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

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



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

________

Shamed Liberty-MO School Superintendent Had Surveillance Cameras Installed

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


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

________

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

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


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

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

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

Group portrait of the Wyandotte County-KS commissioners

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

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

___________

College and Quivira Intersection Re-Opens Tonight

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



The intersection had been closed since Saturday for construction.

___________

Twitter Hit By Hackers

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

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

Hope nobody is jonesing....

___________

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

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

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


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


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


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


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

____________

Wyandotte County-KS Pollys Thinking Of Raising Sales Tax

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___________

KCTV-5 Teams With WHB AM 810 For Sports Coverage

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


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


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

_________

Gitmo Detainees Not First Foreign Enemies Kept In Kansas

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

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


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

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

________

Two Charged In Independence-MO Weekend Shooting

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


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


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

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

All charges are felonies.

_______

Tuesday- August 4's Metro Kansas City Election Results

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

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


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


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


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


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


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

"In other voting today:

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

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

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


I checked- Kearney's bond issue lost.


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

__________