State Senator Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, wants to make it a Class E felony for any protester who interferes with or blocks a public road. Under his bill, drivers could use deadly force against these protesters and ones who illegally cross or attempt to cross private property. The drivers would not be held liable for taking […]
(Missouri Independent) – Seven U.S. Senate Democrats urged the chamber’s ethics panel last week to investigate Sen. Josh Hawley’s role in the pro-Trump assault on the Capitol. Now Hawley is calling for an ethics probe of the Democrats. In a Monday letter, Hawley argued that the Democrats filed an improper complaint last week against him and Sen. […]
Seven alleged members of the violent Gangster Disciples gang, including top national and state leaders, are in custody after multiple arrests this morning for their alleged participation in a years-long interstate racketeering conspiracy involving multiple murders, drug trafficking, and other crimes. The case was unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District […]
A former captain in the Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department was sentenced in federal court for illegally selling dozens of firearms over a five-year period, and to selling firearms to convicted felons. James Samuels, 55, of Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to six years in federal prison without […]
A man was convicted by a federal jury for operating a website dedicated to publishing writings that detailed the sexual abuse of children. Nicholas L. McQuaid, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Gregg Sofer, U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Texas; and Luis M. Quesada, Special Agent in Charge of […]
(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden is poised to send a sweeping immigration reform bill to Congress Thursday that would lay out a path for nearly 11 million undocumented people to obtain citizenship within eight years. Immigration has been one of the toughest issues for Congress to tackle, and the legislation’s fate is unclear in […]
Federal law enforcement authorities have publicly expressed concern about the potential for violent demonstrations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia leading up to Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. My concern, as the chief representative of the U.S. Department of Justice in the Western District of Missouri, is not with peaceful rallies or […]
Public-interest groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over the agency’s re-approval of products containing dicamba, a herbicide controversial for its tendency to drift into neighboring fields and damage farmers’ crops and homeowners’ gardens. Last fall, the EPA green-lighted dicamba use for five years, the third time the agency registered dicamba products. George Kimbrell, legal director at […]
Two off-duty Rocky Mount, Virginia police officers, were charged in federal court in the District of Columbia in connection with the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson were charged by complaint with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without […]
A Missouri, a man was sentenced in federal court for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and for illegally possessing a firearm. Ladd E. Callen, 50, Rolla, Missouri was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to 12 years in federal prison without parole. On Sept. 25, 2020, Callen pleaded guilty to […]
A Missouri, man has been sentenced in federal court for distributing methamphetamine and possessing a homemade firearm. Lyle Scott Jennings, 49, of Butler, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner on Tuesday, Jan. 12, to 10 years in federal prison without parole. On Feb. 10, 2020, Jennings pleaded guilty to participating in a […]
Two Brookfield residents have been charged in Linn County after law enforcement found what was determined to be homemade explosive devices in a residence on Caldwell Street. Twenty-nine-year-old Creed David Paul Jones faces the felonies of unlawful possession, transport, manufacture, repair, or sale of an illegal weapon; stealing—motor vehicle/watercraft/aircraft; and possession of a controlled substance […]
