KANSAS CITY'S BREAKING NEWS: House Burning In Riverside-MO

Riverside fire crews along with help from the Southern Platte Fire Protection District are battling flames heavily-involving a house in the 5000 block of North Northwood at this time.

There is no report on the occupancy status of this house. Smoke from the fire can be seen from several miles away.

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Is It News If It Happens On The Weekend

The local news media's coverage of news that happens on weekends has always amazed me.

As with everything America- it's all about money. I understand that.

What I also understand is basic principles I was brought up on: Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

I'm watching one station's hour-long weekend newscast.
According to their news - there was only ONE shooting today- the one I broke here (while their morning newscast was on I may add- no mention till tonight) about the 13-year-old girl shot while camping in her backyard on East 96th Street.

No mention at all of the other 4 shootings early today that are dutifully reported here.

I guess it's not news unless you have weekday-staffing in your newsroom.

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Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner Dead

She was the queen of the tele-evangelist movement until her and former husband Jim Bakker were forced to resign in disgrace.

Tammy Faye died in Raleigh-NC Friday at age 65 after a losing battle with cancer.

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FWH: "Governors Address Climate Change"

It took all 50 governors to address the rather large package containing the Earth's climate change.

First of all- they all had to agree where to address it to: Mars? Venus? Alpha Centauri?

After 23 seconds of debate- it was agreed that the governors would address the package to President Dubya himself- and it was sent C.O.D..

(Okay- Okay! HERE's the real story)

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Persistant Storms Leads To Heavy Rain Totals In SE Kansas

Below is today's radar-indicated rainfall from the Topeka-KS NWS radar site. KC is in the upper right corner.
You can see scattered areas of torrential rainfalls today- the heaviest being 4.5 inches indicated on the Howard-Greenwood-Butler counties lines in KS..

Scattered showers and storms continue in these areas- although coverage and overall intensities should decrease as the night goes on.

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KANSAS CITY'S BREAKING NEWS: Shooting In South KC-MO

KC-MO Police are at the scene of a shooting in the 6000 block of East 96th Street. The call came in shortly after 8 am..

Preliminary information is that a "13-year-old was shot in the lower leg" while in the backyard of the incident's address.

It's reported the "shots came from a block" away from the incident.

The youth's wound was not life-threatening and the investigation is underway.

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The Kansas City MetroRegion Overnight News and Weather Report - Saturday, July 21, 2007

** GUNS WERE ABLAZE IN BOTH KANSAS CITYS OVERNIGHT **

... It was 4:17 AM when the first call came in for a shooting in the 1100 block of Woodland in KC-MO.

Officers arrived to find 2 men shot by an unknown assailant(s?). Only one victim was heard taken to a hospital- an that approximately 30-year-old male's condition was critical.

Police didn't have any suspect information as of this report.

It's unknown this is related to a shooting that happened nearby- in the 1700 block of Gillespie Place- shortly after midnight. Unknown suspect or suspects shot a male then drove away in a white over blue-colored Chevy with "a raggedy top."

The victim in this incident only suffered minor injuries.

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It was 1:27 am when a Kansas City-KS police officer reports "being shot at"- this during a rolling gunfight between people in 2 cars at 8th Street and Minnesota - only a block from the Central Patrol police station.

The only car that officer saw shooting- a silver-colored Oldsmobile- ends up at a KC-MO hospital about 15 minutes later- where a male with critical gunshot wound to the neck was dropped off by other occupants of that car. At last report that person was undergoing surgery.

The other occupants were held for questioning and the car impounded by police.

The 2nd car involved- a yellow over white Monte Carlo- was found in KC-MO riddled with bullet holes and those occupants were arrested.

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** MAN CRITICALLY WOUNDED IN 2ND KC-KS SHOOTING **

... This happened around 4:15 am Saturday morning in the 2000 block of North 1st Street. The male victim- reported to be "shot point-blank in the stomach" walked to a residence in the 2000 block of North 2nd Street where police and EMS were called.

That man was in critical condition as reported enroute to a trauma center. He didn't offer police any broadcast suspect information.

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** KC-MO POLICE INVESTIGATE ANOTHER CARJACKING - POSSIBLE ABDUCTION **

... Another female abducted with her car?

It sounds like it after KC-MO police are called by a Fire department pumper who was putting out a car fire south of Swope Park on Blue River Road between Oldham and 87th Street.
A female assault victim "came out of the woods" there according to Pumper 30's captain. The victim had unknown injuries and it reportedly was her car that was burning after she had "been driven there by" unknown male suspects.

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** Fire Heavily Damages KC-KS Duplex **

... Fire broke out just after midnight Saturday morning in a duplex in the 300 block of South 73rd Drive in KC-KS.

