Briefly 5/24/18

Pilot dies after plane crash on golf course

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- The Missouri State Highway Patrol said an 87-year-old man died after a small plane he was piloting crashed at a southwest Missouri golf course.

Patrol Sgt. Jason Pace says James Donald Baker, of Bolivar, died after the single-engine plane crash Tuesday at the Silo Ridge Golf Course near Bolivar. He taught in the Christian ministries program at Southwest Baptist State University in Bolivar for 20 years before his retirement in 1996.

Pace said the plane went down about three-quarters of a mile south of the Bolivar airport.

The Springfield News-Leader reported Baker was the only person aboard the 2007 Zenith 601.

Businesses accused of 'Rent-A-Vet' scheme

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Federal prosecutors are alleging two Topeka businessmen and a Kansas City-area man operated a $352 million business fraud scheme that involved using minority or disabled military veterans to obtain federal business contracts.

In a civil action filed in Kansas City, federal prosecutors allege Matt Torgeson, president of Torgeson Electric Co., and Matthew McPherson, president of McPherson Contractors, both based in Topeka, worked with Michael Patrick Dingle to create what are sometimes called "Rent-A-Vet" companies. They allege they received more than 60 fraudulent small-business government contracts beginning in 2009.

-- From wire reports