Tomato Warning

After all the wet- cool weather ... FINALLY !!!

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K.C. MetroRegion BREAKING NEWS: Injury House Fire In Lawrence-KS

At 6:16 am Saturday morning- four companies of the Lawrence-KS Fire department reponded to the 2100 block of Tennessee- where a house was reported to be "fully-involved" in flames.
A Lawrence police officer arrives within 4 minutes and confirms the fire's status- as well as one person "burned" in the fire.

A "2nd-alarm" sends 2 more fire companies and another EMS unit to the scene.

As of 6:28 am- firefighters were concerned that "either fireworks or ammunition" were exploding in the burning structure.
The person burned in the fire is reported to be a 20-year-old male with severe burns to his right hand- smoke inhalation and singed hair.

He's been transported to the Lawrence hospital in serious condition.

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MetroRegion Kansas City WEATHER: NWS Heat Advisory Today

Both the Kansas City and Topeka National Weather Service (NWS) offices have issued "heat advisories" for hot temperatures and high humidities Saturday.

The heat could last into Sunday too.


Gusty south winds should help some- with additional relief expected with showers and thunderstorms and a cool front Monday morning.





Here are the NWS particulars for YOUR area:

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO
319 AM CDT SAT AUG 8 2009

...HOT AND HUMID WEATHER RETURNS...

.A HOT AND GUSTY SOUTHERLY WIND WILL USHER IN SOME OF THE HOTTEST TEMPERATURES OF THE SUMMER OVER THE WEEKEND...ALONG WITH A GOOD DOSE OF HIGHER HUMIDITIES. ALTHOUGH THIS COMBINATION OF HEAT AND HIGH HUMIDITY IS MORE TYPICAL OF SUMMER...IT WILL FEEL ESPECIALLY UNCOMFORTABLE DUE TO OVER FIVE WEEKS OF UNSEASONABLY COOL WEATHER DURING JULY AND EARLY AUGUST.

(Counties) LEAVENWORTH- WYANDOTTE- JOHNSON KS- PLATTE- CLAY- JACKSON-


INCLUDING THE CITIES OF: LEAVENWORTH... KANSAS CITY KS... OVERLAND PARK... OLATHE...

PARKVILLE... PLATTE CITY... WESTON... LIBERTY... EXCELSIOR SPRINGS... KANSAS CITY... INDEPENDENCE



(Counties) ATCHISON KS- DONIPHAN- ATCHISON MO- NODAWAY- WORTH- GENTRY- HARRISON- MERCER- PUTNAM- SCHUYLER- HOLT- ANDREW- DE KALB- DAVIESS- GRUNDY- SULLIVAN- ADAIR- BUCHANAN- CLINTON- CALDWELL- LIVINGSTON- LINN MO- MACON- RAY- CARROLL- CHARITON- RANDOLPH- LAFAYETTE- SALINE- HOWARD-


INCLUDING THE CITIES OF: ATCHISON... TROY... TARKIO... ROCKPORT... MARYVILLE... GRANT CITY... ALBANY... STANBERRY... BETHANY... PRINCETON... UNIONVILLE... LANCASTER... DOWNING... MOUND CITY... OREGON... SAVANNAH... CAMERON... GALLATIN... JAMESPORT...TRENTON... MILAN... GREEN CITY... KIRKSVILLE... ST. JOSEPH... PLATTSBURG... KINGSTON... HAMILTON... POLO... CHILLICOTHE... BROOKFIELD... MACON... LA PLATA... RICHMOND... CARROLLTON... SALISBURY... KEYTESVILLE... MOBERLY... LEXINGTON... CONCORDIA... MARSHALL... FAYETTE... NEW FRANKLIN


319 AM CDT SAT AUG 8 2009

...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING.

THE COMBINATION OF TEMPERATURES SOARING INTO THE UPPER 90S AND HIGH HUMIDITIES WILL PRODUCE AFTERNOON HEAT INDEX VALUES AROUND 105 DEGREES. THIS WILL FEEL ESPECIALLY UNCOMFORTABLE DUE TO JULY AND EARLY AUGUST BEING UNSEASONABLY COOL.


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URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
318 AM CDT SAT AUG 8 2009

...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT TODAY FOR PARTS OF NORTHEAST KANSAS...


(Counties) NEMAHA- BROWN- JACKSON- JEFFERSON- SHAWNEE- DOUGLAS-

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF... HIAWATHA... TOPEKA... LAWRENCE

318 AM CDT SAT AUG 8 2009

...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING.

AIR TEMPERATURES RISING TOWARD 100 AND HUMIDITY LEVELS WILL COMBINE TO PRODUCE HEAT INDICES OF AROUND 105 TODAY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

IF YOU PLAN TO BE OUTSIDE...AVOID PROLONGED EXPOSURE OR STRENUOUS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY.

