Latest news with #KansasCity-based
USA Today
18 hours ago
- USA Today
Murder charges filed in deaths of 3 Kansas City Chiefs fans
Prosecutors have upgraded charges to felony murder against two men accused in the deaths of three Kansas City Chiefs fans found dead outside a Missouri home last year, a new court filling shows Initially in March, the Platte County District Attorney filed charges including distribution of a controlled substance and three counts of manslaughter against Jordan Willis, 39, and Ivory Carson, 42, in connection to the apparent overdose deaths of Ricky Johnson, 38, David Harrington, 37, and Clayton McGeeney, 36. According to a four-page amended complaint obtained by USA TODAY on June 27, Willis and Carson now face three counts of felony murder in the second-degree. Under Missouri law, felony murder in the second degree is punishable by no less than 10 to 30 years in prison, or life imprisonment, the amended complaint reads. A person convicted of manslaughter faces between five and 15 years in prison. The revised complaint was filed in open court before a judge on June 26, Platte County Attorney's Office spokesperson Tanya Faherty told USA TODAY. Dad went to a bar, son died in hot car: Father charged in 18-month-old son's death Who is suspected drug dealer in Kansas City Chief fan death case? The men's bodies were found Jan. 7, 2024, outside Willis' suburban Kansas City home where the group gathered to watch an NFL game. During a news conference earlier this year, officials said Carson was the suspected drug dealer who sold cocaine to Willis and the victims. Court documents also show Carson's DNA was allegedly found on a bag of fentanyl at the scene. The case attracted national attention as the cause of fans' deaths were shrouded in mystery for nearly a year. Court records released in March show the men died from toxic effects of fentanyl and cocaine. For months, law enforcement and prosecutors refused to publicly release the men's cause or manner of death despite their autopsies being complete. At the time, authorities had cited the case's pending investigation. Chiefs fan overdose case: Father files lawsuit after deaths of three Kansas City Chiefs fans in 2024 Jordan Willis' attorney on new charges: 'It's an overreach' After the fans' deaths, the 38-year-old Willis moved out of his rental home, where he had lived alone and worked remotely for a New York hospital, according to his Kansas City-based lawyer, John Picerno. On June 27, the defense attorney continued to profess his client's innocence, saying Willis maintain he is not responsible for purchasing or supplying the drugs that led to the victim's deaths. "I believe it's an overreach," Picerno said when asked by USA TODAY about the amended charges. "I believe the previous charges were adequate. It was only done because we turned down a plea offer." Picerno did not elaborate on the plea offer conditions or when it was offered to his client. The defense attorney said his client is due in Platte County Associate Circuit Court next month for another hearing on the case. Mens' bodies found outside after freezing temperatures According to Kansas City police, officers discovered the fans' bodies two days after the men met to watch a Chiefs game against the Los Angeles Chargers. On the night of the game, temperatures dipped to 29 degrees, the National Weather Service reported. Some 48 hours later, police said officers received a call from McGeeney's fiancé, who said she visited the home after not hearing from him. When no one answered the door, she broke inside and found a dead body in the back of the property. When officers arrived, they also found two other men dead in the backyard. Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@ and follow her on X @nataliealund.
Business Wire
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Lead Bank Taps Prelim to Modernize Digital Onboarding for Consumers and Businesses
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Prelim, a Silicon Valley-based fintech known for its award-winning omnichannel onboarding solutions, is now working with Lead Bank, a Kansas City-based financial institution, to elevate its digital banking experience. Lead will deploy Prelim's platform across its client portfolio, replacing its in-branch deposit account opening system and powering its digital applications. This unified onboarding experience will serve everyone from individual consumers and commercial businesses to fintech clients, streamlining account access while maintaining the high touch service Lead is known for. The rollout enhances Lead's client acquisition channels and introduces robust self-service tools designed to meet the expectations of today's digitally minded banking clients. "What impressed us about Lead Bank is their unique position at the intersection of established banking expertise and digital innovation," said Heang Chan, co-founder and CEO of Prelim. "Their approach to client relationships aligns perfectly with our technology philosophy—creating solutions that remove barriers rather than adding complexity. The Midwest has emerged as a significant hub for financial innovation, and Lead Bank's forward-thinking leadership team is proof of why. This partnership will deliver immediate benefits for their clients while providing our team with valuable insights from a bank that truly understands how to balance tradition with transformation." Under the leadership of CEO Jackie Reses and a management team that includes several former executives from Square Financial Services and Block Inc. (formerly Square Inc.), Lead has undergone a bold transformation to building technology-first, compliant banking infrastructure designed to power the next generation of fintech and embedded finance. As the expectations for financial services continue to evolve, community banks like Lead Bank are demonstrating that innovation isn't limited to the largest financial institutions in the nation. By working with Prelim, Lead is reinforcing its commitment to meeting clients where they are—whether that's in a branch or through sophisticated digital channels. ABOUT PRELIM Prelim is a leading Silicon Valley fintech company providing omnichannel onboarding solutions for consumer deposit accounts, business deposit accounts, treasury services, and more. Prelim solutions empower banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions to digitize the customer journey from onboarding to servicing, improving the employee journey by automating internal operations such as reviewing, processing, underwriting, and servicing. Built by banking experts, Prelim's white-labeled platform delivers a better customer experience through process automation for identity verification, issuing services from the core, and more. For more information, please visit
