AP Top Missouri News at 3:58 a.m. CST

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Report: ex-Mo. gov. failed to follow records law

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Investigators looking into the e-mail retention practices of former Gov. Matt Blunt asserted Tuesday that his administration violated Missouri's public records laws.

But investigators decided not to refer the matter to prosecutors.

The report wraps up a nearly 1 1/2-year probe into Blunt's office that began after a former legal counsel claimed he was fired for raising concerns that colleagues were not following public records laws. Blunt has asserted the staffer was fired for legitimate reasons.

Special investigators appointed by the attorney general's office did not delve into the reasons for the firing of employee Scott Eckersley. But their report affirmed his assertions that Blunt staffers wrongly deleted some e-mails and failed to follow the state's open-records laws.

Investigators said the extent of Blunt's personal involvement in his office's public-records failures could not be determined because Blunt refused either to be deposed or interviewed.

Blunt, who did not seek re-election last year, ended his four-year term as governor in January.

------ Republican Sen. Kit Bond to receive Truman award

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) -- Republican Sen. Kit Bond has been announced as the latest recipient of the Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award.

Bond will receive the award at a luncheon May 7. The event marks the 125th anniversary of the late president's May 8, 1884, birth.

Bond rose from Missouri's youngest governor to its senior Republican statesmen and a leading national voice on intelligence issues. He announced in January that he will not seek another term in the U.S. Senate.

The Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award Foundation said in a news release that Bond was picked because of his "extraordinary public service."

The award bearing Truman's name has been given annually since 1973.

Other recipients have included former President Gerald Ford, television journalist Walter Cronkite and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

------ Mo. House panel approves bill for nuclear plant

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Missouri House committee added some consumer protections Tuesday while endorsing legislation designed to help AmerenUE build a second nuclear power plant.

But the bill still has a long way to go before passage.

The House Utilities Committee approved the bill 12-1 after making some changes designed to help consumers. But the legislation still faces resistance from some senators and from Gov. Jay Nixon, who contends AmerenUE should get a federal license for a second power plant before any state laws are changed.

The issue hinges on how utilities should pay for new power plants. A 1976 law approved by voters requires that electric companies wait until a new power plant is online before customers can be charged for the construction costs. Lawmakers this session are considering whether to allow utilities to bill customers for the financing costs of unfinished plants that use nuclear, new coal technologies and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

The legislation is backed by labor groups and utilities and condemned by some environmentalists, consumer activists and corporations that use large amounts of electricity.

St. Louis-based AmerenUE has applied with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to build a second nuclear reactor about 25 miles northeast of Jefferson City. AmerenUE hasn't yet decided whether it will actually build the new plant but contends that the only way to afford the multibillion project is to repeal the 1976 law.

------ MGP executives agree to defer some pay

ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) -- MGP Ingredients Inc. said Tuesday that its top corporate executives have agreed to take a temporary pay cut as the company struggles to get its finances in order.

The Atchison-based maker of starch-based ingredients and food-grade alcohol reported in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its top executives and some other company officials will set aside up to 50 percent of their salaries until June 30.

MGP said earlier this year that it had defaulted on its credit facility after failing to meet earnings requirements in December and was being pressured by its lenders to find new financing. Poor sales and the economy have forced the company to shutter flour milling, starch production and ethanol operations at two plants.

In the filing, the company said that its lenders have extended the Feb. 27 deadline for taking action on the default until March 13, giving the company until March 6 to provide an operating plan showing how it intends to improve its finances.

MGP also said two local banks have agreed to lend up to $4.5 million to the company and a principal stockholder would lend an additional $2 million.

The company said that its lenders have not yet signed off on conditions required under the new financing, including agreeing to subordinate some of their claims on the company's assets and extend the default deadline to Sept. 3.

------ Ex-Nixa streets worker in court; 3d suspect booked

OZARK, Mo. (AP) -- A former Nixa city employee had a court appearance Tuesday on charges that he and a one-time supervisor stole as much as $500,000 in street department funds.

