A makeshift levee holds back floodwaters from the heart of Craig and the Golden Triangle Energy ethanol plant.
The federal government may have to step in with extra resources to help states like Nebraska and Iowa recover from flood damage. Floodwaters are still receding in the wake of the “bomb cyclone” that hit Midwest states hard and left behind large-scale damage.
Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue tells the Fox Business Network that the existing safety net programs probably won’t be enough to cover the catastrophic damage. “Hopefully, we’ll have a supplemental disaster bill out of Congress very soon,” Perdue says. “This may be included in that as well.” Nebraska Agriculture Director Steve Wellman says, “It’s hundreds of millions of dollars, approaching a billion dollars of impact straight to agriculture.”
Politico says the damage totals could exceed $400 million in livestock losses and $440 million for crop farmers, who could be forced to delay or even cancel planting entirely. Craig Head of the Nebraska Farm Bureau says, “Those are very early estimates. They don’t even account for the damage done to roads, bridges, barns, fences, and other infrastructure.”
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says she’s seeking federal aid as soon as possible, citing ruined grain bins and lost livestock. The Des Moines Register says it’s too soon to know the scope of the damage. “Some farms have been completely destroyed,” Wellman said. “We’ll rebound as best we can.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MIAA announced on Thursday morning that Missouri Western senior Shi Qing Ong has been named MIAA Women’s Golfer of the Week. Ong receives the recognition after winning the Holiday Inn Express Classic this week and tying for first at the Warrior Invitational in Las Vegas last week.
At the Holiday Inn Express Classic, Ong topped a leaderboard that featured 82 golfers, winning by an entire five strokes. She shot a 148 (+4) on the St. Joseph Country Club course, including a two-under 70 in the first round. She led the entire field with seven birdies while also adding 19 pars.
One week before playing a familiar course in St. Joseph, Ong and Missouri Western began the spring season at the Warrior Invitational in Las Vegas. Ong tied teammate Anna Bech for first place at the event, leading the Griffons to finish first in the team standings. Ong and the Griffons battled wind gusts that reached as high as 50 miles per hour in the second round. In the first round in Las Vegas, Ong put together a one-under par performance with a score of 71.
With her two wins this spring, Ong now has 11 in her career at Missouri Western. She and the Griffons will look to continue their early-season momentum when the team heads to the Jennies Invitational in Warrensburg on March 25.
KANSAS CITY— A Kansas felon who rammed a police vehicle and crashed into two more cars while leading officers on a high-speed chase in a stolen vehicle was charged in federal court Wednesday with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Chance Ayers-photo Jackson County
Chance Ayers, 24, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, according to the United State’s Attorney.
In an affidavit filed in support of Wednesday federal criminal complaint, on March 3, 2019, a Kansas City police detective saw Ayers driving a maroon 2002 Mercury Sable, which had been reported stolen when the keys were taken during a burglary earlier that day. The detective followed Ayers to a gas station, where he pulled up next to the front of the building. A police captain, dressed in full police uniform and driving an unmarked police vehicle equipped with emergency lights and siren, arrived to conduct a car check. The captain activated his lights, got out of his vehicle, and made verbal contact with Ayers.
When Ayers saw the captain, the affidavit says, he immediately put his car in reverse and backed up until he struck the front of the captain’s police vehicle. Ayers continued to accelerate in reverse and the Mercury began pushing the parked police vehicle backward. The captain was dragged backwards through the parking lot as he struggled with Ayers through the driver’s window of the Mercury in an effort to get Ayers to stop. The captain was able to disengage from Ayers and the Mercury before it entered 11th Street. Ayers continued to push the police vehicle until it struck a wooden utility pole, which sheared off. Ayers then placed the Mercury in drive and fled westbound on 12th Street.
A civilian police department employee, who was seated in the front passenger seat of the police vehicle, was treated at a hospital for neck and back pain. The police vehicle was towed from the scene.
A Kansas City police officer soon located Ayers, who was traveling at a high rate of speed, near 12th Street and Chestnut. The officer activated his emergency lights and siren and attempted to stop the vehicle, the affidavit says, but Ayers refused to stop. Ayers allegedly ran multiple red traffic signals as he traveled at a high rate of speed. Ayers made a wide turn onto 71 Highway, almost driving off the road. Ayers continued to drive at a high rate of speed in rainy conditions on 71 Highway, the affidavit says, weaving in and out of all three lanes. When Ayers exited 71 Hwy at 39th Street, he caused an accident with another vehicle, but did not stop. The officer pursuing Ayers was unable to continue the pursuit and lost sight of Ayers after he exited at 39th Street.
