Tropical Storm Fay Could Become Hurricane Before Striking West Florida

That's what the NWS' National Hurricane Center (NHC) says.

The storm is shown on this visible satellite pic- centered around Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

According to the NHC latest forecast track- the storm will move over western Cuba and intensify once it enters the warm S.E. Gulf of Mexico waters.
People along the entire western Florida coast as well as the Panhandle should make preparations now.

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Metro Kansas City News: Two Teens Injured- One Critically- In Rural JoCo-KS Wreck

Two teenaged females were injured- one critically- when the car they were in left the road near 199th Street and Beverly and crashed into a field around sunrise Saturday morning.

Both occupants were ejected from the car as it landed in the field. The vehicle was reportedly driven by a 16-year-old.

A passenger was found by rescue crews face down and unresponsive in a ditch. She- along with the driver- were taken to a JoCo-KS trauma center.

Police had reason to believe that the driver was under the influence when the crash occurred.

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Metro Kansas City News: Raytown Standoff Yields Armed Robbery Suspects

Kansas City-MO police tactical team members were called to assist the Raytown police around 12:20am Saturday morning.

Reportedly- Raytown PD had a house surrounded on 70th Terrace near Raytown Road that contained at least 2 armed robbery suspects.

Police made telephone contact with an occupant just before 1am- and about 20 minutes later at least 3 persons in that house exited and surrendered to police.

There were no injuries and police haven't said yet what armed robbery the suspects are accused of..

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The Kansas City MetroRegion Overnight News and Weather Report - Saturday, August 16, 2008

*** TWO DEAD IN OVERLAND PARK- KS ***

*** Two people are dead of reported gunshot wounds in the 5500 block of West 92nd Place in a call police received just after 1:45am Saturday morning.

Police won't say yet if this is a murder suicide- but one- then a 2nd victim was found at the residence there. Police are investigating as of this report.

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UPDATE- 1515 CDT- OPPD are now confirming this was a murder-suicide.

Police say a 21-year-old man shot and killed his father. The 21-year-old was initially found dead of a gunshot to the head in the front yard of the house near 92nd Place & Nall around 2am.

When officers went inside the residence- they found the father who had also been shot. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

There is no word yet on a possible motive in this rare Overland Park-KS murder-suicide.

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** ONE DEAD IN CLAY COUNTY-MO WRECK **

*** The Missouri Highway Patrol reports a 66-year-old woman driver was killed when her vehicle went off U.S. 69 into the Fishing River in Mosby late Friday night..

The Rayville-MO woman died at the scene after the 11:55pm crash. Her next of kin had not yet been notified as of this report- so her name is withheld here..

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

Temperatures in the 60's with light winds prevailed over the Kansas City MetroRegion overnight.

A lovely summer weekend in store- with highs in the low to middle-80's and lows in the 60's.

The next chance for any organized precipitation looks to be mid next week.

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

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Alabama's Largest County Going Bankrupt

Jefferson County- which includes the City of Birmingham- has a $3.2-BILLION debt that it can't handle.

Voters in that county of around 658000 residents decide in November whether Jefferson County declares bankruptcy or not.

Two things strike me from the Associated Press story.

One is the fact that this would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history (the Orange County-CA failure in 1994 was less than $2-bil).

Thing two is one way the county got to bankruptcy- and we better pay heed to this- was the cost to separate their sanitary and stormwater sewer system.

Have a fine weekend everybody!

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Rare Weather Event In The Kansas City Metro Today

The scattered showers and thundershowers moving through the Metro this afternoon isn't the event- rather the direction from which the precipitation will be moving.

Northeast to southwest.

That's rare in that almost 99% of our weather moves IN from a western quadrant.

No severe weather BTW. Enjoy the air conditioner/energy-saving temperatures too.

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South-Midtown KC-MO Is NOT The "East Side"

Someone should clue-in The KANSAS CITY BUSINESS JOURNAL regarding their story on the latest Tax Increment Financing (TIF) project around 63rd Street and Prospect.

The reporter should have consulted a map. Prospect- the 2600 block East- runs north-south through about the geographical center of KC-MO.

The "East Side" is generally along and east of Cleveland Avenue or the 3800 block East- from about Independence Avenue south to about the 4700 block.

If in doubt what part of KC-MO something is in- just write KC-MO and give a location.

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This Was The Week That Wuz

We started the week with * Russia invading the nation of Georgia. If there was any laughter at all- it came when Bush dressed-down the Russians for "invading a sovereign nation."

At least Bush knows EXACTLY what that is...

Then came word that * corporations pay little or no taxes in America. This allows them to buy political candidates more freely.

Vote more taxes on yourselves America...

Ah yes- corporations- such as Big Oil. * The price of a barrel of oil has dropped more than $30 off their record highs more than a month ago.

Corporate Big Oil drops gasoline prices 30 to 40-cents- a penny or so a day since the price of oil dropped.

