A Grant City woman was injured in a single-vehicle crash in Gentry County Tuesday morning. The Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report says the driver fell asleep at the wheel.
Investigators said Barbara Foland, 66, was driving along U.S. Highway 169 north of Gentry at 8:40 am Monday when she fell asleep. The Dodge Caravan left the highway, went down an embankment and overturned onto its drivers side.
Foland was transported to Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph for treatment of what were described at the scene as moderate injuries.
Heat Advisory for heat index values ranging from the low to mid 100s continues for the entire area today through 7 p.m. As for the potential for storms today, chances will primarily be confined to northern Missouri, with some storms possibly becoming strong to perhaps severe this afternoon into tonight. Look for storm chances to continue into Thursday and Friday, accompanied by slightly cooler temperatures. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 97. Heat index values as high as 105. South southwest wind 8 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 75. South southwest wind 6 to 13 mph.
Thursday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Heat index values as high as 96. Light and variable wind becoming northeast around 6 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Thursday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. North northeast wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Friday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 2 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 85. East northeast wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 66.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 88.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 68.
A former member of the St. Joseph school board now says the FBI offered to meet with the board about the bureau’s investigations into the district, and the district said no. Chris Danford made the explosive claim on her Facebook page on Monday.
“I have been asked to confirm someone else’s Face Book post regarding a proposed meeting between the St. Joseph School District Board of Education and the FBI,” Danford wrote. “Yes, I can confirm that the FBI did offer to meet with the superintendent and the board.”
“So, did this meeting between FBI agents and the Board happen? No.” according to the posting. “Who declined, you probably ask? I can only tell you the full board did not make that decision. I, for one, pushed over and over for this meeting to take place.” Superintendent Dr. Robert Newhart and the district’s lawyer did meet with the Bureau, and Newhart presented information from that meeting to the school board in August of 2016.
Danford said she pushed for reports from the district’s internal investigation to be released. The board voted 5-2 not to release the results of the $100,000 internal probe.
“I have heard that some current board members have publicly posted that there was no criminal activity in those reports,” Danford wrote on Facebook, an assertion she denies.
“Oh yes, there was,” she wrote. “Pages and pages documenting a variety of infractions. Those did not reach the $5,000 threshold for a federal felony (the FBI’s threshold) – however, that doesn’t dismiss the criminal activity and the bizarre system that ruled the district at the time.”
Danford also asserted a possible motive for withholding the reports. “Oh, I’ve been told the statute of limitations on these violations is 5 years – in other words, 2018. Is that the motive?,” she wrote on Facebook. “As far as I know, local law enforcement authorities have never seen the FBI files or those internal investigations.”
We spoke on Wednesday with Dr. Newhart.
In an interview, he said Danford is rehashing old complaints that Newhart said had already been thoroughly vetted by the Board of Education. Newhart added that we cannot continue to “hold the district hostage” because of prior practices and incidents.
“This has been vetted before the board, and that’s what publicly people need to know,” Newhart said. “Exclusively, extensively, it’s been vetted.”
What Danford referred to as “a variety of infractions,” were characterized by Newhart “inept leadership.”
“The question came down to were there minor misdemeanors, or sloppiness and inept leadership of prior administrators that are no longer working for the district,” he said.
He did agree with Danford that the statute of limitations was one factor in the district’s decision not to release reports from their internal investigations into the districts financial and personnel controversies. Newhart says releasing the reports would expose the district to liability.
So if the statute had expired, Newhart said neither he nor the board would have reason to withhold the reports from the public.
The latest series of information sessions on the total eclipse are coming up in two weeks, and the public is strongly encouraged to attend. The St. Joseph Visitors Bureau, along city and county officials, have scheduled sessions July 26 at the Scottish Rite Temple Theater, 515 N. 6th Street in St. Joseph. The free sessions are planned at 9am, 1pm and 6pm.
During the hour and a half sessions, there will be a presentation the history of eclipses, the special effects you can expect to see and common sense viewing tips presented by Dr. Angela Speck. Dr. Speck, Director of Astronomy at University of Missouri, will also explain why this eclipse is generating so much attention, the time-line of the eclipse, and why St. Joseph is a prime viewing location. Dr. Speck was recently featured as one of the guest speakers on the NASA 2017 eclipse science panel press briefing live-stream on June 21 of this year.