DRINK PLENTY OF NON-ALCOHOLIC FLUIDS TO AVOID DEHYDRATION.

WEAR LIGHT WEIGHT... LIGHT COLORED... LOOSE FITTING CLOTHING AND A HAT TO SHIELD YOURSELF FROM THE SUN.

USE A SUNSCREEN TO REDUCE POSSIBLE SUNBURN.

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Kansas City's NEWS: Police Shoot Armed Suspect

Around 2:15 am Saturday morning- 2 KC-MO Metro Zone police officers reported approaching a man in the park at 68th Street and the Paseo when the man showed a gun and started firing at the officers.



An "assist-the-officer" call went out at 2:17 am while the officers chased the shooter through the park to the 1800 block of 67th Terrace where- at 2:20 am- the officers shot the man.



The suspect was taken to a Metro hospital with critical injuries and the two officers will get some paid time off while internal affairs investigates.

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Kansas City's NEWS: Mutiple Victims In Northland Knife Fight

The call came in around 12:50 am- to the intersection of Northeast 43rd Street and North Oak- where a large disturbance was taking place and there were several victims of knife wounds.



The disturbance- in the parking lot of a convenience store- yielded 2 male stabbing victims- one 23- the other 25-years-old. Their injuries were serious- but they'll survive.


MAST-EMS said 2 other victims refused ambulance transport.



Police said 2 were arrested at the scene. A few hours later- a male with "multiple" knife wounds arrived at a Northland hospital's emergency room- possibly related to this incident.

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X-Rated Here: Florida Man Blames Cat For Child-Porn Images

Keith Griffin of Martin county Florida was charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after police found more than 1000 images on Griffin's computer.



Griffin claimed his "cat" downloaded the images when she would "hit the keyboard while he was downloading music."



Proof again that young pussy will get you in trouble EVERY time....

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Metro Kansas City BREAKING NEWS: Independence-MO Woman Injured When Stove "Explodes"

Just before 1 pm- 5 companies of Independence firefighters responded to the 2900 block of Overton where it was reported "a stove exploded" inside a home.

The fire was brought under control within about 15 minutes- but a female occupant of the house suffered "first and second degree burns" and was being transported to an area medical trauma center- according to AMR-EMS.

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Second Fire In Two Weeks In Belton-MO PetSmart Was Arson

Two weeks to the day another small fire caused an evacuation of the Belton PetSmart store- another fire that occurred last Saturday in the same store was intentionally set- according to this story from The BELTON (MO) STAR-HERALD.



As with the prior fire- no one was hurt in this latest blaze and no animals were harmed.

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Shamed Liberty-MO School Superintendent Had Surveillance Cameras Installed

The LIBERTY (MO) TRIBUNE reports that one Saturday night in 2007- then Liberty schools super Phil Wright had school district employees install "spy cameras" in a Liberty elementary school.


The article doesn't state where in the school the cameras were installed or why- but states the cameras have since been "removed."

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WyCo Pollys Approve Sales Tax Election- But What To Spend It On?

This is stuff for late-night talk show hosts...


At their meeting last night- the WyCo-KS commissioners approved putting a sales tax increase on the November ballot.

Now the commissioners want to know what the public wants any increased sales tax revenue (assuming it passes) spent on.

Gee folks is it just the way I think- or should the 'missioners have figured out what they would spend such increased revenue BEFORE submitting this dreck to the taxpayers?

Group portrait of the Wyandotte County-KS commissioners

If WyCo doesn't KNOW what needs to be funded before asking for more taxes- why the Hell are they asking for an increase?

WyCo voters- you elected these people- not me....

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College and Quivira Intersection Re-Opens Tonight

The City of Overland Park says the intersection of College Boulevard and Quivira will be re-opened by 8 pm this Thursday evening.



The intersection had been closed since Saturday for construction.

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Twitter Hit By Hackers

I don't "tweet"- but millions of Americans do.

In case you've had or are having problems logging onto Twitter- it's because the site was attacked by unknown hackers this morning- also causing slowdowns with Facebook pages.

Hope nobody is jonesing....

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Kansas City MetroRegion WEATHER: A "Slight Risk" of Severe Thunderstorms Today

The risk area includes most of northwestern and west central Missouri and northeastern and east-central Kansas through 7 am Friday morning.

The primary severe risk will be large hail and strong- damaging winds and an isolated tornado or two cannot be ruled out either.


Active clusters of thunderstorms this morning over south-central Kansas and northeastern Nebraska will move east and southeast- possibly affecting the MetroRegion after the noon hour.


It may be late afternoon or evening until storm activity threatens Metro K.C..


Here are some satellite and weather radar views of the Central States activity this morning:


Although yours truly has a prior obligation this evening- I'll keep you up-to-date until then with ANY breaking weather in the MetroRegion through late afternoon....

