Kansas City, Mo.: Highway signs misspell former mayor’s name

Along the Bruce R. Watkins Drive, a stretch of U.S. Highway 71 that runs south and east from downtown Kansas City, three signs alerting southbound drivers to the exit for Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard give the former mayor’s name as “Clever.”

Tom Evans, district traffic engineer for the state transportation department, said calls began pouring in earlier this week, almost immediately after the signs went up.

“Everybody’s noticed it except for the people who put the sign up,” he said.

Kansas City, Kan.: Separate trials ordered in capital murder case

A Wyandotte County District Court judge has ordered separate trials for two men accused in one of the city’s deadliest crime sprees.

Darrell Stallings and Erick Harris face charges in connection with a June 10 shooting spree that left five people dead.

Tameika Jackson, 24, Melvin Montague, 34, Destiny Wiles, 23, Samantha Sigler, 24, and Trina Jennings, 26, were killed. Police believe the slayings were related to drug dealing, personal disputes and revenge.

Stallings faces five counts of capital murder, and Harris is charged with four. Harris is not charged in Jackson’s death.

Emporia: Police suspect deaths were murder-suicide

Two men are dead after an apparent murder-suicide early Friday at an Emporia motel.

Police were called about 2:30 a.m. to the Best Western motel to investigate a shooting. They found 29-year-old Billy J. Cunningham with multiple gunshot wounds.

Cunningham was taken to a local hospital, where he died, police said.

When police approached Tom Loff Jr., 36, of Strong City, in the parking lot, the man pulled out a gun and killed himself, police said.