Plus one lucky lady.
I'm Brian Webb.
A freak accident kills a young woman as she's driving down I-70.
Story next on KCTV5 News at 10.
News that makes a difference.
This is KCTV5 News at 10.
Good evening everyone, I'm Dee Griffin.
The Democrats attack, the President responds.
The coming budget battle is the focus of a presidential visit and a Democratic TV blitz.
I'm Dave Helling.
Tonight, my exclusive truth check look at the commercials and the President's Kansas
City appearance.
The new ad from the Democratic National Committee accuses George Bush of diverting money from
some federal program.
The Bush budget raids the Medicare trust fund.
Now he's using gimmicks to hide a raid on Social Security.
Because of an expected drop in tax collections, Republicans admit that part of one Medicare
trust fund will be used and repaid in the Bush budget.
But there is no planned use of Social Security trust funds yet.
And there is no threat to any current Social Security or Medicare benefits.
But the ad may be more misleading when it accuses George Bush of budget problems since
some Democrats voted for the budget and the tax cut.
This summer's tax rebate was partially a Democratic idea.
And because no Democrats are talking about tax increases or budget cuts to protect Social
Security or Medicare, Bush made that point at a late morning stop in the Northland.
All I do is rest my case with the people.
And the people wanted tax relief, the people want fiscal sanity in Washington.
But the President can also stretch rhetoric as well.
Listen to these two promises made during his Tuesday speech in Independence.
Make sure prescription drugs are available for seniors.
In order to make sure there's a Social Security system around tomorrow, to make sure there's
one in the future, we must give younger workers the option to manage their own money.
In fact, though, providing a Medicare drug benefit and a partially private Social Security
could cost a trillion dollars in just a few years.
The government simply won't have a trillion dollars for those promises unless the economy
makes a dramatic, almost immediate turnaround.
And remember this, both parties have in some sense spent the Social Security and Medicare
trust funds in the past to either pay off debt or on general operations.
Dee, two other quick notes.
The President says he'll give his tax rebate to an unnamed charity, and he says he paid
last night when he ate dinner with Governor Bill Graves.
Dee?
Hi, Dave, and speaking of money, a move to get the economy going again seems to have
a little initial effect tonight.
At its lowest point in seven years, Greenspan chopped a quarter of a percent off the key
federal funds rate to 3.5 percent.
It's the seventh cut this year to help stimulate the growing U.S. economy.
The President tried his push with the tax rebates, but one market watcher says that
is hurting in other ways.
This $38 billion that Bush has thrown in with this tax stimulus is being offset by the loss
in interest that many savers would have been getting had interest rates not falling.
Now, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 146 points to close at 10,147.
The Nasdaq tumbled 50 points to end at 1831.
A freak accident kills a woman driving down Interstate 70, and tonight police are trying
to figure out what happened.
A huge steel plate crashed through the 25-year-old's windshield.
KCTV5's Brian Webb talked with her family tonight and shed some light on the accident.
Thousands of drivers come down I-70 every day.
Trisha Walker came at exactly the wrong time.
Everything.
Uh-huh.
I just loved everything about her.
Trisha was on her way to pick up her fiance when this 37-pound piece of steel came crashing
through her windshield.
It hit her on the head, then passed all the way through the back of the car.
Now, according to police, several drivers noticed Trisha was in trouble, that she was
unconscious, but her car was still moving forward.
So they boxed her in with their vehicles and forced her to the side.
Then some nurses pulled over to see if they could help, but there was nothing they could
do.
I feel cheated, I feel robbed.
She shouldn't have been gone, not yet.
Twenty-five years old is the prime of your life, you know, and with Trisha, she was like
dynamite, you know.
We're satisfied that at this point it's an accident, but we sure would like some answers
on this.
Police aren't sure if the plate fell off a moving vehicle or was kicked up by a passing
vehicle, but Trisha's family wants answers, even though knowing still won't bring her
back.
A young, beautiful woman at the age of 25, she's gone because somebody wanted to be careless.
And I need to know what happened, but as far as helping things, I don't think that's going
to help a bit.
You know, we had a viewer call us tonight and said, you know what that steel plate is?
It's a counterbalance on a railroad crossing gate.
And take a look, it looks exactly like it, same size, same shape, probably about the
same weight, so that gentleman probably is right.
Now, of course, there are laws on the books supposed to keep you from having things flying
off your truck or vehicle, but finding out who that was and how it happened, well, Dave,
that's another matter.
Any indications that criminal activity might be involved?
