CSW BREAKING: One Dead- Firefighter Injured at Apartment Building Fire in Platte City MO

One person has died in a pre-dawn Saturday morning apartment building fire in Platte City.


The alarm sounded for Central Platte and two other Platte County fire departments at 6:35 a.m. on a reported fire in one of the buildings at the High Pointe Apartments in the 300 block of Marshall Road in eastern Platte City.

Initial dispatch reports were that "people are trapped on the 2nd and 3rd floors-" and that was confirmed by a police officer who arrived on the scene about 5 minutes after the fire dispatch.

As of 7:20 a.m.- there were no reports of injuries and for a time- it was believed all those who were trapped were rescued.

At 7:19 a.m.- firefighters were pulled from inside the building on a reported "building collapse."

At 7:50 a.m.- NRAD-EMS was transporting "a 41-year-old male firefighter who was injured when a ceiling collapsed on him" at this fire scene.

His injuries were not serious- the firefighter's condition was not life-threatening as he was being taken to North Kansas City Hospital.


As of 8:10 a.m.- a 2nd apartment building has been evacuated of residents as the fire in the original building continues to burn out of control and wasn't brought under control until most of the building collapsed upon itself by 10 a.m..

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Man Riddled With Bullets in KC-MO

A 24-year-old male is in critical condition at a hospital Saturday morning after being shot in Old Northeast KC-MO..



The man was reportedly shot by a security guard at the 7-11 store at Independence Avenue and Benton just before 1 a.m.- and the victim had been shot several times in the chest and back.



The victim died several hours later at Truman Medical Center- Hospital Hill.


KC-MO Police were continuing their investigation as this is now classified as "a homicide."

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CSW Weather: NWS' National Weather Outlook For April 2011

The April weather outlook for the Kansas City MetroRegion in a nutshell: near to slightly below-average temperatures and an equal chance of average precipitation.

Average highs for Kansas City in April are around 65-degrees- average lows are around 55-degrees.

K.C.'s average April precipitation is 3.38-inches.

Across the Central States- a wide variance of both temperatures and precipitation are expected in April of 2011.

Slightly above-average temperatures are possible from northwestern Kansas into southern Oklahoma.

Slightly below-average temps are forecasted from northwestern Nebraska- all of Iowa- into east-central Missouri.

Precipitation-wise- slightly above-average amounts are predicted from  northern Iowa into extreme eastern Missouri.

Slightly below to below-average precip is forecast across the western 2/3 of Kansas- southern Nebraska and northwestern Oklahoma.

Near-average to average temperatures and precipitation are expected in any areas not otherwise mentioned.

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Unemployment- NAFTA Hits The North Pole

Was turned on to this by a Canadian friend- I LOVE IT!

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St. Patrick's Day KC-MO Police Checkpoint Nails 63 People

Of those 63 arrested- 41 were actually charged with driving under the influence at the checkpoint set up late St. Patrick's Day at 39th Terrace and Southwest Trafficway.


The 22 others were nailed for things like improper licenses- various violations- outstanding warrants- possession of marijuana- "interfering with a municipal charge(??)" and even one person assaulting a police officer.


Be GLAD I am not a Supreme Court justice- for as much as I DETEST drunk drivers- I like police checkpoints in our allegedly "free" country even less....

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A Week After Historic Earthquake and Tsunami- Japan Asks For Outside Help With Melting Nuclear Reactors

Watching NHK Japanese news via the Internet since last Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan- I had come to the conclusion only a day after the disaster that Japanese officials were "downplaying' the extent and gravity of damage at a stricken nuclear power plant.


A week later- officials in Japan were asking for international help in dealing with the badly-damaged reactors at the Fukushima 1 power plant.

In addition-  those officials have upgraded the severity of the nuclear emergency to the same scale as America's 1979 Three Mile Island incident.


Japan is sacrificing helicopters- fire engines and more importantly- people- in trying to prevent a complete meltdown in 4 of the six reactors at the plant.

News source JAPAN TODAY reported early Friday morning Kansas City time that more than 16000 people are dead or remain missing in the massive 9.0-magnitude quake that struck the northeast coast of Japan just over a week ago.

The "official" death toll was at 6,539.

Many of the survivors still await basic living necessities and almost 2 dozen survivors- mostly displaced hospital patients- have already died.

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Fatal Car-Train Collision in Lee's Summit MO

The female driver of a car is dead after getting struck by a train in southeastern Lee's Summit Thursday evening.

The crash occurred about 6:15 p.m. at the railroad crossing in the 2000 block of Southeast Hamblin Road.



The crossing was marked with warning lights and gates that Lee's Summit police were checking to see if they were working when the crash occurred.

The young woman who was driving the car that was hit by the train was declared dead at the crash scene.



That person was identified later Friday morning by the LSPD as 20-year-old Tatiana Mancilla of Lee's Summit.

Ms. Mancilla was a graduate of Blue Springs South High school.

Memorial and funeral services have been announced.


Visitation will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, March 21, 2011, at Speaks Suburban Chapel, 18020 E. 39th St., Independence, MO.


A funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday, at the funeral home. Burial will be at Assumption Cemetery, Austin, TX..


