Liberty North’s Rob James, Bandon Hull, Aaron Lewis, Jeffery Cisneros, Joe Boman; (bottom row) Zach Ericsson, Frankie Palma, Caden Wanless, Landon McGinnis and Ryan Stegall all pose with the Class 6 State Championship trophy.
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developing featured top story
Overnight storms lead to power outages, minor damage across Northland
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Amanda Lubinski
Managing Editor of News & Content
- Updated
In Liberty, during morning commute hours Wednesday, traffic lights were out, including along Missouri Highway 291 at South Liberty Parkway and Ruth Ewing, and small debris from trees, down trees and tree limbs were being removed by crews.
CLAY COUNTY — Severe thunderstorms and weather capable of producing tornadoes that ripped through the Northland in the overnight hours between Tuesday and Wednesday, June 7 and 8, caused thousands of power outages and reports of minor damage that included down tree limbs and debris trails. No injuries were been reported.
Storms began after midnight Wednesday, and as of 8 a.m., power was still out in sections of Liberty, Kearney, Gladstone, North Kansas City, Kansas City and areas around Smithville Lake according to outage maps from Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative and Evergy.
According to the Platte-Clay Cooperative, as of 1:40 p.m., more than 30 outages still existed. Customers can track outages and expected restore times on the cooperative’s dashboard online at {a href=”http://pcec.coop” target=”_blank”}pcec.coop.
“The vast majority of these outages were restored overnight and our crews are working this morning to repair remaining service disruptions,” PCEC Spokesman Garrett Poorman told the Courier-Tribune Wednesday.
According to Evergy, as of 8:15 a.m., between North Kansas City and Paradise near Smithville Lake, hundreds of outages had yet to be restored, impacting thousands of customers. Evergy outages can be tracked online at outagemap.evergy.com. As of 1:30 p.m., more than 7,600 Clay County customers were still without power.
”Storms overnight caused more than 75,000 outages in Evergy’s service area, primarily in the Kansas City metro. The storm moved slowly through the area and did extensive damage. Crews are working and have restored power to more than 25% of customers affected,” states a social media post from the utility company Wednesday morning.
In Liberty, during morning commute hours Wednesday, traffic lights were out, including along Missouri Highway 291 at South Liberty Parkway and Ruth Ewing, and small debris from trees, down trees and tree limbs were being removed by crews.
“Crews are still working to clear streets of downed trees. Some traffic signals are out. Please treat these as four-way stops,” reads a social media release from the city at 8 a.m. Wednesday that was accompanied by a photo of large equipment pushing trees blocking a roadway.
In Kearney, a social media post from police states minor damage impacting various areas occurred around 2 a.m. as the city was under severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings.
“Every neighborhood and area of the community I reached already this morning I passed a KPD officer with takedown/alley lights on looking for debris,” wrote Kearney Mayor Randy Pogue on social media Wednesday.
Pogue also posted safety tips, taken from first response experts, for Northlanders. The tips note what to do before a storm and during.
Before the storm
• Develop a plan for you and your family for home, work, school and when outdoors. Hold frequent drills.
• Purchase an NOAA weather radio for your home.
• Know the county in which you live, and keep a highway map nearby to follow storm movement from weather bulletins.
• Listen to radio and television for information.
• If planning a trip outdoors, listen to the latest forecasts and take necessary action if threatening weather is possible.
• Know who is at the most risk: People in automobiles, the elderly, those very young, those physically or mentally disabled, people in manufactured/mobile homes and those who may not understand warnings due to a language barrier.
During a storm
• Outdoor warning sirens are for individuals outdoors. They are a warning to go to an inside shelter and listen to any Emergency Alert System messages for details.
• In a residence or other building, move to a predesignated shelter, such as a basement.
• If an underground shelter is not available, move to an interior room or hallway on the lowest floor and get under a sturdy piece of furniture.
• Stay away from windows.
• Get out of automobiles.
• Do not use a highway overpass as shelter.
• If caught outside or in a vehicle, lie flat in a nearby ditch or depression.
• Manufactured/mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes and should be abandoned.
Managing Editor Amanda Lubinski can be reached at amanda.lubinski@mycouriertribune.com or 903-6001.
News
Feds arrest 32 in child exploitation stings in Missouri, Kansas
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Amanda Lubinski
Managing Editor of News & Content
- Updated
During Operation Blue Ghost stings in Missouri, including in Clay and Platte counties, law enforcement agencies targeted adults “willing to travel for the sexual exploitation of a child,” states an ICE release.
In an operation dubbed “Blue Ghost,” dozens were arrested for suspected crimes against children in stings in Missouri and Kansas.
Of the 32 arrested in the Homeland Security Investigations operation, 15 were from Missouri, in the areas of Independence and Clay and Platte counties. Another 17 were arrested in the Wichita, Kansas area.
“I am extremely proud of all of the special agents, analysts and officers whose hard work and dedication made this operation a success,” said HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Kansas City area of operations R. Sean Fitzgerald. “Our joint commitment to protecting children has removed these 32 dangerous individuals from our streets and hopefully sends a clear message to others looking to harm children.”
