Kansas City's BREAKING NEWS: "Stray" Bullet Leaves South KC-MO Male In Critical Condition

Just after 11 pm- KC-MO South Zone patrol officers- MAST-EMS and Fire responded to the 8600 block of East 93rd Place on a reported shooting.



A MAST-EMS report leads to speculation this may have been another "stray" bullet shooting or a drive-by.



The MAST paramedic described the male victim as "approximately 18-years-old"- but he was "unsure the exact age of the victim.



A "stray gunshot" was described to the victim's "head- just above the left eye"- and the male's condition was very critical as he was being transported to an area hospital.



The police don't have much other information to go on yet....

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Kansas City's BREAKING NEWS: Water Main Break In South KC-MO

At 3:38 pm- a Fire department crew reported a water main break at "109th Street and Holmes."


The pumper captain said "water was coming up through the roadway" there.


Be alert if travelling on Holmes between I-435 & Red Bridge for the break and water department crews tending to the problem soon we hope....

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National Weather Service's USA 30-Day Weather Forecast Maps

Judging the contours on these maps- the Kansas City MetroRegion has "an equal chance" September weather could be average- above OR below (that's how they figure these things) average.





The month of September has climatologically had an increase in rainfall from the summer months- so I would expect to see the cooler and wet trend continue in September.





We can only hope this pattern reverses itself (at least temperature-wise) by November....

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Kansas City's NEWS: Motorcycle Crash Seriously Injures Rider- Closes Highway

A male in his 30's is in serious to critical condition at an area hospital Saturday morning after he crashed his motorcycle on U.S 71 highway near Missouri-150in far south KC-MO..

The wreck occurred around 1:30 am in the construction area of the northbound lanes just south of the M-150 overpass.

Grandview and Belton police helped KC-MO close northbound U.S. 71 at 155th Street for nearly an hour while the accident was investigated and cleaned up.

MAST-EMS said the cycle's driver was "a 37-year-old male" whose leg was amputated "below the ankle" and had a shattered thigh bone. The man also was reported to have "other" injuries.

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Metro Kansas City NEWS: No Injuries In Prairie Village Apartment Building Fire

Johnson County District 2 fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire that damaged an apartment building in the 3500 block of West 83rd Street during the midnight hour of Saturday morning.

The call initially came in around 12:10 am- when 3 units from District 2 Fire was sent to "investigate fire alarms sounding" in the building.

When Truck-23 arrived at 12:27 am- they report "heavy smoke coming from the basement" and ask for a full response of 3 more fire companies.

The firefight is underway- until the fire's declared under control at 12:55 am..

No injuries are reported to either occupants or firefighters.

At least smoke damage occurred in the affected building and it was not reported if any occupants were displaced by the fire.

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Medical Helicopters- A $250-Billion Business

A story in The WASHINGTON POST tells of the increasing number of medical helicopters- and medical helicopter crashes- in the United States.



The story mentions that Kentucky has 6 more medical helicopters than the entire country of Canada- and Canada has about 30 million more people!





The following graphics- courtesy of The WASHINGTON POST- shows the numbers of medical helicopters by state.





As you can see- Missouri has 30 air ambulances while Kansas has 12.





Fortunately in our "neck of the woods"- there's only been one fatality medical helicopter crash since 1980- that of a LifeFlight chopper on the morning of May 27- 1993 (worked by yours truly) near Cameron-MO..



In that crash- the pilot and patient died- but 2 others on-board the helicopter survived.

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Latest Satellite Photo of Hurricane Bill

Hurricane Bill continues as a powerful hurricane near Bermuda.

Shown here also is a track map of Hurricane Bill- showing how the storm is forecasted to remain off America's East and Northeast coasts.

Southeastern and eastern Canadian provinces may feel the effects of Bill next week.

The weather in the Kansas City MetroRegion?

Stellar- a great weekend weather-wise is in store!

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Shawnee Police Apparently Give Wrong Crime-Time To Kansas City STAR

Here's a screen capture of how the Shawnee armed robbery of a Subway sandwich shop appears in the KANSAS CITY STAR on-line edition today:

HERE is how the story appeared on CSW last night- apparently before the armed robbery occurred (these scanners have psychic powers).

If The STAR is the local beacon of news reporting accuracy- we're ALL in BIG trouble...

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Metro Kansas City BREAKING NEWS: Armed Robbery of a Subway Sandwich Shop in Shawnee-KS

Shawnee police are reporting the armed robbery of the Subway at 10405 West 75th Street occurred just after 8 pm Wednesday evening.

No one was hurt. No report yet on how much was taken in the robbery.

Police are seeking a black male suspect- 5-foot 6-inches tall- wearing all black with a blue bandana over his face. The suspect also had a handgun- possibly a .9mm.