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Yahoo
Lee's Summit community mourns loss of 14-year-old killed in bicycle crash
LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. — Heartbreak has ripped through the Lee's Summit community after 14-year-old Noah Lakey, an outgoing eighth grader at Summit Lakes Middle School, was killed while riding his bike. According to police, Lakey was riding along the sidewalk near SW Jefferson Road and SW Scherer Road when he entered the westbound lane and collided with a vehicle. He was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. The driver was evaluated at the scene and did not require medical attention. 3 Leavenworth school employees accused of failing to report child abuse Noah was just weeks away from starting his freshman year of high school, a milestone he'll now never reach. In the wake of his death, friends of the family launched a GoFundMe, which has already raised over $20,000 in a single day. Amber Rollins, Director of Kansas City-based Kids and Cars Safety, says this tragedy is sadly far from rare. 'As a mother, my heart is broken for this family and this community,' Rollins said. 'I'm sure there are so many people who loved this young man and are completely shattered.' The organization says around 400,000 accidents involving kids, bikes and cars occur each year, with nearly 300 resulting in death. With summer break underway and more children outside, Rollins urges families and drivers to stay especially alert. Donna Kelce to make reality TV debut on Peacock's 'The Traitors' 'It only takes one split second of distraction for something horrible to happen,' she said. 'Safety may not be on the top of kids' minds, but we need to make sure it is — talk to your children, tell them Noah's story, and honor him by being safe.' Rollins emphasized that wearing a helmet should never be optional, calling it a non-negotiable part of bike safety. The Lee's Summit Police Department says the investigation is ongoing, but so far, the crash appears to be a tragic accident. The school district is offering support resources to students, staff, and community members affected by Noah's passing. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
12-06-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Robert Brazil, CPS principal who pushed Socratic method of learning, dies
Robert Brazil was for many years the principal at Sullivan High School in the Rogers Park neighborhood, where he gained a reputation for implementing the Socratic method of teaching and leading efforts that improved student outcomes. 'I often say that children learn more by example than they do by instruction, and here was the living example on an ongoing basis at the elementary and senior high level,' said Carl Boyd, a Kansas City-based urban educator who in the early 1970s taught at Parkside Elementary School in the South Shore neighborhood, while Brazil was Parkside's principal. 'It was remarkable just how many educators depended upon his leadership.' Brazil, 86, died of complications from a rare type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on May 11 at the University of Chicago Medical Center, said his daughter, Patrice. He was a Hyde Park resident. Born in Memphis, Brazil grew up on Chicago's South Side and attended Raymond Elementary School before graduating from Phillips High School. He received a bachelor's degree in physical education from Chicago Teachers College and then earned a master's degree in education from DePaul University in 1965. In 1978, he added a doctorate in education from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Brazil's first teaching job was at Martha Ruggles Elementary School in the Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side, and he later taught at Paul Cornell Elementary School in Grand Crossing and then was the assistant principal at Nikola Tesla Elementary School in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side. In 1971, Brazil became the principal at Parkside Elementary School in South Shore. 'I want to make this school a place where there are activities taking place which meet the interests and needs of the children,' Brazil told the Tribune in 1971. 'I want the school to be a place where the children want to come and be a part of — not something they come to because they have to.' In 1975, Brazil was named principal of Parker High School in the Englewood neighborhood. The school had been called out in a September 1974 Tribune series titled 'Inside Our Troubled Schools,' which described nodding off during class, students gambling in the cafeteria and the smell of marijuana wafting through hallways and restrooms. Brazil led Parker, which later became Robeson High School, until being named Sullivan's principal in 1977. In 1984, he won a grant under the Carnegie Grants Program for High School Improvement to fund the 'Paideia proposal,' an educational program developed in 1982 by philosopher Mortimer Adler and 21 other educators. The Paideia proposal was in essence a call for school reform, championing schools' revival of the Socratic seminar and urging a rigorous academic core curriculum regardless of students' backgrounds or levels. Brazil implemented the Paideia approach at Sullivan, beginning with a seminar in which teachers would question students to enlarge their understanding of the world. Brazil directed students to not only read great works but to talk about them and to think instead of having a traditional teacher-driven lecture. 