There are some things you love to see your city become famous for and others you don’t. This is that second one. Suddenly, two Missouri places have become synonymous with a vile creature – rats.

I have a pretty strong stomach and really am not afraid of much. For my family, I’m the designated spider killer and wasp getter. That being said, I don’t like rats. When I hear that two Missouri places are now among the most rat-infested in America, my first response is EW.

In the newest rundown of America’s places where rats flourish by Orkin, you’ll now find two Missouri cities. It’s not really a shocker that St. Louis and Kansas City are the culprits although I will admit wondering if Springfield had snuck into the top 30. No offense intended, Springfield friends. It’s stories like this that had me wondering.

I was a little surprised to see that Kansas City has a bigger rat problem than St. Louis. No offense intended, St. Louis, but admit that you were surprised, too.

I think my problem with the surging Missouri rat problem is the fact that they are known to carry diseases. It’s just a nasty creature to have a lot of. The fact that the two biggest Missouri places are now synonymous with rats (and Springfield making a case to be included, too) is pretty gnarly if you ask me. Ew.

A Guatemalan family who was targeted by their neighbor in Nebraska told police that the man had tried to start a fight and “flipped them off” five weeks before he shot seven people at their home last weekend.

The neighbor, Billy Booth, 74, was found dead of a self-inflected gunshot wound at the family’s home after the Friday attack, which the Nebraska State Police is investigating as a possible hate crime.

All seven, including four children, have been released from the hospital, police said.

In the earlier incident on May 21, the family called police to report that Booth was calling them names, but no direct threat was made, according to the department.

Officers took statements from family members but they were “not interested in being involved in a legal dispute,” according to the police report.

Police said Booth, who is white, had been involved in previous conflicts with several of his white neighbors, as well as the Guatemalan family.

Dave Hansen, who lives next door to Booth, said he did not believe the shooting was racially motivated.

“I don’t care what the police say, I lived next to that guy for 10 years. and he wasn’t racist,” Hansen said. “But I feel very lucky he didn’t shoot me.”

Hansen said Booth fired a shotgun at members of the Guatemalan family after some kids walked onto his property to retrieve a soccer ball.

He said Booth often antagonized residents over decreasing property value.

“Anybody who didn’t take care of their yard, he was all over you,” Hansen said. “The last seven years were hell.”

The seven victims were from the state of Huehuetenango in Guatemala and of mixed legal status to be in the U.S., according to the Guatemalan Consul General’s Office in Omaha.

At the time of the shooting, a family gathering was taking place at the home, authorities said. Two of the victims worked at the Smithfield Foods meatpacking company in Crete, the consul general’s office said.

“We are thinking of and concerned about members of our team who have been affected,” Smithfield spokesman Jim Monroe said in a statement. “We hope they will focus on family and recovery at this time.”

Police said calls concerning Booth and the family date back to 2021, most being complaints from Booth regarding “driving behavior.”

During the altercation in May, Booth told members of the Guatemalan family to “go home” or “back to where they came from” and to “speak English,” police said.

Billy Muñoz, consul general of the Guatemalan Consulate in Omaha, said his office would do what it could to help the family.

“Unfortunately, (the) consulate is taking into account that it is an election year where it’s like hate will be more frequent,” Muñoz said.

Saul Lopez, interim executive director of Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim, a nonprofit that supports Indigenous people in Nebraska, said many immigrants have had trouble adjusting to life in the state.

“Nebraska is a very difficult environment for immigrants,” he said. “It is not an ideal place where immigrants can move into. It is a very hard place because a lot of people do not like immigrants at all.”

The North Dakota Ethics Commission has seen a rise in campaign-related complaints but lacks tools to address the allegations, Executive Director Rebecca Binstock said.

Commissioners are considering adopting a new set of rules so the board has more authority to investigate the complaints.