Between May 17 and 19, HSI Wichita and the Wichita Police Department targeted adults “willing to travel for the sexual exploitation of a child,” which resulted in the arrest of the 17 individuals for crimes related to aggravated human trafficking, promoting the sale of sex and the purchase of commercial sex acts, states a release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
From May 31 to June 2, HSI Kansas City and Kansas City Child Exploitation Taskforce partners conducted Operation Blue Ghost stings in Missouri. During this operation, law enforcement agencies, including Clay County Sheriff’s Office, targeted adults “willing to travel for the sexual exploitation of a child,” states the ICE release.
“During this phase, 15 additional individuals were arrested for crimes related to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, enticement of a minor, sexual trafficking of a child, furnishing pornographic material to minors, sexual exploitation of a minor, promoting prostitution, aggravated human trafficking, sex trafficking, obscenity and morals offenses, felony assault on a law enforcement officer, felony evading, felony property damage, attempted statutory sodomy and attempted statutory rape,” states the release.
More details on this developing story will be released as they become available.
Managing Editor Amanda Lubinski can be reached at amanda.lubinski@mycouriertribune.com or 903-6001.
News
5 teens plead not guilty to murdering Smithville man
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Amanda Lubinski
Managing Editor of News & Content
- Updated
Five of the six teens charged in the death of a Smithville man who was shot in an Olathe, Kansas park pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder Monday, June 6, in juvenile court.
According to investigators, Marco Cardino, 19, of Smithville died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds sustained during the shooting that happened before 4 a.m. May 14 in Black Bob Park in the 14500 block of West 151st Street in Olathe. Three of the juvenile suspects who pleaded Monday are age 14 and two are 13 years old.
According to court records, another teen suspect charged, a 14-year-old, is scheduled to make his first appearance June 15.
Johnson County, Kansas District Attorney Steve Howe filed motions to try the 14-year-olds as adults. According to Howe’s office, the shooting likely stemmed from an attempted robbery of marijuana referred to as a “drug rip.” A “drug rip,” according to Howe, is where either a drug dealer or the person or people buying the drugs tries to rob the other individual.
Managing Editor Amanda Lubinski can be reached at amanda.lubinski@mycouriertribune.com or 903-6001.
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featured top story
Liberty man sentenced for trafficking fentanyl near high school
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Kellie Houx
Southwest Editor
- Updated
Daniel I. Ramirez, 22, Liberty, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to 11 years in federal prison without parole for distributing fentanyl from his apartment near Liberty High School and for illegally possessing a firearm.
Daniel I. Ramirez, 22, Liberty, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to 11 years in federal prison without parole for distributing fentanyl from his apartment near Liberty High School and for illegally possessing a firearm.
According to court documents, on Oct. 19, 2021, Ramirez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, one count of distributing fentanyl within 1,000 feet of a public school and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
According to U.S. Attorney Teresa A. Moore’s office for the Western District of Missouri, co-defendant Valerie Rios, 23, also of Liberty, pleaded guilty to the same charges and awaits sentencing.
“Ramirez admitted that he participated in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl from March 4 to April 30, 2021,” states a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to court documents, Rios sold an undercover detective fentanyl on three occasions between March 4 and March 9, 2021, personally advertised and sold fentanyl outside of these instances and coordinated distribution activities with Rios.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant on Ramirez’s apartment on South Forrest Avenue near Liberty High School on March 12, 2021.
“Officers found a plastic bag that contained 184 counterfeit oxycodone pills that were actually fentanyl, a Smith and Wesson .45-caliber handgun with a loaded magazine, four magazines and ammunition and $12,340 in cash,” states the attorney’s office release.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Byron H. Black, who along U.S. Attorney Moore, shared statistics about drug overdoses and fentanyl in their sentencing memorandum provided to the Courier-Tribune.
“Sadly, this case illustrates that the opioid epidemic has reached Missouri and is wreaking havoc on our communities,” they wrote. “In 2019, Missouri held the dubious distinction of being one of only four states west of the Mississippi River with an age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths of more than 21.1 per 100,000.”
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2020 alone, a total of 91,799 Americans died of a drug overdose, which was approximately 251 deaths every day that year. More recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released provisional data that predicts there were over 107,622 drug overdose deaths in the United States between December 2020 and December 2021, or approximately 294 Americans every day.
“In other words, the same number of Americans lost on Sept. 11, 2001, died of a drug overdose nearly every 10 days. Of the 107,622 predicted overdose deaths between December 2020 and December 2021, approximately 71,238 involved synthetic opioids,” the sentencing memorandum reads.
In March 2021, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued its 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment. According to the DEA, fentanyl use and availability is on the rise, resulting “in higher rates of fentanyl-involved overdose deaths, straining law enforcement and public health resources in area already afflicted with high levels of heroin-involved overdoses.”
Southeast Editor Kellie Houx can be reached at kellie.houx@mycouriertribune.com or 389-6630.
