Missouri Wal-Mart to host first lady
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - First lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to be in Missouri later this week to promote her campaign against childhood obesity.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that Obama will be in Springfield on Thursday afternoon as part of a national tour for the third anniversary of her Let’s Move! campaign. The program is the first lady’s initiative to improve the health of children and solve the problem of childhood obesity.
The tour also includes stops in New York and Chicago.
Obama will appear at a Wal-Mart in Springfield, but the exact store location has not been disclosed.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSBranson hotel death ruled a homicide
BRANSON - Branson police said a 63-year-old woman’s death in a hotel room is a homicide.
A maid found the woman’s body Sunday at the Ramada Resort and Conference Center on the Branson strip.
Police said the woman’s husband is a person of interest in the case.
The couple from California had just moved to the Branson area and checked into the Ramada Inn Thursday. Investigators said no one inside the hotel heard or saw anything suspicious before the woman’s body was found.
Investigators believe the woman had been dead for at least 24 hours when she was found.
The victim’s name was not released pending notification of relatives.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSArmy private pleads guilty in boy’s death
LAWTON, Okla. - An Army private accused of the starvation death of a 10-year-old boy at an Oklahoma Army base has pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder charge to avoid a possible death sentence.
The plea was entered Monday by 33-year-old Pvt. Connell C. Williams, who is on trial at the U.S.
Courthouse in Lawton for first-degree murder. Federal prosecutors were seeking the death penalty.
Williams was indicted by a federal grand jury for the May 5, 2011, death of Marcus Holloway, the son of Williams’ girlfriend, at Fort Sill in southwestern Oklahoma. He had pleaded not guilty.
A statement to Williams’ 12-member jury by U.S.
District Judge Stephen Friot said Williams’ plea ends the trial. Friot said Williams’ plea will result in a life prison sentence without the possibility of release.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Charges dropped for two men in murder
OKLAHOMA CITY - First-degree murder charges have been dropped against two men accused of killing a 19-year-old Oklahoma woman whose dismembered body was found in a duffel bag.
Oklahoma County prosecutors filed a motion Friday to dismiss charges against Jimmy Lee Massey Jr. and Luis Ruiz pending further investigation into the death of Carina Saunders. The motion states charges can be refiled in the future pending the outcome of the investigation. The motion was signed by District Judge Ray Elliott.
Saunders’ dismembered body was found Oct. 13, 2011, behind a grocery store in the Oklahoma City suburb of Bethany. Prosecutors filed the motion less than one month after Bethany police asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to take over the case.
Investigators have said Saunders’ death involved human trafficking and drugs.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Police: Permit not found in gas blast
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City officials said a cable company subcontractor suspected of rupturing a natural-gas line before a deadly restaurant explosion didn’t have an approved permit for the work.
Subcontractor Heartland Midwest didn’t immediately respond to Monday’s report from city officials.
A Missouri Gas Energy official has said that Heartland Midwest reported hitting a natural-gas line with an underground borer more than an hour before Tuesday night’s explosion.
The blast and ensuing fire leveled JJ’s restaurant near a busy outdoor shopping area called the Country Club Plaza. One person was killed and 15 others were injured.
Four of the injured remained hospitalized Monday at the University of Kansas Hospital, including one person who was in critical condition.
Heartland Midwest said last week that it’s cooperating with authorities.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Bill proposes adding gubernatorial power
OKLAHOMA CITY - Voters would be asked to dramatically increase the governor’s power under a bill that has sailed through a Senate committee.
The Senate General Government Committee voted 6-1 on Monday for a bill that would ask voters whether the governor should have the power to appoint the state superintendent of public instruction, labor commissioner and insurance commissioner.
All three office holders currently are elected by the people.
The bill by Oklahoma City Republican Sen. Greg Treat would send to the voters in 2014 a proposal to allow the governor to make the appointments, with Senate confirmation. Treat’s bill will next be heard by the Senate.
Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello endorsed the proposal.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 02/26/2013