CSW BREAKING: House Fire in Lee's Summit MO

Six companies of the Lee's Summit (LS) Fire department are battling a fire that has a house heavily-involved in flames in the south-central part of that southeastern Jackson county city.

The fire was first reported at 2:06 p.m. Saturday afternoon in the 200 block of Southeast 16th Terrace and when the first fire company arrived at 2:14 p.m.- they reported "heavy smoke showing " from a "single-story" house (shown on GOOGLE map image).

Additional fire companies were also then requested and sent- and for at least 25 minutes after arrival the flames were fought from the outside of the structure in south-central LS-MO.

The flames appeared to be knocked down as of 2:40 p.m. withthe fire declared under control at 2:54 p.m..

It's a lived-in house- but no one was at home at the time of the fire- the owner showed up around 3:04 p.m..

There were no reports of any injuries.

LS Police closed roads in the immediate area of the fire.

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Was Worlds of Fun "Electrocution" Patient A Blonde?

The call came into KC-MO Fire and (MAST) EMS at 8:54 p.m. Friday night: an "electrocution" victim was to be found at one of the emergency entrances to Worlds of Fun at 4545 North Worlds of Fun Drive in the eastern Northland.




 

According to a MAST-FIRE-EMS paramedic- the patient was "a 54-year-old female" who was shocked "by screwing in a light bulb."

Her injuries appeared to be very minor as she was taken to a Northland hospital. 

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Platte County MO Hog Farm "Leaks" Wastewater Into Creek

It is "potentially hundreds of thousands of gallons" of pig slop that has entered a tributary of "Dick's Creek" in northern Platte County- reports the ST. JOSEPH (MO) NEWS-PRESS.

Accused is "A&A Farms-" listed as being at "5410 Little Platte Road in Edgerton MO.."

So far- A&A Farms has NOT been fined as the Missouri Department of Conservation goes through the paperwork and investigation of the "leak."

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CSW BREAKING: Shooting in Northern KC-KS

At 9:38 a.m. this Friday morning- KC-KS emergency services responded to the 3300 block of North 59th Street on a reported shooting.

Suspects were reported by KC-KS Police as "2 black males- one wearing plaid shorts- the other wearing glasses and a jacket" who ran eastward from the scene.

 

 

The victim is said by a KC-KS Fire paramedic to be "a male" in his 20's "who was shot multiple times" and he was taken in serious but not immediately life-threatening condition to a Metro hospital.

Police are seeking the suspects and investigating the incident.

UPDATE- 1023 CDT- It's now believed that KC-KS Police have at least one if not both suspects in this shooting in custody.

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Aside From Bad Math- Dream-Plans For Old Bannister Mall Site Continue

The main street going through this abandoned wasteland is pocked with chuck-holes- appropriate since I have called Hillcrest Road 'Chuck Eddy Drive' since Bannister Mall died during that former KC-MO councilman's term.

I'm thinking of renaming that re-name to 'Eddy-Sharp Drive' to include the current ineffective councilman for this area John Sharp.

Jilted by the Wizards soccer team for another city and their corporate welfare give-outs- the former site of Bannister Mall and Walmart's 'Hypermart' gathers weeds- trash and four-legged creatures awaiting promised development by the site's owner Lane 4 Development company.

The JACKSON COUNTY ADVOCATE reports from what was no doubt a press release some bad math- as Lane 4 president Owen Buckley says that "The plan still has three legs to the stool...(the) retail and corporate office ‘legs’ still remain.”

Hmmm- that's only 2 legs on a stool.

Also-Buckley says "his development team is working on a new Master Plan for ‘The Trails’ which they will re-submit to the city for TIF purposes by the end of the summer. "

We'll dismiss that corporate hype to the old Missouri saying of "Show Me-" as well as eternally wonder why corporations can't build using their OWN money instead of putting tax burdens on residential and small-business property owners in the form of corporate welfare or TIFs.