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MetroRegion K.C. WEATHER: Severe Tstm Watch No. 718- KS

Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 718 is in effect until 3 am Thursday morning and includes that part of Kansas along and west of a Brown- Jackson- Jefferson- Douglas- Franklin- Anderson counties line- including towns and cities such as Hiawatha- Holton- Oskaloosa- Lawrence- Ottawa and Garnett.

Primary threats will be large hail- 1-inch in diameter or greater- and damaging winds- 58 mph or greater.

There is a slight chance for an isolated tornado too.

The severe tstm watch doesn't include Metro Kansas City- but we remain under a Flash Flood Watch until Thursday morning.

Rainfalls of one-half to near an inch have been reported this evening over Johnson county KS and Jackson county MO..

There have been no reports of flooding- but there have been at least 2 houses struck by lightning with minor damage.

Here are the latest visible satellite and NWS Doppler weather radar images:

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More Pictures From Minneapolis-MN Tornado

First off- I want to correct earlier reports that the tornado was in NORTH downtown Minneapolis which is apparently where it was not.

Damage was reported in SOUTH Minneapolis along Portland Avenue and into the south portion of downtown (see earlier post/photo).

Here is an assortment of photos just in- courtesy of WCCO-TV...

The church reported damaged "lost part of a steeple"- a music store was damaged- and tents outside of the Minneapolis Convention Center were ripped apart and blown around.

Still- no reports of anyone hurt- amazing since there was no severe weather watch OR warning prior to the tornado touchdown.

In fact- the Twin Cities weren't even in any forecasted "risk" area for severe weather- until after the tornado.

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Downtown Minneapolis Hit By A Tornado

This was reported around 2:11 pm this afternoon- a tornado touched down in north Downtown Minneapolis-MN and damaged a church by the convention center.



There's been no reports of injuries.

(Photos courtesy of WCCO-TV)

According to the Doppler weather radar image show here- the activity over downtown Minneapolis at the time of the tornado was only light to moderate.



The radial velocity (wind movement) scan showed only a broad rotation- but no tornado "signature."

There were no NWS severe weather watches in effect for Minneapolis-St. Paul when the twister struck..

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Metro K.C.'s BREAKING NEWS: "Chemical Reaction" Sends 2 at Belton Daycare To Hospital- Building Evacuated

At 10:50 am- Belton-MO Fire was sent to the "Creative World" daycare in the 16300 block of Cornerstone Drive.



What happened was apparently an earlier "chemical reaction" of some sort "in the kitchen" there. Dispatch told the responding unit that "2 persons" from that facility "had already gone to (a) hospital" due to the chemical reaction.



Belton Fire has ordered an evacuation of the structure until it's determined what chemical reacted and the building's interior atmosphere is clear of that substance.



Haven't heard of any children affected yet.

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Kansas City Metro-MetroRegion WEATHER: Chance of Severe Storms and Flash Flooding Today

Although the heaviest rains have missed most of Metro K.C.- there's still a chance for more heavy rain through early Thursday morning.

For that reason- the NWS in Pleasant Hill has hoisted a Flash Flood watch for Metro and much of the northern and northeast K.C. Missouri MetroRegion.

In addition- a strong cold front is plunging southeastward from the Northern Plains and will arrive in the Metro Thursday morning.

Thunderstorms are forecast to develop over Kansas and Nebraska ahead of this front- and those storms are expected to become severe as they move toward our area this evening and tonight.

Primary severe weather threats are hail and winds- but a tornado could develop in any discreet supercell thunderstorms.

As per the norm (NORM!)- I'll be posting updates here on CSW....

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Kansas City's BREAKING NEWS: 2-Alarm Fire Near The Truman Sports Complex

Just before 9 am- five KC-MO fire companies were sent to an industrial building fire in the 4000 block of Winchester- just west of I-435 near Raytown Road.

Heavy smoke was seen coming from the building- shown below in a prior image.

At 9:06 am- the fire department battalion chief on-scene ordered a 2nd-alarm response- sending 4 more companies to the scene.

This is reported to be a salvage business- with no injuries reported yet.

At 9:14 am- the fire- reportedly in "some buckets of solvents"- is reported "nearly under control."

More here if needed....

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Photos of Southwest Boulevard Fire 50th Anniversary Memorial Service

There was a memorial service at 10 am this morning to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the deadly 1959 Southwest Boulevard gasoline fire.

The first image is looking west down Southwest Blvd..

About where the power pole with the 3 transformers on it and back from the road about 100-feet north is where the original storage tanks were.

The tank blasted into the street about where you see the tailboard of Pumper 25 (P25).

The next pic is an overview of the memorial site itself- located where 31st Street meets Southwest Blvd..

