Kansas City Star: News

Sobriety will have to wait for justice

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Nice try, Mr. Defense Attorney. The pitch last week in a Johnson County court was for judicial leniency in regard to a young woman’s addiction. Cut the $100,000 bond in half, went the lawyer’s plea. Let her drug treatment continue.

At times, amenities we value can be vexing

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

With a couple of flickers of the bed lamp, followed by piercing screeches from dying carbon monoxide alarms, the world went dark. There’d been no real storm. At most, a gentle shower.

Obama is certainly no LBJ — just ask Kansas' two senators

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:15 CDT

President Barack Obama doesn’t play hardball. At least not in the LBJ mold. We know that from what’s happening — or not happening — in Kansas.

New movie includes KC musician

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

A movie directed by actress Connie Stevens includes an appearance by musician Lonnie McFadden of Kansas City. McFadden portrays “Rev. Dupree” in Stevens’ production of “Saving Grace B. Jones,” a movie shot in Boonville, Mo., two years ago.

Survivalist pitch just might be a moneymaker

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Glenn Beck is often accused of being a fearmonger, and rightly so. Lately he’s paranoid about the flu vaccine. And always he’s talking about government stealing our liberties.

Donation drive hopes to collect 7,000 diapers for needy families

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Angi Hejduk has taken a common dilemma of parenting and created a nonprofit program that has helped more than 600 area youths already this year. And this week the Give What You Got program is launching a donation drive called Happy Bottoms in hopes of collecting 7,000 diapers in seven days.

Star Shots | Health care clears House, Lisa Long, Independence clean up, Project Warmth

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:45 CST

Kids costume contest winners

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:56 CST

Star Shots | Jobless, Urban Farming, Downtown Airport runway, Ice Terrace

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:10 CST

Deadly rampage at Fort Hood, Texas

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:51 CST

Blue monkey baby hangs with mom, elephants smash pumpkins at Zoo

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:49 CST

Belton Veterans Day Parade

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00 CST

Going to Curious George Live

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00 CST

Logan Jason Miles Benefit

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00 CST

Strength in Numbers Auction

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00 CST

GSA Networking Breakfast

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00 CST

At Sally Ride Science Festival, astronaut Linda Godwin tells girls to aim for the stars

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

It was a starstruck moment — their first autograph — but it wasn’t a pop idol who excited these Overland Park girls. It was a small-town Missouri woman who worked in space.

Kansas teens work on ‘artificial tree towers' to help environment

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

When is a tree that acts like a tree not a tree at all? When it’s a metal tower that absorbs, transforms and stores carbon dioxide and is made by two teenage math and science whizzes as a research project on climate change.

News in brief | Officers shoot at armed man

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

ATCHISON COUNTY | Woman may have been abducted Authorities are looking for a woman feared to have been taken from her rural Atchison County home.

Music helps students get moving to class

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

WICHITA | When kids at Truesdell Middle School hustle to class in the morning, they do it to “The Hustle.” North High students speed up when they hear the “William Tell Overture.”

Craving stability, job seekers set their sights on police work

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

ST. LOUIS | Chuck DeProw had job offers from the Police Department and the U.S. Steel plant in Granite City. He chose the higher-paying factory job because he needed the money.

The Watchdog | Traffic light gets tweaked

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

The problem Kelly Luden of Kansas City thought the traffic light at Elmwood Avenue and Hickman Mills Drive was off kilter. She said it favored traffic on Hickman Mills Drive to the point that as soon as a car approached the intersection on Hickman Mills, the light changed to red for traffic on Elmwood.

Munday on Monday | The Spider

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

The spider The spider that’s crossing

Duo — one marching, the other playing — works in harmony as part of Eudora High School band

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Kyle Snow marched out onto Laws Field in Eudora on a recent Friday night. He wasn’t wearing a band uniform.

Tour of Missouri ponders 2010 race

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

COLUMBIA | Tour of Missouri organizers are seeking host cities for the 2010 race. Whether the race can collect enough money to hold its fourth annual event remains unclear.