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CSW Commentary: Issues With Tea Partiers Are Why NOW and Why THEM?

Demonstrations put on by the so-called "Tea Party" across the country yesterday netted total attendances that were probably around 10-percent of the Metro Kansas City population- maybe 200000.


Locally- news helicopter shots of the crowd at the T-Bones baseball stadium near the Kansas Speedway in KC-KS showed the 15000 or so seat stadium less than a quarter full.

Photos courtesy of The BONNER SPRINGS (KS) CHIEFTAIN show the crowd and you'd be hard-pressed to find a non-white- non-middle or greater-aged face in it.

Some of my major problems with this "Tea Party?"

Timing.

Where WERE these people when the PATRIOT Act was approved?  Lotta loss of freedoms there.

Where WAS this "party" when we got into a senseless- expensive war (invasion actually) with Iraq and then the last Administration started bailing out Wall Street?  Lotta taxpayer money spent there and there.

Funny too- this "Tea Party" rally for less government and taxes held in a city where- two days earlier- the residents approved MORE taxes upon themselves.

My wonderment of timing is more-or-less answered by the current occupant of The White House as well as the speakers I see showing up at these "Tea Party" rallies

Which leads to the Why Them?

The speakers are all upper-income white people- most of them associated with the Republicrat Party and/or FOX (Faux) News- and under the blah-blah-blah of their scripted speeches is a STRONG resentment of having their lily-White House occupied by a- a- a BLACK FAMILY!

It's too bad those same speakers had horrible poker faces when Mr. Obama was elected and tipped their hand to JUST SAY NO!


The Tea Party is at least 5 years late in arriving for me- and the bus they arrived on was filled with undesirables: a  governor who QUIT her office- a small- balding former Republicrat administraction hack and Faux news personalities that make six-figure incomes spewing lies and division.

The Tea Party seems to be a haven for the ultra right-wingers who- in reality- don't know WHO the Hell to be mad at- besides President Obama- the very man who DIDN"T start the mess we're in.


Vote Libertarian or some other VALID 3rd-party if you REALLY want to rock the boat..

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Two Dead Near Lake Lotawana Identified- Ruled "Murder-Suicide"

The Jackson County Sheriff's department has identified the 2 people found dead Wednesday evening at a residence between Lee's Summit and Lake Lotawana as "12-year-old Gabrielle Morejon and 58-year-old George Morejon."


From what investigators can piece together right now- it appears George Morejon- who was having marital issues and armed with a handgun- shot his daughter Gabrielle in the home's finished basement- then went out to his car in the driveway and shot himself dead.

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CSW Weather: Storms on Radar to Northwest of Kansas City MetroRegion

We've had a great stretch of weather since Easter- above-average temperatures and below-average temperatures.


That's about to change to a more-average regime this weekend and a slow-moving cool front is producing showers and thunderstorms as it advances southward from the northern Central States.

No widespread severe weather is expected in the Central States with this cooling surge of air.


The NWS Doppler radar image from the site west of Topeka KS shows that storm activity- the big circle is centered in Downtown KC-MO with each ring denoting 25 miles of distance from KC..

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Say "Fuck You-" Flip-Off Cops and Win $$$

The Olathe KS Police are $5000 poorer after having to pay that to a man ticketed for saying "fuck you" and giving an officer the finger after the man- Scott Schaper- was stopped by police for "failing to yield at a stop sign"- says the story in The KANSAS CITY (MO) STAR.




Schaper reportedly made $4000 off the deal- the ACLU getting the other 1k.

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CSW BREAKING: Apartment Building Fire With People Trapped in Parkville MO is Minor

All companies of the Southern Platte County Fire Protection District (SPFD) and 4 from the KC-MO Fire department responded to a reported fire in an apartment in the building at 11008 Northwest Lema.

The alarm was sounded at 1:28 p.m. Thursday afternoon and 2 minutes later- the SPFD dispatcher told responding units that there was "possibly 2 people trapped" in one of the apartments.