As of late June, 23 complaints had been filed with the commission since the beginning of the year. Of those, 10 related to campaigns, Binstock said. The commission received 17 complaints in all of 2023 and 14 in 2022. In both 2023 and 2022, two complaints each year related to campaigns. Generally, ethics complaints are confidential unless the commission determines them to be substantiated and the accused has the ability to appeal.

“We’ve also received, I want to call it anecdotal information, from the public, from state agencies, state employees as well as elected officials that this particular election cycle is different,” Binstock told commissioners during a Wednesday meeting. “That anecdotal evidence aligns with what we see in real time with the complaints that have come in.”

Secretary of State Michael Howe said his office has received reports of alleged improper campaign finance disclosures on materials like signs and fliers, though he’s not sure if there’s been more this election cycle compared to previous years. The Secretary of State’s Office does not enforce compliance with campaign laws.

“We say, ‘Well, there is a requirement of that North Dakota Century Code,’” Howe said. “‘If you feel the law has been broken, you need to reach out to the state’s attorney in the county where you think this crime has been committed.’”

Recently, there have been allegations of campaign fraud in North Dakota submitted to federal authorities.

Julie Fedorchak’s campaign earlier this month filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission and Federal Communications Commission after text messages were sent en masse to North Dakotans the day of the primary falsely claiming she had dropped out of the U.S. House race.

A North Dakota resident in May filed an FEC complaint against Rep. Brandon Prichard, R-Bismarck, claiming he may have engaged in campaign finance activity that violates federal election law. Prichard has denied wrongdoing. The status of the complaint is not public.

The 2018 constitutional amendment that created the Ethics Commission allows the board to adopt rules related to elections, lobbying, corruption and transparency to enforce ethical behavior by state officials.

Under the constitution, the Ethics Commission can investigate alleged violations of its own rules, the constitutional amendment or “related state laws.”

Its ability to investigate campaign complaints is still very limited, however. For one, the commission has yet to adopt any rules on campaign ethics.

North Dakota does have statutes relating to campaign ethics — most of which impose misdemeanor penalties — which could fit the definition of “related state laws” under the constitutional amendment. However, because the commission does not have prosecution authority, it cannot investigate alleged violations of criminal law, Binstock said.

There are other ways to address complaints, though. The Ethics Commission may work with the complainant and the accused to resolve the complaint informally, for example.

Additionally, if a complaint accuses someone of a criminal violation, the Ethics Commission is required by law to forward the allegation to a state’s attorney.

State’s attorneys have discretion over whether or not to charge someone with a crime. Binstock noted during the meeting that when an ethics-related allegation crosses the desk of a state prosecutor, chances are they’re already dealing with a heavy caseload.

A letter dated May 10 provided to the North Dakota Monitor indicates that Binstock referred a complaint about a legislative race to Burleigh County State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer. The prosecutor has not responded to requests for comment and Binstock is unable to comment on specific complaints.

If a prosecutor declines to bring charges related to an ethics complaint, the case is handed back to the commission. But again, since the commission has neither prosecution authority nor any rules pertaining to elections, its staff may be unable to investigate the complaint.

“If the Ethics Commission doesn’t have a corresponding ethics rule, we’re left with a criminal statute that the Ethics Commission can’t investigate under,” Binstock said.

The commission during the meeting gave staff the greenlight to draft election rules. The draft rules will likely go before the commission for consideration sometime in the next few months, Binstock said.

In 2018, Burleigh County prosecutors charged Bismarck legislative candidate Duane Sand with a misdemeanor that alleged he misstated opponent George Keiser’s voting record in a campaign ad. The charge, publication of false information in political advertisements, was prompted by a police report Keiser filed and a finding from a prosecutor that the act fit the elements of the crime, The Bismarck Tribune reported.

Sand later filed police reports accusing Keiser and others of breaking the same law. The charge against Sand was dismissed after all involved reached a private settlement and agreed to stop pursuing the complaints.

This story was originally published on NorthDakotaMonitor.com