The * Olympics started with American commentators serving as public relations people for China.

China is Communist- they don't treat their OWN people worth a damn and they're trying to kill the rest of us with unsafe and/or unhealthy products.

Wave that (Made in China) flag America!

The * Supreme Court seems to think hiring for political purposes is okay. The tar won't show up on these judges' black robes- maybe the feathers and rail will bring the message from the American people home to them...

Last but not least- * The Worst President in My Lifetime wants to gut the Endangered Species act.

It's really- REALLY a shame the species known as George W. Bush won't become extinct now.

Hey no problem. Vote in ANOTHER Republicrat for President come November and blame the Demoblicans for all our ills anyway.

Bring your own smoke & mirrors.

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My "Seymour" Suggestion For The KC-ATA

If you think the ATA's new "mascot" of a frog named Seymour is lame- I offer up a FAR more attractive "Seymour" for consideration:

Cucaracha!

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Crime Stats Make Inner-City Investments Risky

In an attempt to bolster an area in a steep downglide- KC-MO elected officials are about to approve what is called a "risky" TIF plan for the area around 63rd Street & Prospect called Citadel Plaza- according to THE KANSAS CITY STAR.
Among items in this project are new housing and a new grocery store.

Forty years ago- the southwest corner of 63rd Street and Prospect held a grocery store (Milgrams) and a drug store (Katz-Skaggs). Not 6 blocks west- the then-new Metro Plaza shopping center had not only another grocery store and drug store- but a multi-screen movie theater

Earlier this week- the STAR ran an article about new homes built in the Blue Hills area (refer to Google Map) east of Paseo and north of 63rd Street. Those houses remain unsold and unoccupied.

The big ugly pig in this area is crime. Look at the KC STAR's homicide map. That's just the folks that actually got murdered. The map doesn't pinpoint lesser crimes.

The KC-MO Police's Metro patrol division station is located on 63rd Street between Blue Hills and the proposed Citadel Plaza project. That station is supposed to be rebuilt- elsewhere- unfortunately for this project.

The city helped finance the new- unsold/unoccupied homes in Blue Hills. So is this new TIF project- Citadel Plaza- any more viable?

In September 2007- the former city finance director "ABRUPTLY RESIGNED" her post- partly- THE KANSAS CITY STAR reports in a Thursday morning article in the Business section- "because of her concerns about the city's financial risk associated with the Citadel Plaza proposal.

Should this resignation be a warning signal? Something about that project HAS to be pretty screwed up if a person is willing to give up a well-paying job over it.

Does this area need help? Indeed it does. HOWEVER...

More and more properties in this city are being removed from the property tax rolls due to tax incentives. There's an increasing number of those properties that need ADDITIONAL taxpayer assistance on top of TIFs.

Before long- the rest of us will NEED a TIF designation for relief from the REST of the city getting a property tax bye.

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If Retailers Worried Now- Wait Until Christmas

It's reported that sales in America dropped one-tenth of one percent in June.

No surprise there as jobs disappear and prices and taxes rise.

What WILL be a shocker to Corporate America is the coming Christmas.
By that time- virtually everybody should be maxed-out by inflation.

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Arkansas Town Under A 24-Hour Curfew

According to the Associated Press- the eastern Arkansas town of Helena-West Helena has had a 24-hour curfew in place.
The disaster? Crime....

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More Corporate Control Of Kansas City (Public) Streets

Fresh on the last incident reported here and other places regarding bans issued on Kansas City's Country Club Plaza comes yet another one.

The latest ban- brought to our attention by BLOG KC- involves a reportedly "legal" street perfomer. That performer also happens to be handicapped.

This Highhorse (Highwoods) Properties corporation ban includes city streets and sidewalks in the Plaza district- according to the original story as reported in the KANSAS CITY STREET ART blog.

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If You Love How Bush Handles Russia Vs. Georgia- Vote Mc Cain

The President With No Discernible Foreign Policy has told Russia "Russia has invaded a sovereign- state. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."

Oh really.

The Georgian president asked their ally- America- for troops. Hope he doesn't hold his breath.

What a bad- BAD joke America's foreign policy is under this Administration.

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Isaac Hayes Dead At 65

Isaac Hayes- Mister Cool-The Man.

He wrote and performed an era's anthem- the Theme from "Shaft."

Mr. Hayes has passed away.

No wonder the world felt different when I woke up today.

RIP Gandy!

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The Earth Rotates - So Does Terminology

Back when the world was younger than today- you were a conservative (conserve- get it?) if you didn't agree with drilling for oil off the American shores.

Now- those of us who actually GET IT and still oppose off-shore- willy-nilly oil drilling are called liberals.

Damn- you can't make these greedy- self-centered assholes happy no matter what side you are on- so I've changed my stance.

Everywhere anything of beauty exists in America- drop an oil well right there.

Cucaracha!

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