At 1:31 p.m.- KC-MO Fire sends a regular alarm response of 3 pumpers and a ladder truck to the Lema incident. 

The first SPFD engine to arrive at 1:32 p.m. reported "nothing showing" on the outside of the building- but "blackened windows" on some first-floor apartments.

The "trapped" person is led out and light to moderate smoke conditions are reported by fire interior crews on the 1st and 2nd floors and it's not until 1:39 p.m. that it's determined it's a "possible fire in the basement."


By 1:49 p.m.- whatever was burning is "out-" it appears IF anyone was injured that the injuries are very minor as is this seemingly 'why bother?' incident.

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Another view of Wednesday Night's Meteor Over Northern Central States

The following images were taken by a camera at the University of Wisconsin in Madison:

Here is a animated loop of those images from Madison: http://www.aos.wisc.edu/fireball/2010_04_14_fireball_loop_1024x768_long.gif


The meteor was also seen travelling west to east in northeastern Missouri skies in the Kirksville area- according to The KIRKSVILLE (MO) DAILY NEWS.

It has not been determined this Thursday morning where any of the meteor's fragments may have ended up.

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KC-KS' BPU Threatens Rate Increase

Citizens of Wyandotte County raised their sales tax Tuesday- now those same residents get to meet a rate hike- courtesy of KC-KS' Board of Public Utilities (BPU).

There a hearing on this today at 10:30 a.m.- as well as 2 future public hearings scheduled- according to The WYANDOTTE DAILY NEWS.

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MoDOT Spent Nearly $50-Million During Winter of 2009-10

The KANSAS CITY BUSINESS JOURNAL reports that the State of Missouri spent $49.4-million for ice and snow removal during this past winter.

That's "20-percent more" than last winter's cost for road treatment.

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Two Found Dead at Residence Near Lake Lotawana

The 25000 block of East Milton Thompson Road is a rural setting- dotted by expensive homes on large- multi-acre lots.

Wednesday evening- Jackson County sheriff deputies were called to a house in that block- and found a dead woman inside as well as a man found dead in a vehicle outside the residence.

Some media outlets say both had gunshot wounds- possibly indicative of a murder-suicide.

JaCo Sheriff's Department hasn't released their "official" statement on this incident  this Thursday morning.

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Central States News: Nebraska Dumps Unused H1N1 Vaccines

Such a HUGE news media hoopla was made about the H1N1 or "swine flu" virus last fall- and pharmaceutical firms rushed to produce the vaccines.

Many millions of Americans (moi included) didn't fall for the media hype and elected NOT to get the untested vaccines and now- according to this story from The OMAHA (NE) WORLD-HERALD- those unused shots are being dumped in the trash.

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AP Video: Larry King Files For Divorce From Wife No. 7

Larry King- 76- has filed for a divorce from wife No. 7- Shawn King.

King- host of his own CNN talk show- still lags behind Mickey Rooney for the Guiness world record for divorces.

http://video.ap.org/?f=201264&pid=8N6CRl6FefJFep4vQcmbG5d0_jXkBUp3

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Meteor Over Iowa Video

There was a spectacular meteor sighting over the northern Central States late Wednesday night- here's a dashcam video of the meteor as it shot over Elma in eastern Iowa...

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CSW BREAKING: KC-KS Fire Engine Involved in Crash

KC-KS Pumper 4 was responding to an automatic fire alarm call when they were involved in a crash with another vehicle at 63rd Street and Leavenworth Road at 7:16 a.m..

No one in the other vehicle or any of the firefighters on Pumper 4 were hurt and police were investigating the incident.

The fire company was out of service until further notice as well.

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"Charges Dropped" in Shady-Sounding Jefferson County KS Drug Bust

Jonathan or "Jon" Sloan owns Bouncing Bear Botanicals (BBB) on U.S. 59 highway just inside the Jefferson County (JF-CO) line north of Lawrence.

