Welcome back to another week, Shawnee Mission!
☔️ Today’s forecast: An 80% chance of rain with thunderstorms possible. High: 66. Low: 55.
? One thing to know today
A Missouri man faces one count of making a threat in Johnson County against radio host Dana Wright.
John Gribble, 49, of Independence, Mo., was arrested on May 4 and charged with one felony count of making a criminal threat.
He made his latest court appearance in Johnson County District Court on Thursday and is now out of custody after a posting a $5,000 bond, according to online court records.
Wright co-hosts the show “Dana & Parks” with Scott Parks each weekday afternoon on KMBZ 98.1 FM, which has its studios in Mission.
Late last week, Wright wrote on her personal Facebook page about her experiences, in part, to bring light to the harassment she says she and others in the media routinely face.
She also posted screenshots of texts left at the station purportedly from Gribble filled with expletives and referring to Wright as a “stupid libtard” who “needs to be publicly killed.”
“This particular threat is not the first — BY FAR — we have received, and I know that it will not be the last,” Wright wrote on Facebook. “I am sharing this because I am done being quiet about it.”
She went on to suggest that such threats have grown worse over time.
“I want to urge my colleagues in the media to be vigilant with your safety,” Wright wrote. “We have seen a shocking increase in violence against our peers in all aspects of broadcasting and media — brazen, horrible threats attributed to nuts who will even sign their own names.”
According to online court records, Gribble appears to have entered diversion, a process by which a defendant may be able to have charges dropped if they meet requirements laid out in an agreement with prosecutors.
His next court appearance, a diversion hearing, is scheduled for July 19.
? Public meetings Monday
- Prairie Village City Council, 6 p.m. [View agenda]
- Roeland Park City Council, 6 p.m. [View agenda]
- Leawood City Council, 7:30 p.m. [View agenda]
- Overland Park City Council, 7:30 p.m. [View agenda]
- Shawnee Planning Commission, 7:30 p.m. [View agenda]
? Post’s top stories since Friday
- Yes, that was a cow on the loose in Mission Hills this week
- Shawnee Mission North students walk out in protest over teacher’s anti-‘woke’ op-ed
- Living Spaces furniture store opens in old Lenexa Kohl’s
- ?♂️ 5 to Try: Post readers pick best places to cycle in JoCo
- Local obituaries for May 9-11
? Other local news
- New state data shows Shawnee Mission is one of the highest paying public school districts in Kansas, with an average salary of roughly $72,000. [Fox 4]
- Passers-by alerted police to a one-year-old locked inside a car in the parking lot of an Overland Park Costco, when temperatures were reaching 90 degrees. [Fox 4]
- An Overland Park physician pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of health care fraud, after admitting to unnecessarily ordering genetic testing and orthontic braces that defrauded Medicare of $16 million. [Associated Press]
? A thousand words
Stunning flowers with captivating droplets like this bloom adorn the botanical gardens in Overland Park. Happy (belated) Mother’s Day! Photo and others via Facebook.