This week at the Royal | Cutting loose

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

WEDNESDAY- SATURDAY

Lotteries | Winning numbers for Saturday, Nov. 7 and Sunday, Nov. 8

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Sunday’s winning numbers: •Missouri Pick 3

Tribute | Alice Conner took care of a family and a parish

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Who: Alice Conner, 80, of Kansas City, Kan. When and how she died: Sept. 22, of an aortic aneurysm.

Turnout great for Independence neighborhood's cleanup effort

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

The most popular folks at City Hall usually aren't the code compliance workers. But the code employees in Independence threw a party Saturday, and many residents of the Kentucky Hills neighborhood showed up.

Monday's ‘Up to Date' with Steve Kraske | A conversation about regionalism

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

2009

Donors offer winter warmth to those in need

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Saturday's glorious weather didn't keep thousands of people from remembering the coming bitter chill of a Kansas City winter. They donated their time, money and tons of coats, blankets and jackets as part of the annual Project Warmth collection drive.

The Watchdog | Traffic signal adapts, so drivers also must adapt

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Scott Bolen of Overland Park asks why the east-west light is sometimes only five seconds or so at the intersection of Lackman Road and College Boulevard.

In brief | Odessa man killed in rollover crash

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

The Missouri Highway Patrol has identified the man killed in a rollover crash along Interstate 70 on Friday as Andrew G. Warren of Odessa. He was 31.

Art show will be held Friday in KCK

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Art and Soul of the Community, a special art show to help the United Way of Wyandotte County, will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Reardon Civic Center, 520 Minnesota Ave. in Kansas City, Kan.

Chinese premier pledges funds, aid to Africa

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt | China’s premier on Sunday promised $10 billion in new low-interest loans to African nations over three years, offering the beleaguered continent sorely needed cash while dismissing criticism that Beijing’s motives in Africa are far from altruistic. Wen Jiabao’s promise at the start of a two-day China-Africa summit was warmly received by African leaders and officials.

Family wanted | Shyann, 12

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Shyann is a lively and inquisitive 12-year-old looking for a family that loves to travel.

Lottery numbers | Saturday, Nov. 7

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Saturday’s winning numbers: •Missouri Pick 3

Effort to vote takes determination … and a judge's order

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Stephen Wilson started voting a dozen years ago, when he was 18. Last November, while in National Guard training at Fort Benning, Ga., he made sure to send in an absentee ballot.

Man charged with statutory rape in ‘marriage' to 14-year-old girl

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Vincent Mosby signed a marriage contract and paid a dowry in a religious ceremony in August, police said. Mosby, 23, of Kansas City didn’t legally wed his 14-year-old bride, however, because Missouri law won’t allow it without a judge’s order.

Iraq's Parliament quells ethnic dispute, sets elections for Jan. 23

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

BAGHDAD | After nearly a dozen delays, Iraq’s Parliament on Sunday passed a law setting national elections for January, averting a political crisis that threatened the country’s progress toward stability. Approval of the law after a final rowdy session eases a growing source of concern for the Obama administration. President Barack Obama is considering sending 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and successful elections in Iraq are key to a major reduction in U.S. combat forces in the country by next summer.

Senators prescribe different remedies for health care

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

WASHINGTON | The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized that the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate. The sticking point is the government health insurance plan included in the bill, which is unacceptable to a handful of lawmakers who hold the Senate’s balance of power.

A quarter-century after it began, the Parents as Teachers program has spread far beyond Missouri

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

The news was spilling from journals on neuroscience: Children were born to learn from the cradle. Their brains thirsted, and parents had to be their first and best teachers.

House approves historic health care legislation

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

A pounded gavel, the votes, then four words: “The bill is passed.” With that, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced narrow passage Saturday of historic legislation that would fundamentally change American health care for decades.

A drive in the country put woman in a bullet's path

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Need proof we live in a pinball world? Lisa Long was driving through Cass County farm country Tuesday when somebody — maybe a mile or more away — pulled the trigger on a high-powered rifle. The slug tore through her cheek, exited her mouth, then plopped onto the floorboard of the 1998 Ford Taurus.

