This Hour: Latest Missouri news, sports, business and entertainment - KAIT-Jonesboro, AR-News, weather, sports

This Hour: Latest Missouri news, sports, business and entertainment

Posted: Updated:

ST LOUIS-SHOOTING

3 teens injured in St. Louis shooting

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Three St. Louis teenagers are hospitalized in serious condition after a shooting.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the teens - two 14-year-olds and a 15-year-old - told police they were walking down a street Monday night when a man opened fire. Police are looking for a suspect believed to be 18 to 20 years old.

One 14-year-old was shot in the left knee, the other in the right shoulder. The 15-year-old was hit in the right ankle.

SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE

KC Union Station reopens after package detonated

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Kansas City's Union Station is back in business after being evacuated while police investigated a suspicious package.

The package was found early Tuesday near the station's north side. Police closed off surrounding streets while investigators and bomb-sniffing dogs inspected the package.

A police robot eventually blew it up.

Police spokesman Capt. Tye Grant says the package was an empty Styrofoam cooler inside a cardboard box.

WOUNDED VET-HOSPICE

Wounded Iraq vet now says he will remain alive

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A paralyzed Iraq war veteran from Kansas City who said earlier this spring that he was ready to die has changed his mind.

Tomas Young said in March that he would stop taking food, water and medication so he could die. He is in hospice care at his home for wounds he suffered in 2004 in Iraq.

Young, who became an anti-war activist, drew national attention when he made his announcement.

On Sunday, Young announced that he would try to stay alive until his pain medication no longer eased his pain. He says he doesn't want his wife and mother to suffer earlier than is necessary.

The Kansas City Star reports that Young made his announcement during a screening of a 2007 documentary that discusses his life.

BRIDGETON-LANDFILL

Extra patrols planned in Bridgeton

BRIDGETON, Mo. (AP) - Extra police will be patrolling the area around the Bridgeton Landfill, where several hundred people are being evacuated over the next few weeks as the smell from the landfill is expected to temporarily worsen.

The landfill owner is paying to put up residents in hotels while work is performed to remove pipes at the landfill that sits near St. Louis' Lambert Airport. The landfill has been responsible for a strong odor for several months.

The removal of the pipes is expected to help reduce the smell once the work is complete. But the removal process itself will make the smell worse through mid-June, prompting the temporary evacuations.

Work was supposed to begin Monday but was delayed by rain. It isn't clear when the work will start.

JUVENILE LIFE SENTENCES

Mo. life sentence for juveniles still in flux

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Prison sentences for Missouri juveniles convicted of first-degree murder remain uncertain because lawmakers did not pass a new sentencing scheme before adjourning.

Under state law, people under 18 convicted of first-degree murder are automatically sentenced to life without parole. But a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision said such automatic sentences are unconstitutional.

The high court said states had to consider an offender's upbringing and role in the crime before sentencing a juvenile to life without parole.

Republican Sen. Bob Dixon, of Springfield, proposed legislation that would have left life without parole as a possibility but also would have allowed juveniles to be given a 50-year prison term. But it stalled in the closing days of the Legislature's session that ended last week.

UTILITY REGULATORS

Measure allows PSC to intervene in federal cases

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is considering whether to sign legislation that would let state regulators intervene in federal utility cases.

Missouri's Public Service Commission was allowed to appear before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission until last year, when the state Supreme Court ruled it had no authority to do so.

The ruling came in the case of an interstate natural gas pipeline operator. The company wanted to prevent the Missouri regulators from intervening when it sought federal permission to build and operate new facilities and change prices.

A bill restoring the commission's authority cleared the Legislature before it adjourned last week. The measure is now on the governor's desk.

MACY'S-ST LOUIS

Macy's closure a tough loss for downtown St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (AP) - The announcement that the downtown Macy's store will close in St. Louis is a blow to the downtown area, and it could impact a major redevelopment project.

Macy's said Monday it will close the store this summer, saying there simply aren't enough customers there to keep it open.

The downtown Macy's is in the historic Railway Exchange Building. Tax revenue from sales at the store were supposed to help finance a $112 million renovation to turn the building into office space again. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the closing of Macy's could slow redevelopment of the building.

SPRINGFIELD-MARIJUANA

Springfield won't lower marijuana penalties

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - Springfield's city council has again rejected a proposal to lower penalties for small amounts of marijuana.

Supporters gathered enough signatures last summer to limit the penalties for marijuana possession, but council members declined to put the proposal on the November ballot. Instead, the council approved the petition and then repealed it.

An alternate bill was then drafted and would have gone on the August ballot.

Both bills would have required the city to charge some first- and second-time offenders who had 35 grams or less of marijuana with municipal infractions, rather than criminal misdemeanors.

The Springfield News-Leader reports neither alternative received much support from the council Monday night. Most said if marijuana is going to be decriminalized, it should be done at the state level.