They really think this was an accident.
If someone would have dropped it, it wouldn't have come through the windshield like it did.
They're thinking it's an accident, but finding out any more than that's going to be really
difficult.
All right, an amazing tragedy.
Brian Webb, thanks.
All right.
New details tonight.
The federal case against pharmacist Robert Courtney.
There's been a new court filing in the cancer drug scandal.
The judge in charge of the case feels that Courtney poses a threat to the community and
committed a crime of violence, and that's why he's still behind bars.
The detention order obtained by KCTV5 shows that Courtney's motivation to dilute cancer
drugs was to pay $600,000 in back taxes.
Courtney says he paid the IRS back, but the government says the defendant said a tax problem
was his motive for committing charged crime.
The court goes on to list more than $10 million of his assets, including his Northland home,
and lists his latest financial moves that prove he is what the court calls a flight
risk.
FBI agents are looking into a tip that Courtney allegedly tried to transfer $2 million to
the Cayman Islands.
Courtney says he did not make that transfer.
Prosecutors also stated that Courtney's father tried to move $200,000 from a business account
to Courtney's wife's personal account on Friday.
Courtney rebutted that money was to pay his lawyer bills.
And the FBI says it's calling in more investigators to help the 16 agents and support staff already
on the case look through years of records.
More than 300 students will have to find a new place to go to school this fall.
Banneker Charter School's charter has been revoked now by Central Missouri State University.
Banneker was one of 17 charter schools in Kansas City.
Tonight it is the first to fail.
CMSU says the school had financial problems and didn't get the proper building permits.
Now will the rest of the city's public schools be ready for the first day of school next
week?
KCTV5's Terry Schaefer is live now down at school board headquarters.
Terry, with the answer perhaps.
The answer, Dave, is almost.
The superintendent tells me that by today or at least by Monday all the schools should
have the books they need but not some important supplies.
When we say all, we have to make a distinction between core curricular or supplementary.
And when people sometimes don't get their supplementary materials, they equate that
with being just as important as core curricular materials.
But if that person will let us know what school and what is missing, we will move expeditiously
to get them what they need.
What is supplementary in your mind?
Well that's anything that isn't part of the core curricular material.
It would be like let's say workbooks, practice books, things of that nature.
Now how about teachers?
Well there will be enough of those.
We heard tonight from the superintendent that there are only five certified teacher vacancies
but all the classrooms are not going to be filled with certified teachers.
More than 100 classrooms will have long-term substitutes and non-certified people who are
only experts in their field but with no background in education and no background in teaching.
Also tonight the school board okayed a $265,000 contract to train recruits to recruit teachers
for the Kansas City, Missouri school district.
There is only one full-time recruiter in this district.
The rest, 25 of them, are part-time.
Dave, back to you.
All right, Terry Schaeffer, let's hope the opening goes well next week.
Let's hope so.
Thanks.
Dozens of local families face a daycare dilemma tonight.
The Children's Choice Learning Center near the Amistar Casino will close its doors for
good in 11 days.
The 24-hour day center serves 126 children.
Well, Children's Choice was open seven days a week, even on holidays, and that's why Kim
Williams and her husband enrolled their son Tyler when he was eight weeks old.
As she tells me, this closing leaves her family in a lurch.
We were extremely fortunate because it was one of the things we looked at before we even
started thinking about having kids, knowing that our jobs are going to be very hectic
and with all of the different requirements, meaning weekends and holidays.
Now, if you need help finding daycare, we found a special website to help you out.
It's called kidcare.net.
Type in your zip code and you'll find information on hundreds of centers in the area.
A scribbled note written in Russian leads police to the body of a missing three-year-old
boy tonight.
The nationwide manhunt for a father accused of killing his own family leaves the news
around the world tonight.
Investigators found the worst, a boy stuffed in a box and buried on a Sacramento road.
The main suspect is his father, Nikolay Soltys.
Soltys' pregnant wife, two cousins, an aunt, and uncle were all stabbed to death yesterday.
He is a Ukrainian immigrant who has a history of mental illness.
A group of contest makers could go directly to jail if found guilty of rigging McDonald's
Monopoly game, the Justice Department charged eight people today with tampering with the
game as far back as 1995.
The government says the man who oversaw the game's promotions made off with $13 million
in prizes and funneled high-value game pieces to his cohorts, many of them from the same
family.
McDonald's says it did not know about the scam, but it plans to launch a new $10 million
game soon.
NASCAR is making an attempt tonight to make the high-speed sport of stock car racing a
bit safer.