The blaze was in the attic and walls of the reported 2-story structure- and it took five companies until 12:42 am to bring the fire under control.

No one was injured- but two adults and a child were displaced by the fire. The cause was under investigation.

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** BREAKING NEWS: UNKNOWN "STRUCTURE FIRE" AT CLAYCOMO FORD PLANT **

... Fire companies from Claycomo- Liberty and Gladstone are at the scene of an unknown structure fire at the Ford automotive assembly plant on N.E. U.S. 69 Highway.

The only info heard after the 6:32 am dispatch on this incident was that "thick smoke was coming from (a) garage" there- according to a police officer's report at 6:40 am..

A pumper was sent from Liberty Fire at that time and- at 6:56 am- a third pumper responded from Gladstone-MO Fire.

No further has been heard on this fire as of this report.

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

Skies were variably to mostly cloudy overnight throughout the MetroRegion and a few light rainshowers had even developed in Platte County MO.. Winds were generally light easterly and temperatures fell to the 70-degree mark at sunup.

Today should be slightly below-normal temperature-wise with skies becoming partly cloudy- with a chance of some popup afternoon showers and thundershowers in extreme southwestern through western parts of the K.C. MetroRegion.

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First with Metro Kansas City Breaking News - NBC41 ACTION NEWS.
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"May Take As Long As 2 Years" To Stabilize "Parts" Of Iraq - Major-General Sez

Most of us knew that the 'major-general' mess Dubya created by invading Iraq would more than likely be left for some other Administration to clean up.

So we Duh! when we hear/see the remarks of one Major-General Rick Lynch- who says "the troop build-up must last until at least next summer" and also the "at-least-2-more-years" statement.

And ain't a thing one the Demobulicans can (will) do about it either....

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Horrible Fatal EMS Unit Crash In Ohio

Dateline Van Wert-OH- where it's reported in Crane Township (about 65 miles southwest of Toledo)- an ambulance headed to a hospital with 2 patients from a prior car crash was broadsided by a car at an intersection- crashed and caught fire.

Three EMS persons as well as the two patients are reported killed. A 4th EMS person and the driver of the car that ran into the ambulance were taken to hospitals with yet-unreported severity injuries.

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FAA Slow To Follow Recommendations After Deadly Kentucky Plane Crash

U.S. Representative Ben Chandler (D-KY) is critical of the FAA taking so long to implement National Safety and Transportation (NTSB) board recommendations.

The recommendation in particular is that air controllers double-check runway assignments for departing passenger aircraft.

This suggestion was made after a deadly passenger jet crash in Lexington-KY on August 27- 2006. A ComAir jet mistakenly tried to take off on a runway that was too short- killing all 49 people aboard- including 2 from the Kansas City Metro.

You would think the FAA would IMMEDIATELY implement such logical- life-and-death suggestions....

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Citizen Letter From KC-MO's Mayor: "Notes From Funk's Front Porch" VII

Funk's Front Porch

20 July 2007

Dear Folks,

This has been a good week in the Mayor’s office. The staff is evolving into their positions with a little more grace – each finding their strengths and the best way to utilize them for the good of the office. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Funk attended the Economic Development and Incentive Policy Task Force meeting this week and was heartened to see how hard the group is working to come up with a more equitable plan for granting Tax Increment Financing (TIF) across the city. I am delighted to see progress on this front as well, but being a woman, I feel bad for the “regular folks” that Funk appointed to this task force as I doubt they realized just how long and difficult the hours would be when they signed on for the job. They are making sacrifices for the city and we are very grateful and much obliged to them.

Next week the task force holds the first of six planned meetings in the neighborhoods to continue their work and solicit input from the public. To find out the time and place of the meetings, please log on to www.funksfrontporch.com.

The need to reform the city’s approach to economic development was further reinforced at the town hall meeting last night. Many of the small, independent business owners in the Crossroads District bought into the area 20 years ago when it was just a crumbling, vacant part of town. They invested blood, sweat and tears, not to mention their money, and brought the area back up from the dead. Unfortunately, these same people are being punished as they are being run out of the area because of, as Funk puts it, the willy-nilly use of tax incentives by the city in recent years. Apparently, the tax abatements given to big businesses have led to grossly inflated tax bills for many of the small business owners in the Crossroads District, the River Market area and other sections of town. The situation these owners face is a horrible mess. While Funk isn’t against tax incentives, he does believe they have to be done in a controlled, focused and disciplined way so that this problem doesn’t reoccur when others wish to invest in our city. So yes, the job of the Economic Task Force is extremely important, yet you can see why it is an enormous amount of time and energy on their part.

