Kansas
With of help generous Kansas Citians, families receive holiday gifts at Season of Hope toy drive
KANSAS CITY, Mo — KSHB 41 News and the Salvation Army held the 2024 Season of Hope toy drive Thursday.
It’s the fourth year of a partnership to help Kansas City area families during the holiday season.
With it being this close to the holidays, stores were probably packed with last-minute shoppers, but so was the Salvation Army for the drive, with families picking out the perfect gifts for their loved ones.
Mariah Nicholas is a mom of four — two girls and two boys.
Spending Christmas with them means a little more this year. She almost lost her life in a car accident right before Thanksgiving.
“I hydroplaned off the road and slammed into a tree line on my side,” Nicholas said. “So, I took the blunt of it but I’m hanging in there.”
She signed up for the Season of Hope toy drive to fill a void she couldn’t this Christmas. She says this will take off some of the financial burden.
“I lost my job right before Thanksgiving due to my wreck,” Nicholas said. “So, I’m waiting to go back, but without this help, I probably wouldn’t be able to do much.”
KSHB 41 News staff
She’s one of 300 families that will benefit from the drive.
It was set up department style, allowing each family to get a personal shopping experience to pick out toys that their children would like.
“There are a lot of toys that my kids will actually enjoy,” said Nina Velazquez, a mom of two. “Usually, I’m very very stressed out because I’m at Walmart in line with 100,000 people and my pocket usually doesn’t have enough to cover everything.”
KSHB 41 News staff
In total, 11,250 toys were donated this year, and each family received gift cards to Aldi’s, helping to fill their table and tree.
“They get not just a single toy,” Salvation Army Pastor Dawn Windham said. “It’s a big toy and a small toy, and stocking stuffers, and books and family games and clothing — it’s just amazing.”
KSHB 41 News staff
This event giving more than just hope this holiday season.
“To watch them open, you know more than what I could give them on Christmas this year,” Nicholas said. “So, I’m super grateful to the Salvation Army and them helping us.”
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KSHB 41 reporter La’Nita Brooks covers stories providing solutions and offering discussions on topics of crime and violence. Share your story idea with La’Nita.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Bates County Circuit Court judge Friday sentenced a Linn County, Kansas, man in connection with the December 2025 death of Airen Andula, 13.
Damon Leonard, 47, was sentenced to four years in prison for abandonment of a corpse, according to court records.
He pleaded guilty to the charge of abandoning a corpse on May 22.
Andula disappeared from his Pleasanton, Kansas, home on Dec. 21, 2025. A day later, law enforcement found the boy’s body in a ravine in Bates County, Missouri. He had died from multiple dog bite injuries.
Police were led to the boy’s body after a phone call from Leonard.
Court documents said Leonard “admitted that he transported the deceased child from Kansas to Missouri and left the body in the bottom of the creek” before he returned home.
KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva spoke with Andula’s family earlier this week — after the guilty plea and ahead of Friday’s sentencing.
His family shared that the guilty plea brought a small sense of justice, but it didn’t do much to ease the pain of their loss.
READ MORE | Family of Airen Andula speaks out ahead of sentencing
“We’re missing our kid every day of our lives,” the boy’s father Charles Andula told Silva.
Leonard received credit for time served of 158 days in his sentence, per court records.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – It may not seem like a lot of relief, but gas and diesel prices have declined over the past week.
Friday morning’s national average for a gallon of unleaded gas was $4.39, according to the Automobile Association of America.
That’s down three cents from $4.42 on Thursday; down 16 cents from a week ago; but was up 17 cents from $4.22 a month ago and up $.23 from $3.16 a year ago.
In Kansas, AAA says, unleaded gas on Friday was averaging $3.96 a gallon — down four cents from $4.00 on Thursday; down 13 cents from $3.96 a week ago; but up 26 cents from $3.70 a month ago; and up $1.07 over $2.89 a year ago.
Diesel fuel also was dropping in price. AAA says Friday’s national average for a gallon of diesel was $5.52 a gallon — down three cents from $5.55 on Thursday; down 12 cents from $5.64 a week a go; but up six cents from $5.46 a month ago and up $1.98 from $3.54 a year ago.
Kansas diesel fuel prices, according to AAA, checked in at an average of $4.98 on Friday. That’s five cents below $5.03 on Thursday; down 16 cents from $5.14 a week ago; but up 24 cents over $4.74 a month ago; and up $1.72 from $3.26 a year ago.
In Topeka, GasBuddy.com on Friday morning showed unleaded gas prices ranging between $3.77 and $4.09 in Topeka, with diesel fuel going for between $4.94 and $5.29 a gallon.
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