Kansas City MetroRegion Overnight News Report - Saturday - August 23, 2008

** NEAR 3-ALARM APARTMENT BUILDING FIRE IN SHAWNEE-KS **

***A 3-story apartment building in the Fox Run complex in the 7600 block of Goddard is burning down.

So far- there have been no reported injuries- but a complete interior search had not yet been made.

As of this report- 14 fire companies from 4 Johnson County fire departments were there.

The inital alarm sounded at 5:50am. When the first fire company arrived at 5:54am- they report "heavy fire" showing from one of the buildings in the complex.

The fire had not yet been declared under control as of this report..

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** MALE PEDESTRIAN KILLED IN OVERLAND PARK **

*** A man trying to cross I-35 south of I-635 was struck by a vehicle and killed late Friday night.

The reported middle-age male appeared to be a transient- but police had not yet identified the man.

The driver of the vehicle was not injured and police issued no citation.

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** WOMAN SERIOUSLY INJURED IN DOWNTOWN KC-MO SHOOTING **

... A woman in her 20's was shot twice in the 1000 block of Washington in the Quality Hill area of downtown KC-MO just before 2am..

She was taken to a truama center in serious condition.

Police said the suspects were 2 black males who were in a white- Toyota Camry.

Police would not confirm if this was a street robbery as initially indicated.

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

Thunderstorms and showers moved through the MetroRegion from north to south overnight.

As much as 5-inches of rain was indicated by National Weather Service radar in northwestern Platte County-MO.- but no serious flooding problems were reported.

At least 4 homes in Platte County were reportedly struck by lightning- as well as the possible cause of the Shawnee-KS apartment building fire.

Temperatures dropped with the storms- from around 80 to near 70-degrees in the Metro.

More showers and thunderstorms are expected later today- and there could be some heavy rains associated with them.

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

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Kansas City's BREAKING NEWS: Burglar Shot In Northland KC-MO Apartment

At 11:19am- KC-MO Police received a call of a possible burglar shot inside an apartment in the 8000 block of North Berkley.

The caller reportedly told police 911 operators the suspect was "a large black male."

At 11:27am- a fire department crew on the scene reports/confirms "a man shot in the head and the shooter's still in the apartment."

Police have ordered homicide detectives to the scene at 11:29am and report a 2nd person in custody as well at 11:33am.

The victim- estimated by paramedics to be "20 to 30-years-old" was taken to a local trauma center in very critical condition.

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

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Boulevard Brewery Going Green

It's not a special St. Paddy's batch of my favorite beer- Boulevard or "Bully" Wheat- but a real effort by Kansas City's premier brewery to reduce their negative footprint on the environment.
This article from The KANSAS CITY BUSINESS JOURNAL tells what steps Boulevard Brewery are taking to bring this concept to fruition.

Bully for Boulevard (tip 'o the frosty mug-full) !

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Captain Spaulding Begins Trek To The Presidency

Why not? I've apparently won my first elected position.



That's according to a Mr. David Browning who left a message on our phone machine last night.

I've won the election as a Libertarian committeeman and I didn't even run for that position.

You have to hark back to the post I made after the last election- where Ms. Rittenhouse and myself were the only 2 Libertarian voters in our ward and precinct.

There were a number of electable slots where no one was running- so each of us wrote in the others' name.

Apparently I beat Ms. Rittenhouse out by virtue of the alphabet.

Regardless- I'm going to talk to Mr. Browning in awhile and see what this position entails.

I vote Libertarian because I'm so utterly SICK AND TIRED of the same 2 political parties' "business as usual" attitudes when it comes to governing America.

I'm not absolutely sold on some of the Libertarian's platform points- but what the Dems & Repubs are doing isn't working at all.

Who knows? This could be my first step to The White House.

My first act as President will be to paint the White House in cool patterns of red-white and blue. With volunteered paint and painters too- mind you.

Then return America- it's legacy- hope and manufacturing jobs- to The People.