Both parties feel independents' wrath

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

In dozens of polls and surveys, more people than ever before now describe themselves as independents — angry and frustrated with Republicans and Democrats. At the same time, the number of voters pledging allegiance to either major party has plummeted to a near-record low.

Democrats' health care bill has mandates and penalties

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

The House Democrats’ bill is called the Affordable Health Care for America Act, HR 3962. The information below was gathered from the bill’s text, an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, an analysis by the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation, and reporting by The Associated Press. Links to those sources can be found at kansascity.com. What’s the goal of the bill?

Unemployment rate jumps into double digits

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Idled American workers, this is not your parents’ recession. Unemployment rocketed above 10 percent in October, the first double-digit rate since the recession in the early 1980s.

House vote on health care bill likely Saturday

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

WASHINGTON | Capping months of struggle, House Democrats late Friday cleared an abortion-related impasse blocking a vote on sweeping health care legislation. Officials expressed optimism they had finally lined up the support needed to pass President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

Urban farming yields a harvest of hassles

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Steve Mann doesn’t look like an outlaw as he cheerfully harvests giant rutabagas and luscious lettuce bunches from a friend’s garden in Kansas City, North. But technically he is violating Kansas City ordinances as he prepares to sell the produce.

Survival, courage in tragedy at Fort Hood

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

FORT HOOD, Texas | Pfc. Marquest Smith, on his way to Afghanistan in January, was completing routine paperwork about a bee-sting allergy when the sounds erupted. A loud, popping noise. Moans. The sudden, urgent shout of “Gun!”

Worst mass shooting at a U.S. military post occurs at Fort Hood

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

FORT HOOD, Texas | An Army psychiatrist set to be shipped overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post on Thursday, authorities said, a rampage that killed 12 people and left 31 wounded in the worst mass shooting ever at a military base in the United States. The gunman, first said to have been killed, was wounded but alive in a hospital under military guard, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He was shot four times, and was on a ventilator and unconscious, according to military officials. “I would say his death is not imminent,” Cone said.

2006 Olathe South grad is among soldiers wounded in Fort Hood attack

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Army Reserve Spc. Keara Bono’s family was working up to the idea of her going to Iraq. “I didn’t know I had to worry about her getting shot down in Texas,” her mother, Peggy McCarty, said Thursday night as she prepared to fly to Dallas.

New issues of attire vex downtown's Power & Light District

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Seven members of a African-American family have complained to the Missouri Commission on Human Rights that a Power & Light District nightclub barred them while allowing similarly attired white patrons to enter.

Couple charged in poisoning of food at Mexican eatery that sickened dozens

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Putting pesticide in the salsa at the Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa was an act of revenge by former employees, authorities say.

Back from bankruptcy, Willie Aames looks to make change

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

In our last episode of “Willie Aames Confidential,” the onetime star of TV’s “Eight Is Enough” and “Charles in Charge” was holding a yard sale in front of his foreclosed home in Olathe. Eight months have passed since then, and the 49-year-old Aames has since begun an extreme makeover — not of his house, but of his life. He’s training to be a financial adviser.

One year later, Harrisonville woman's murder still a mystery

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

In Jeff Roberts' memory, the water in the bathtub is still blood red. And his voice still breaks when he tells the story, a year later.

Senate votes to extend jobless benefits, homebuyers' credit

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

WASHINGTON | Recognizing that a weak economy still needs a government boost, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to provide the jobless with up to 20 weeks in additional unemployment benefits. Senators also voted to expand a first-time homebuyer tax credit to include a far larger pool of people entering the dormant housing market. The $24 billion bill, passed 98-0, also provides tax relief for struggling businesses.

KC's internal auditor faults Funkhouser

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:15 CST

Mayor Mark Funkhouser didn’t fully cooperate with a city investigation into alleged ethics and open-records violations in his office, according to a report released Wednesday by Kansas City’s internal auditor. In fact, Funkhouser could have been disciplined had he been an appointed city director, according to the report by Roy Greenway.