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Wyandotte County-KS Pollys Thinking Of Raising Sales Tax

Once again- governments are trying to relieve the effects of the worst "recession" in many peoples' lifetimes on the backs of those very people who are suffering.

Thursday evening at 5 pm- the Wyandotte county commissioners will hold their regular meeting at City Hall and among the items to be discussed is raising the county's sales tax.

I'd LOVE to be there just to ask them if they've lost their collective mind.

How can you- the commission- ask Wyandotte county taxpayers for another dime- seeing how a taxpayer-subsidized business (Nebraska Furniture Mart) STILL hasn't even paid all the property tax the county says they owe.

Don't play the "outside visitors will pay the tax too" card either. It's disingenuous not to mention idiotic.

Wyandotte county is the poorest county in the 5-county inner "Metro" so that increased tax burden falls the hardest on those with the lowest incomes.

Politicians anywhere in America should have their judgement questioned when wanting to increase fees and/or taxes in this economic environment.

WyCo voters: pay CLOSE attention to the names of any county commisioners that approve raising your taxes right now. Remember those names when it's election time.

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KCTV-5 Teams With WHB AM 810 For Sports Coverage

This is according to The STAR's reporter Aaron Barnhart.


WHB is also the reported recipient of a "red flag"- not from any soccer referees but from rating service Arbitron.


Rumour also has it that KCTV-5 is looking to replace it's weather department with The Weather Channel (with severe weather cut-ins including New York) and it's news coverage/video with YouTube (and also perhaps the Surveillance-Security Camera News Service)....

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Gitmo Detainees Not First Foreign Enemies Kept In Kansas

The TOPEKA CAPITOL-JOURNAL points out the hypocrisy Republicrat pollys are using in their opposition to housing Guantanamo prisoners in Kansas.

A World War II POW camp near Concordia-KS (Photo courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society)


The C-J simply looks back to World War II- when Kansas was home to POW camps that housed German and Italian soldiers.

Man- we barely survived THAT one didn't we (fail)?

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Two Charged In Independence-MO Weekend Shooting

It was a story reported first here at CSW (and hardly anywhere else)- a shooting early last Saturday morning that left a 19-year-old female and a 15-year-old boy injured in a northeastern Independence apartment complex (overnight weekend news coverage is an afterthought locally you see).


The (Independence-MO-Blue Springs-Grain Valley) EXAMINER reports that 2 suspects are in custody regarding this incident:


Kenneth W. Porchia of Independence- and Clarence E. Brown of Kansas City-MO.. Both were charged by the Jackson County prosecutor with two counts each of first-degree assault and armed criminal action.

Not-so-upstanding citizen Clarence E. Brown (Photo courtesy of The EXAMINER)

All charges are felonies.

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Tuesday- August 4's Metro Kansas City Election Results

Independence residents (and it's visitors)- tired of turning in paperwork for uninsured motorists and tracking down hit and run drivers (yes-it's true!) on their own- rejected a sales tax increase for more police officers.

The uninsured motorist is my thing- the hit & run pedestrian was Ms. Rittenhouse's son's girlfriend last Friday in which I played the ambulance driver.


Lake Lotawana DID approve a property tax increase for more cops there.


Dogpatch (Blue Summit) passed THEIR sales tax increase (a couple of gas stations/convenience store plus Erotic City & After Dark adult playpens) to better their "Innercity Fire Department."


Platte County MO residents voted to continue their half-cent tax for parks and recreation.


Kearney-MO I can't really tell if they passed their bond issue or not.


The KANSAS CITY STAR in the Platte county tax story says this:

"In other voting today:

Voters in the Kearney Fire and Rescue Protection District approved a $3.5 million general obligation bond issue."

Yet- another STAR story headline says this about Kearney's bond vote:

"Kearney fire district voters turn down $3.5 million bond issue."


I checked- Kearney's bond issue lost.


So 2 out of 3 sales tax raises were approved- one for parks (Platte Co.) the other for fire protection (Blue Summit). One property tax increase for more cops passed (Lake Lotawana) while a bond issued for fire service lost (Kearney).

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Selected JoCo-KS-KC-MO Rainfall Totals For August 2009 So Far

General rainfalls of .30 to .60 Metro-wide were reported this morning with isolated reports of up to 1-inch rainfalls in scattered areas.




More rain is forecast by Wednesday morning and there's a risk of some severe thunderstorms too.

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U.S. Postal Service Proposes Closing All Northeast KC-MO Stations

Okay- so it's probably true that Western Union is probably used far more than U.S. Postal money orders in old Northeast- but to close ALL the post offices there?


This is an area of affordable rents and has a large number of elderly residents without vehicles.


To close all 3 Northeast stations- leaving the closest remaining station at Truman Road and Brooklyn is- in a word- idiotic.

