By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Missouri has asked President Donald Trump to issue a second major disaster declaration as the state recovers from a second round of flooding as well as severe storms, including tornadoes.

The formal request was made today by Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, acting on behalf of Gov. Mike Parson, who is out of the country.

According to the governor’s office, state and local officials examined 1,650 primary homes, of which 953 had been destroyed or sustained major damage. The assessments also showed that 125 of 251 businesses examined had been destroyed or sustained major damage from storms since April 29^th.

The governor’s office is requesting individual assistance for 41 Missouri counties which would allow residents to seek federal assistance with temporary housing, housing repairs, replacement of damaged belongings, vehicles, and other qualifying expenses as a result of the flooding and storms. Those counties are Adair, Andrew, Atchison, Barton, Boone, Buchanan, Callaway, Carroll, Chariton, Christian, Clark, Cole, Cooper, Dallas, Douglas, Gasconade, Greene, Grundy, Harrison, Hickory, Holt, Howard, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Laclede, Lafayette, Lewis, Lincoln, Livingston, Macon, Miller, Osage, Pike, Platte, Polk, Pulaski, Saline, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Ste. Genevieve.

Seven teams began conducting joint damage assessments today for federal public assistance, which would allow local governments and nonprofit agencies to offset some of the cost of disaster response as well as help repair damaged roads, bridges, and other infrastructure.

The governor’s office says the state expects to request public assistance once joint Preliminary Damage Assessments are completed in 64 counties. Those counties are Adair, Andrew, Atchison, Barry, Barton, Bates, Bollinger, Buchanan, Caldwell, Camden, Carroll, Cedar, Chariton, Clark, Cole, Dade, Dallas, Daviess, Douglas, Dunklin, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Henry, Hickory, Holt, Jasper, Knox, Laclede, Lafayette, Lewis, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Maries, Marion, Mercer, Miller, Mississippi, Monroe, New Madrid, Nodaway, Ozark, Pemiscot, Perry, Pike, Pulaski, Putnam, Ralls, Ray, St. Clair, Ste. Genevieve, Saline, Schuyler, Scotland, Shannon, Shelby, Stoddard, Sullivan, Taney, Texas, Vernon, Webster, and Wright.

Additional joint damage assessments for public assistance may be conducted in more Missouri counties as additional information is gathered locally when floodwaters recede.

To assist families impacted by flooding and severe storms, several Multi-Agency Resource Centers are being organized across the state.

Three MARCs will take place this week, in Independence, Brunswick, and Boonville:

Tuesday, June 25

Silverstein Eye Centers Arena

19100 E. Valley Pkwy | Independence, MO 64055

11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Wednesday, June 26

Brunswick R-2 High School

1008 County Road | Brunswick, MO 65236

11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Friday, June 28

Open Bible Praise Center

16991 Hwy 87 | Boonville, MO 65233

11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Individuals with unmet needs should continue to contact United Way 211. Call 2-1-1 for assistance or visit http://211helps.org. Find more information as it becomes available about disaster resources, including additional MARC locations at http://recovery.mo.gov.

President Trump issued a disaster declaration May 20^th for local governments and nonprofit agencies in Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Carroll, Chariton, Holt, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Platte, Ray, and Ste. Genevieve Counties to help in recovery from the initial round of flooding, which began March 11^th.

The declaration made federal assistance available for the repair of damaged roads, bridges, and other public infrastructure, along with emergency response costs associated with the storms and flooding; an estimated $25 million in damage.

Gov. Parson declared a state of emergency in Missouri May 21^st as a round of severe weather, including a tornado that struck the state’s Capital City.

 

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

New regulations go only so far as St. Joseph city officials work to reduce the risk of lead poisoning for the community’s youngest members.

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced stricter lead standards.

EPA Region 7 Administrator Jim Gulliford says his office is working with St. Joseph health officials to warn parents and others about the dangers of lead poisoning in pre-1978 construction.

“The importance of pre-78 housing is that after 1978 lead was prohibited in paints used in homes and housing,” Gulliford says during a St. Joseph news conference. “So, we particularly look at pre-78 housing as places where there may be lead exposures for children.”

Gulliford says the standard was changed after studies emerged that raised continued concerns about the exposure to lead by very young children, leading the EPA to lower acceptable dust-lead hazard standards for floors from 40 micrograms of lead per square foot to 10 and for window sills dropping it from 250 to 100. It is the first change in the standards since 2001.

St. Joseph Health Director Debra Bradley says her office is running educational campaigns aimed especially at parents and child care providers about new, tighter EPA dust-lead standards for floors and window sills.

“Lead is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in rock and when previously it was added to paint it would enhance color and durability, but lead is an element and it doesn’t go away, which is why once lead is discovered in a home, following EPA guidelines for safety is imperative,” Bradley says.

Bradley says lead poisoning can go undetected, but she says parents need to know there is a simple blood test children can take.

“Children with elevated blood levels can experience serious health effects,” according to Bradley. “If you know your child has lead poisoning, talk to your pediatrician or the city of St. Joseph Health Department about what you can do.”

Bradley says the city will work with parents, no matter how receptive they are to the message.

“It’s kind of a mixed response,” Bradley says of the city’s work with parents on the issue. “There are some parents who are extremely protective and want to do everything they can for their kiddos and then there are others who are a little apprehensive of government involvement and so they’re a little cautious. But, we try to develop that rapport with them, so that they can understand that we’re here to help them and their family and that we just want to make it better for their kids.”

