JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

While waiting for UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton to acknowledge that ethics ran completely aground at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management as administrators pursued undeservedly high national rankings, here are a few things flapping at the margins.

:: One of our “good Catholic boys” who smelled quick money and jumped into the payday loan business several years ago has got more trouble on his hands.

A few months ago, federal authorities froze Tim Coppinger’s bank accounts and assets so that if he’s found culpable in civil court, some money will be around to be refunded to people he cheated.

Earlier, a U.S. District Court judge freed up $40,000 of Coppinger’s money so he could pay his attorney, Patrick McInerney. But a story in the Pitch last week said that McInerney had asked to withdraw from the case because the money for payment of legal bills has dried up.

Coppinger, in a 2010 photo, holding a trophy he won in a poker tournament at St. Ann’s Catholic Church.

Coppinger owes McInerney and his firm more than $90,000, and McInerney’s motion went on to say “the broad scope and comprehensive nature of the asset freeze…present very little if any prospect for future payment.”

Among other things, the Federal Trade Commission alleges that Coppinger, who grew up in Visitation Parish and is now a member of St. Ann’s Church in Prairie Village, conned consumers out of millions of dollars by “trapping them into loans they never authorized and then using the supposed ‘loans’ as a pretext to take money from their bank accounts.”

…The idea that Coppinger and some associates turned to taking advantage of mostly poor people in financial trouble is mind-boggling to me. It’s good to see Coppinger experiencing a measure of the pain and upheaval he dished out to others.

David Hudnall has done a fantastic job of tracking the payday loan story for the Pitch. He’s way ahead of The Star, and this story alone has helped raise the Pitch’s profile and credibility. It’s the kind of reporting we need as we watch The Star continue to diminish.

:: You’ll recall the December 2013 case in which a now-26-year-old Independence man named Joshua Bradley allegedly beat Kyle Van Winkle to death after the 30-year-old Van Winkle mistakenly got into the wrong vehicle in the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot. The case against Bradley is creeping along.

Joshua Bradley

Early last year, the Jackson County prosecutor’s office charged Bradley with involuntary manslaughter. The case was initially assigned to Circuit Judge Justine Del Muro, but in the last six weeks it has been transferred two more times. A hearing or trial had been scheduled for Jan. 15, but when that day Bradley’s attorney Patrick Peters requested a continuance, and it was granted. The trial is now scheduled for early September.

Mike Mansur, communications director for the prosecutor’s office, told me there have been no issues in the case that prompted the multiple change of judges; it was simply a matter of judges rotating assignments.

Mansur also said the case is very complicated and that he expected both the prosecution and the defense to have an expert medical witness. “In a case this complex, this is not an unusual schedule,” he said.

Bradley is free on bail.

:: Ever since President Obama got re-elected in 2012, I’ve been saying I felt good about the Democrats chances of holding the presidency at least through 2024 with Hillary Clinton. But I’m started to get worried about one possible Republican candidate — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

I was hoping that all the potential Republican candidates would rush forward, like Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Paul Rand, have done and made harebrained statements about the wisdom of getting children vaccinated against measles. (Example, from Rand Paul: “The state doesn’t own your children. Parents own the children.”)

Scott Walker

But I read in today’s New York Times that the Democrats aren’t going to be that lucky. On a Sunday morning talk show this week, Walker said: “Study after study has shown that there are no negative long-term consequences. And the more kids who are not vaccinated, the more they’re at risk and the more they put their neighbors’ kids at risk as well.”

This fellow is dangerously logical.