KANSAS CITY MetroRegion WEATHER: NWS Flash Flood Watch Extreme South- Southwest

As of this blog- the following MetroRegion counties are under a Flash Flood Watch today:

In Missouri- Bates and Vernon including the Butler- Rich Hill and Nevada areas.

In Kansas- Anderson and Linn including the Mound City and Garnett areas.

Other Missouri and Kansas counties are also included in flood watches. Please consult the NWS website for details.

A large area of shower and thunderstorms continue to move eastward across central Kansas and Nebraska- arriving in the Kansas City Metro later today.

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Kansas City's Breaking News Leader - NBC41 ACTION NEWS.

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Bejing Olympics Open With American Tourist Killed

The AP reports that the Chinese male murderer then killed himself.

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RUSSIA ATTACKS AMERICAN ALLY- THE NATION OF GEORGIA

So reports the Associated Press.

No word if Bush and Putin- in Bejing China for the opening of the Olympics- are in any discussions about the worsening situation.

Unlike Iraq under Saddam- Russia has a very good armed force- and confirmed "weapons of mass destruction."

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A Maryland Mayors' Dogs Killed By Police In Pot Raid

We all know how deadly marijuana is (snicker).

Especially when a package arrives by FED-EX at your front door.

The Associated Press reports how police "stormed in" to a Maryland town mayor's house after he retrieved the package- addressed to his wife and left at the front door by a FED-EX delivery man.

The police then shot and killed the mayor's 2 Labrador retrievers- INSIDE his house. It's a wonder they didn't shoot the mayor too.

We all know how deadly marijuana is- ONLY when it's shipped to the unwitting. Brother!

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KC-MO Fatal House Fire: Why Did It Take So Long To Find The Victim

FIRST reported HERE at CSW was yesterday afternoon's house fire in south Kansas City that killed the elderly female occupant.

As in my initial story- I state that primary searches of the house are underway as early as 10 minutes before 1pm- but the body is not located until nearly 30 minutes later.

Fire crews are told early on to search "a northeast bedroom" in the burning house but it's not known where the victim was found.

As a former firefighter- I wonder if the body was covered by debris or what EXACTLY happened to take nearly 30 minutes after entry to find the victim?

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American Idol Keeps Us Old Farts Out

OK.

My secret desire was to audition for American Idol while they're in town.

I wanted to do my imitations of the mellow- ole crooners- Dino- Frank- Nat.

Shazam- the maximum age for entry was THE LATE 20'S!

Oh well- no problem. Ms. Rittenhouse says I'm already HER American Idol (bfg).

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Plaza Owner - Highwoods Properties - Banning - Suing

The Friday morning KANSAS CITY STAR has an interesting story.

It's about how a Kansas City man- William Royster- who was having a "business meeting" at the Plaza's "Kona Grill."

Royster ends up not only being "banned" from the restaurant- but banned "from the entire Plaza for life"- reportedly over some remark a member of Royster's party made to another patron.

The man is suing the restaurant as well as the Plaza property managers- Highwoods Properties.

Someone PLEASE explain to me how they can ban someone from the "public" streets & sidewalks of the Plaza?
Also in that STAR article- Highwoods Properties has other Plaza issues.

Longtime local Function Junction is closing their Plaza store. Highwoods has also sued 2 other businesses for back rent.

The Uno Chicago Grill- owing in the neighborhood of $90000- and Eternity- a woman's boutique- who owes nearly $25000.

Folks- if you think the tightening economy is bad for business NOW- wait until Christmas. Methinks you ain't seen nuttin' yet....

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Butterfly Flutter-By At Powell Gardens

It's the coming and next weekend at Powell Gardens- east of Lone Jack on U.S. 50 in extreme northwestern Johnson County Missouri.

Festival of Butterflies

Aug. 8-10 and Aug. 15-17, 2008 Time: 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

Description: Get up close and personal with hundreds of live butterflies in our free-flight conservatory exhibit. Learn all about these fanciful creatures and see many live native butterflies in our butterfly breezeways.

Children can catch and release butterflies and enjoy butterfly-related arts and crafts; all ages can learn how to grow a butterfly garden, buy butterfly-attracting plants and much more.

Fee: Festival admission is $9/adult, $8/seniors(60+) and $3/children 5-12. As always, members of Powell Gardens get in free!

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KANSAS CITY'S BREAKING NEWS: High-Rise Fire With Injuries In KC-MO

A "high-rise" building fire alarm response of 10 companies has gone to a fire- "reported by police" in a 5th-floor apartment- in the 1200 block of East Linwood in Midtown KC-MO..

