In Independence-MO

Independence's newspaper- THE EXAMINER- is reporting a "home invasion" and a shooting occurred around 2am Monday morning in the 11700 block of East 37th Street.

It's reported a man was shot 3 times- and that his wounds were "not life-threatening"- but the article did not say if that victim lived at the home that was robbed.

There was also no suspect information available.

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Computer Geeks: Get Ready For Terra-Drives

The technology keeps improving- in this AP article- it tells of how- with another breakthrough- PC hard drives will be storing up to 4 terrabytes of data and laptops 1 TB in the next 4 years.

A far cry from the old IBM magnetic-tape mainframes I was first exposed to at the National Weather Service in the late 1960's!

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BREAKING NEWS: Major Quake On New Zealand's South Island

The quake has happened in the last 25 minutes- a "7.0" temblor according to the USGS Web site.

There are no immediate reports yet of injuries and damage.

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RUMOURS

Nope- this isn't about Fleetwood Mac but rather I'm addressing the stuff stupidity is made of.

I guess all it takes to start a rumor (American spelling) is to be a well-placed- disgruntled blogger- whether the rumor is literally worth a grain of salt or not.

The stupidity is wasting the time/newsprint to report this "rumor." Even the columnist Sunday reported the rumor- then reported that no one appears to be behind it.

The Letters to The STAR section runs about 5 to 1 in support of Mayor Funkhouser in this much-ado-about-nothing flap regarding Frances Semler.

The Semler thing is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned and I too am critical of the latest downtown TIF on the Boley building- but that's hardly grounds to recall The Funk. Anyway- I give the man a year in office (like I did Dubya) before I start criticizing him.

Let alone make recall noises.

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KANSAS CITY'S WEATHER: NWS Flash Flood Watch Cancelled

The Pleasant Hill office of the NWS has just cancelled the flash flood watch that was in effect for portions of the K.C. Metro.

While there will still be a chance of rain today- none is expected to be heavy enough to cause severe runoff problems.

The pattern continues- post the flood stuff then watch the situation fizzle (g).

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KANSAS CITY MetroRegion WEATHER: "Moderate Risk" For "Excessive" Rainfalls

The NWS' Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC) has the Kansas City Metro- and northern through western areas of the Kansas City MetroRegion under a slight to moderate risk of excessive- flooding rainfalls for the next 24 hours (see- click on image for more detail).
Rains of 2 to locally 5-inches over much of the area the past 24-48 hours have saturated soils. Much of the rainfall during heavy showers and thunderstorms will runoff- and create flash flooding conditions.

SLOW DOWN and LOOK when nearing low places- especially those areas prone to flooding- USE EXTREME CARE and ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION!

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KANSAS CITY MetroRegion WEATHER: Severe Thunderstorm Watch No. 703 In Effect

This watch will cover extreme western and northwestern parts of the K.C. MetroRegion (see image- click to enlarge) until 9pm this Sunday evening.This watch does NOT include Metro Kansas City.

Surface heating over the area has increased the severe storm threat, In addition- the Topeka NWS forecast office has also issued a flash flood watch for a few counties near the Nebraska border.

The flash flooding threat also remains high for the K.C. Metro for the next few days as well.

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The Kansas City MetroRegion Overnight News and Weather Report - Sunday, October 14, 2007

** POLICE INVESTIGATE SUSPICIOUS DEATH IN PARKVILLE-MO **

Police in that southern Platte County community are investigating a death inside an apartment in the 11200 block of Northwest Player.

The 1:51am call came in as an unconscious person- and medical crews were unable to revive the person at the scene.

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** KC-KS HOUSE FIRE DISPLACES 5 **

*** A fire possibly caused by defective electrical wiring damaged a house in the 1700 block of North 26th Street early Sunday morning.

The alarm came in at 3am- when firefighters arrived they found a fire in the attic. All occupants had left the residence before crews arrived.

The fire was brought under control about 20 minutes later with no reported injuries.

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

More showers and thunderstorms developed in the Metro and MetroRegion overnight- but rainfalls were under two-tenths of an inch. Temperatures held virtually steady around 60-degrees with east to southeasterly breezes..

There are showers and storms now- northwest and west of a St. Joseph- Topeka-Wichita line. These will affect generally the northwest half of the MetroRegion today. More showers and thunderstorms are expected again late tonight into Monday across the K.C. MetroRegion- bringing more heavy rains and even a chance for severe weather Monday. Then possibly another wet storm system by mid-week- but no cold air yet seen on the horizon.

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Kansas City's Breaking News Leader - NBC41 ACTION NEWS.
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KANSAS CITY'S WEATHER: New Showers- Storms Developing

Unforecasted- showers and thunderstorms have re-developed over the K.C. Metro and MetroRegion this Sunday morning.So far no reports of any problems- but soils are saturated from the 2-4-inches of rain that fell Saturday. This could be a problem late tonite and Monday as the storm system causing all this precip moves closer.

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