Weeding out controversy

Local Botanical Garden gets caught up in the middle of some political "dirt."

According to the Chicago Sun Times, back in 2001, then State Senator Barack Obama gave some grant money to a supporter to build a garden, and that garden never got built. The Illinois Attorney General is now investigating. The Garden is called "Englewood Botanical Garden."

Thing is, there's an Englewood Botanical Garden here in Independence, Missouri. And when you do a Google search for "Englewood Botanical Garden" the local garden's website is one of the first to show up. So... guess who has been getting a bunch of angry phone calls the last several days?? Russ Lawrence wanted to talk about it today, to set the record straight:

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE STORY

Cats Killed

It's bad enough that a Lawrence neighborhood is coping with the pain of losing three families pets in three weeks. But the Lawrence Humane Society says it's part of a disturbing pattern: a significant rise in animal cruelty cases in the area.

Click here to see the story

Guilty

A woman was convicted today in a murder for hire plot. She conspired to kill her own husband. The case is more than three years old now, because it took that long for the evidence to fall into place.

I remember covering this murder when it first happened, and Jeremy Warrior's uncle told me back then that he thought Jeremy's wife was involved in his nephew's death. Jeremy was a hard working man, lived a good life, stayed away from drugs and violence. He had discussed divorcing his wife because she was cheating on him. Now she's convicted of first degree murder and conspiring to kill him to get his life insurance money. So many lives ruined.

Click here to see the story

A rising star

I always like to celebrate others successes. It's just good karma.

So when I opened up my Apple iTunes email on Tuesday and saw that the featured artist of the week was a Kansas City band, I was so pleased for them. Yesterday, I got to meet them and do a story about their recent successes... if you'd like to see the story CLICK HERE

Acrobatic Airplanes

So some people probably saw my Twitter about flying in a small acrobatic airplane trying to paint 9-11 in the sky? It didn't work out so well because it was cloudy and rainy.... but anyway....

HERE'S THE STORY

Tail Date

So you're single and dating and having trouble meeting Mr or Ms Right? A single guy in Kansas City tried a unique approach. He needed a date for the Chiefs game this weekend, so his marketing mind came up with TailDating. he advertised on his blog and the internet responded. Will Bob Roth find true love on his Tail Date?

CHECK OUT THE STORY HERE

Church Arson

You know that saying "there's a special place in hell for...."
Yes it's cliche. But I think it's an appropriate cliche for the person responsible for setting this 102 year-old church on fire:

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE STORY

AND.....
This marks the second day in a row I've covered a church falling victim to criminals.
Yesterday's story was about gang graffiti marking another community church:

CLICK HERE to watch that story.