The Sprint Arena is getting ready to open, so last minute work is being done at breakneck speed. It is almost impossible to drive downtown as one day a road is open and the next day it is blocked. It makes getting to work on time very exciting, and going home from work, very slow. But, it will be done shortly and soon all will be enjoying events in the new arena. I read in the newspaper today that the Mayor and the City Manager, Wayne Cauthen, are aware of the first event that is going take place there. I guess I’m going to have to cozy up to the one official that I know pretty well to find out whom that might be. When I find out, I’ll wink at you if you guess right.

With that, I bid you a great week.

In faith,
Gloria & Mark

You can respond to this newsletter at funksfrontporch@gmail.com

Please help us by forwarding this email to as many people as you think might want to be more informed about their city government.

The Mayor’s top ten priorities:

1. Establishing a good working relationship with the Council
2. Getting the City’s finances in order
3. Making downtown work
4. Tending to our neighborhoods
5. Implementing the Housing Policy task force recommendations
6. Improving the perception and the reality of public education in Kansas City
7. Reducing Crime
8. Repairing our sewer systems
9. Establishing an excellent regional transit system, which includes light rail
10. Improving citizen satisfaction with City services.

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Water

Speaking of water mains and such- was watching a morning network newsotainment program and they were talking about water.

It was- I believe- the mayor of San Francisco that said "America uses 45 million barrels of oil a year" for the plastic used to make bottled water. Most people don't realize there are no quality standards for bottled water.

There are- however- strict standards for your municipal tap water supplier.

Two wine tasters tasted 12 samples of water sent by the network affiliates in that town. Of the 12- Salt Lake City won out for best tasting tap water. I'm surprised the Kansas City- MO affiliate didn't send the network a sample of our tap water.

According to this Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) report- "Kansas City, Mo., Tap Water Ranks First Nationally."

Would have been nice to see how K.C. would have stacked up against the 12 other cities.

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Does An Anchor Make A Sound If No One Is Watching

The answer of course is sure- that's why no one (moi anyway) is watching.

I'm semi-outing two in particular and I'll make this a riddle.

The only descriptions I'll give is one is a female reporter/weekend anchor who needs a voice transplant and the other's a weekend weather dude who's been in town about a decade and made some more classic goofs than Gomer Pyle.

In a related vein- I notice KMBC-9's new digs at 65th Street and Winchester is pretty much finished save some landscaping.

You can see a helipad while driving south on I-435 at night- I wonder if their going to hangar Newschopper there?

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Big Water Main Break In KC-MO Blue Valley Area

This was first indicated at 7:17 am- when the fire department was sent to "rescue a motorist in high water due to a water main break at 1700 Oakland" on KC-MO's East side.

The incident was confirmed and the driver rescued without injury.

There is also reported to be "low water pressure" as well in a fairly-large surrounding area.

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Not A Whole Lot Going Down...

Unless you want to read about:

A guy who was a worker at a nuke cleanup site was arrested after (he thought) selling uranium-enrichment equipment to a Frenchie- who was actually an undercover FBI agent...

Or another person who tried coming from China to America the hard way (and the dead way)- in the wheelwell of a United Airlines 747 passenger jet...

And an appeals court took the Veteran's Administration to task for the VA's treatment or Agent Orange patients (Vietnam vets mostly). The court ordered retroactive payments for victims (Huzzah!!!)...

A Navajo tribe in New Mexico wants to build a heavily-emission-controlled coal-fired electrical generating plant on their Nation. Some of the Tribe object to suffering any coal-fired plant emissions for health and environmental reasons- and suggest non-polluting (wind-solar) methods of producting power. Hey- at least it's not a casino...

Bush's Folly a.k.a. the "War" in Iraq. Three British soldiers sacrificed their lives along with 2 Americans Thursday- and the American death toll in this fiasco is now 3630.

Wesley Crusher- known in real-life as Wil Wheaton- who has a blog of his own. Great inside stuff on my fave sci-fi series of all-time: ST: TNG and Wil says it like he sees it regarding the terror threat as well (Thanx for the heads-up XO!)...

Today's weather here in Metro K.C.- which will continue being pretty damn nice with temps in the 80's and a chance of pop-up showers and/or thunderstorms during the afternoon heat...

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KANSAS CITY'S WEATHER: Heavy Rain Advisory

I've not heard or seen anything out of the NWS-Pleasant Hill - and judging by the radar picture I've inserted below - that narrow line of showers and thunderstorms has moved little over the past hour and a half- and is increasing in coverage it appears.
A small area of near 2-inch rain totals by radar is indicated in northern MIAMI county KS- near Bucyrus. A band of 1-inch totals stretches along this storm line.

Therefore- I'd suggest people in southern CASS county MO- the northern half of MIAMI- southern half of JOHNSON and eastern DOUGLAS counties in KS be on the lookout for ponding water and rapidly rising streams then rivers through sunrise.