Residents in the building were evacuating when the first pumper company pulled up 2 minutes after the 2:58pm alarm sounded. No smoke or fire was visible they said.

At 3:02pm- a fire crew reports "a mattress" on fire and it's "mostly" out.

At 3:05pm- there's at least one building occupant who has reported to have suffered smoke inhalation- then a minute later a fire crew on the fire floor reported a female patient who had "taken in a lot of smoke" and was in serious condition.

At 3:10pm- "3 patients" are reported by a KC-MO Fire chief.

MAST-EMS has several units either on-scene or enroute.

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KansasCity'sBreaking News Leader - NBC41 ACTION NEWS.

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Capt. Spaulding Photos On Flickr

That's right!

You can view the Captain and Ms. Rittenhouse's attempts at artful still photography and our essay of life in Metro Kansas City.
Search for my page "J. Botee" on Flickr.com and enjoy our photos.

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KC STAR: KC-MO Homicide Map Needs Updating

This from The KANSAS CITY STAR's "Crime Scene KC" page- a map showing where all of our fellow citizens have been murdered this year.

(KC Star map courtesy of Google)

However- the map shows the last update as "July 15"- so it doesn't include last weekend's 3 homicides or any others since mid-July.

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KANSAS CITY'S BREAKING NEWS: Fatal KC-MO House Fire

At 1:21pm- KC-MO firefighters at the scene of a house fire in South KC-MO report finding a body.

It's believed to be the "elderly" occupant of the house in the 10800 block of Madison.

Five KC-MO Fire companies responded to the alarm just before 12:45pm this Thursday afternoon.

Smoke was reported coming from the structure when the first fire company rolled in minutes later.

Although searches were conducted- the victim was not located for more than 30 minutes later.

No other details available yet.

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Kansas City's Breaking News Leader - NBC41 ACTION NEWS.

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Use A Lawn Chair As A Voting Booth In Geary County-KS

The lawn chair would save election commisioners a lot of money- according to this story from the WICHITA EAGLE.

NEXT: Breaking News of a fatal fire in KC-MO..

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But- But- Where IS Bin Laden?

America's civil court system is obviously so flawed that we're now relegated to trying to convict Bin Laden's ASSOCIATES or ANYONE associated with "terrorism" in a military tribunal.

We're trying to convict Bin Laden's DRIVER over 09-11-2001 for Christ's sake!

No confirmation yet on whether America is seeking Bin Laden's former school teachers- babysitters- casual aquaintances- etc. to charge them too.

That would surely fit with the Shrub Administration's pretzel logic (sorry SD).

What a bad- bad joke. Oh well- most Americans go along with anything these days....

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AP: Deal "Close" To End American Occupantion Of Iraq

This Associated Press story tells how American & Iraqui officials are "close" to agreement on a plan to end America's occupation of that oil-rich country.

According to this "plan"- "all American forces" would be gone from Iraq by 2013- TEN YEARS after this "war" began.

Yet- no word atoll on how we're going to use some of Iraq's conquered oil to pay-down the hundreds of billion dollars of debt we've accrued since Bush's Folly began in 2003.

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Former Beatle Paul McCartney Was In Missouri

This was just reported on Chicago's "Very Own" WGN-9.

They showed a photo of a group of males- with Paul McCartney among them- taken at a convenience store in Springfield-MO.. I missed when exactly the photo was taken- but it might have been yesterday

It's reported that Paul and his new girlfriend are "touring old Route (U.S.) 66 in a 1989 Ford Bronco" and "were in Illinois the day before."

Hey Paul- come on up to K.C.- get in touch with the Captain and dinner and a dime-tour of the Metro's on me ( as long as you don't mind riding in a NEWER vehicle g)!

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CORRECTION 1540 CDT: The convenience store photo was taken in Springfield ILLINOIS- not Springfield-MO as I earlier reported.

(Courtesy of Springfield (IL) STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER)

McCartney and his new squeeze were reportedly spotted by the youngest member of the photo's ensemble. It was noted how people at the store who was McCartney's age didn't even recognize him.

McCartney and his new girlfriend WERE sighted in Missouri last weekend as well.

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Grim Anniversary For Mankind Passes

Yesterday was the anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped by America on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in the end days of World War-II.

There was nothing to "celebrate." It was simply utilization of a weapon produced to bring a blindly determined enemy to their knees.

