Child dominatrix case: Two plead not guilty

The latest development in that case out of Blue Springs:

A man and woman made initial federal court appearances Thursday to face charges that they sold a child to work as a sexual dominatrix, both online and in person.

| Sara Shepherd

Bathroom reading: Sen. to write book on airport arrest

Remember Larry Craig, the senator who got arrested for playing footsie in the men's room...with a man who turned out to be an undercover police officer trying to crack down on lewd behavior there? He's coming out with a book.

He says it will focus on the "state of politics" in Washington. But his personal story, including the bathroom incident, will be in there.

Note: I stole my headline from the story.

| Sara Shepherd

This could be a movie

An FBI agent from Phoenix has been indicted in Los Angeles on 18 charges that accuse him of having an affair with the wife of a man he was investigating.

| Sara Shepherd

Hat tip: Thanks, eephus!

Don't blame the doughnuts -- LA hires diet coach for police force

The Los Angeles police department believes it's the first to hire a full-time diet coach to help officers learn and apply healthy eating habits and drop pounds.

Doughnuts may be the punch line for many cop jokes, but they're not the problem, Parker said. Long hours and the on-the-go nature of police work make it hard to find time to eat well and stay in shape, she said.

| Sara Shepherd

UK to wage anti-knife crime campaign

Apparently the UK is having so much trouble with stabbings that they've launched a social campaign. This makes me think of those "Talk to your children about sex" billboards.

The campaign, to be run over the next three years, was developed and written by young people who have themselves been affected by knife crime.

A series of ads aimed at mothers, encouraging them to talk about the issue with their children, will run simultaneously.

| Sara Shepherd

Texas high court: Sect children should be sent back home

From the AP:

In a crushing blow to the state's massive seizure of children from a polygamist sect's ranch, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children should go back to their parents.

The ruling shatters one of the largest child-custody cases in U.S. history.

| Sara Shepherd

This photo is from the first day of child custody hearings, back in April.

Four charged in Olathe carjacking

Police say three adults and a 17-year-old -- all from KCK -- were responsible for shooting a man in the head and face and taking his phone, wallet and Jeep last week in Olathe.

| Sara Shepherd

No death penalty for killer of 14-year-old mother-to-be

For court junkies, here's a good trial story out of Wichita today, with a nifty sidebar.

A jury spared the life of 51-year-old Ted Burnett, who was convicted of killing a 14-year-old girl. Everett Gentry, the father of the girl's unborn child -- who got her pregnant when she was 13 -- testified that he paid Burnett $500 worth of cash and drugs to strangle the girl.

Burnett strangled Chelsea, Gentry said, after he'd driven them to a secluded field in Butler County, where they buried the girl face down in a shallow grave. Before killing her, Gentry said, he'd talked to Chelsea about what she would name her child. "Alexa," he remembered her saying.

| Sara Shepherd

Have you seen Bobbie Newton?

Police today released a new photo they hope will help find the Kansas City, Kan., man, who has been missing about a week.

| Sara Shepherd

Peanuts banned from parts of STL stadium

The River City Rascals last night offered fans their first chance to sit in a peanut-free zone.

And on July 21, Section 328 down the right field line in Busch Stadium will go peanut-free, allowing allergic Cardinals fans to watch a game without worrying that peanuts will cause a reaction.

| Sara Shepherd

Supermodel (yes, it was Naomi Campbell) charged in 'luggage rage' incident

Naomi should probably Simmer. Down. Now. She just got charged for her latest rampage:

Naomi Campbell has been charged with assaulting two police officers during a "luggage rage" incident at Heathrow Airport, her lawyer and prosecutors said Thursday.

| Sara Shepherd

Freight train maims sunbathing girls

The girls, 13 and 14, apparently fell asleep while sunbathing on some train tracks in New Hampshire. One lost half her leg, the other, her foot.

| Sara Shepherd

Shovel attack du jour

Doesn't sound much like a friend to me.

| Sara Shepherd

Most messed-up. Wedding pictures. Ever.

Nancy Grace takes on case photos that allegedly show polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs "deep kissing" child brides -- one of them is a 12-year-old.

| Sara Shepherd

This just in: Burned, headless body found along I-70

UPDATE: We now have a few more details...

The county sheriff’s department said it had received a call about 9 a.m. Wednesday after an area resident out repairing a fence found the body near Davis Road.

Investigators say the nude body, partially burned, belonged to a white or mixed-race male about 6 feet tall and weighing about 200 pounds. The hands and head had been cut off.

An autopsy is being performed this morning at the Jackson County medical examiner’s office, but investigators said there were no identifying tattoos, broken bones or other irregularities to help in identifying the body.

Hopefully we'll have more details on this greusome discovery later this afternoon. From reporter Kevin Hoffmann:

Authorities in Lafayette County have confirmed that a human body has been found along Interstate 70 near Concordia. Initial reports indicate that the body had been burned and decapitated, and that the hands had been cut off. No other details were immediately available.

| Sara Shepherd

KCK bar copes with bartender's murder

Nice read from Malcom Garcia, who paints a picture of the Gossip Inn after a popular longtime bartender was shot and killed when she refused to serve a young man without seeing his ID.