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Heavy Rains Avoid Most Of Metro - Except Osawatomie Area

Viewing the below weather radar images- you can see a moderate storm cell over northern Miami County-KS..
This cell has dropped a radar-estimated 2.25-inches of rain (refer to next 2 images) near- of all places that don't NEED more rain- Osawatomie. The first image is about an hour and a half ago- the last image the most recent measurement of rainfall-indicated rainfall totals. There a a few other heavy cells upstream of Miami County- near Topeka- but no such rains for those of us in the immediate Metro.

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Who Needs Terrorists - Cities Infrastucture Aging

The steam pipe blast in New York City illustrates how old the infrastructure is getting.

That steam pipe was reportedly "83-year-old" when it burst yesterday- killing 1 and injuring 30- 4 of those seriously.

Three billion dollars a week- what America is spending now on Iraq- would go a LONG WAY to help cities with the aging pipes- bridges and streets.

Hell- that kind of money would also fix the broken health care system in this country too.

Silly me- spending American taxpayers money on the American taxpayers- what was I thinking?

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CENTRAL STATES WEATHER: Severe Thunderstorm Watch No. 544 For Missouri-Illinois And Eastward

S.T. Watch No. 544 is valid until 8pm CDT this Thursday evening. While this watch covers Metro St. Louis (click on images below)- it does NOT included the K.C. MetroRegion- the closest point west being Moniteau County-MO..

Although the KC Metro remains under a chance for severe thunderstorms- no watch has been issued yet and frankly- without as much heating today I don't expect that severe of weather locally- primary threat being for torrential rains in the heavier storms.

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Lesson 68 That Corporate Giveaways Are Too Often Taxpayer Losses

Mark Forsythe- editor of K.C. blog "The Kansas City Post" and former KC-MO councilman candidate for the 4th District- illustrates quite well how city governments should not be so ready to feed corporate hogs waiting at the trough.

Mark makes a case-in-point for the old Gateway Computers giveaway- and now how Lenexa may well be stuck with a no-longer Applebee's restaurant corporate office complex not even finished yet.

Mr. Forsythe gets it and good work!

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Hot Dog Chili Sauce Recalled Due To Botulism

The Associated Press reports 4 people- including 2 children- have been rendered ill by the chili sauce- reportedly "10-ounce cans of Castleberry's, Austex and Kroger brands of hot dog chili sauce with "best by" dates from April 30, 2009, through May 22, 2009...."

It's made by the Bumble Bee tuna people.

Eat it (tuna laced with mercury too) if you have a death wish....

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Shades Of Vietnam: Iraq Soldiers Convicted Of Murder

The dismissers will tell you "Bah- it's just a thing of war- they just got caught is all."

Okay.

The rest of us who may have had hopes of America being a shining beacon of evolutionary thinking/morals may find it somewhat disturbing that 2 soldiers were convicted in Baghdad of actual- and a Marine convicted in Camp Pendleton-CA of conspiracy to murder people in Iraq.

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Sex Offenders Regarded As Pariahs In California

A new California law has as many as 2100 paroled- registered sex offenders looking for new homes.

The law reportedly states no such person can "live within 2000 feet of any school or park."

Rural residents of the state claim the new law will drive many of the sex offenders their way since many will be able to find housing that fits the limits in towns or cities....

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KANSAS CITY'S-CENTRAL STATES WEATHER: K.C. Included In Risk Area For Severe Thunderstorms Later Today

The NWS-Storm Prediction Center in Norman-OK has the Kansas City MetroRegion- as well as much of Kansas- Missouri- the southern 2/3 of Illinois- extending eastward as far as New York City in a "slight risk" area for severe thunderstorms primarily later today and tonight- valid time of this outlook from 7 am CDT Thursday to 7 am CDT Friday.
Very large hail and winds as high as hurricane force are possible over the slight risk area- as well as always the small chance of an isolated tornado forming in better-organized supercells.

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Kansas City Zoo To Prosecute 2 Teens For Harassing Hippos

This reportedly happened Monday afternoon at the zoo in Swope Park.

Two 14-year-olds from St. Louis threw rocks at and otherwise taunted the hippos- and are DAMN lucky the 2-ton animals didn't pummel their stupid asses.

The boys claimed the performance "was for a girl."

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Steam Pipe Rupture In Manhattan-NY Causes Panic- 1 Dies

A large steam pipe burst under Lexington Avenue near Grand Central Station around 6 pm Wednesday evening Eastern time- blasting a hole in the street and sending a geyser of steam- water and debris hundreds of feet in the air.

One died of a heart attack- according to the latest AP article on the incident. Thirty people were injured- four of them seriously.

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CENTRAL STATES WEATHER: Severe Thunderstorm Watch No. 540 Includes Des Moines- Omaha Metro Areas

Issued at 2240 CDT- this watch is valid until 6 am Thursday morning.