Mr. Sloans' business- "...one of the largest suppliers of ethnobotanicals in..." America according to the story in The LAWRENCE (KS) JOURNAL-WORLD- was raided back in February by federal- state and local law enforcers who seized  "$700,000 in cash from the business and bank accounts and took several items from the warehouse, including thousands of cactus plants and 20 toads" states the LJW.

Jon Sloan was charged with "eight felony drug offenses, including the unlawful manufacture and distribution of controlled substances-" the LJW story states.

Most of the lawpeople's hassle was brought on by the fake-pot "K-2" which BBB supplied to a Lawrence herb store that had also been raided.

On Monday- Sloan was notified by the law that all charges had been dropped.

However- that doesn't mean Jon Sloan gets back the "$700,000 in cash from the business and (personal) bank accounts" as well as the "several items from the warehouse, including thousands of cactus plants and 20 toads-" according to this Web page published to raise help for Mr. Sloan's cause.

The LJW quotes JF-CO attorney Caleb Stegall saying "my office expects to refile charges if they are warranted once the investigation is complete."

Come again Mr. Stegall?

The first-year law student working on the lawsuit against you (since you'll file NO charges in the end) asks then why did you file the charges in the first place before the investigation WAS complete? 

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KC-MO Police Should Put Next Weekend's Planned "Sobriety Checkpoint" on The Plaza

Once again- the KC-MO Police announces in a press release that they're conducting a sobriety checkpoint at "an unannounced location" this coming weekend.

Judging by the activity the PAST 2 weekends- perhaps the cops should put their "checkpoint" on The Plaza.

You could address 2 issues with one "checkpoint" and probably avoid pestering any law-abiding citizens.

Of course- Highwoods Properties would probably have a cow if the police set up the "checkpoint" there.

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CSW BREAKING: Injury Fire in KC-MO- Gas Line Break in Lawrence KS

A resident suffered non life-threatening burns after their mattress caught fire inside a mobile home in the 7100 block of East 28th Terrace early Tuesday afternoon.

The fire alarm was sounded at 12:21 p.m. to the address in the "Heart Mobile Home" park- and arriving fire crews found the smoldering mattress outside the trailer.

One of the residents- a "48-year-old male-" suffered minor burns to his hands- wrists and face from the fire and the mattress removal- according to a MAST-EMS paramedic and he was transported "non-emergency" to a Metro medical trauma center.

A KC-MO fire investigator is checking the circumstances of the incident.

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In Lawrence- fire crews on the scene of a natural gas line break in the 1000 block of New York Avenue report at 12:41 p.m. that "the leak has been stopped."

Four fire companies- as well as LPD units were called there at 12:22 p.m. and were forced to evacuate at least some residences on the "east side" of New York until the leak was stopped and the gas dispersed.

Fire crews also stood by with charged fire lines- as well as monitoring the gas levels at an elementary school just north of the break.

There were no evacuations of the school- and the area is slowly returning to normal.

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Wyandotte County KS Voters To Decide Sales Tax Increase Today

Judging by all the polls I've seen- there aren't many "Tea Party" members in WyCo as voters today go to the polls to decide whether to increase WyCo's sales tax.

Those polls seem to overwhelmingly support WyCo residents raising the taxes on themselves.

Of course- the old claim is that "outsiders" will pay the increased tax even though "outsiders" can take that into account as to whether to shop in WyCo with the higher sales tax.

Unmentioned and as always- WyCo residents themselves then have to decide whether to shop in their own county with higher sales tax or shop elsewhere.

And- as always- the poorer people don't have much of an option at all-but who cares about the "lower class?"

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UMB Bank Officials Have "No Comment" To Lawsuit Filed on Overdraft Fees

This is just one reason your Captain has nothing to do with places that uses- then actually charges YOU to keep your money- a.k.a. banks.

A Cass County MO man has "a potential class-action lawsuit" pending against Kansas City-headquartered UMB Bank in regard to their overdraft policies.

