JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eight years to the day after a devastating tornado killed 161 people and injured more than 1,100 others in Joplin, another big twister ripped through Missouri — this time the capital of Jefferson City — but with a far different result: no deaths or serious injuries.

The two storms hit Missouri cities roughly the same size on the same day of the year, May 22. And they both ravaged residential neighborhoods and business districts. But several factors created completely different scenarios — factors that worked against Joplin and helped spare the lives of Jefferson City residents like Debra Gary, who along with her husband, mother and four kids hunkered down in the basement before emerging to find their home badly damage.

“I always tell my kids, ‘Keep God first,’ because God was there for us,” Gary said Friday. “He kept us and our home safe when the tornado was going on.”

The Jefferson City twister was a big one, an EF-3 with winds estimated at 160 mph. But the Joplin tornado was a rarely-seen monster, an EF-5 with winds in excess of 200 mph. It was on the ground for 22 miles and 38 terrifying minutes, tearing through one-third of the town.

Then there was the timing. The Joplin tornado hit on a Sunday afternoon, as people were out and about, including hundreds who had just left the high school’s graduation ceremony.

“You had many more people potentially in the path, in vulnerable locations,” said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

The Jefferson City twister arrived in the middle of the night, which was actually a good thing, said Brian Houston, a communications professor and director of the University of Missouri’s Disaster and Community Crisis Center.

“We think of nighttime tornadoes being pretty dangerous because people might be asleep and not aware of them, but one of the good things is people tend to be at home, in structures,” Houston said. “It’s always better to be inside somewhere when a tornado strikes, rather than being out.”

The ability to find safe refuge from the storm also favored Jefferson City. Joplin sits in an area of southwestern Missouri where the soil is rocky, so basements are uncommon. In 2011, only about one in five Joplin homes had basements, which forced people to take shelter in far less secure places like bathtubs and closets. Basements are far more common in Jefferson City, which was built on rolling hills along the Missouri River.

Those warnings are now more precise, too. Houston said storm warnings are now more localized, meaning people “are hopefully more likely to take it seriously because you’re not getting these warnings for a tornado that’s on the other side of the county that might be dozens of miles away.”

Radar is more advanced, too. Forecasters were warning as far back as last week that the Plains and Midwest faced a highly dangerous storm scenario. On Wednesday night, central Missouri TV stations tracked the approaching storm and sirens in Jefferson City first sounded at 11:10 p.m., which was at least 30 minutes before the first property damage was inflicted. Gov. Mike Parson credited the warning system for saving lives.

As Jefferson City residents began the long task of cleaning up, they faced additional challenges: Flooding and heat.

The Missouri River topped a levee on the north side of town, threatening the airport and a few homes and businesses, including a golf course and events center Danny Baumgartner owns.

“It’s part of Mother Nature — these things happen, and you make the best of it and help each other out,” Baumgartner said. “With the tornado and this going on, it’s a lot of activities for a small community. But we’ll all make it.”

Flooding also forced the closure of some roads around the state Capitol, though the building itself sits on a bluff overlooking the river, out of harm’s way. The tornado also spared the Capitol building.

Ameren Missouri crews worked in sweltering humidity with a temperature nearing 90 degrees, replacing about 200 broken power poles and re-stringing lines in Jefferson City and Eldon, another central Missouri community hit by a tornado.

Ameren Missouri division director Chip Webb said it may be late Saturday before power is fully restored in Jefferson City.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas online gamer whose dispute over a $1.50 bet sparked a hoax call that resulted in police shooting a man who lived at his old address has struck a deal with prosecutors that could allow the charges against him to be dropped.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren approved on Friday the joint motion for deferred prosecution that had been filed earlier in the day by prosecutors and the attorney for 20-year-old Shane Gaskill of Wichita.

Such agreements typically result in charges being dropped if a defendant fulfills all its conditions.

The judge deferred court proceedings and discovery during a period ending on Dec. 31, 2020 and ordered Gaskill to pay $1,000 in restitution, costs and penalties as required under the agreement.

The death of Andrew Finch, 28, in Wichita drew national attention to the practice of “swatting,” a form of retaliation in which someone reports a false emergency to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to descend on an address.

“I think the diversion agreement recognizes in part that Gaskill’s involvement in swatting was less than the others,” said Jim Cross, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

Gaskill is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and making false statements.

The other online player, Casey Viner, 19, of North College Hill, Ohio, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice under a deal in which both sides recommend two years of probation. He will be sentenced on June 26.

Authorities said Viner recruited Tyler R. Barriss to “swat” Gaskill in Wichita stemming from a dispute on the game Call of Duty: WWII. Barriss, a 26-year-old Los Angeles man with an online reputation for “swatting,” called police from Los Angeles on Dec. 28, 2017, to falsely report a shooting and kidnapping at that Wichita address. Finch, who was not involved in the video game or dispute, was shot by police when he opened the door.