Image 3 is of KC-KS Pumper 10 and KC-MO Pumper 25. Pumper 10 was the first company of both cities to arrive at the Conoco service station/bulk storage facility 50 years ago.

Next is retired KC-MO fire apparatus operator Tony Valenti.

Tony was the only member of Pumper 25 to survive the fire and explosion 50 years ago.

Tony told me years ago that he was with a hose crew on the north or rail yard side of the fire when the tank blew. Tony and that hose crew started running north across the tracks and he fell down between one set of railroad tracks while the fire shot above him.

He looked up to see 2 of the hose crew that was with him on fire and rushed to their aid.

The last shot is of one of the deans of Kansas City news: Charles Gray.

Charles told the crowd that in 1959- Channel 9 news photographers shot ONLY still photos.

Charles and his photographer Joe Adams were on-scene that fateful day when the Adams asked Gray if he could shoot some film.

Charles said HE was the acting news director that day- and approved the switch on the spot (Gray said both he and the photographer feared getting fired using movie film that day).

Gray said at the moment the gasoline tank exploded- Channel 5 had already ran out of film and the Channel 4 photog was reloading his camera.

Channel 9 ended up getting the classic video that shows the gas tank rocketing into Southwest Boulevard among firefighters and trucks.

Charles Gray received a special award today from the fire chiefs of both Kansas City departments.

The survivors of the fallen firefighters received commemorative 50th anniversary medals.



The rest of us gave grateful applause and nods to those who gave their lives then and now.

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Fifty Year Anniversary of Deadly Southwest Boulevard Petroleum Fire

I t was already hot by 10 am on August 18- 1959 and this almost 7-year-old turned on Channel 4 hoping to catch some cartoons.

There was a gas station on fire on Southwest Boulevard at the state line being broadcast live.

What I soon caught was WDAF-TV reporter John Herrington screaming into a microphone that some gasoline tanks at 30 Southwest Boulevard had just exploded and that Herrington "was getting the Hell out of" there.

Channel 4 continued live coverage that deadly August day from a camera perched on the roof of their 31st Street and Southwest Trafficway studios.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the fire and explosion on Southwest Boulevard that killed 6- five of them firefighters.

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What I've Noticed About Weekday TV Newscasts

Stuff that makes weekday TV newscasts wouldn't even get a mention during weekend newscasts.


Minor injury crashes and non-injury- vacant house fires are the first to suffer when the workweek ends.


I KNOW these occur on weekends- but they're rarely covered.

Hell- I've covered significant weekend shootings that weren't even reported UNTIL the following Monday when newsroom staffing is back to normal (two weekends ago- Independence- for example).

There's every bit as much spot news on weekends as during the week- your news sources just don't have the people on duty to cover it.

If there's no "official" police press release- it apparently didn't happen!

There's significant news many weekends that either gets no or under-reported. That's even applied to some weather events too.


Remember- no TV or radio station or newspaper covers Kansas City area overnight weekend news and weather like CSW....

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Overland Park-KS Pollys Approve More Corporate Welfare

This pig is reportedly dressed up as a development adorned with a museum of the American Museum of Natural History.



No developer worth their salt with a project worth proposing wants to spend ALL their OWN cash anymore.

All this project of future eyesores wants is around $100-million of scarce taxpayer dollars.


Unconfirmed is the opening exhibit of the proposed museum.

Rumour has it will be a multimedia display of what Johnson County Kansas looked like before it was roofed- asphalted and concreted over with mostly taxpayer dollars....

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Some Metro-MetroRegion Kansas City Area Rainfall Totals - Aug. 16-17

Again- torrential tropical rains fell over eastern Kansas into northern Missouri.

NWS area Doppler weather radars indicated areas of 6-inch-plus rains north and northeast of Kansas City.

Areas around Leavenworth-KS to K.C.I. airport have had overnight rainfall totals of 4.5 to 6-inches as have storm totals ranged across much of the Northland.

South of the rivers have still seen some hefty rainfall totals with more than 2.25-inches in northwest JoCo-KS..

Storm totals all areas have ranged over 1.5-inches.

The cool front causing the rain has slid south of Kansas City early Monday afternoon- but the front is going stationary and disturbances will be riding along the front.

There are continued chances of more rain later tonight- Tuesday- Wednesday into early Thursday before a stronger cold front sweeps through.

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Kansas City's BREAKING NEWS: Aircraft Emergency Declared at Kansas City International Airport

At 1:26 pm- the airport fire station reports an "Alert 2" or an airborne and inbound aircraft emergency.

It's reported to be a Midwest Airlines jet with 79 people on board with a possible "landing gear" problem.

Five outside companies of KC-MO Fire responded to assist the 3 airport companies.

The aircraft landed safely at 1:36 pm- but had to be "towed to the gate."

No injuries heard either.

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