According to the KANSAS CITY BUSINESS JOURNAL story- David Johnson filed the lawsuit April 5th- and Johnson "seeks class-action status to open the suit to all UMB Bank customers in Missouri who think they have been unfairly charged overdraft fees" states the KCBJ story.

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CSW BREAKING: House Burns- Catches Home Next Door in KC-MO

A fire in a house in the 600 block of Norton in near-Old Northeast KC-MO spread to a house next door.


The alarm came in at 8:14 a.m. for a fire in a house at 630 Norton.  Responding fire crews saw "heavy smoke" when they left their station at Independence Avenue and Van Brunt. 

Upon arrival- the first fire companies had a virtually fully-involved house fire at 630- and that fire had spread to the house next door at 628 Norton.

Neither house was occupied at the time of the fire.

The flames at 630 Norton were reported "under control" at 8:26 a.m.- with the fire in the neighboring house quelled by 8:29 a.m.

No injuries have been reported as of this post- with the investigation as to the fire's cause now underway.

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Consumer Reports Puts Lexus GX460 On Their "Don't Buy" List

When it rains- it pours...


According to this Associated Press story- Consumer Reports magazine has tested- and failed Toyota's Lexus GX460 mini-SUV.

The reason?

"The rear of the vehicle slid until it was nearly sideways before the electronic stability control system kicked in"- stated the AP story- and this problem would likely cause a rollover of the vehicle in real-world driving conditions.

As you know- Toyota has been having all kinds of problems- both with their various vehicles as well as public relations in regard to those vehicle problems.

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CSW BREAKING: Popular Overland Park Eatery Evacuated Due To A Fire

Five OP Fire companies are on the scene of "a small flue fire" in the Smokehouse restaurant at 7121 West 119th Street.

The initial alarm was received at 12:25 p.m.- the images here- courtesy of the OP Traffic division show what the first-arriving fire saw- "light smoke" appearing to be coming from a roof vent there.


At 12:33 p.m.- a "small fire" was determined to be in the grill "flue" and the restaurant was ordered evacuated.


That small fire was declared under control at 12:39 p.m..

No injuries have been reported- but the restaurant will likely remained closed until those areas affected by the fire are cleaned and checked by OP health inspectors.

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TV and Other Images of Saturday Night's KC-MO Plaza Disturbances

The following images are courtesy of KSHB NBC Action News41's Web site of Saturday night's rolling disturbances in the upscale Plaza area:




Here too are screen captures of the various news media reports:

KSHB:










KCTV:














The STAR:










KMBC (video report only):











WDAF (Story from Friday):








Note that in virtually EVERY story of the disturbances- NO mention is made as to describe the predominate race of the youths that were in the Plaza and causing the problems.


Also note on the story sites where it's allowed- comments from the other citizens who were in and around the Plaza when these disturbances were taking place.

Wish just a little I'd been here in the News Center listening and taking my own notes on the incidents- but I don't get paid for this and one needs some time off to get their own cookies together.

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KC-MO's Country Club Plaza Overrun With Youths Saturday Night

It might have been the closest thing to riot conditions Kansas City's Plaza has ever experienced- according to the story in The KANSAS CITY STAR.


Saturday night while Ms. Rittenhouse and I were enjoying a glorious spring evening at home with a bottle of Menage' a Troi- "hundreds" of young people- apparently mostly black youths- converged on the Plaza.

Reportedly- police used gallons of pepper spray to disperse the crowds and Plaza patrons suffered that too- one person reportedly pepper-sprayed was the husband of a STAR reporter.

There was at least one report of "a serious head injury" patient and at least one "strong-arm robbery" too.

There were also reports of "scattered" property damage.


Who do we blame here? Police? Parents? White people? Black people? The fact there isn't much to do if you're a young adult in the Metro on a weekend night?

Make your own call here- but what happened on The Plaza is one of the reasons we avoid public areas on weekends.

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