State digest 01/23/05

Four wounded in shooting at KC pancake house

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- An early morning shooting outside a busy IHOP restaurant left a security guard and three others wounded, two of them critically, authorities said. The shooting happened around 5 a.m. Saturday after a man and a woman dining with a large group began arguing, and an armed security guard escorted the man outside, said Sgt. Craig Sarver. He said four or five men followed the pair, surrounded the security guard, and a physical altercation ensued. At that time, a second security guard left the pancake house in the southeast part of the city, Sarver said. A man got out of a black or gray car and begin shooting, and both guards returned fire.

State Democratic Party re-elects chairman

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Former Gov. Roger Wilson said he would work to return a Democratic majority to the House and Senate after he was re-elected party chairman for the state Saturday. State Auditor and former gubernatorial candidate Claire McCaskill nominated Wilson in August to fill out the remainder of the term of May Scheve Reardon. Wilson, a McCaskill supporter, served as a state senator and two terms as lieutenant governor before being thrust into the chief executive's job when Gov. Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash in October 2000. He said Saturday that the party would be working with Democratic clubs, county committees and candidates to prepare for the two-year election cycle and regain ground.

Florida man pleads guilty in illegal Lipitor ring

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Miami man has pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in a multimillion-dollar conspiracy to sell counterfeit and illegally imported Lipitor in the United States. Julio Cesar Cruz, 42, pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City to charges that he sold the counterfeit drugs and conspired to sell them between February 2002 and April 2003. The Food and Drug Administration began investigating Cruz and others in 2003. The probe included the cholesterol-reducing drug Lipitor, among others. A Kansas City company, Albers Medical Distributors Inc., paid more than $12.8 million to purchase the pharmaceuticals from people involved with the conspiracy, according to the federal complaint. U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said the loss attributed to the sale of the illegal drugs was between $7 million and $20 million. Cruz faces a possible sentence of up to 11 years in federal prison without parole and a fine of up to $750,000. A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.

Levee near St. Louis needs urgent repairs

ALTON, Ill. -- Critical parts of the Wood River Levee north of St. Louis are aging and must be repaired to avoid major failures in the future, officials responsible for the southwestern Illinois system warned. The levee was built half a century ago to hold back potential flood waters from the Mississippi River, but the structure has passed its expected life span and isn't working as it should, levee district officials said Friday. The needed repairs and improvements could cost an estimated $23.7 million, officials said. The federal government would foot about 65 percent of the bill, or about $15.4 million, according to Tamara Atchley, project manager for the St. Louis District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Trial set for man accused of killing sports editor

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A man accused of killing a newspaper sports editor is expected to stand trial in June. A judge has set a June 6 trial date for Ryan Ferguson, who is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in the Nov. 1, 2001, death of Kent Heitholt, sports editor of the Columbia Daily Tribune. Heitholt, 48, was found beaten and strangled in the newspaper's parking lot. Police later arrested Ferguson and Charles T. Erickson, 20, also of Columbia. The two were juniors at a Columbia high school at the time of the killing. Erickson pleaded guilty Nov. 4 to second-degree murder, robbery and armed criminal action. Under a plea agreement, Erickson will receive up to 25 years in prison in exchange for admitting his role in the killing and testifying in Ferguson's trial.