Six months after the death of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, scientists released their
findings on what killed him.
NASCAR showed that his safety belt did break in the accident, but it was a combination
of factors.
It says it killed him.
Committing to the installation of crash data recorders by the beginning of the next race
season.
Engineers also found that Earnhardt's helmet turned to the right after his car was hit.
That exposed the back of his skull.
He then hit the wall and suffered a blow to the back of his head at between 157 and 160
miles an hour.
U.S. Senate conservative Jesse Helms is expected to announce his retirement tomorrow.
Tonight, there's talk that a prominent group of North Carolina Republicans want Elizabeth
Dole to run for Helms' seat.
Mrs. Dole says she's strongly considering it.
The Powerball jackpot has hit the second-largest amount in its history.
Kansas Citians will be out there trying their luck for the big prize.
Many of them bought their tickets today, along with betters across the country.
The pot could grow even bigger.
You see, the deadline to purchase tickets is 7 p.m. tomorrow night.
A lot of people will go to the lines before then.
I guess the jackpot up to $200 million.
And interestingly enough, it was 200 million degrees in weather today.
You could use a little luck in the weather department, couldn't you?
200 million degrees.
Katie's up next with her weather forecast.
Also, still ahead on KCTV5 News at 10, a twister caught on tape stirs up a lot of trouble in
Florida.
This backyard is set up for family fun, but all the tall weeds and grass next door mean
no one's enjoying it.
The story coming up next in Call for Action.
Plus see the face behind a medical miracle.
More on the battery-powered heart.
Stay with us.
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On the first day of school, you want to feel like you are totally in fashion.
You want your own style.
Shopping is fun at Walmart.
Oh yeah.
In the fall, the best thing to wear is jeans.
You can get any type of jean you want.
Like different styles.
All the different colors.
Walmart has the great prices, the great selection.
Yeah, it's a lot more reasonable.
You get twice as much clothes for the price.
They can get two pairs maybe instead of one.
I don't know, it's kind of a hip outfit.
I like it a lot.
Yeah, they would go limp in a while.
Yeah, when you dress cool, you have a positive attitude and you just shine.
Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey is
proud to present an experience you'll never forget.
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Kansas City's premier circus opens Wednesday, September 5th.
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Because isn't it time someone looked after you?
And tonight's proper action, a family fights to enjoy its backyard.
The Kansas City Kansas family says tall grass and weeds next door harbor rats and snakes,
which threaten its outdoor fun.
KCTV5's Krista Claus says they blame the city and the property's owner.
Candy Worthy had no problem with her next door neighbors until they moved away and no
one took care of the property.
And the next thing I know, I'm getting stuck with rats and snakes and plenty enough mosquitoes
and you can't even sit outside and that's bad.
The grass is taller in some places than Candy's six foot fence.
And last year a rat bit Candy's son Jimmy while he played in his backyard.
They swelled up so big, he had to take medication.
His doctor told me to do everything I can do to keep this grass down.
Candy says the city mowed once this year, but once is not enough and her hands are tied.
She says her husband tried to cut the grass last year, but police warned him to stay off
the property.
We want to do it, but my husband don't want to go to jail for keeping grass cut.
A spokesman for Kansas City Kansas says abandoned property like this plagues the city, but it
doesn't have the manpower to keep up with the problem.
The city pays 11 inspectors to keep tabs on 6,000 abandoned lots, but property owners are
responsible for maintaining land even if they're not living there.
This property is owned by Norman Wax, who's in the Wyandotte County Jail.
Wax could not be reached for comment.
Candy wants the city to tear down the house and mow the lot regularly.
Until then, she'd rather watch her children play in the street than in her own backyard.
I have four kids that actually walk in and that would like to play in their own backyard,
but they can't because of this problem that's been going on.
It's been going on for two years and I'm just tired of it.
And after our calls, the city mowed the lot.
With Call 4 Action, I'm Krista Claus, KCTV5.
Kansas City Kansas and Wyandotte County say they need help keeping vacant property mowed.
Neighborhood groups can help, but it's always a good idea to talk to the city or the property
owner first.
Well, a tornado touched down outside Miami's Florida today, causing quite an uproar.
One of two funnel clouds you see here dropped from the dark skies and kicked up a small
debris cloud.
No one was hurt and not much damage is reported.
That's pretty incredible.
We have not had much problem with tornadoes this year.
Thank goodness.
Knocked on wood, I guess.
But boy, we've had problems with heat, Katie.
