Kelley legislative aide suspended after being charged with choking woman

Former Joplin resident Kolton Babb has been suspended from his job as legislative assistant to Rep. Mike Kelley, R-Lamar, after being arrested Wednesday on a domestic assault charge after he allegedly choked a 20-year-old Columbia woman.

Babb is free on a $10,000 cash bond.

From the Columbia Tribune report:

Andrew Popplewell, attorney for Kolton Babb, supplied the following statement: "Mr. Babb denies the allegations in the probable cause statement. Furthermore, it is his intent to plead not guilty in this matter at the appropriate juncture in the judicial proceedings. Due to the pending nature of the criminal case, Mr. Babb cannot comment further."

Representative Kelley commented on the seriousness of the allegations.

In a statement, Kelley said. "These are very troubling allegations that need to be fully investigated by law enforcement. Kolton has maintained his innocence in conversations with me, but this is now a matter four our legal system to resolve so that justice is served," He went on to say, "I hope that Kolton has been honest with me and that he will be able to prove his innocence, but if he is guilty of these violent actions, he should be punished to the fullest extent of the law."

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When Joplin East Middle School students and teachers were put in a warehouse on the outskirts of the school district following the May 22, 2011, tornado, they felt like they had been forgotten by Joplin R-8 Administration. Scars from the Tornado ensures that their stories of the tornado and of how they turned that warehouse into a school will never be forgotten. Scars is available in paperback and e-book formats at Amazon. com and is available in paperback form locally at Always Buying Books and Changing Hands Book Shoppe in Joplin and Pat's Books in Carthage.

R-8 spends nearly $3,000 to send four officials to Visible Learning Conference

When Joplin R-8 Director of Curriculum, Learning, and Assessment Sarah Stevens helped fired consultants Paul Bloomberg and Barb Pitchford of Core Collaborative put on a workshop on how successful their program was here, the school district was well represented.

The workshop was held at the annual Visible Learning Conference in San Antonio, Texas, and Stevens was joined by Executive Director of Elementary Education Jennifer Doshier, Executive Director of Secondary Education Jason Cravens, and Executive Director of Special Services Mark Barlass, according to expense reimbursements scheduled to be approved by the R-8 Board of Education when it meets Tuesday night.

The expense reimbursements were $115 apiece, but the district officials were booked into the Visible Learning Conference months ago, long before new board of education members Jeff Koch, Jennifer Martucci, and Gary Nodler and holdover Debbie Fort sent Core Collaborative and its $100,000+ annual price tag packing.

The bills approved at the February Board of Education meeting show $2,396 was approved for the conference.

The conference may not be the last we hear of Core Collaborative. Despite the board rejecting Core Collaborative twice, Stevens recently e-mailed teachers asking for them to share what they have learned through the consulting firm.

Even if the district is truly finished with Core Collaborative, Bloomberg's influence will live on, primarily through the $300,000 testing regimen he recommended to Stevens and the executive directors and which the Board of Education approved.

It is also likely that the district will continue to buy educational materials from Corwin Press, a company that employs Bloomberg as a consultant and which sponsored the Visible Learning Conference.
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Find out the behind-the-scenes story of the rise and fall of former Superintendent C. J. Huff, former City Manager Mark Rohr, and former master developer David Wallace, as well as the lowdown on the events and actions that have led to an FBI investigation of Joplin City Councilman Mike Woolston in Silver Lining in a Funnel Cloud: Greed, Corruption, and the Joplin Tornado, available in paperback and e-book formats.

Kelley believes assistant innocent on charges of choking woman

Rep. Mike Kelley, R-Lamar, told John Hacker of the Carthage Press earlier this evening that he believes his legislative assistant, Kolton Babb, is innocent of assaulting a woman by choking her. The assault charges were filed in Boone County Circuit Court.

“He's told me he didn't do anything,” Kelly said. “We live under a legal system that says a person is innocent until proven guilty. Based on my conversations with Kolton, I believe he's an innocent man who has been charged with a crime. I believe he will be vindicated and he works for me until a court says otherwise.”

Babb, who is originally from Jasper County, contacted The Press after we spoke to Kelley, but he said he would have to decline comment Thursday evening.

Babb is free on $10,000 cash bond.

Carthage child's death raises questions about furniture safety

The death of Isaiah Wiggin, 2, Carthage, after a television set on a bedroom dresser fell and killed him, raises questions about furniture safety. The issue was explored in the accompanying report from KOAM's Chloe Leshner:

"The way it happened, the odds were very highly against it, but just the way it happened unfortunately it took the child's life," says Carthage Police Chief Greg Dagnan.

The arrangement inside the house was not uncommon; the family had an old television set on a dresser in the spare bedroom. While it was ruled an accident, even the police department was shocked that the TV had fallen. Manuals often state that if the weight of the TV is too much for a piece of furniture to handle, it should be secured to a wall.KOAM TV 7

Springfield man arrested after threatening to blow up church

A man who is charged with threatening to blow up a Springfield church was given a suspended sentence earlier this year after violating a protection order, according to Greene County Circuit Court records.

The full order of protection was granted August 12, 2014, against Aaron Woodard with court records indicating he lived in the same house with the person who asked for the protection order.

From KOLR's coverage:

It happened at Immanuel Baptist Church in Springfield on July 5th, more than a month after a mass shooting took the lives of nine people a South Carolina church.

On the Sunday morning in Springfield, 70 people were in Immanuel Baptist Church.