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

New, tougher regulations on exposure to lead have been implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA Region 7 Administrator, Jim Gulliford, tells reporters at a St. Joseph news conference research has proven even small amounts of lead can prove harmful to young children.

“And that’s why today EPA is announcing significantly new and more strict standards for lead dust in homes built before 1978 along with schools and child care facilities as well to protect, again, children in those early developmental years from exposure to lead,” Gulliford says.

The EPA states the United States has greatly reduced the risk of lead exposure to young children, from birth to age six, since the 1970s. New studies though indicate there is no real safe level of lead for such young children. The EPA is lowering the dust-lead hazard standards from 40 micrograms of lead per square foot to 10 on floors and from 250 micrograms to 100 on window sills in buildings built prior to 1978, when lead was banned from paint.

The EPA will work with St. Joseph city officials to educate the public on the threat of lead contamination, especially to the growth and development of children. The EPA reports lead-contaminated dust from chipped or peeling lead-based paint can lead to elevated blood lead levels in children.

Gulliford says the standards have been tightened to protect the very young.

“So, infants and young children especially vulnerable to lead paint exposure because their growing bodies absorb more lead than us as adults and their developing brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead,” according to Gulliford.

Gulliford says the EPA is working with contractors on the issue, especially those who work in renovation of older homes. He says the agency is also attempting to help homeowners who do their own work on how best to prevent lead exposure.

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

A Trenton police officer wounded in a struggle over her gun is recovering.

Twenty-four-year-old Jasmine Diab had been listed in critical, but stable condition at a Kansas City hospital. She has been upgraded to stable condition after undergoing surgeries to repair wounds from being shot in the abdomen by a prisoner she was transporting to St. Joseph.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeant Jake Angle says Diab was taking 38-year-old Jamey Griffin to St. Joseph for mental evaluation in a Trenton police car when he grabbed for her gun.

“When they reached the city limits of Winston a struggle ensued inside the vehicle,” Angle says during the KFEQ Hotline. “During that struggle, the Trenton officer was shot in the abdomen. The suspect received a gunshot wound to the hand at which time the vehicle came to a slow, rolling stop on U.S. 69 close to a convenience store there in Winston, the Pit Stop.”

Citizens at the convenience store came to the aid of Diab and restrained Griffin until officers could arrive and take him into custody.

Daviess County prosecutors charged Griffin with first-degree assault, armed criminal action, and shooting a weapon at or from a vehicle.

Angle says the dangerous incident demonstrates there are few things that are routine in police work.

“Anytime you’re dealing with a prisoner and you’re also talking about somebody that possibly their liberty is going to be taken away from them and sometimes those people choose to take desperate action,” Angle says. “I think that’s what happened in this situation. I think he felt that was an opportunity, possibly.”

Friends of Officer Diab have established an online fundraiser for her. Diab is a single mother to a five-year-old.

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Interstate 29 has reopened north of St. Joseph even with floodwaters lapping at its shoulders in southwest Iowa.

Area Engineer Adam Watson with the Northwest District of the Missouri Department of Transportation says MoDOT was waiting for word from Iowa before allowing through traffic to take I-29 again.

“It’s not going to be a perfect interstate, but it is open,” Watson tells listeners to the KFEQ Hotline. “There will be areas where there will be head-to-head traffic or you might even have to be under highway construction or rehabilitation where they’re doing the repairs still, but they were able to open it and as soon as they gave us word we were able to open up our section.”

The Iowa Department of Transportation reopened the interstate late Tuesday afternoon with the Missouri Department of Transportation following suit. IDOT had to wait for Missouri River floodwaters to recede and clean up to be completed to reopen the interstate. Traffic will be reduced to two lanes in some portions of I-29 in southwest Iowa.

Watson says both states will work to keep the interstate open to avoid a repeat of May 29^th, when I-29 reopened only to be shut down almost immediately afterward when flooding caused its closure in southwest Iowa.

“Shortly after we reopened it,” Watson says. “So, we were like, ‘Wow, this is not as much fun as we would like.’ So, we got the closures, the barricades back in place and reclosed it,” “It was not our best day, but let’s be honest, we had fluid conditions and we were responding as we could.”

Watson warns motorists I-29 isn’t ups to interstate standards in Iowa, where it narrows to two-lanes in portions of the state where floodwaters remain high and right next to the pavement.

Watson says the reopening of the interstate removes a bottleneck in northwest Missouri traffic.

“We are excited about that,” Watson says. “We know that a lot of people were struggling with their transportation choices being a little bit limited here due to the natural disasters, but I’m glad we’re starting to get these arteries back open, slowly but surely. If we can get them all open here shortly, I’m not sure that’s going to be able to happen, but I hope we can make great strides in the next few days, weeks, as long as it takes.”

Other major thoroughfares remain closed, notably U.S. 159 to the Rulo bridge and U.S. 136 to the Brownville bridge. Emergency repair work had begun to reopen traffic between northwest Missouri and northeast Nebraska, but renewed flooding in late May forced crews to abandon their work until floodwaters recede. U.S. 59 in southern Buchanan County remains closed with floodwaters cutting off the route to the Missouri River bridge to Atchison, Kansas.