Longtime Northeast resident Phillip Wall is against closing all 3 U.S. Postal branches there.

"Northeast is like a forgotten step-child when it comes to (government services)" Wall lamented.

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Independence-MO Residents Vote Today To Increase Their Tax Load

Independence-MO police say they need an increase in sales tax to put more officers on the street.


The federal government just gave Independence a grant for more police officers- so the IPD says the money will go for 3 more DETECTIVES- not patrol officers.


Indy residents- YOU make the call here and vote until 7 pm this evening.

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Metro Kansas City BREAKING WEATHER: Severe Tstrm Warning Until 7 AM- NW Platte County-MO

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Kansas City MetroRegion WEATHER: Severe Storm Watches Continue North

Severe Thunderstorm watches Numbers 653 and 654 continue unitl 7 am and 10 am respectively for areas just northwest to northeast and east of Metro Kansas City.

Metro Kansas City is NOT included in either watch.

Thunderstorms continue moving east-southeast out of northeastern Kansas- the only severe-warned storms are in far northwestern Missouri.

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Prettier Roadways? How About Roads That Don't Jar Your Teeth Loose?

Never at loss to editoralize on anything- The KANSAS CITY STAR today ran the editorial: "Picture This: Prettier Roadways in Kansas City."



My reply? How about SMOOTHER roadways?


I-70 east from downtown- I-435 northbound from 87th Street to Blue Parkway- I-35 northbound at Santa Fe in Olathe- these are just a few stretches of freeways that need MORE ASPHALT- not flowers!


Okay- I love beautiful flowers as much as the next person.

I guess the flowers and shrubs reduce the boredom from sitting in a traffic jam- because public transportation in the Metro area is in such sorry shape.

So then maybe- MAYBE- the STAR's bored editorial board is right:

The pritty flowers and shrubs are calming devices: while you sit IN the road in a traffic jam or you sit BY the road waiting to have the tire you flattened and the wheel you bent on substandard road surfaces repaired.


Wondering- how many irises does it take to fill a pothole?

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Kansas City Ties A Record Low Temperature Sunday Morning

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO
732 AM CDT SUN AUG 2 2009

...RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE TIED AT THE KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT...

THE RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE FOR THE DATE OF 57 DEGREES...WAS TIED AT THE KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TODAY. THIS TIES THE RECORD OF 57 PREVIOUSLY SET IN 1986.

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Major Johnson County Intersection Closed This Week

For maybe a week this heavily-travelled intersection at College Boulevard and Quivira will be closed for re-construction.

Among institutions affected will be the huge Johnson County Community College- behind this Overland Park traffic camera's view.

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MetroRegion Kansas City WEATHER: Severe Storm Chance on Monday

Virtually the entire kansas City MetroRegion is outlooked by the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center to be in an area for possible severe thunderstorm development from 7 am Monday to 7 am Tuesday.


Thunderstorms developing now over northwestern Kansas will continue to grow and march eastward toward our area Monday morning.


How those early Monday morning storms affects our atmosphere will determine the strength and extent of severe storms developing in or near the Metroregion later Monday.





As usual CSW- your non-commercial alternative- will be on it- so feel free to join in the fun here tomorrow!

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"Bite Me- It's Sunday Morning" Injury In Wellsville-KS

The summer darkness had given way to a quiet- cool and calm- dew-covered Sunday morning when the call came in just after 6 am:

There was the victim of "numerous human bites" reported by Franklin County-KS EMS dispatch in the 300 block of Douglas Street in Wellsville- the bites reportedly the result of a domestic disturbance.


The victim of the bites refused to be transported by to the hospital and no word if any arrest was made by the sheriff.


No other reports of injuries MetroRegion-wide on this- the first annual "Bite Me- It's Sunday Morning" observance.

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KC-MO Police Helicopter Witnesses Fatal Crash

Shortly after 1:30 am Sunday morning- KC-MO police observed a vehicle driving erratically on the city's east side so ground officers summonded Helicopter 690 to track it.

KC-MO PD-690 followed from well above that erratic vehicle- now going northbound on Cleaver II Boulevard- speed reported by the chopper's observer to be "90 to 100 MPH."

At 1:41 am- the police helicopter's crew witnessed the vehicle crash into another containing 3 people and "demolish" a light pole at 39th Street.

One person- believed to be a female- was thrown from the struck vehicle and died at the scene.

Another male passenger in the struck vehicle was critically injured- a 3rd male had fairly minor injuries.

The driver and a passenger in the speeding vehicle ran after the crash.

Helicopter 690 kept track of the driver from the air. Both suspects were apprehended after about 20 minutes and one of the men was bitten by a police dog.

Police in their cars had stayed well behind the erratic vehicle before the crash and were not chasing it.

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