Harry Truman- while he never apologized for dropping the 2 atomic bombs on Hiroshima then Nagasaki- surely regretted the humanity of the act.

Harry just finished what the Japanese started with Pearl Harbor. Nothing more- nothing less.

Nonetheless- it's actually a sad day in the History of Mankind- doomed to be repeated if we didn't learn anything.

Kind of like Vietnam.

(Fill in the blank) Bless America!

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Bad Customer Service Continues Sinking Sprint

In Business 101- one is instructed that "the customer is always right."

Most corporations and their "customer service" seem to have re-written that mantra in recent years- arguing with customers (AT&T- Cricket) or totally ignoring their concerns (Ameristar Casinos).

Last year- Sprint incredibly told their customer service that if some customers "complained too much" to cancel that customer's contract with Sprint.

Heh- millions that DIDN'T call to complain told Sprint to take a hike anyway.

The STAR says this last quarter was "better" for Sprint- they only lost just less than a million customers.

I had a vision when the City of Overland Park granted tax concessions for Sprint's new corporate campus that OP-KS would be taking over that campus one day because Sprint went under.

Americans MIGHT tolerate imbecilic- lying and/or corrupt politicians but not crappy service with crappy products from corporations that dis their customer base.

Corporate America: the customer's ALWAYS right! Or YOU'RE fired....

It's a no-brainer! Kinda like your CEOs....

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Medical Emergency - Got An Hour?

The emergency room has become America's medically-uninsured doctor's office.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stats reported by the Associated Press say that average wait-time to American emergency rooms has grown to 56 minutes.

That is- if you can find the closest hospital's ER open when you need it....

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Torrential Rains In Parts Of The MetroRegion- More On The Way

Rain totals of more than 8.5-inches fell in portions of Eastern Kansas overnight- with general 2-inch-plus amounts throughout a band stretching from east-central Kansas into western Missouri (click on images for full size).

Flash flood watches are in effect through tomorrow- and more rain is headed this way.

A close watch will be maintained on Johnson County Kansas where nearly 9 inches of rain fell late last week. Of particular concern will be the watersheds of the upper Big Blue river- as well as Tomahawk and Indian creeks.

Check back here or stay logged on- could get VERY interesting later!

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Phillll Kline Sent Packing

Johnson County-KS voters- not wanting their domain to look totally buffoonish- voted out county D.A. and would-be dictator Philllllll "So Far Out On The Right Wing I'm Falling Off" Kline yesterday.

The voters in JoCo continue taxing themselves silly for any matter that does NOT include helping Metro KC-MO as a whole- approving the "extention" of a "public safety" tax.

Tax 'em to the poorhouse- then of course you'll need "public safety."

As for what Kline's gonna do now? No confirmation yet on the rumor that he'll be taking an opening for pastor at some Pentecostal church in Tennessee.

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Metro Kansas City WEATHER: Possible Whacking Tonight

Can't you tell I get tired of reporting possible severe weather the same way all the time? g

Anyway- virtually all of about the southern half of the MetroRegion is in a "slight risk" area for possible severe thunderstorms later today through Thursday morning.
In addition- a large part of this same area is also under a Flash Flood Watch- and this includes Metro Kansas City.

There could be some excessive rainsfall around our area- similar to last Thursday morning's deluge in JoCo-KS..

Storm Dog and yours truly is on the situation- and more posts here as it develops.

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What To Do With Libertarians

True to our (my) rants- Ms. Rittenhouse and I both voted the Libertarian ticket yesterday. We were voters 19 & 20 at our polling place- Libertarian voters 1 & 2 as well.

How do I know that? The election officials had to resort to an operations manual to see how our ballots would fit with the Demoblicans & Republicrats.

Ms. Rittenhouse was discouraged by the turnout- not to mention the fact that it seemed we were the ONLY two voters up to 4:15pm Tuesday so utterly fed up with the 2-party system in America.

Nothing- and I mean NOT A DAMN THING is going to get done UNLESS we throw the Fear of God into the 2 established political parties and VOTE AGAINST both parties.

I really guess Ms. Rittenhouse and I are the ONLY ones dissatisfied with what's going on in and outside of America....

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Koreans Protest Arrival Of America's Worst President

They're turning the water cannons on those tens of thousands of Koreans protesting Shrub's visit.

Many are quick to say the protests are against Bush (yay)- not the American people (who voted the clown IN anyway?).

Too bad the SOB's not coming to Kansas City today- the water would feel GOOD!