Ayers eventually wrecked into a parked car on Wayne Avenue. A police sergeant saw Ayers run from the vehicle towards Highland Avenue. The sergeant located an open garage door of an abandoned residence at 4316 Highland Avenue and heard noises inside. A perimeter was set up and Ayers was eventually taken into custody inside the residence. Ayers had two 12-gauge shotgun shells in his right front pants pocket at the time of his arrest.
The Mercury had major damage, and was towed from the scene. Inside the vehicle, officers found a loaded New England 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun on the driver’s side floorboard. Two more shotgun shells were found on the floor next to the shotgun.
Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Ayers has prior felony convictions for burglary, theft and criminal damage, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. He was on state parole at the time of the alleged offense.
Expect ongoing moderate to major river flooding to continue for the next several days. No precipitation is anticipated today through Friday, however, rain chances increase this weekend. Saturday morning showers will spread west to east across eastern Kansas and Missouri during the day. Not much change for Sunday, as off and on showers continue with a chance of thunderstorms. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: Sunny, with a high near 57. Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph.
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 32. West northwest wind 3 to 7 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 58. Light and variable wind becoming northeast 5 to 7 mph in the morning.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 35. East northeast wind around 7 mph.
Saturday: A slight chance of rain and snow showers between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., then rain showers likely. Partly sunny, with a high near 55. East southeast wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.
Saturday Night: Showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after 2 a.m. Cloudy, with a low around 46. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Sunday: Showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after 8 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Sunday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 44. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Monday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 50. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Monday Night: A chance of showers before 8 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 52.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have rescued several people left stranded after flooding in northwest Missouri.
Water Patrol Troopers worked into the night yesterday in and around Craig, Missouri, with flood water rescues. There were four people rescued from homes and three from a boat that ran out of fuel. pic.twitter.com/OZbErK3bUU
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported that water patrol troopers worked into the night Wednesday in and around Craig, pulling four people from homes and three from a boat that ran out of fuel. The town of 220 began flooding after a levee breach. An ethanol plant there also was forced to shut down.
The city tweeted multiple pictures of water-filled homes before ending the day by writing , “Sleep tight River Rats tomorrow is a new day.”
The Missouri River continues to wreak havoc as high water levels make their way downstream. The river initially was expected to crest Thursday in St. Joseph, but new forecasts call for it to crest at a slightly higher level Friday of about 12.1 feet above flood stage, the third-highest level on record.
Extreme northwest Missouri continues to battle floodwaters, even as flooding on the Missouri River moves downstream.
Atchison County Emergency Management Deputy Director Mark Manchester says three levees in the county have failed and the community of Watson has been surrounded by water and cut off from the rest of the county.
Manchester is grateful for one thing: no deaths so far.
“The levees can be fixed, homes can be repaired, roads can be fixed; people’s lives can’t be replaced,” Manchester says. “And, like I said, thankfully we haven’t had any injuries or anything like that.”
Flooding began in earnest with the failure of the Spencer Dam in northern Nebraska, which sent the Niobrara River cascading south. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers increased water releases from Gavins Point Dam, upstream on the Missouri River, to relieve pressure on Nebraska. But, all that water washed over private levees downstream, sending water over Interstate 29 in southwestern Iowa, forcing the closure of I-29 at Rock Port.
It didn’t stop there.
A levee failed west of Watson, which now finds itself an island. Another levee failed two miles north of Highway 136 and a third was overtopped and collapsed between Rock Creek and Mill Creek.
Manchester says, as bad as the current situation is, he is concerned about the near future.
“A lot of levee damage out there,” Manchester says. “If this turns out to be a wet spring, summer, we get a lot of rains, and the levees haven’t had a chance to get repaired yet, then we could be looking at flooding again later in the year. We don’t know.”
As the flooding in extreme northwest Missouri grew worse, the Missouri Department of Transportation moved to closure of I-29 south, diverting northbound traffic to U.S. 71 just north of St. Joseph.
Manchester says that with the failure of private levees in Iowa and Missouri it makes it difficult to estimate when things might return to normal.
“This is such a different ballgame with the number of breaks that have occurred to our north and the number of areas that are impacted,” according to Manchester. “So, we really don’t know at this time how soon this is going to be over.”
