Undercover stings used to fight domestic terrorism
Wichita, Kan. (AP) - The arrest of a Kansas man accused of trying to bring a bomb into a Wichita airport marked the latest in a string of undercover operations. Court documents detail six months of alleged conversation between Terry Lee Loewen and undercover FBI agents leading up to Loewen's Friday arrest. The discussions began as vague sentiments about committing "violent jihad" against the U.S., then turned into a plot in which the agents recruited Loewen to use his access to the airport for a martyrdom operation. The FBI insists such stings are a vital, legal tool for averting potentially deadly attacks and juries have returned tough sentences. But defense attorneys and others say the tactics involve entrapment and violate civil liberties.
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KS WWII Vet. Recieves Diploma on 90th Birthday
Lawrence, Kan. (AP) - A World War Two veteran from southwest Kansas has recieved a diploma for a degree he didn't know he had earned. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Warren Spikes of Hugoton was half a semester away from earning his bachelor's degree at the University of Kansas when he was drafted. He didn't return to school after the war and thought he hadn't completed his degree. But his family did some digging and discovered that he had the right credits all along, just not in the right places. An unusual feat of the registrar's office and Spikes' relatives pulled them together. Spikes got a special surprise from his family when he turned 90 this month: a framed diploma. Spikes says he is honored and "certainly glad to have it."
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Body of Chiefs LB Belcher exhumed for brain exam
Kansas City, Mo. (AP) - The family of former Kansas City Chiefs' linebacker Jovan Belcher has had his body exhumed so that his brain can be examined for possible clues about why he killed his girlfriend and himself last year. Family attorney Dirk Vandever told the Kansas City Star that Belcher's body was taken Friday from the North Babylon Cemetery in Bay Shore, New York.
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