On a related note- I wonder how many thousands of gallons Bush has wasted on jet fuel for his world tour on the taxpayer's dime?

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The Quik Trip Gas Price Gouge

Last evening- I noticed that Quik Trip had actually RAISED their gas prices again- from $3,70 to $3.80 per gallon.

This with the price of a barrel of oil now just below $120.00- and other gas stations in western Independence had gas prices as low as $3.62 (Valero).

Others I'm sure- as well as myself- wonder just what's up with THAT???

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PLEASE - VOTE TODAY

Today is election day in many locales- please take a few minutes to participate in democracy (republic)!

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Tropical Storm Edouard Makes Landfall

It happened around 7am this morning (see- click on radar- satellite pix for full size).
Edouard hit the Gulf coast right around the Texas-Louisiana border near Beaumont-Port Arthur with below hurricane-force winds.

The storm is now inland northeast of Houston.

The storm will move northwest into Texas today- dumping heavy rain.

Keeping an eye on the remnants of Edouard to see if it will affect the Kansas City MetroRegion weather by weekend (remember Dolly?).

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Economy- Bad Customer Service Causes Ameristar Casinos To Slash Jobs

Not too long ago- I posted about Ameristar on how they'd botched a promotion and gave absolutely no reply- let alone satisfaction- to customer complaints.

Their indifferent/bad customer service to their "meat & potatoes" players rivals that of AT&T and Cricket.

Now- according to this KANSAS CITY STAR story- Ameristar is "laying off 31" of their K.C. casino employees. Ameristar announced they're cutting player comps as well.

That's the way- don't answer customer concerns then go ahead and cut their freebees.

Brilliant corporate move!

Ameristar: try better customer service- as well as cleaning up the place and getting machines that work.

Until then- there's always 3 other casinos as well as Kansas.

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KANSAS CITY Metro-MetroRegion WEATHER: "Slight RIsk" Of Severe Storms Through Thursday

The Storm Prediction Center has portions of the Kansas City Metro as well as the MetroRegion is a "slight risk" forecast area for possible severe thunderstorms into Thursday morning.

The greatest severe threat will be large hail- damaging winds and heavy- possibly flooding- rainfalls.

Check here at CSW or electronic media for the latest updates on this situation.

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METRO KANSAS CITY'S BREAKING NEWS: Head-on Wreck On U.S. 69 In Overland Park

There is a reported 2-vehicle "head-on" wreck on southbound U.S. 69 south of 87th Street in Overland Park.

Johnson County MedAct reports the 2 patients.

Both are the drivers a "25-year-old male" and "27-year-old female"- the latter driving an S-U-V that overturned.

Neither have reported life-threatening injuries.

Traffic is at a near standstill on southbound U.S. 69- all the way north to I-35 .

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Actor Morgan Freeman "Seriously-Injured" In A Car Crash

The popular actor is in a Memphis-TN hospital in serious condition- according to this AP story.
It's reported Mr. Freeman was driving a car near his home in rural southern Mississippi when he lost control and crashed.

No one else was in the car and no alcohol or drugs were involved.

Morgan Freeman is 71.

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CSW Review Of Peter Cetera At Crown Center Friday

It was the first show this year of the city-favorite Crown Center Free Concerts last Friday- featuring Peter Cetera and a local warm-up band Drew6.

Compliments of Ameristar Casino- a "free" meal of BBQ at the World's Best- Arthur Bryant's- Ms. Rittenhouse and I sauntered in with our blanket.

We videoed about 5 of Peter's tunes- imbedded here. Next time- I'll bring the tripod (g=grin).

The weather was a tad warm & humid- but WTF- it's summer in the Kosmic City. The Crown Center concert venue filled to the max by the time Drew6 came on just after 8pm.

These guys look & sound a lot like the big-hair rock bands of the 1980's- as they tout on their website.

The guys sounded pretty good- actually rockin' the house more than the featured performer would. A tepid response from the cheap seats- typical of K.C.'s laidback "L.A. In The Heartland" personality.

Darkness and only a slight breeze waifed through this urban setting when Peter Cetera and his band "Bad Daddies" took the stage.

Sound problems marred the opener "Restless Heart" and the next tune ("Glory Of Love") before the techies could get it right.You can see Peter in the opener video walking to the side of the stage several times to complain to a sound techie.

A few numbers into the show- Peter started talking about the duets he's sang with a number of female recording artists- and how he hasn't exactly gotten along with "some (one)" of them.