Absolutely.
Today, one of them, maybe not 200 million degrees, but certainly a very hot day today.
But our weather begins with what was in the sky tonight.
I've been telling you over the past few nights that you'd be able to see the space station
and the space shuttle fly by.
Tonight it flew by at 838.
This is what it looked like graphically as it was moving from the sky from the southwest
to the southeast.
But we actually caught it on tape tonight.
We were all outside, video rolling.
And I'll step out of the way so you can see it.
Keep an eye right there.
You can see it traveling quickly.
It's 240 miles above the Earth as it flew towards the southeastern sky, lowering in
altitude as it went.
Now, you'll have another chance tomorrow night at 919.
It'll be lower in the sky and it won't travel as far, but you will be able to see it.
And that's the last time it'll be visible on this run.
There it goes again.
Let me show you right now our temperature, at least today, was 100 degrees.
That's the hottest it has been this summer in Kansas City.
On the Almanac, you can see that normally it should be around 86 degrees, the record
104.
That was back in 1936.
It's 88 degrees right now.
And right now it feels like it's 90 degrees outside.
Winds are out of the south at 15 miles per hour.
That's at KCI.
Let me show you the neighborhood weather networks and you'll see what it was like in your neighborhood
where the high temperature in Gladstone today was 99.
How about 100 in Tonganoxie today and it was 99 degrees in Blue Spring.
You can see we had quite a bit of wind today as well with wind gusts up to 35 miles per
hour in Kansas City.
Blue Springs had a wind gust of 18, 28 mile per hour wind gust in Tonganoxie.
Right now the temperature is 87 degrees in Lenexa, 84 in Edgerton and it looks like 85
degrees in Carrollton for the stations that updated at the top of this hour.
Satellite photographs show that we do have a thin layer of clouds overhead.
Now these still enabled us to see the space shuttle fly by.
There's not any rain falling beneath these clouds in the Kansas City area.
But as you look off to the north, these clouds are producing rain up in Iowa and we also
have some thunderstorms that have developed into western Kansas which you can see on radar
flaring up here.
They are moving towards the north and east so overnight tonight we will continue to see
warm southerly humid winds blow in Kansas City and this rain will be moving from west
to northeast across northern sections of our viewing area.
You may see some showers in the morning and in the late afternoon evening hours we may
have some thunderstorms up in this area as well.
But tonight mostly clear skies, 74 overnight tonight with a southwest wind up to 20 miles
per hour.
Again tomorrow southwest winds blowing at 15 gusting to 25.
It will be 94 on the thermometer but it may feel like it's 100 degrees tomorrow and we'll
be watching the rain move in from the north or to the north I should say because that
rain will spread around Kansas City on Thursday.
We'll have a chance for rain and showers, thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday morning.
Great question mark, right now the weekend looks dry but there's something out there
that wants to flare up.
I'm trying to ignore it right now because it's a big weekend in Kansas City but tomorrow
night we'll get a better view on that one.
Okay.
Thanks Katie.
Thanks a lot.
Well a medical marvel makes an appearance today.
An incredible story now still ahead on KCTV5 Family Health the man who got the first battery
operated heart talks with the world and doctors react to its possibilities.
In tonight's Family Health report the news continues to improve for the recipient of
a breakthrough artificial heart.
For the first time we're seeing the face behind the technology that's working much better
than expected.
KCTV5's Ann Peterson has an update.
With the doctors by his side a frail and weak Robert Toulse showed the world that he still
has a lot of heart.
Inside his chest is a two pound titanium and plastic device.
A battery powered motor pumps blood through the body.
The internal battery is continuously recharged through the skin by an external battery pack
worn like a pager.
Before the landmark operation on July 2nd the patient only had a 20 percent chance of
surviving through the end of the month.
Doctors say the patient was informed that the operation was risky.
There was no decision to make really.
I mean I had a choice.
I could give it all and die.
I'll come here and take a chance.
Dr. Tracy Stevens is a heart transplant cardiologist at St. Luke's Hospital here in Kansas City.
Currently we've been using the LVAD as a bridge to transplant not as an alternative.
So this is an exciting landmark.
Especially given the fact that the number of heart donors has not kept pace with the
demand for transplants.
Certainly we know in the past five years the number of hearts available for transplant
has stayed fixed at 2,500 a year.
Incidentally the US Food and Drug Administration gave the green light for a total of five patients
to be implanted with the experimental artificial heart.
The experience of these patient pioneers will determine if the new device has the potential
to extend life for others dying of heart disease.
