By Steve Bell
Kansas City, MO – On the eve of the vote on improvements to Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums. The Detroit Tigers beat the K.C. Royals 3 to 1. Two stadium issues are on tomorrow's ballot. One is a 25-year 3/3 cent sales tax for general stadium improvements, the other a use tax on goods bought out of state by Jackson County businesses for a rolling roof.
Former Westar CEO David Wittig was sentenced today to 18 years in federal prison for what the U.S. Attorney called "robbery with a fountain pen." Federal judge Julie Robinson also sentenced former Executive Vice President Douglas Lake to 15 years. The two were convicted of looting Westar of millions.
Medicaid changes have resutled in thousands of Missouri children being dropped from the program because "affordable" private insurance is available to them. The section in Missouri's new eligibility law has forced nearly 5,000 children off the program in the past six months, while taking up to 20% of parents' incomes and excluding special therapies.
There was a suspicious material scare at the IRS facility on Bannister road this morning when an unidentified white powder was found in a letter. Haz-mat crews were called out, three employees were quarantined and FBI agents hurried to the facility, but the substance was identified as powdered sugar.
Yesterday's Missouri tornadoes took three lives and scored a heavy hit on Caruthersville in Missouri's bootheel area. Pemiscot County officials say "just about everything" in Caruthersville was destroyed when a tornado cut a swath a half-mile wide and a mile long through the 6700-resident town.
The U. S. Supreme Court announced the date for the rehearing on the suit involving Kansas' capital punishment law. It is to take place on April 25th.