(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. House transportation panel early Wednesday passed along party lines the panel’s $60 billion slice of Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget plan, adding nearly $20 billion for a new transit program and high-speed rail development in the states. Chairman Peter A. DeFazio of Oregon had considered these and other items underfunded in […]
A Gladstone, Missouri, man was indicted by a federal grand jury for producing and attempting to distribute child pornography. Joshua Paul Goodspeed, 45, was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. The indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Goodspeed on June 21, 2021. […]
As part of the ongoing response, agencies across the U.S. government announced new resources and initiatives to protect American businesses and communities from ransomware attacks. The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, together with federal partners, have launched a new website to combat the threat of ransomware. The Stop Ransomware […]
A Texas man was sentenced in the Western District of Texas to 40 years in prison for multiple obscenity crimes involving children. Thomas Alan Arthur, 65, of Terlingua, was convicted by a federal jury on Jan. 21, 2021, of three counts of trafficking in obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of a child, five […]
A North Carolina man pleaded guilty to a bribery and smuggling scheme. He abused his position as a prison official to funnel drugs and other contraband into Caledonia Correctional Institution. According to court documents, Ollie Rose III, 62, of Pleasant Hill, worked as a case manager at Caledonia Correctional Institution, a state prison in Halifax […]
U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) have introduced a bill to remove the antitrust exemption that has been in place for Major League Baseball to subject them to existing law. Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), with over 20 cosponsors, has produced companion legislation in the House. “MLB […]
The Drug Enforcement Administration is warning the public of a widespread fraud scheme in which telephone scammers impersonate DEA agents in an attempt to extort money or steal personal identifiable information. A new public service announcement aims to raise awareness that DEA will never phone demanding money or asking for personal information. There are variations […]
A registered sex offender in Raytown, Missouri, was sentenced in federal court for receiving child pornography over the internet. Joseph L. Smith, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Smith to spend the rest of his life on supervised release […]
A Tennessee resident with German citizenship was removed to Germany for participating in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution while serving as an armed guard at a Nazi concentration camp in 1945. In February 2020, Friedrich Karl Berger, 95, was ordered removed from the U.S. based on his participation in Nazi-sponsored persecution while serving in Nazi Germany […]
Missouri’s transportation director says more than 600 of his employees currently have the coronavirus. State Department of Transportation (MoDOT) director Patrick McKenna testified before the Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight on Monday in Jefferson City, delivering MoDOT’s annual report. “As of this moment (Monday afternoon), we’re at about 645 cases of COVID within MoDOT, MoDOT alone,” McKenna […]
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 […]
A man and woman from western Missouri’s Lincoln are jailed without bond Tuesday, after being charged with murder for the torture and killing of a four-year-old child. Reporter David Oliver from our Springfield television partner KOLR-10 says the child was beaten, submerged in a pond, and left to freeze on the bank, before being taken […]
A prisoners rights group has filed a lawsuit saying that a Missouri jail has been mistreating its inmates. The suit filed by the St. Loius based law frim ArchCity Defenders says deputies at St. Francois (Francis) County jail have taunted and tortured inmates and that the jail provided so little food that one […]
A federal grand jury has returned a 147-count superseding indictment against 40 defendants across South Carolina in the largest federal racketeering conspiracy in South Carolina history. The indictment alleges a sprawling criminal enterprise whereby inmates with the South Carolina Department of Corrections, often through the use of contraband cell phones, orchestrated murder, kidnapping, firearms distribution, […]
A high-profile Missouri prisoner who was waiting for an execution date has died, from apparent natural causes. The Missouri Department of Corrections says 56-year-old Richard Davis died of natural causes this week, at a hospital. Davis was sentenced to death in 2007 for the separate gruesome killings of Marsha Spicer and Michelle Huff […]
The United States Attorney General has directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions of three federal-death row inmates sentenced to death for brutal murders, including the murder of a child and, with respect to two inmates, the murder of multiple victims. Alfred Bourgeois abused, tortured, and beat to death his young daughter. […]
Two Chillicothe residents have been charged in Livingston County with felony animal abuse—second or subsequent offense or by torture and/or mutilation while the animal was alive. An initial court appearance for 43-year-old Larry Coffman and 37-year-old Cailin Dixon is scheduled for December 9th. Probable cause statements from Bradley Aldrich with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office […]
A Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court for illegally possessing firearms, including purchasing firearms advertised on the internet, and of stalking two female victims associated with massage parlors in Kansas. “This armed and dangerous criminal, with a history of stalking and violence toward women, will spend the rest of his life in prison,” said […]
Several bills become law today that the Missouri Legislature passed during the second regular session of the 100th General Assembly. Here is a snapshot of the top bills approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Mike Parson: Partial motorcycle helmet law repeal House Bill 1963 is a sweeping transportation bill allowing motorcycle drivers 26 years and […]
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, wants a federal investigation launched in the case about a St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters last month. He has sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr accusing St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner of abusing her power. He says Gardner’s unacceptable abuse of power has […]