The National Weather Service forecasts the Missouri River to crest Friday morning at just over 29 feet, which would be just below the level reached in 2011. The record crest of slightly higher than 32 feet was reached in 1993. The water level on the river is expect to drop quickly to below major flood stage by the end of the weekend.
Hillyard will be providing floor coatings and maintenance products for all 2019 NCAA Division I, II, and III Men’s and Women’s Championship games. Photo courtesy John Coffey.
By SARAH THOMACK St. Joseph Post
While it cannot make any official predictions for the NCAA® basketball tournaments, a St. Joseph company can promise the floors will be ready.
Since 2013, Hillyard has provided the SureFoot® Game Day Mop, the official mop of NCAA basketball. Over the years, Hillyard, along with several other companies, has provided floor coating and maintenance products for the NCAA basketball championship games.
Vice President with Hillyard Companies Brett Carolus said they have been a partner with the National Association of Basketball Coaches for several decades. This year, they expanded their relationship to become the official and only provider of floor coating and maintenance products for all 2019 NCAA Division I, II, and III Men’s and Women’s Championship games.
“These floors, depending on the site, there are teams that go out, the floors are produced and Hillyard product is laid on top of the floors as the final finish and coating,” Carolus said. “Every floor in the men’s and women’s Division I will have a Hillyard floor coating on it. Without getting too technical… It protects the wood, it gives the players better traction and it provides the gloss that makes that floor look great, provides the squeak.”
Carolus said it’s an honor to be a part of the NCAA tournament.
“It’s an amazing event, the NCAA tournament is, I think, one of the best sporting events in the world,” Carolus said. “Hillyard has been a St. Joe company since 1907, since we were founded here, so, very proud of the fact that it’s a St. Joe business and our St. Joe employees in this community can be proud of participating in a great sporting event.”
Being involved with basketball is nothing new for Hillyard. According to Hillyard’s website, its founder, Newton S. Hillyard took on the task of improving maintenance of wood gym floors. In 1920, he built a new plant and office building in St. Joseph which also housed the largest wood gym floor west of the Mississippi River. He used it as a test site to perfect new wood gym seals and finishes.
For more information on the history of Hillyard and its connection with basketball, click here.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri regulators reversed course Wednesday and gave the go-ahead to one of the nation’s largest renewable energy projects — a high-voltage power line delivering wind energy from the Midwest to a power grid for eastern states.
Grain Belt Express Mo. route- click to enlarge
The proposed Grain Belt Express transmission line would stretch 780 miles from Kansas across Missouri and Illinois before hooking into an electric grid in Indiana that serves the eastern U.S. The $2.3 billion project had twice been rejected by the Missouri Public Service Commission, but it reconsidered following a ruling last year by the state Supreme Court.
Missouri’s approval is a big step but not the final one before construction can begin.
In November, Chicago-based Invenergy announced it was buying the project from Houston-based Clean Line Energy Partners. That deal should bolster the financing, but Invenergy said the sale still needs regulatory approval in Missouri and Kansas. The transmission line also needs to regain regulatory approval in Illinois, where a state appeals court last year overturned the state’s previous approval.
The Grain Belt Express project has highlighted one of the biggest challenges facing renewable energy developers in the U.S. Converting wind into electricity is increasingly affordable, but it can sometimes be difficult to get the various governmental approvals necessary to string the power lines from the remote areas where the energy is produced to the more populated places where it’s consumed.
Clean Line had been working on the proposed direct-current power line since 2010 and had said last year that it still hoped to bring the project online by 2023 or 2024.
Invenergy spokeswoman Beth Conley said that timeline has not been changed by the proposed sale of the project. The power line would be the largest transmission project undertaken by Invenergy.
“The Grain Belt Express is important because it is a transformative infrastructure project that will provide access to more low-cost renewable power to American consumers and communities,” Conley said.
Paul Agathen, an attorney for the Missouri Landowners Alliance, which has opposed the project, said he is considering whether to appeal the regulatory ruling to a state court. The project also could face continued opposition from some counties, which grant approval for power lines to cross roads, and from individual property owners.
Some landowners “just really do not believe that a private company like Grain Belt should have the right to take their property by eminent domain in order to put a transmission line through Missouri,” Agathan said. “They sincerely believe they’re being wronged here.”
When Missouri regulators originally rejected the project in July 2015, they determined it would have little benefit for Missouri consumers and cited the burden it would impose on landowners in its path. Since then, the project was restructured to include a deal to sell some of the power to a coalition of Missouri municipal utilities. That helped persuade regulators that the project does have benefit to the state.