I guarantee you- I'd work my ass off to change things and I won't be for sale either.

I'd love nothing more than to incarerate a corporate PAC-Man for attempted bribery!

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Florida Kite Surfer Slammed Into A Building By TS Fay

NOTE: VIDEO WAS REMOVED BY YouTube POLICE- ALTERNATIVE VIEWING SITE HERE.

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A Satellite And Radar Look At Tropical Storm Fay

Centered over northwestern Lake Okeechobee in South Florida- Tropical Storm Fay appears to have a small eye on radar. This eye feature is not visible on the satellite images of Fay however.

Fay will continue to move north- then erratic movement of the storm is forecast- back west
possibly into the Gulf of Mexico later this week- where it could regain strength.

Keep tuned....

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Powell Garden's Butterfly Showcase

Last Sunday- Ms. Rittenhouse- her daughter- granddaughter and I went to the 2008 Festival of Butterflies at Powell Gardens.

For those of you who have never been there- Powell Gardens is a nature retreat located on U.S. 50 in extreme northwestern Johnson County MO..Like the Kauffman Memorial Gardens here in K.C.- Powell Gardens contains a phethora of flowers and fauna native to the Central States- along with other more exotic varieties.

There is also a variety of sculptures and statuary throughout the Garden.


There's a trolley service on weekends- for Powell Gardens is quite expansive with a number of walking trails. There is a chapel available for weddings
and such- also a picnic area just inside the main gate.

But this particular time it was the beauty of butterflies that drew us and thousands of others the past 2 weekends.
I encourage my fellow citizens to support this beautiful gem of our Metro area- for they do not ask for taxpayer subsidies or tax relief.

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The Bullet Point on Metro Kansas City Public Transit

A post at the K.C. Light Rail.com blog tells of a Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) meeting to get public input on street-based- fuel-guzzling rapid bus lines.

The meeting was last night in Riverside at their City Hall starting at 7pm.

Irony? There's no bus service to that area after 7pm- according to the post.
I guess you had to DRIVE there to comment on ATA bus service. Uh-huh.

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Troubled Federal Agency That Guarantees Pensions Proposes Risky Plan

That Federal agency is the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation or PBGC who underwrites and guarantees America's corporate pension plans.

The PBGC's bottom line is very shaky these days like everthing else financial. The PBGC redeems those pension plans gutted by corporate failures and greed.

The Associated Press reports a PBGC plan to increase it's liquidity- and the Government Accounting Office (GAO) thinks that plan is risky business.

The American taxpayer may well end up bailing-out the PBGC- as we apparently are about to bail-out that irresponsible twosome-Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac.

No ideas whatsoever from Washington how to bail-out we American taxpayers.....

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Skyrocketing Costs Hitting School Districts Hard

The super-inflation we're all suffering this election year has also hit your local school district hard- according to the Associated Press.

Due to continuing high fuel prices- some school districts are going to four-day weeks- others are cutting educational field trips and like activities.
Food costs are also severe. More than a few districts across America have been forced to raise the price of school lunches.

For the problem of high food prices- why don't school districts and other entities affected start vegetable gardens?

To address the fuel concerns- let more kids WALK to school. This will provide environmental solutions as well as helping American kids' obesity problems.

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When Analog TV Broadcasts End- So Does TV On Cell Phones- Portables

If you're one who likes watching TV shows on your itty-bitty cellphone screen- you won't like February 17- 2009.
According to this story by the Associated Press- cellphones will also become victim to the changeover from analog to digital television signals.

It's said that even if America's cellphones COULD pick up the digital signals- the way we are making the transition to digital TV would make reception difficult.

Many Americans are just now cluing into this transition- and not liking the things they hear about no-more analog.

Many of us will have to rely on corporate AM radio instead of our portable TVs in case of a power outage after next February.

This will be one HUGE step backward as most all AM stations don't even HAVE "local" news anymore.

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