For Family Health, I'm Ann Peterson.
Pretty remarkable.
William Jackson is up next with Sports Stay with us.
Get your Chiefs news at KCTV5, the Chiefs Play Here webpage.
Look for it at KCTV5.com.
Hey, don't walk like a cop, all right?
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Even those dedicated to keeping the peace can cross the line.
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Well, the best thing about going back to school is that everything's new.
School pretty much starts at Walmart for us.
You just get to start fresh.
New people.
You're meeting new friends.
People.
Guys.
People.
We come to Walmart because we can get everything we need and you can't beat the prices.
Pencils, notebooks, binders.
New clothes.
New teachers, new clothes, new classes.
It takes a lot of pressure off me because I can come to one place and know that I'll
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And now KCTV5 Sports with sports director William Jackson.
Good evening to you.
The Kansas City Rolls back in action tonight at the K and after putting a waxing on the
wide socks last night, 10 to 1.
Let's see if they'll attempt to duplicate that feat tonight.
Getting going in the first inning with the bases loaded.
Joe Randall up to bat.
Will he be able to deliver?
Well, we hope so because the bases loaded, nobody else.
Baked it into left field.
You see it right there.
Run comes in.
1-0 Alisaia, Kansas City with the lead.
But they don't do anything else.
But in the third, the socks with the man on third, Ray Durham up to bat.
He sucks the double into the corner and right field.
Royce Clayton comes in to score and we're all tied up in one piece.
Now the socks up 2-1 in the fifth, Jose Valentin says, bang time, getting all of this with
deep left field.
Don't even think about it.
It's not coming back.
Give the socks a 3-1 lead.
Maglio Dornier trying to duplicate the feat.
But I want you to watch Carlos Beltran.
Deep in center field.
Times his jump just right.
Pulls it back in.
Great catch, but the socks still win this thing.
That final count for you is 6-1.
So with the Royals in last place and 36 games left in the year, what's their mindset like
to keep them going?
My mindset has been from the beginning of the season, it's just game by game.
You tally it up in the end.
Obviously we haven't played that well at times this year.
But every game I've seen improvement.
I've seen little things that we're doing right now.
Obviously the big picture is to do those things well every game.
That's true.
Over in the National League, the Giants, Barry Bonds has stolen much of the attention as
he goes after Mark Maguire's single season home run Mark.
Well tonight Bonds has to take a backseat momentarily as teammate Russell Ortiz puts
his bet in for a no-hitter in Montreal.
In the 7th, Mark Griffin is the man who will break up the no-hitter right here with a base
hit into right.
Ortiz gives up two hits on the night, but the Giants still win.
Final count for you, 10-2, but he won it, a no-hitter, no doubt.
Well let's flip the script and talk some cheese.
They got their final workout in today before departing for Jacksonville.
Tomorrow's the Thursday's game against the Jaguars.
And although the Jags will provide the Chiefs toughest test of this preseason to date, don't
look for Tony Gonzalez and the guys to reveal too much of their offensive scheme.
We're trying to keep it kind of vanilla I guess you want to say just to keep the opposing
defense and especially the Raiders guessing because we don't want to show everything.
And that's why sometimes you won't see too much movement.
It's limited movement believe me.
So when we go out there we can create that confusion for the defense and hopefully get
them off balance and make some plays.
Now while the Chiefs coaching staff has had a chance to evaluate most of the talent out
here on the field, one guy they haven't had a chance to look at is Dan Williams.
He's been hurt, so what's up with the big defensive linemen?
I don't know about Dan Williams.
I really don't.
We find a little more wrong with him every day.
So I remember not too sure we're getting first opinions, second opinions, third opinions,
fourth opinions, fifth opinions, sixth opinions and maybe we'll find an opinion and say you
can play soon.
I hope so.
There you have it.
We have a great night of football players hate to get hurt and miss time on the field.
Last year the Saints brought in Jeff Blake to run the team at quarterback, but when he
went down, back off Aaron Brooks who you see here stepped in and did a good job.
In fact, he did such a nice job that today he was named as the same starting quarterback
for this upcoming season.
Now you know why guys hate to get injured.
It is indeed a competitive business.
On that note, I'll throw it back over to you guys.
Okay, thanks a lot, William.
Tonight's winning lottery numbers when we come back.
Stay with us.
We have no opinion coach Vermeel, none.
You got it.
That's our report tonight.
Thanks for joining us.
David Letterman is next.
Have a good night.
David Letterman is next.