All five regulatory commissioners voted for the project Wednesday. Their written order said that “the broad economic, environmental, and other benefits of the project … outweigh the interests of the individual landowners.”
“I’m excited to see it go,” said commissioner Bill Kenney, who had voted against the original proposal. “We’re moving toward more renewables, and I think this project is an excellent start for us in Missouri.”
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri regulators have reversed course and given the go-ahead to one of the nation’s largest renewable energy projects.
The Grain Belt Express power line approved Wednesday would carry wind power from Kansas on a 780-mile path across Missouri and Illinois before hooking into a power grid in Indiana that serves eastern states.
The Missouri Public Service Commission had rejected the project twice previously, but it reconsidered following a ruling last year by the state Supreme Court.
In November, Chicago-based Invenergy announced it was buying the project from Houston-based Clean Line Energy Partners. That deal should bolster the financing, but the sale still needs regulatory approval.
The transmission line also would need regulatory approval in Illinois, where a state appeals court overturned the state’s previous approval.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State officials say the flooding that swept Nebraska has caused nearly $1.4 billion in estimated losses and damage.
Gov. Pete Ricketts said Wednesday that roads, levies and other infrastructure have sustained an estimated $449 million in damage. Damage to private homes and businesses has reached $85 million so far, and farmers have experienced $400 million in cattle losses and $440 million in crop losses.
HWY 34 bridge in Plattsmouth. The impacts to transportation in Eastern Nebraska will require a great deal of patience. Thankfully Nebraskans are known for this quality! pic.twitter.com/VoSb9bsbIJ
Ricketts says an estimated 2,067 homes and 341 businesses have been damaged or destroyed in the flood.
Ricketts stressed that the numbers are preliminary and subject to change. The numbers were included in the governor’s request for expedited assistance from the federal government.
We understand how important your pets are.
So when troopers come to the rescue, the pets gets rescued too.
(Not pictured: a massive dog who got to ride in the NSP helicopter!)
ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western softball team (15-12, 4-4) earned its first true doubleheader sweep of the season taking its series from Northwest Missouri State (3-11, 0-6) Wednesday night.
Missouri Western jumped out to a 9-0 lead in game one then fought off a Bearcat rally to win 11-8. In game two, the Griffs scratched across five runs in a bit of a pitcher’s duel to win 5-1. With the two wins, MWSU head coach Jen Bagley Trotter moved one win away from tying Rhesa Sumrell as the winningest coach in MIAA history.
GAME 1 Missouri Western 11, Northwest 8
A five-run first and a four-run second gave the Griffs a 9-0 lead after two innings
Northwest chipped away at the lead in the third and fourth before a big, 6-run sixth inning pulled the Bearcats within one
MWSU added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth
The Griffons had five doubles in the game
Emma Hoffart had four RBIs in the game and went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and a home run
Brea Blanton also homered and went 2-for-4
Morgan Frost was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two doubles
Gabi Carter went 2-for-4 and Sydni Hawkins was 2-for-3 with a double
Kaili Hinds improved to 7-3 on the season, going 6 1/3 total with five strikeouts
GAME 2 Missouri Western 5, Northwest 1
Kenzie Hilzer pitched one of her best games of the season, holding the Bearcats to one earned run on five hits. She struck out five and walked just one to move to 3-5 on the season.
The Griffons spread their offense around a little more, scratching out a run in the second, two in the third and two in the sixth on Northwest starter Rachel Smith
Smith struck out six Griffon batters in 5 2/3
Frost stayed hot, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and another double. She had two RBIs on a single in the sixth that put Northwest away
Hawkins added two more hits and was 2-for-2 at the plate
UP NEXT
The Griffons host the Hy-Vee Classic beginning Thursday, March 21
The schedule for the classic has been adjusted once again with the loss of Minot State from the field and the threat of rain over the weekend
Still, the Griffons will open the Classic against Northern State at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MIAA announced on Thursday morning that Missouri Western senior Shi Qing Ong has been named MIAA Women’s Golfer of the Week. Ong receives the recognition after winning the Holiday Inn Express Classic this week and tying for first at the Warrior Invitational in Las Vegas last week.
Extreme northwest Missouri continues to battle floodwaters, even as flooding on the Missouri River moves downstream.
ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western softball team (15-12, 4-4) earned its first true doubleheader sweep of the season taking its series from Northwest Missouri State (3-11, 0-6) Wednesday night.