Colby woman in hospital after wreck

COLBY -- A Colby woman was hospitalized after rear-ending a trailer Thursday afternoon.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Clinton Horinek, 24, Brewster, was driving a 2001 International pickup truck towing a trailer. It was northbound on Country Club Drive just south of U.S. Highway 24 just after 4 p.m. when it slowed to make a right turn. It was struck from behind by a 2006 Monte Carlo, driven by Tracy Jo Langdon, 33, Colby.

Langdon was taken by ambulance to Citizens Medical Center, Colby; her condition was not available Thursday night. A passenger, Samantha Langdon, 10, was not injured.

2007 traffic deaths drop to 15-year low

TOPEKA -- State officials say the traffic death count in Kansas has hit a 15-year low.

The Kansas Department of Transportation says 404 people died in Kansas crashes in 2007, down 13 percent from 468 fatalities in 2006.

KDOT traffic safety chief Pete Bodyk credits the "Click it or Ticket" seat belt campaign, drunk driving initiatives and other programs that put extra police on patrol during peak travel times.

Bodyk said he hopes that fatalities fall below 400 in 2008, something that's happened only twice in the past 60 years, in 1947 and 1992.

He said most crashes stem from driver inattention and motorists putting themselves at a higher fatality risk by not wearing seat belts.

Trucker charged in online sex sting

LAWRENCE -- A registered sex offender has a March 17 trial date in Douglas County on charges that he tried to enlist a woman and her teenage daughter to become his sex slaves.

Police say Derek Marsocci, Centerview, Mo., on Dec. 13 arrived at a shopping mall parking lot in Olathe to meet a 13-year-old girl and her mother. But instead, he was greeted by Baldwin City police who conducted an undercover sex sting on the Internet.

Investigators say the long-haul trucker was carrying engraved dog tags for his two new sex slaves in the cab of his truck when he was arrested.

The Missouri Sex Offender Registry says Marsocci has a 2002 conviction for fourth-degree sexual assault in Fort Smith, Ark.

He was bound over for trial in a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

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