Court documents reveal Woodard said he was "going to murder everybody" in the congregation.

Thankfully, Woodard was escorted out and no one was injured.

Bond was set at $10,000.

Legislative aide to Rep. Kelley charged with choking woman

Kolton M. Babb, 22, the legislative aide to Rep. Mike Kelley, R-Lamar, is free on $10,000 cash bond after being charged with felony domestic assault in Boone County Circuit Court after allegedly placing a rag soaked with chemicals in a woman's mouth and choking her until she passed out.

As a condition of his bond, Babb is to have no contact with the woman.

Babb, who now lives in Columbia, formerly lived in Joplin and attended College Heights Christian School and Missouri Southern State University.

A Columbia Tribune account of the arrest says Babb and the woman were talking about sex at about 4 a.m.when the alleged attack occurred.

Second intern accuses Levota of sexual harassment

A second intern has leveled sexual harassment allegations against Sen. Paul Levota, D-Independence. The Levota allegations are the latest development in the scandals surrounding the intern programs in the Missouri Legislature.

The initial revelation of sexting between Speaker of the House John Diehl and a Missouri Southern State University intern led to Diehl's resignation.

Senator in intern scandal removed from Ethics Committee

The Missouri Senate has removed Sen. Paul Levota, D-Independence, from the Ethics Committee and the timing for that is right since the committee is about to begin investigating allegations that Levota sexually harassed an intern.

Hartzler: Labeling law informs consumers at a reasonable cost

(From Fourth District Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler)

Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) today voted to give consumers clarity and uniformity in the labeling of food products containing genetically engineered ingredients. H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, which Hartzler co-sponsors, passed with a bipartisan vote of 2.

“This bipartisan bill addresses the problems caused by the current patchwork of states' various, and sometimes contradictory, labeling laws for genetically modified food which have caused uncertainty for food producers and threatens higher prices for all” Hartzler said. “Consumers in Missouri and across the country want more information about how their food is produced, yet these disparate laws have made that more difficult. Creating a uniform national policy regarding GMO labeling, similar to the USDA's popular Certified Organic Program, is the free market solution that will give consumers access to the information they want, while creating market opportunities for producers and informing consumers at a reasonable cost.”

Excessive heat expected this weekend for Joplin area

(From National Weather Service)

.EXCESSIVE HEAT RETURNS FRIDAY...

.TEMPERATURES WILL WARM INTO THE LOW TO MID 90S ON FRIDAY ACROSS
SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN AND SOUTHWESTERN
MISSOURI. THESE TEMPERATURES...ALONG WITH A VERY HUMID AIRMASS...
WILL RESULT IN HEAT INDICES BETWEEN 103 AND 109 DEGREES ACROSS
THE ADVISORY AREA FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING.

HOT AND HUMID WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE WEEKEND...AND IT
IS POSSIBLE THAT THE ADVISORY WILL EVENTUALLY NEED TO BE EXPANDED
TO THE EAST THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

KSZ073-097-101-MOZ055-066>068-077>079-088>090-093-094-101-102-
241200-
/O.CON.KSGF.HT.Y.0003.150724T1700Z-150725T0200Z/
BOURBON-CRAWFORD-CHEROKEE-BENTON-VERNON-ST. CLAIR-HICKORY-BARTON-
CEDAR-POLK-JASPER-DADE-GREENE-NEWTON-LAWRENCE-MCDONALD-BARRY-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...FORT SCOTT...PITTSBURG...
BAXTER SPRINGS...COLUMBUS...WARSAW...COLE CAMP...NEVADA...
APPLETON CITY...OSCEOLA...HERMITAGE...LAMAR...EL DORADO SPRINGS...
STOCKTON...BOLIVAR...JOPLIN...CARTHAGE...GREENFIELD...
SPRINGFIELD...NEOSHO...AURORA...MOUNT VERNON...ANDERSON...
PINEVILLE...MONETT...CASSVILLE
429 PM CDT THU JUL 23 2015

...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 9 PM CDT FRIDAY...

* TIMING AND AREAS AFFECTED...ALONG AND WEST OF A CASSVILLE TO
  SPRINGFIELD TO WARSAW LINE FOR FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EARLY
  EVENING.

* TEMPERATURE...TEMPERATURES WILL WARM INTO THE LOW TO MID 90S
  OVER THE ADVISORY AREA. HEAT INDICES WILL BE BETWEEN 103 AND 109
  DEGREES.

* IMPACTS...THE COMBINATION OF HIGH TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY
  WILL RESULT IN AN INCREASED POTENTIAL FOR HEAT RELATED
  ILLNESSES.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES IS
EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY
WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE
POSSIBLE.

TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTIONS IF YOU WORK OR SPEND TIME OUTSIDE. WHEN
POSSIBLE...RESCHEDULE STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES TO EARLY MORNING OR
EVENING. KNOW THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT
STROKE. WEAR LIGHT WEIGHT AND LOOSE FITTING CLOTHING WHEN
POSSIBLE AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER.

TO REDUCE RISK DURING OUTDOOR WORK...THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND
HEALTH ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDS SCHEDULING FREQUENT REST BREAKS
IN SHADED OR AIR CONDITIONED ENVIRONMENTS. ANYONE OVERCOME BY
HEAT SHOULD BE MOVED TO A COOL AND SHADED LOCATION. HEAT STROKE
IS AN EMERGENCY...CALL 9 1 1.