U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel sentenced Joseph D. Najera, 26, of Lincoln, Arkansas, to five years in prison after he exchanged nude pictures with a minor. The sentence was handed down on Thursday, ranging from five to ten years. In 2017, Najera met the victim, who was 12 years old, via Kik Messenger after […]
U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk sentenced Christopher Ali Pate to 19 months in prison for mail theft in Chesterfield, Missouri. Pate, 32, pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one felony count of mail theft. His co-defendant, Eryk Campbell, 28, pleaded guilty to the same charge in February. The […]
A two-vehicle accident occurred on June 27, 2024, at approximately 8:15 p.m. on Goodwin Road at Highway 23, resulting in minor injuries to one driver. The Missouri State Highway Patrol provided the details of the incident. Candice M. Cardwell, a 43-year-old woman from Blue Springs, Missouri, was driving a 2014 Chrysler southbound when it overtook […]
A 60-year-old man from Rosendale, Missouri, sustained minor injuries in an accident involving a 2000 Peterbilt truck on Route E, seven miles east of Union Star. The accident occurred at 6:50 a.m. on June 27, 2024. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the truck was traveling eastbound on Route E when it veered off […]
A fatal accident occurred on June 27, 2024, at approximately 5:37 p.m. on Highway 61, one mile north of Palmyra in Marion County, Missouri. The crash involved a southbound 2001 Buick LeSabre, driven by Jamie H. Stringer, a 28-year-old woman from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The vehicle ran off the roadway, struck an embankment, overturned, and […]
As the primary election approaches, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is emphasizing key dates and facts to help ensure Missourians are prepared for the election on August 6, 2024. Ashcroft, as the state’s chief election authority, has been traveling across Missouri, engaging with county clerks and election authorities to discuss election preparedness. Missouri is ranked […]
A Farmington man died in a single-car crash on Wesley Chapel Road near Holmes Road on June 26, 2024, at approximately 8:10 p.m. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Dalton M. Belken, 21, was driving a 2004 Ford Focus northbound when the vehicle traveled off the left edge of the road and struck a […]
(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected arguments by Missouri and Louisiana that the federal government violated the First Amendment in its efforts to combat false, misleading, and dangerous information online. In a 6-3 decision written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the court held that neither the states nor seven individuals who […]
A St. Louis woman has been sentenced to two years in prison for conspiring to defraud a COVID-19 pandemic relief program. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk handed down the sentence to Jeannine Buford, 46, for her role in a scheme to obtain a fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. In April 2020, Buford altered the […]
A former Overland Park, Kansas, man was sentenced in federal court for fraudulently receiving more than $800,000 under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for a business that was no longer in operation. Mirza Michael Reazuddin, 66, currently a resident of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips […]
Two Stafford, Mo., women were indicted by a federal grand jury today for sexually abusing two children to produce child pornography. Mallory Nicole Bunch, 40, and Jessica Nicole Pickett, 34, were charged in a five-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield. Today’s indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint filed against Pickett on […]
A Kansas City, Mo., woman and her son have been sentenced in federal court for illegally possessing the firearms they used in two shootings at Swope Park on Father’s Day last year. Kippie R. House, 54, and her son, co-defendant Darryel L. Pennington, 32, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays last week. House […]
Two women were injured in a collision on southbound Interstate 29, one mile north of St. Joseph, Missouri, on the morning of June 26, 2024. The accident occurred at the 51.6-mile marker when a 2012 Toyota Sienna, driven by Kellie R. Schwabe, 43, of Bellevue, Nebraska, slowed for congestion and was rear-ended by a 2005 […]
Governor Mike Parson signed Executive Order 24-08 extending the current State of Emergency declaration in preparation for potential flooding along the Missouri River over the coming days. Governor Parson first declared a State of Emergency on May 2, 2024, through Executive Order 24-06 in response to severe weather. “We have seen the tremendous, destructive force of flooding this […]
(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will get a crucial opportunity to reach undecided voters and set the terms for the 2024 presidential campaign at Thursday night’s debate in Atlanta. Partisans on either side have already made up their minds about which candidate they’ll support. And with this year’s race […]
(Missouri Independent) – Republican Will Scharf and Democrat Elad Gross disagreed on almost every issue Monday night during a forum of attorney general candidates in St. Louis. They aren’t on the same page on dealing with violent crime or protecting speech on campus. They crossed swords over abortion rights and access to contraception. And they […]
(Missouri News Service – Chrystal Blair) – Several Missouri nonprofit groups are collaborating to assist rural southeastern communities struggling to pay their electric bills. Poverty rates in these areas are 10% higher than the state average, and the local electric utility provider has faced criticism for not doing more to alleviate the financial burden. In […]
U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White sentenced a former St. Louis middle school principal to two consecutive life terms in prison for hiring a friend to kill his pregnant schoolteacher girlfriend. Cornelius M. Green, 42, pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and one count of murder-for-hire in the deaths […]
In a significant legal development, Mark Ethan Jermain, a 41-year-old man from the Slovak Republic, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to obtaining nearly three-quarters of a million dollars through pandemic relief fraud. The fraud occurred between April 26, 2020, and July 16, 2021. Jermain admitted to three counts of wire fraud, […]
Jackie M. Hill, 39, from Kansas City, Mo., has been sentenced in federal court for using a 9-year-old victim to produce child pornography. U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs sentenced Hill to 16 years and eight months in federal prison without parole. Following his incarceration, Hill will be on supervised release for the rest of […]