Please refer to the counties map below to determine if you are in this watch.

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Was He Carrying 30000 Pounds Of Bananas

Ok - this didn't actually happen in Scranton-PA as the classic Harry Chapin song depicted- but it was in Pennsylvania where the driver of an 18-wheeler lost his brakes and slammed 3 homes in Clearfield this afternoon.

Emergency crews- at last report- were trying to extricate the driver from the cab of the truck that ended up in the basement of one of the struck houses.

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Iraq War Is Not Only Bush's Folly- But Entire Republican Party's

By their failure to approve SOME sort of phased withdrawal of America's military from it's occupation of Iraq- not only Bush but his Republican Party will be inextricably and historically tied to the most classic "foreign policy" blunder since the Vietnam War.

May the American voter never forget....

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Kansas City- Other Contractors Say FEMA Slow To Pay For New Orleans Cleanup

Hurricane Katrina recovery continues at a snail's pace...

FEMA is even slower paying cleanup crews and contractors than it was to respond to New Orleans and environs with help after Katrina.

And it's slowing the slow-going cleanup even more.

From the AP story: "You better hope another storm doesn't hit you. You guys will be under water for six months," said Zach Johnson, a Kansas City, Mo.-area contractor who is suing for about $1.7 million for tree-clearing in 2005. "Everybody got a bad taste in their mouth from Louisiana."

St Bernard parish and still-considerable areas around New Orleans continue to clean up after Katrina struck 2 years ago next month.

More than 1200 people were killed in America's deadliest hurricane in more than a century and Katrina's the most costly in damage.

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Senate All-Night Iraq Debate Over

The amendment needed 60 votes to pass - so nothing- NOTHING- was accomplished.

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CENTRAL STATES WEATHER UPDATE: Severe Risk Upgraded To Moderate

PUBLIC SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0739 AM CDT WED JUL 18 2007

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED OVER PARTS OF THE MIDWEST THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OK IS FORECASTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF WIDESPREAD DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL OVER PARTS OF THE MIDWEST THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDE MUCH OF IOWA- NORTHERN ILLINOIS- NORTHEAST NEBRASKA- SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA

SURROUNDING THE MODERATE RISK AREA- THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM SOUTHEAST MONTANA- ACROSS THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY- INTO PARTS OF OHIO AND KENTUCKY.A VERY MOIST AND EXTREMELY UNSTABLE AIR MASS IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON ALONG AND SOUTH OF A SURFACE BOUNDARY EXTENDING FROM PARTS OF SOUTH DAKOTA AND NEBRASKA- ACROSS IOWA AND INTO NORTHERN IL.

AN UPPER LEVEL IMPULSE WILL APPROACH THE AREA FROM THE WEST BY LATE AFTERNOON- LEADING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE BOUNDARY. FAVORABLE WIND FIELDS ALOFT- EXTREME INSTABILITY- AND APPROACHING UPPER SYSTEM WILL PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF ONE OR MORE LARGE CLUSTERS OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.

THESE CLUSTERS WILL MOVE RAPIDLY EASTWARD ALONG THE BOUNDARY WITH A RISK OF WIDESPREAD DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL.

THOSE IN THE THREATENED AREA ARE URGED TO REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY RULES AND TO LISTEN TO RADIO- TELEVISION- AND NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR POSSIBLE WATCHES-WARNINGS- AND STATEMENTS LATER TODAY.

..HART.. 07/18/2007

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Bobby Kennedy Recalled In 2007 Edition Of Poverty Tour

Poverty- lack of educational and employment opportunities- knows no race- colour or creed.

Robert F. Kennedy was lambasted by black entertainer friends early on in his political career and he was shocked when he left his ivory tower and saw ALL of America1.

Bobby was particularily and deeply moved by the conditions he saw in Appalachia- and Kennedy's words before he too was assassinated are recalled by a 55-year-old (Groucho salutes!) secretary for an arts center in Whitesburg- Kentucky during a John Edwards version of that 1968 Kennedy tour.

1 The Life & Times of Robert F. Kennedy by Arthur Schlessinger.

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"Send Your Campaign Contributions To Me - Al Franken"

Al's running for the Senate in Minnesota- and reportedly- many of his celebrity friends have contributed to his campaign.

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Why Does A Big- Yellow- French Dog Cross The Road

Why- to disrupt the Tour de France bike race- what else?

Oops- did I do all dat?????

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Senate All-Nighter Iraq Debate Goes On

The below screen capture is shortly before 5 am CDT- Sen. John Kerry is making straight-on points why America needs to begin to withdraw American troops from Harms' Way- Bush's Folly.

What the Senate and the Congress NEED to address however- and here they're really missing the larger point in all this- is the dismissal of the legislative branch by this executive Administration.