19th Annual DeLaSalle movie benefit

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:00 CST

19th DeLaSalle Annual Movie Benefit Slated Nov. 12 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: KANSAS CITY, MO. (November 2009) — On Thursday, November 12th, the media is invited join Kansas City society for the 19th Annual DeLaSalle Movie Benefit presented by AMC Entertainment at their flagship property AMC Town Center 20 located at 119th and Nall. read more

Adrenalin junkies don't want socks for Christmas!

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:54 CST

Adrenalin is a lifesaving Christmas gifts resource for anyone struggling to choose an original present for their loved one this year. Offering access to hundreds of adventures worldwide, from kayaking to rally cars and skydiving, you’re guaranteed to give them an experience that they’ll never forget. read more

UHF Gen 2 designs RFID tag for laundry applications

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:54 CST

Toronto, Canada - GAO RFID Inc. (www.GAORFID.com) has rolled out a Gen 2 passive RFID tag specially designed for laundry applications. It is used where a rugged RFID transponder able to withstand harsh environments is required. This RFID tag meets all endurance requirements in terms of heat, pressure and chemical resistance and performs contactless tracking of garments in the textile rental and laundry industries. The Gen 2 passive RFID laundry tag, model 116413, is made of sealed PPS and epoxy materials which allow the tag to withstand harsh treatment including sterilization. It is a perfect solution in laundry applications and is a flexible option in process and factory automation. Non-line-of-sight data transmission allows the laundry tag to be identified without the need for visual contact. This contactless RFID tag has a flexible read/write range from 0.5m to 1.5m depending on the reader. Visit http://www.GAORFID.com for more information. For any sales inquires please contact: 1-877 585-9555 ext. 601 - Toll Free (USA & Canada) 1-416 292-0038 ext. 601 - All Other Areas sales@gaorfid.com About GAO RFID Inc. GAO RFID Inc. (www.GAORFID.com) is a leading provider of RFID Readers, RFID Tags and RFID software providing cost saving solutions to end users worldwide. GAO offers all RFID technologies: Low Frequency (LF), High Frequency (HF), Ultra High Frequency (UHF, Gen 2) as well as Active and Semi-Passive. GAO RFID's products and services are easily customized for use in asset tracking,healthcare, supply chain & logistics, event management, access control, livestock tracking, inventory control & management, field service maintenance and document authentication. read more

13.56MHz RFID paddle reader with Bluetooth

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:36 CST

Toronto, Canada -GAO RFID Inc. (www.GAORFID.com) has launched its high frequency RFID paddle reader with Bluetooth. This portable reader provides a smart combination of interfaces for enterprise IT managers to conveniently integrate RFID technology into their systems.It is an ideal tool for mobile workforce to track and monitor mobile assets and can be easily integrated with a wide variety of wireless handheld PDAs. This HF Bluetooth reader, model 223004,features high portability, light weight and a high impact plastic housing. It offers both read and write capabilities for compatible tags. Furnished with a class 2 Bluetooth interface, it is a perfect retrofit for businesses to add value to their handheld products.The handheld RFID reader is powered by a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. In addition, the paddle reader can be used in conjunction with Bluetooth GPS locating devices for asset mapping. Visit http://www.GAORFID.com for more information. For any sales inquires please contact: 1-877 585-9555 ext. 601 - Toll Free (USA & Canada) 1-416 292-0038 ext. 601 - All Other Areas sales@gaorfid.com About GAO RFID Inc. GAO RFID Inc. (www.GAORFID.com) is a leading provider of RFID Readers, RFID Tags and RFID software providing cost saving solutions to end users worldwide. GAO offers all RFID technologies: Low Frequency (LF), High Frequency (HF), Ultra High Frequency (UHF, Gen 2) as well as Active and Semi-Passive.GAO RFID's products and services are easily customized for use in asset tracking,healthcare,supply chain &logistics,event management, access control,livestock tracking, inventory control & management, field service maintenance and document authentication. read more