The Department of Justice announced that the Bureau of Justice Assistance, a component of the department’s Office of Justice Programs, has awarded almost $187 million to support state, local, and tribal public safety and community justice activities. The awards, from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, are going to all 50 states, […]
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt gave an update on the SAFE Kit Initiative, reporting positive progress in clearing the backlog of untested sexual assault kits through the initiative. The Springfield Police Department also announced that they have completely cleared out their backlog, leaving zero untested sexual assault kits in their inventory. “As a husband, father, […]
(Missouri Independent) – Activists are ramping up the pressure on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to move on his chamber’s version of a voting rights bill, even though there’s no sign there will be enough Republican support to advance it. Alternatively, they’re pressing for an end to the filibuster, though there’s no indication there would […]
A woman pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing a vehicle at gunpoint from the parking garage at the Country Club Plaza. Maricela Delores Lozano, 21, of Kansas City, Kansas, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to one count of carjacking and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of […]
After an audit last year determined the former city clerk of Center misappropriated more than $300,000, State Auditor Nicole Galloway has issued a follow-up report measuring the progress made to implement the audit’s recommendations. While officials in the Ralls County town of 500 have taken some measures to better safeguard public funds, the follow-up report […]
Reports highlighted at Monday evening’s meeting of the committee that oversees Trenton Municipal Utilities. Utility Director/ City Administrator Ron Urton reported on the potential routes that could be used if the city were to extend water and sewer lines to Industrial Park in North Trenton. While waiting on updated cost estimates from an engineering firm, […]
A Missouri man was sentenced in federal court for possessing methamphetamine to distribute and for illegally possessing firearms. Nathan Scott Thomas, 42, of Joplin, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 11 years in federal prison without parole. On May 3, 2021, Thomas pleaded guilty to one count of possessing methamphetamine with […]
A Missouri man has been convicted by a federal trial jury of illegally possessing a firearm. Jeremiah Ezekiel Brown, 36, of Columbia, was found guilty on Monday, Sept. 20, of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Brown was arrested by a Columbia police detective during a traffic stop on Nov. 24, 2020. The […]
(Missouri Independent) – A new lawsuit will test whether public agencies can hide how much they are paying attorneys and determine how far they must go in searching for records sought under the Missouri Sunshine Law. The lawsuit, filed Sept. 10 in Jefferson City by lobbyist John Gaskin of Flotron McIntosh, accuses the Missouri State Employees […]
(Missouri Independent) – The fate of Missouri’s ban on abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy, with no exception for rape or incest, rests in the hands of a panel of federal judges. Arguments Tuesday before the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, and questions from the judges, focused almost exclusively on another provision […]
(Missouri Independent) – On the final day of the 2021 legislative session in May, Missouri lawmakers passed a “law enforcement bill of rights” that gives officers special legal protections and closes files to police misconduct. When Gov. Mike Parson signed it into law in July, the bill of rights portion was largely overshadowed in press […]
A Missouri, truck driver was sentenced in federal court for transporting two Missouri teenagers across state lines and sexually assaulting them. Cleveland Lee Crumsey, 38, of Republic Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 25 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Crumsey to spend the rest of his […]
A Missouri business owner who engaged in a $4 million scheme to defraud his customers was sentenced in federal court for tax evasion after failing to pay more than $768,000 in state and federal taxes. “Not only did this defendant steal millions of dollars from his customers, but he stole from the public by evading […]
A Missouri man who worked as a teacher in China was sentenced in federal court for sexually exploiting one of his former students by attempting to blackmail her into sending him pornographic images. Curtis J. Baldwin, 48, Springfield, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 41 years and eight months in federal […]
Princeton Superintendent Jerry Girdner reports a high school student made a verbal threat on Thursday, September 16, 2021, allegedly about bring a weapon to school and causing harm to multiple students. Girdner, in a letter Thursday night to Princeton patrons, wrote that students reported the incident to school administrators after school had been dismissed for […]
A dual national of the United States and Ireland was sentenced to 324 months, or 27 years, in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for conspiracy to advertise child pornography. Eric Eoin Marques, 36, of Dublin, Ireland, pleaded guilty on Feb. 6, 2020, to conspiracy to advertise child pornography. According to court documents, between […]
A jury trial has been reset for a Kirksville woman charged with first and second-degree murder after a child death investigation in May 2020. Twenty-nine-year-old Makuya Stephanie Kambamba appeared in court in Putnam County on September 15th, and her trial is now scheduled to begin in Harrison County on March 1st, 2022. It was previously […]
A former paraprofessional at Blue Springs High School was sentenced in federal court for producing and distributing child pornography. Steven B. Allen, 46, of Independence, Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 22 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Allen to spend the rest of his life on […]
Missouri non-farm payroll employment increased from July 2021 to August 2021, and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by two-tenths of a percentage point. Employment, seasonally adjusted, increased by 7,300 jobs over the month, with job gains in both goods-producing and service-providing industries. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.0 percent in August 2021, […]
A Missouri, man who was charged in two federal cases pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in a $335 million scheme to defraud federal programs that award contracts to firms owned by minorities, veterans, and service-disabled veterans, and in a separate case to filing false tax returns that cheated the government out of […]