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More Evidence Of Our Secretive Executive Branch

This is a branch of our massive governmental tree- more accurately a twig: the "Information Security Oversight Office" of the National Archive.

"Executive branch agencies give the ISOO data on how much material they classify and declassify" says the AP article. "Cheney's office provided the information in 2001 and 2002, then stopped" the ISOO reports.

I guess the secret meeting with energy corporations and Cheney early in this Administration remain one of the unreported- classified materials.

It's heartening to know these people work for themselves- not for the American people.

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Dallas Cop Shot By Own Taser In His Own House

Hell- I couldn't make half these stories up...

It's said a Dallas cop who was on duty last Sunday night stopped back at his own place to use the bathroom. He lets in a woman he knows first- she thinks his Taser's a flashlight ... sheesh ... HERE'S the story.

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Update On Yesterday's Breaking News

This is the Missouri Highway Patrol's accident report on yesterday morning's wreck- an overturned 18-wheeler reportedly hauling U.S. Mail that burned-up and closed northbound I-35 near Bethany for several hours.

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Sao Paulo- Brazil Plane Crash Photos

As on all images on this site- click to enlarge (Story HERE).

Incredibly- this runway is only 6365 feet long!

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CENTRAL STATES WEATHER: Severe Thunderstorm Risk Later Wednesday For Iowa-Nebraska-South Dakota-Minnesota And Illinois

As well as a risk for some other states not mentioned- from valid time of the forecast 7am Wednesday to 7am Thursday.

It is a slight risk of severe storms primarily later today into tonight- severe risks being large hail- high winds and maybe an isolated tornado.That severe risk moves southward on Thursday- into the Kansas City MetroRegion.

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Japan Quake Damage To Nuke Plant Worse

The plant operators must have read Homer Simpson's "What To Do During A Plant Emergency" handbook- page 1 paragraph 1- "Downplay or deny anything happening."

Now instead of 350 gallons of radioactive water released into the sea next to the damaged nuclear power plant in Japan- it was "ten times" that amount or 3500 gallons.
"Still below danger levels" officials say- but I wouldn't be eating any fish I caught in the area for about 10000 years....

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Wyoming Military Sniper Kills Self

About 9 PM CDT- authorities in Laramie report that David Munis was found with a "self-inflicted gunshot to the head." Munis died a short time later at a Laramie hospital.

Munis is alleged to have shot his wife in the head at a Cheyenne bar early Saturday- while she sang with her country band.

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Company Formed To Pay Workers Injured By 9-11 Doesn't

Instead it's reported- the WTC Captive Insurance Co.- formed by the government with a billion dollars in funds to help those affected by all the 9-11 carnage- has SPENT $75-MILLION FIGHTING PEOPLE"S CLAIMS OF INJURY but "NOT ONE DIME TO VICTIMS."

Fools!

Ask ANY soldier wounded in battle for their country (especially Vietnam vets) how the government "takes care" (NOT!) of those who sacrifice.

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Things Going Super In Afghanistan

It's another record opium crop folks!

America and it's UN forces are doing a FINE job keeping the poppy fields protected- even though they've yet to find 9-11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden.

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Democrats Will Waste Taxpayer Dollars On All-Nighter On Iraq

I guess the new Democrats in the Senate want to have a sleep-over in the Capitol.

If you think that there're going to do ANYTHING about Iraq or anything ELSE the American people need their elected officials to do- then please inquire about some swamp property I hold on Venus.

Another thing the Senate Demoblicans COULD address is the rampant POWER that King George has given himself and the executive branch- FAR MORE than our Founding Fathers intended.

Nah- not gonna' happen on ANY of those counts.

Please- for the future of America- VOTE THIRD PARTY IN 2008!!!!!!!!!

Thank you....

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Is Dubya Setting The Stage For Martial Law

I've had people telling me that King George was going to hang on to his presidency and declare "martial law and void (or cancel) the 2008 presidential election."

That was even a bit TOO much for this guy who loves science fiction.

The scenario these folks paint- and I mean to a person- is that KG would "manufacture a terror threat."

Okay- I'm still quite a way from being sold on this idea- but here it is almost 15 months BEFORE the election then I read the AP article titled: "Al-Qaida Likely to Attack US, Intel Says."

We KNOW how "Intel" has been used before (not) in Iraq and prior to the 9-11-01 attack of NYC and DC.. Is this the cleaning of the house prior to setting the table?

Can the American people trust ANYTHING this Administration says or does?

Frankly- if I heard thunder and somebody from Bush's Administration told me it was raining- I would STILL go outside and confirm it....

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Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar" Was Country Singer Robin Munis' Last Song

I intentionally sat on this story until I got the name of the song this woman was singing when she was allegedly shot by her estranged husband in Cheyenne-WY.