'The program is an outlet for children who might not be stimulated by a more traditional curriculum,' Brazil told the Tribune in 1988. 'Some kids who are very bright cannot survive in our education system because it is too limiting. Some people think that Chicago Public Schools children can't learn. I wish those people could see these kids.' Brazil's partner, Lynnette Fu, taught French at Sullivan and then went on to become an assistant principal at Sullivan and then eventually to a role at Chicago Public Schools' central office. 'He not only had big ideas, but he made them work. A lot of people have ideas, but they might hand them off to someone else to implement, but he was the one who made them happen,' Fu said. 'He was a fantastic principal — very innovative.' Brazil's work paid off, with the school's enrollment gaining in standardized test scores each year. 'We're getting to the point where kids are learning well, not just based on scores but on how they feel about themselves,' Brazil told the Tribune in 1990. 'When they tell me they feel smart, it makes me feel good.' In 1989, Brazil was one of 20 Chicago Public School principals awarded the first annual Whitman Award for Excellence in Education Management from the Whitman Corp. 'My father genuinely loved teaching people new things. He was a born educator, but he could have been good at anything,' Patrice Brazil said. 'He loved being able to improve a school's performance and was always talking about how well the kids at his school were doing.' Brazil broadened his focus to oversee staff development for other schools following the Paideia program, and he founded the Paideia Institute of Hyde Park and served as the group's executive director. For teachers, Brazil also launched a series of immersion retreats on the Paideia proposal in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, as well as a graduate institute at St. John's College in Santa Fe, N.M. Brazil also worked with the National Board of Teacher Certification to help certify educators. Brazil wrote several books, including 'The Engineering of the Paideia Proposal' in 1988 and 'A Covenant for Change: The Paideia Manual,' which the University of Illinois published in 1991. Brazil also self-published a 100-page memoir in 2005 about his upbringing, 'Memoirs of Bronzeville.' After retiring from Sullivan in 1993, Brazil continued to train teachers in the Socratic method, his daughter said. A marriage to Marilyn Wallace-Brazil ended in divorce. In addition to his daughter and Fu, Brazil is survived by a son, Alan; two granddaughters; a sister, Vera Green. Services were held.
Business Journals
12-06-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
New COO brings 30 years of leadership to growing private aviation firm
Story Highlights Fast-growing Airshare hires a COO. Suzanne Williams spent the past 10 years at BarkleyOKRP, most recently as COO and CFO. Airshare is a 2025 Champions of Business honoree. From the Kansas City Business Journal. Airshare has hired Suzanne Williams as its new COO. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Airshare is one of the largest private aviation companies in the U.S., operating a fleet of more than 100 aircraft from coast to coast. Founded in 2000, the company offers aircraft management, fractional ownership, EMBARK jet cards and charter services. Airshare saw revenue growth of 26.9% from 2021 to 2023, reaching $210.15 million in revenue for 2023. Last year, it reported $371.8 million in revenue. Williams brings more than 30 years of experience to Airshare, where she started last month. She spent the past 10 years at BarkleyOKRP, most recently as COO and CFO. Before that, she spent 21 years in a wide variety of leadership positions at Sprint, mainly in auditing, but last worked as the vice president of planning and analysis. For the past year and a half, Williams has been a board member for Kansas City-based Centric Construction Inc. 'We are thrilled to hire someone as talented as Suzanne and anticipate her making an immediate impact in many areas of our business,' Airshare CEO John Owen said. 'This is a vital role within our growth plans; therefore, we spent considerable time making sure we found the right person. I'm confident she will be a tremendous asset for us.' At Airshare, Williams will lead the finance, legal, human resources and IT departments. She also will be a member of the executive leadership team, reporting to Owen, and joined Airshare's board. Airshare is a 2025 Champions of Business honoree. Although she doesn't have any experience in the aviation industry, Williams said said her role shares a lot of similarities to work she has done in the past. Both Airshare and BarkleyOKRP are people businesses, and that will translate pretty quickly. 'I was looking for a new challenge, and it just worked out this way,' she said. 'Airshare has a great reputation. They've done a lot of M&A on both the buy and sell side the last couple of years, so all that definitely gets me excited to be a part of the very experienced team Airshare has developed.' Williams said she spent her first week on a plane, visiting all of the Airshare hangars and facilities nationwide with the executive team and asking a million questions. 'I learned quite a bit, just being basically locked in a plane with them for three days,' Williams said. 'We had a one-day, off-site executive meeting to really talk about the company's priorities. Just getting to know John (Owen) and the lead team, and building those relationships, made a fantastic first week. That really carried into the next few weeks to help me get up the learning curve quicker. So it was a great way to start.'