Ms. Rittenhouse and your Captain extends our most sincere and heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of Tatiana Mancilla.

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Kansas City MO St. Patrick's Day Parade Info and Map

The 2011 edition of Kansas City's St. Patrick's Day parade will begin at 11:30 a.m. at Linwood Boulevard/33rd Street and Broadway and will run south on Broadway to 43rd Street.

The parade will end at approximately 1:30 p.m..

The weather forecast for today is warm and windy- temperatures around parade time will be in the 70 to 75 degree range.


Gusty south winds will make it difficult for the balloonists- and those trying to keep those green hats atop your heads.

Oh and PLEASE- don't drink and drive today!

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Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011

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Motorcycle Crash Near Northeast Downtown KC-MO Freeway Loop Kills 2

Two people riding a motorcycle crashed Wednesday evening on the northbound ramp from The Paseo to Interstate 35- south of the new Paseo bridge.


The crash occurred about 8:30 p.m..

On Friday- the identities of the deceased were released by KC-MO Police.

They were 45-year-old Troy Mitchell from Claycomo and 13-year-old Anastasia Allen of Kansas City MO..


CSW offers our condolences to the friends and family of Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Allen.

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Article To Read For Those Who Support 'Corporate Welfare' (TIFs-353's- etc)

If- like me- you think governments are "giving away the farm" to businesses to build in their jurisdictions- you are right-on...


Yet another story- this one in ReclaimDemocracy.org and written by Daniel McGraw 5 years ago- tells the tale in truths regarding corporate welfare.

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The Problems of the World Take A Backseat When A Loved One is Dying

There has been plenty for me to comment on in the past few days- idiot politicians- perverted "Christians-" Japan's disaster- etc..

Somehow- none of it seems to matter the past couple of days.

Monday- I had to put Dad in the hospital.

At 81-years-old- Dad is still pretty active for a man his age. He didn't seem all that devastated when his mate of 56 years passed in December of 2009.

Since the beginning of this year however Dad seemed to have 'caught a bug' that wouldn't let go of him.

That and all the snow and ice kept him pretty much in the house since January- uncharacteristic of a man who liked to get in his van and go somewhere virtually every day.

For the past few days- he didn't even get out of his chair much- so I knew it was time to get him some help.

A trip to his doctor Monday afternoon landed him in the hospital- and that's where the story is right now: poking- prodding- testing- and waiting.

Seeing an active- vital loved one bedridden and wondering if they're going to pull-through seems to put everything ELSE in the world going on in a secondary light.

Not that everything else isn't important- but to paraphrase a slow if not wise character- right now- that's all I have to say about that.

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More Breath-Taking Video of Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

As survivors with their images and videos get to places to upload them- we continue to get visual proof of  just how massive Japan's historic earthquake and tsunami really was.


The first video is more than 6 minutes long- and shows the tsunami approach the videographer perched on a concrete walkway in the middle of a Japanese town.

The ocean surge overtakes the videographer's position and keeps rising- with larger and larger obects floating by.

Toward the end of the video- structures that the person was videoing with water begining to surge into them are being torn apart by the rising water and you see people clinging desperately to the crumbling structures.


The second new video shows the tsunami lap up against- then spill over a floodwall in the town of Miyako- pulling boats loosened by the gigantic floodwave over the inundated floodwall into the town.




The last video is of a Japanese television news broadcast- showing before and after videos and photos of several devastated areas.

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Some Images of the Lovely Snowfall- Now Be Gone With You

Two to three inches of the white skid stuff lies upon the lawns- trees and wires of the Loma Vista area of South Kansas City MO this Monday morning.


A lovely sight that most of us are really tired of at this point....

The temperature here at CSW never made it below freezing this morning- and stands at 37°F as of this post.


Roadways are- for the most part- just wet- with some slick spots on lesser-travelled byways and overpasses.

By Wednesday- the snow should be all gone- and temperatures return to the 60's in time for St. Paddy's Day.


More chances for precip by the weekend- but temperatures will be at or above average daytime highs for this time of year in the 50-55°F range.

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Japan's Post-Earthquake Nuclear Woes Worsen With New Explosion at Nuke Power Plant

As reported here at CSW via live Japanese TV news reports- a violent explosion ripped apart a heavily-reinforced reactor containment building at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant complex’s Number 1 of 4 reactors in Fukushima.


Just after 8 p.m. Sunday night Kansas City time- a 2nd violent explosion has occurred in another containment building at the plant- this one at Reactor 3.

The American ASSOCIATED PRESS is reporting "3 injured" and "7 missing" in this latest blast..

Officials speaking on Japanese TV NHK say basically the explosion's cause was like the first one Saturday (hydrogen/oxygen mix) and that not much radioactivity was released.


Nonetheless- more than 125000 people remain evacuated from a 20km area around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

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Tens of thousands of people in the quake and tsunami areas of Japan are either dead or unaccounted for- entire towns washed away- as rescue crews still attempt to reach some affected locations suffering freezing temperatures.