David Griggs is charged with felony stealing by deceit in Christian County Circuit Court. Public defender Michael Stanfield filed a formal "entry of appearance" Tuesday in the case.

Griggs and fired streets department superintendent Larry Covington are accused of forming fictitious companies, billing the city for goods that were never delivered and pocketing the money.

Covington's wife, Paula Covington, was booked Monday on a charge of being an accessory to the alleged thefts. She was freed on bond, but her husband and Griggs remain jailed on $100,000 bond each. Larry Covington has a bond hearing Wednesday.

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------ Illinois man charged in 8 deaths wants trial moved

GALESBURG, Ill. (AP) -- The attorney defending a man accused in the deaths of eight people in Illinois and Missouri says he'll ask to move his client's first trial.

Attorney Jeremy Karlin says he wants the case against 29-year-old Nicholas Sheley moved out of Knox County because of extensive local news coverage.

Knox County Judge James Stewart told Karlin during a hearing in Galesburg that he'll have to file a motion on the move by April 6.

Sheley is charged with murder in the bludgeoning death last June of 65-year-old Ronald Randall of Galesburg. Sheley also faces murder charges in five other deaths in Illinois and two in Missouri.

Sheley has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

------ Missouri House panel considers early voting

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Supporters of an early voting proposal say it would allow voters to cast their ballots more easily, but critics say that convenience could cost the state millions of dollars.

A House committee heard testimony Tuesday on a bill that would allow for two weeks of early voting during federal elections, with a weeklong break before Election Day. Polls would be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and until noon on Saturdays.

Nationwide, an estimated one-third of voters cast early ballots during November's election.

In a sense, Missouri already has early voting. Absentee ballots are available for six weeks before the election.

But to vote absentee, people must sign affidavits saying they cannot vote on Election Day because of a physical disability, religious belief or because they will be away from their voting jurisdiction. Employment as an election authority at a different polling place or incarceration are also valid excuses.

Sponsoring Rep. Michael Corcoran, D-St. Ann, said his bill would allow people to vote early if they don't meet those qualifications.

------ Victim's sisters helped pinpoint infant's grave

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Two sisters of a girl who was allegedly raped and impregnated four times by her father traveled from Missouri to Oklahoma to help locate the unmarked grave of a baby from one of those pregnancies, authorities said Tuesday.

Investigators believe the remains of a 4-month-old girl discovered Saturday near Dustin in eastern Oklahoma is the first of four children born to the daughter, who is now 19.

The sisters drew a map of a rural plot of land west of Dustin, where the child was found buried in a wooden box in a shallow grave, Hughes County Sheriff Houston Yeager said.

"It was close to some trees and covered with leaves, down a little lane leading from where they were building a residence," Yeager said. "The deputies I had out there already had an area pinpointed ... and when the sisters came down, they had the right spot."

The family apparently lived in Oklahoma for a short time in 2004, when the child was born, and had started building a home on a rural plot of land there, Yeager said.

"They started a log home, and it looks like they got some of the walls up, but it's dilapidated now," he said. "It's real primitive, no electricity and no water."

------ Mo. lawmakers seek new limits on grain dealers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Some state lawmakers have proposed tougher regulation of grain sales in response to the insolvency of an Audrain County trucking company that officials estimate could result in losses approaching $15 million.

The revised estimate comes from Rep. Steve Hobbs, R-Mexico, whose rural district includes many customers of T.J. Gieseker Farms and Trucking of Martinsburg. In February, state regulators suspended the grain shipping company's license and froze its assets after a routine audit revealed that it owed more than $1.3 million in unpaid grain royalties.

Chris Klenklen, grain regulatory services administrator for the Missouri Department of Agriculture, on Tuesday confirmed Hobbs' estimate and suggested that farmer losses could be even higher.

"That (figure) may be on the more conservative side," he said, noting that more than 300 northeast Missouri farmers packed a public meeting in Martinsburg last week to discuss the case.