If you guessed Cher- you guessed right. He went on a bit about his relations with Cher then went into the song he did with Cher- "After All."

When the female part came up- backup singer Kim Keyes- sounding EXACTLY like Cher- got the crowd's immediate attention. Wish I had videoed this one.

In fact- Ms. Keyes filled-in the female vocal on all the duets sang this evening. The lady not only could sound like Cher- but Amy Grant (who Peter said "hates Kansas City" HeHe) as well on "Next Time I Fall."

Besides his duet solo hits- Peter and his band performed 4 CHICAGO-era songs- including "If You Leave Me Now" and "You're The Inspiration- songs he penned with the band.


Before I say what I'm going to say- it's qualified by my saying I have nothing against PC leaving the band.

However- Peter shouldn't do those CHICAGO songs that had lots of the horn parts.

They performed "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" from 1984's CHICAGO 17- no problem. But then PC and the band tried to do the end piece to that tune from the album- "Get Away"- a heavily horn-driven addition to "...Sorry" without horns.

It does not work Peter. Nor did that performance of "25 Or 6 To 4." Please stick to the CHICAGO tunes you wrote with few or no horns- or add them...

Of course- Peter performed his big hit "Glory Of Love" from the 1986 "Solitude/Solitaire" recording and soundtrack of the motion picture "Karate Kid-II."

All in all it was a fine evening and concert- once the sound problems and the emptiness of no brass on CHICAGO songs subsided.

Thank you Crown Center!

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Tropical Storm Edouard Could Become Hurricane Before Texas Landfall

Gulf of Mexico area weather forecasters are keeping a close watch on Edouard- located just below the Louisiana Gulf coast.

Here is the latest track forecast from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

This is the latest visible satellite picture of Edouard (click-on for full size) as well as 2 radar images- one taken earlier this morning and the last one more recent.

There is also a concern the remains of Edouard could affect the Central States weather later this week or this coming weekend.

The storm could produce more excessive rainfalls in or close to the Kansas City MetroRegion.

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Rural Fire Departments Face A Shortage Of Volunteers

Although I was on a paid- big-city fire department- I have long thought that the true heroes of the fire service were volunteers.

Volunteers face many of the same hazards- but perform their duties without or with little benefits or pay- they simply volunteer out of a sense of community.

This Associated Press story tells of the dearth of volunteer firefighters and EMS technicians in many rural areas of America.

Like relief from high fuel & food prices- don't expect any help anytime soon from Washington with the volunteer-less dilema.

The pollys are too busy trying to get their jobs back to actually DO anything....

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New Tropical Storm - Edouard- Off Louisiana Coast

A tropical storm named Edouard has developed off the coast of Louisiana- and is forecast to move westward to affect the upper and middle Texas Gulf coast.

Here is the latest satellite picture and NHC track forecast for Edouard.

Note that this storm is expected to reach NEAR hurricane strength upon landfall- perhaps somewhere between Houston & Corpus Christi- so stay tuned....

Also watching Edouard to see if his remains may affect the MetroRegion weather late this week and/or weekend.

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KANSAS CITY'S BREAKING NEWS: Violent Night In KC-MO

At least 6 people have been shot and at least one fatally in 2 overnight incidents in KC-MO..

The first incident was around 12:20am in the 4200 block of Tracy in Midtown.

Police followed 2 vehicles speeding from the scene to a hospital. Three victims were inside those vehicles- two reported to be in critical condition.

Moments later police arrive at the Tracy address- it's found to be a drive-by shooting.

There are 2 people shot there. One is a 45-year-old female in serious to critical condition- the other a 28-year-old male with minor wounds.

The only suspect information police had was a blue and white van .

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At 2:50 am- KC-MO police investigating a shots fired call find a man shot dead in what they report as "a botched carjacking attempt" on Armour just east of Main.

A passenger in the vehicle was not injured.

No other information yet on this incident.

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In other news-

A wall fell from a 3-story apartment building at 4130 Warwick in KC-MO around 1:45am Sunday morning.

No one was injured- but the building was evacuated and sealed-off until city inspectors could determine the building's structural integrity.

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A 27-year-old male has serious injuries after crashing his motorcycle in the 2600 block of Northwest Barry Road in KC-MO North just after 2am.

The man was not wearing a helmet.

The ambulance transporting this patient was at first diverted from one hospital- then had a tire blowout while enroute to another.

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KansasCity'sBreaking News Leader - NBC41 ACTION NEWS.

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