There was never any trouble in here before the shooting.

In the old days, recalls Papa John, if you had a problem, you took it outside and came back inside after you’d cooled off. He always saw Lori behind the bar on Thursdays when he came in to clean, which he does part time. That guy, he says, he just gunned her down for doing her job.

| Sara Shepherd

Who killed Jeffrey Rogers?

Family and friends of Kansas City, Kan., homicide victim Jeffrey J. Rogers gathered Wednesday to urge anyone with information on his death to come forward.

Rogers was shot multiple times after four men forced their way into his house in the 8400 block of Tauromee Avenue on April 9.

“Family members are just puzzled why someone would want to take his life,” said John Frishman, who is Rogers’ uncle.

| Sara Shepherd

Good cop, bad cop

A hero-cop story from the always-dramatic New York Post:

An off-duty Queens detective was slashed last night as he fended off two bottle-wielding thugs who attacked a woman in the lobby of a Chinatown condo - fatally shooting one and wounding the other, authorities said.

For those concerned about balance, there's a "perv-cop" story right next to this one on their Web site, about a police captain who allegedly trolled the subways for gay sex.

| Sara Shepherd

Police Scanner: May highlights, installation No. 1

Here are some of my favorite scanner dispatches from this month, overheard on the evening shift. May was pretty busy, what with all the folks taking off their clothes and solicitors dressing as the opposite sex. Watch for additional installments tomorrow and Saturday.

May 5: "Calling party says his roommate is intoxicated and messing with him and his girlfriend...again."

May 6: "In reference to a black male. The calling party states he dropped off a large black bag in front of the residence. It smells very bad, and it is very big. He tried to confront the suspect but he became belligerent."

May 7: "All he's got on now are blue boxers...white male, dark hair. Same one we were chasing earlier."

May 8: Leawood dispatchers reported that someone called 911 because a snapping turtle was chasing their dog. There were no injuries.

May 11: "He showed his penis to the caller and now he's walking to the wooded area."

"Black female, no shirt, black shorts, no shoes. Walking northbound...and it looks like she's with two other large females and two little boys."

May 12: "Reported soliciting, 24 and Prospect. There's a black male wearing a wig."

| Sara Shepherd

Houston wants cops to stay beardless

Houston is willing to spend $150,000 to defend itself against a lawsuit over its ban on police officers having beards. They want clean-cut cops, but some say the police discriminates against men with skin conditions.

"...we're basically saying we want new police officers, but we don't want police officers with beards."

| Sara Shepherd

Hat Tip to James!

'Try Legal Weed'

From Weed, Calif., where a beer brewer is in a tussle with the fed's over his supposed-to-be-funny bottle-cap slogan. They say his packaging alludes to marijuana use.

So maybe his brews do include Shastafarian Porter and Mountain High IPA. But 61-year-old Vaune Dillmann says: "This is ludicrous, bizarre, like meeting Big Brother face-to-face. Forget freedom of speech and the 1st Amendment. They are the regulatory gods, a judge and jury all rolled into one. This is a life-or-death issue for my business."

| Sara Shepherd

Another DWI checkpoint -- tomorrow!

It's happening sometime Friday night through early Saturday morning somewhere in eastern Jackson County, according to a press release just sent out by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

Officers from several agencies in the Jackson County Traffic Safety Task Force will stop motorists to check for intoxicated drivers. For those of you concerned about who's paying for it, the checkpoint is being funded with grant money from the Missouri Department of Transportation Highway Safety Division and the Missouri Safety Center.

| Sara Shepherd

Overland Park DUI patrol results

Overland Park police arrested four people for driving under the influence during a weekend DUI saturation patrol.

The patrol began at 11 p.m. Friday and lasted until 3 a.m. Officers stopped 12 vehicles and also issued four hazardous moving violations and two other tickets, according to police Sgt. Ray Tisinger. The effort was intended to reduce alcohol-related accidents and discourage impaired driving, Tisinger said.

| Sara Shepherd

Drunk boaters arrested at Smithville Lake stakeout

Our new summer intern, Nathan Gill, has this from the water patrol:

The Missouri State Water Patrol arrested three boaters for operating a boat while intoxicated, and gave 46 others warnings and citations during a Sunday stakeout on Smithville Lake.

Officers, who had set up a sobriety checkpoint near the Route W bridge, stopped 61 boats and gave 14 sobriety tests in an effort to discourage drinking and boating. It is illegal to operate a boat in Missouri with a blood alcohol level of 0.10 percent or higher.

According to the patrol, about one third of all boating accidents involve alcohol, and sobriety checkpoints are a tool used to deter boaters from drinking while operating watercraft.

| Sara Shepherd

"Now The Hell Will Start"

There's a new book out, "Now The Hell Will Start," about the case of Herman Perry, an African-American soldier who shot and killed a white lieutenant during World War II -- and then escaped by fleeing into the Burmese jungle, where he married into the local tribe. It's written by Brendan Koerner -- you might recognize the name if you read Slate's Explainer column. I haven't picked it up yet, but it sounds very interesting.

Here's a mini-site dedicated to the book.