Barriss was sentenced in April to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to 51 counts for making fake emergency calls and threats around the country, including the deadly hoax call in Kansas.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The government has agreed to an alternative to prosecution of a Kansas online gamer whose dispute sparked a hoax call that resulted in police shooting a man who lived at his former Wichita home.

A joint motion filed Friday by federal prosecutors and the attorney for 20-year-old Shane Gaskill of Wichita asks the court to approve the agreement.

Gaskill is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and making false statement during an investigation.

Deferred prosecution agreements typically result in charges being dropped if a defendant fulfills all its conditions.

Under terms of Gaskill’s May 15 pretrial diversion agreement, the government agreed not to pursue prosecution for at least 18 months.

Gaskill agreed to waive any speedy trial defenses and pay $1,000 in restitution, costs and penalties.

By CORINNE BOYER

Passenger trains will keep rolling through rural communities in Kansas, for now. But Amtrak still hasn’t committed to operating the long-distance routes that connect small towns to larger cities long-term.

Earlier this year, Congress agreed to an additional $50 million to keep the Southwest Chief, which travels from Chicago to Los Angeles with stops in several small Kansas cities, running through September.

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran and a handful of his senate colleagues then pressed Amtrak for answers about future plans for long-distance routes. The rail service responded with a letter this week.

CEO Richard Anderson wrote that Amtrak will not alter or truncate any long-distance routes before the end of the 2019 fiscal year. But he didn’t make any promises beyond that.

Instead, the head of the federally funded rail service pushed questions back at Congress about whether to maintain current routes or make changes.

“While we strongly believe that there is a permanent place for high-quality long-distance trains in our network,” Anderson wrote, “the time to closely examine the size and nature of that role is upon us for numerous reasons.”

Amtrak is slated to submit its proposal for reauthorization later this year.

In his letter, Anderson highlighted the increased demand for services in metropolitan areas, where the majority of its ridership occurs on short-distance routes such as the Northeast Corridor.

The long-distance routes, he wrote, ate up nearly $922 million in the 2018 fiscal year — nearly half the $1.94 billion in federal support for Amtrak’s network, while accommodating a relatively small share of passenger trips, 4.5 million rides annually.

While ridership numbers have fluctuated from year to year, Anderson noted the number of long-distance passengers fell 4 % between fiscal years 2017 and 2018.

The rail service is eyeing the development of new routes to meet demand for shorter trips in areas of the country where the population is growing.

Anderson wrote that routes connecting cities and towns within 400 miles or less are the “sweet spot” for passenger rail. He identified a number of new potential corridors, including a route between Fort Worth, Texas — now a stop along the Heartland Flyer — and Newton, Kansas, which is currently a stop along the Southwest Chief.

Moran said he expects Congress to agree to continued funding for Amtrak to support current long distances routes, but that it would be a “battle.”

“I need to make sure that Amtrak, its board of directors, its management has a commitment to long-term passenger services in places in the country in which it’s not probably ever going to be profitable,” Moran said in an interview.

The senator got some of the assurances for the continued operation of the Southwest Chief he wanted from a meeting with Anderson Wednesday.

But Moran said through a spokesperson later that while the meeting was a, “step in the right direction,” it prompted further questions. The senator is keeping holds on nominees to Amtrak’s Board of Directors while he awaits more answers.

Corinne Boyer is a reporter for the Kansas News Service.  Follow her @Corinne_Boyer or email [email protected]

CLOUD COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on new charges after an arrest.

Just after 8:30a.m. Thursday, a Cloud County Sheriff’s Deputy located a vehicle where an individual appeared to be slumped over in the driver seat in the 300 block of West 6th  Street in Concordia, according to a Sheriff Brian Marks.

While doing a public safety check, deputies arrested 40-year-old Mark Kearn of Concordia on requested charges that include possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. 

Kearn has previous convictions for aggravated endangerment of a child, battery and intro contraband; non firearm, ammo, explosive, controlled substance by non employee, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

He remains  jailed in  Cloud County Law Enforcement Center. 

HAMILTON COUNTY —One person died in an accident just after 10:30a.m. Friday in Hamilton County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2019 Chevy Silverado driven by Garland Gould Smith, 57, Syracuse, was southbound on County Road Y three miles south of Kendall. The pickup crossed the center line and collided with a northbound 2012 Chevy Silverado driven by Payton Cole Chambless, 40, Kendall.

Smith was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Don Fellers Funeral Home.

Eagle Med transported Chad Ryan Vanatta, 47, Lakin, from the 2019 Silverado to a hospital.

Chambless, one passenger in the 2012 Silverado Huston Hays, 15, and a passenger in the 2019 Silverado Michael C. William, 48, Kendall, were transported to the Hamilton County Hospital.

A third passenger in the 2012 vehicle Chance Weston Hobrok, 29, St. Francis, was transported to the hospital in Garden City.

None of the occupants in the collision were wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.