A pair of bills introduced by Hobbs on Tuesday would increase the minimum bonding requirements for licensed grain dealers from $20,000 to $50,000 and set criminal penalties for unlicensed grain dealers.

House Speaker Ron Richard, a Joplin Republican, also announced creation of an agricultural task force to examine the problem.

------ Kansas City chief: Changes needed in death probes

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The city's police chief is calling the system for investigating home deaths "broken" after two cases involving homicide victims who were sent to funeral homes as natural deaths.

The latest case happened last month when a 49-year-old man who was shot was sent to a funeral home as a natural death despite having three bullet holes, including two in his head.

The previous death was in September 2007, when a 77-year-old woman's beating death was reported as natural but then switched to homicide. Her jaw had been broken and her throat slashed.

Funeral home workers found the injuries in both cases and notified the medical examiner's office.

Kansas City police Chief James Corwin said that he wants to work with leaders of other agencies that work on death investigations to fix the system.

"Everyone is deferring to someone else," he said. "Somebody is going to have to take responsibility so this doesn't happen again."

------ Ring exposes rift in 'right-to-die' movement

ATLANTA (AP) -- The case against members of an assisted suicide ring charged with helping a Georgia man kill himself has exposed a rift in the "right-to-die" movement as key players, including Dr. Jack Kevorkian, rush to distance themselves from the group's practices.

Kevorkian and others active in the movement have long argued that terminally ill people should be able to seek assistance ending their lives, but only from doctors. The Georgia-based Final Exit Network uses volunteers who are not physicians as "exit guides," contending such efforts are necessary to help those who want to die but live in states where doctor-assisted suicide is illegal.

"It just feels like something that's so totally different from what we do -- working with legislators, physicians and pharmacists over the ethical way to do this," said Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Oregon-based Death With Dignity National Center. "I'm concerned there's not a set of standards that are followed that protect people."

Kevorkian, who claims he participated in about 130 deaths before going to prison in Michigan for second-degree murder, is also critical of the network's methods.

"They're doing what they can do within the bounds of circumstance. I understand that, but it is still the wrong way," he told Detroit's WXYZ-TV last week shortly after Georgia authorities arrested four network members for helping 58-year-old John Celmer kill himself.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says the group may have helped 200 people around the nation commit suicide by sending exit guides to their homes to show them how to suffocate themselves using helium tanks and a plastic hood.

------ Mo. judge mulls state inclusion in group home suit

NEOSHO, Mo. (AP) -- A southwest Missouri judge says he could decide within the next few weeks whether the state can be sued for a group home fire that killed 11 people in November 2006.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services was added in September 2007 to litigation filed on behalf of victims and family members against the Anderson Guest House, its owners and operators.

Investigators ruled that the Nov. 27 fire was accidental, most likely caused by an electrical problem.

Attorneys for the department say the state has sovereign immunity that protects it from such lawsuits. But lawyers for the plaintiffs contend the state was negligent in oversight and didn't properly license the group home, which housed mentally ill and handicapped residents.

But since the Anderson home was a private facility, the state says it wasn't liable for the fire.

After a hearing on Monday, Newton County Circuit Judge Tim Perigo said his decision on whether the state can be included in the suit could come within about 10 days.

------ Suit says school employee burst student's eardrum

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) -- A lawsuit accuses a former St. Joseph School District employee of bursting the eardrum of a mentally disabled student with a basketball pump.

The suit said former paraprofessional Courtney Rollett stuck the pump's needle in the student's ear, puncturing the eardrum. Rollett denied the allegation Monday.

The lawsuit said Rollett took the action after the "highly disabled fifteen-year-old, mentally handicapped, speech impaired, special needs student" had fallen fell asleep at a desk.

Calling the Sept. 11, 2007, incident "unfortunate," district human resources director Doug Flowers said he could not comment on specifics in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says the school district knew that the alternative school class was understaffed and was left alone with inexperienced, untrained staff.