Improper Gifts Received By Arizona Memorial Employee

Above, the USS Arizona Memorial. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It does seem that there's nothing sacred these days.

The News & Observer reported:

HONOLULU - A National Park Service employee at the USS Arizona Memorial accepted gifts from tour operators in violation of ethics regulations, U.S. Department of Interior investigators said Wednesday. 

The gifts included a $50 jacket and golf course green fees valued at about $85, the department's inspector general said in a three-paragraph summary of their report on the case. 

Investigators didn't release their full report for privacy reasons and because it contained law enforcement information. 

The report says the U.S. Attorney's Office in Hawaii declined to prosecute. 

Investigators launched their probe after hearing a Park Service employee may have had improper relationships with tour operators to whom he distributed memorial tickets. The report didn't identify the employee or say when he received the gifts.

That's certainly a very good way to mess up one's career and lose a job.

To read more, go here.

Suspect May Have Connection To Kopetsky Disappearance

Above, Kara Kopetsky has been missing since 2007.

The arrest of a man in connection with a missing Kansas City area woman may possibly shed new light on the nine-year disappearance of Kara Kopetsky.

The Kopetsky case came to my attention at the time of the kidnapping and murder of Kelsey Smith. Kopetsky disappeared just a few weeks prior to the Kelsey Smith kidnapping.

According to The News & Observer:

Investigators looking into the Missouri disappearances of a woman and a teenager nine years apart have taken bullets and other items from the home of a man considered a person of interest in at least one of the cases, court records show. 

Kylr Yust was returned to Kansas City on Wednesday to face a charge that he knowingly burned 21-year-old Jessica Runions' vehicle. The woman from the Kansas City suburb of Raymore was last seen leaving a party Thursday night. 

Yust, who turned 28 on Wednesday, had been jailed in Benton County, southeast of Kansas City, since his arrest Sunday.

It will be interesting see if evidence is found connecting Yust with the Kopetsky disappearance. Could this be the break the police have been looking for?

Read more here.