Not to make fun at all of senseless violence - an ex Army-trained sniper shooting his wife in the head while she was singing at 'The Old Chicago" bar with her country band last Saturday.

I just thought PERHAPS Ms. Munis was singing Patsy Clines' 'Crazy' when she was shot in the head by her husband's high-powered rifle while he sat in the bar's parking lot.

Her husband - David Munis - is being hunted-down by the law "Rambo-style" (I assume like the Rambo flick "First Blood") in the vast wilderness of Wyoming north of Laramie- where Munis' truck was found empty.

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Surprise-Surprise - Chris Benoit Had Steroids In His Body

Like "10-times the normal amount of testosterone" - amounts of "Xanax" and a painkiller "hydrocodone" was found in Benoit's body after an autopsy.

All the guy needed was a few shots of Black Jack and we could have sent Benoit to Iraq to finish up - alone.

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Carload Of Teens Crashes After Pursuit In Northern Jackson County-MO

A vehicle containing at least 5 teens- being pursued by a Jackson County sheriff's deputy- crashed in the 1800 block of Ethan Lane just after 1 am Tuesday morning.

One youth in the car ran off- and brought on an area search that included Independence police and the KC-MO police's helicopter.

All injuries were minor and it wasn't said what the teens were being stopped by the deputy for.

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Japan Quake Tipped Over 100 Drums Of Radioactive Waste At Power Plant

As time goes on- the plot thickens.

Officials in Japan say a day after the 6.6 (now) magnitude quake they found 100 barrels of "low-level" nuclear waste tipped over at the damaged atomic power plant.

It says some of the lids were "open" on the barrels- but didn't say if anything had spilled out of them.

This after it was revealed more than 300 gallons of radioactive water was released by the power plant into the Sea of Japan after the quake.

Nine died with one person still missing- nearly a thousand injured and a reported 13000 are homeless as a result of Monday morning's tremor.

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Convicted Georgia Cop-Killer To Get 90-Day Reprieve

The defense of convicted cop killer Troy Davis has convinced the courts to hear new evidence that Davis is innocent and lawyers will have 90 days to do so.

Davis was scheduled to die later today for the 1989 killing of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.

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CENTRAL STATES WEATHER: Severe Storms Possible In Iowa-Illinois-Indiana-Minnesota-Wisconsin

Today's SPC Day-1 outlook has much of the same areas that were included in Monday's outlook- and these same areas will be also under the gun Wednesday.
On Wednesday- Day-2- the risk area extends westward across Nebraska and South Dakota.

On the Day-3 outlook for Thursday- the Kansas City MetroRegion is in a slight risk area for severe thunderstorms.

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Overturned Mail Truck Has I-35 Closed In Harrison County-MO

Just before 1 am- Missouri Highway Patrol's (MOHP) Troop H in St. Joseph reported an 18-wheeler on it's side and on fire on northbound I-35 at the 94-mile marker.

The accident's at bridge construction near Bethany in southern Harrison county south of the Iowa border.

This is reported to be a contract-carrier U.S. mail truck and the northbound lanes are closed at this time.

Initially it was said the driver could not be located- and there is yet no report heard here on their whereabouts.

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Two KC-KS Firefighters Get Minor Burns In House Fire

The two men's burns aren't serious- mostly around their airmasks and one had non-serious burns on his hands. It sounds like the fire flashed-over on them.

Both were taken to a trauma center.

This happened at a house fire in the 900 block of Orville in eastern KC-KS. Five companies had been battling the fire since the alarm came in about 11:45 pm Monday night.

The cause of the fire- now under control- is under investigation.

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7/11 Robbed in Lee's Summit-MO Early Tuesday Morning

Out of cigarettes? Out of cash? No problem- rob your local convenience store...

Such happened at 12:24 am at 909 S.W. Oldham Parkway in the MO 'burb of Lee's Summit.

The clerk complied and was not physically injured.

Police are looking for a white guy armed with a knife- about 5-foot six-inches tall- of average build and dressed in black.
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Hot-Pink Summer Sunset In Vancouver- B.C.- Canada

This should be in the KatKam Hall of Frame.

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Bill Moyers On Impeachment Of Bush

Bill Clinton lied while under oath- but a man who assisted in writing the impeachment article for Clinton says the present occupant of The White House has done more serious and fundamental damage to The Land I Love.

Read for yourself and watch the video where this gentleman speaks what I had come to the conclusion of regarding George W. Bush.

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The Beauty Of Mother Earth: New Species Of Orchid Found In Yosemite

We continue to discover new things right here on our very own planet on a regular basis.

This new flower was found in one of America's unique and breathtakingly-beautiful national parks- Yosemite.It's time for me to get out into nature and away from this city for awhile....