CSW Weather UPDATE 01: NWS Winter Weather Advisories Continue- Are Expanded

That advisory is now officially in effect for most areas until around midday Monday morning for a possibility of up to 4 inches of snow.

Included is Metro Kansas City- St. Joseph- Marshall- Boonville- Sedalia- Warrensburg and Harrionville in Missouri- (see-click on image) and now also included is Lawrence- Ottawa- Pleasanton- Emporia- Topeka and Manhattan in Kansas.

The radar image shows the various coverage and intensity of precipitation moving generally northeastward across the eastern half of Kansas and the western third of Missouri.

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New Federal Radio Frequency Edicts Could Affect Ham Radio Operators

I've posted stories (HERE- HERE and HERE) about how virtually EVERY governmental agency from the Feds on down to the local level will be spending literally hundreds of millions of scarce dollars over the next year and a half getting new radio systems.

Spending YOUR tax dollars to do so.

Under the guise of "homeland security-" these changes could also well affect the ham radio operators nationwide- according to this story in the SPRINGFIELD (MO) NEWS-LEADER (SN-L).


Ham radio operators are vital in times of disasters- when regular communication means are curtailed (see historic Japan quake for instance) and if passed- this bill would make all current ham radio equipment obsolete.

A Springfield politician- Republicrat Rep. Billy Long- is "co-sponsoring" the legislation making these changes that would in effect allow the Feds to "sell" the radio frequency spectrum (American citizen-owned BTW) that ham radio operators currently use for personal and disaster use.


When told of the effects the bill he is co-sponsoring would have on ham radio operators- Long replied "...that was news to him."


'Lock-Step' Long said "he co-sponsored the bill because (Homeland Security Chairman Rep.Peter) King, the homeland security chairman, asked him to...."



Isn't it good we (they) elect politicians who actually READ the legislation that SOMEONE ELSE tells them to vote for? 

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Spring Equinox Cheery Reminder For Those (Like Me) Antsy Over Weather Forecast

Maybe antsy is the wrong word- angry- pissed-off- tired-of- etc...


The light at the end of the latest round-of-forecasted-winter-weather tunnel is that in exactly one week from today comes the spring equinox on Earth's Northern Hemisphere.

That's when the Sun- having been above the Tropic of Capricorn- is continuing it's seasonal journey back north and on Sunday- March 20th- Sol will be directly above the Equator.

The light and dark hours are the same- 12 hours each- heading toward The Longest Day (1st day of summer) when the Sun is above the Tropic of Cancer on June 21 (summer solstice).


The daffodils and tulips are pushing up and if I wasn't quite as verbose- I could have just said "fear not the snow can't last long- the season's getting warmer."

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Person Gravely Injured in Atchison KS Sunday Morning

There aren't many details in this incident that was monitored around 12:30 a.m. CST Sunday morning...

An Atchison police officer reported a person with "a severe head injury" at "3rd (st) & Commercial" at 12:22 a.m.- and Atchison Fire & EMs reponded.


At 12:52 a.m.- the EMS crew reported they were doing "CPR" on this patient.

No patient transport to a hospital was received.

Atchison police also requested the Kansas Highway Patrol to respond.


This was a motorcycle crash it was later reported- and the "53-year-old male" driver of the cycle from "Rushville MO" died of his injuries at a hospital.

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KC-MO Shooting Victims- 1 Homicide- Late Saturday Night-Early Sunday Morning

Two people who were shot showed up at area hospitals early Sunday morning.


One arrived at a Hospital Hill facility around 1:45 a.m. CST- the other at a Kansas-side medical trauma center around 3:30 a.m. CDT (about 45 minutes apart actual-time).

The conditions of the patients were said by police to be not life-threatening.

KC-MO police believed these two- and a 3rd victim who also showed up at a hospital- were shot in the area of Independence Avenue and Indiana.


Yet another probably unrelated shooting victim was found by KC-MO police just before 6 a.m. CDT in Old Northeast at St. John & White..

That victim was a "19-year-old Hispanic male" with an entrance and exit wound from a gunshot to his head- according to a KC-MO FD-EMS paramedic.

He was conscious and alert on his way to a hospital....



Around 9:30 p.m. Saturday night- two men were shot in the 3300 block of Olive in KC-MO..

One victim died at the scene- the other with serious injuries taken by FD-EMS to a medical trauma center.

No suspect info yet or official police report yet.

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CSW WEATHER: Metro K.C. and St. Joseph Included in NWS Winter Storm Advisory Sunday PM-Monday AM

The "Winter Weather (WX) Advisory" runs from 7 p.m. this Sunday evening March 13 until 10 a.m. and includes  Metro Kansas City- as well as the St. Joseph- Sedalia- Marshall and Warrensburg areas.


Advisory is in effect for the following counties:

In Kansas: Doniphan- Atchison- Leavenworth- Wyandotte- Johnson- Miami...


In Missouri: Buchanon- Clinton- Caldwell- Platte- Clay- Jackson- Ray- Cass- Lafayette- Johnson- Saline- Carroll and Pettis counties.


Rain is forecast to change to snow- with snowfalls of 2 to 4 inches are forecast. 


Updates on this developing weather situation here at CSW later today and Monday morning.

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