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Only Parking Problem Downtown Is Price

I'm told there was some debate among some other local bloggers regarding the availability of parking in downtown Kansas City- Missouri.

Fellow blogger Xavier Onassis (heh) decided to do a little investigating on his own and- with camera in hand- he has closed the debate in an overwhelming fashion.
Maybe they were debating FREE parking X....

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Local 'Do-Gooders' Attempt To Remove Sex From The Marketplace

In yet ANOTHER attempt to FORCE you and I what we should eat- breathe- sleep and look at- local "grand juries" are attempting to close down every retail outlet (including Priscilla's) that might allow ADULT American people to see nekkidity (SP on purpose).

As usual- they like linking pornography to sex crimes- like smoking marijuana leads people to insanity and having a beer leads you to alcoholism.

And of course the trumper- "It's for the children."

Hello? Canada???...

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Marine General Peter Pace: There Could Be An Even BIGGER Troop Increase In Iraq

Somebody PLEASE tell the good General the old saying that when you're in a hole- you should STOP digging!

Or so seems the advice we should give concerning this latest piece of disheartening news from President Denial's staff.

Another old saying- when you shoot yourself in the foot- unload the gun....

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Baltimore-MD-Area Copper Thief Goes Up In Flames

The guy is the latest casualty trying to steal copper wiring to take to scrap metal dealers.

He had cut into a still-charged 220-volt electrical panel in an empty building.

Copper theft is a nationwide problem. At around $3.50 per pound- people are stealing anything with copper in it. Another fellow in Ohio also paid a steep price.

A number of local organizations and businesses have seen things like entire central air conditioner units stolen for the valuable scrap metal.

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Rhode Island University Board Member Lets 'N-Word' Slip

The now-resigned and rather-aged (80) chairman of the Roger Williams University reportedly had used the recently-buried word during a board meeting.

Apparently he did not use to word correctly- as is used these days to refer to ALL Americans under this Administration.

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Armed Man Killed Outside Of Colorado Govenor's Office

An armed man saying "I am the emperor and I'm here to take over state government" was shot and killed outside the Denver office of Colorado's Govenor Bill Ritter today.

At least 4 to 5 shots were heard as the armed man was shot by a member of the Govenor's security detail.

There's yet no confirmation that perhaps the armed man meant to be in Missouri Govenor Matt "Baby" Blunt's office instead or if the armed man was a member of the Bush Administration.

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Japan Nuke Plant Leaked After Big Quake- Another Quake Nearby

The nuclear power plant damaged in Japan's 6.7 quake reportedly leaked about 300 gallons of radioactive water into the sea (Godzilla?). This is Japan's "most powerful" out of all 55 Japanese nuclear reactors in terms of amounts of electricity produced. Nine people were killed and nearly a thousand were injured by the quake that struck Monday morning Japan time.

The USGS reports another quake- a 6.8 magnitude - occurred almost exactly 13 hours later- the epicenter about 100 miles away from the earlier quake.
No word on additional damage from the 2nd big quake.

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China Blames News Media On Their Food Inspection Standards

It's a case of shoot the messenger - Chinese officials say it's the news media's fault for people having a perception that China sends tainted food everywhere.

I can't comment on that facet- but China's having some bad flooding like Middle America has seen.

Yet in no accounts of American flooding have I seen reports of "hundreds of thousands" people AND "2-billion" rats fleeing floodwaters.

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CENTRAL STATES WEATHER: Severe Thunderstorm Risk In Iowa Today

The National Weather Service's (NWS) Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman-OK (formerly KC-MO)- has all but about the western quarter of Iowa- northern Illinois- southwestern Wisconsin and extreme southern Minnesota in a slight or 25% risk area of possible severe thunderstorms later today.

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Iraq Prime Minister Retracts Invitation For Americans To Leave

This means when you get an invitation you should accept it and leave immediately. The Prime Minister was "misunderstood" - sorta like Dr. Pepper.

Boy- wouldn't THAT have shocked Nouri al-Maliki if we had pulled out of Iraq overnight....

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NW Japan 6.7 Quake Kills 3 - Injures 400

A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck just off the northwest coast of Japan's Honshu or main island at 10:13 am Monday Japan time- 8:13 pm Central Daylight Time Sunday night.

News agencies are reporting 3 people killed- 400 injured- a transformer fire at a nuclear power plant- and other destruction.

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CENTRAL STATES WEATHER: Severe Thunderstorms In Nebraska

There's a developing MCS (meso-convective system) developing in Nebraska this Sunday evening and a severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for much of the central and southern parts of that state (click on images below).
Areal movement of this MCS appears to be southeastward with some eastward drift- and if that trend continues that storm cluster could affect western portions of the Kansas City MetroRegion much later tonight into early Monday morning.
As always- stay tuned and any changes for our area will be posted here....

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