Following Dr. Speck, the public will also learn about the many special events that our local residents, family and friends can enjoy set in St. Joseph during the prior weekend and day of the eclipse from Beth Conway, Communications Director of the St. Joseph Visitors Bureau.
Rounding out the sessions, city and county emergency management officials will share how the entire community and region is preparing for this special event, and a panel will be available for questions and answers from the audience.
Solar Eclipse merchandise will also be available for purchase, including the ever-important solar safety sunglasses.
A crash in Dekalb County early Tuesday morning claimed the life of a 43-year-old Maysville man.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports Brian Miller failed to stop at a stop sign at SE Harris Road at Rogers Road at 4:45 am. His Ford F350 crashed broadside into a Chevrolet Silverado driven by a Cameron man.
Miller was ejected when his truck left the roadway and hit a fence. He pronounced deceased Cameron Regional Medical Center at 8am, according to the crash report. The other driver, 27-year-old John Wise of Cameron, was treated for minor injuries.
A stop for speeding in Livingston County turned into a drug bust in which officers say they found suspected “Ecstacy” pills in a Pez dispenser.
Sheriff Steve Cox said the incident happened on July 4 along U.S. Highway 36 near Highway CC. Deputy Nicholas Leadbetter clocked a speeding vehicle from New Mexico at 90 in a 65 mph zone. Further investigation led to a search of the vehicle.
Cox says they’ve seized “Dab,” or THC oil, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and several pills in a Pez dispenser. Cox says the pills are suspected to be Ecstasy, but that will require confirmation from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab prior to any possible criminal charges.
The people int he vehicle were issued citations for marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession and were released.
In a pair of decisions this week, the Supreme Court of Missouri upheld one lengthy prison sentence for a juvenile, and rejected another.
In a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court of Missouri has upheld an 85-year effective prison sentence imposed on a juvenile in a Cole County criminal case.
The US Supreme Court has rejected sentences of life without parole for juveniles. But, in the ruling in Missouri, Judge Mary Russell said the federal court ruling did not apply to multiple, fixed-year, sentences.
This defendant will not be eligible for parole until the defendant is 85 years old.
Timothy Willbanks was 17 when he and two older individuals kidnapped a woman at gunpoint, emptied her bank account at an ATM, and stole her vehicle. She was forced her into the trunk and later released, only to be shot by Willbanks. She survived. A trial jury found Willbanks guilty of one count of kidnapping, one count of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree robbery and three counts of armed criminal action.
The circuit court sentenced Willbanks to consecutive prison terms totaling life in prison plus 355 years. He will not be eligible for parole until he is 85 years old, which he says exceeds his life expectancy, according to actuarial tables.
In Graham v. Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a juvenile convicted of an offense other than homicide cannot be sentenced to life in prison without a meaningful opportunity for release.
In arguments and deliberations, the Missouri court wrestled with several issues, including whether Willbanks received a de facto sentence of life without parole, whether the Graham ruling applies retroactively, and whether Missouri’s parole statute and regulations are unconstitutional as applied to Willbanks.
In the opinion, Judge Russell writes that Missouri’s mandatory minimum parole statutes and regulations are constitutionally valid under the United States Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Graham v. Florida. But she says that decision addressed only a single sentence of life without parole, not aggregated multiple fixed-term sentences. She describes the Cole County case as a question of first impression for the Missouri Court. Without direction from the U.S. Supreme Court to the contrary, Russell writes that the state will continue to enforce its current sentencing laws.
In a dissenting opinion joined by two other judges, Judge Laura Denvir Stith said she would find it violates the Eighth Amendment to impose aggregate sentences for non-homicide offenses that are the functional equivalent of life without parole because they do not give a juvenile offender a meaningful opportunity for release.
In another case from Wright County, a man sentenced as a juvenile to mandatory terms of life without parole for 50 years won his case before the Missouri Court. Judge Patricia Breckenridge writes in that 5-1 decision that the sentences violate the Eighth Amendment, because they were imposed without any opportunity for the judge to consider whether the sentences were just and appropriate under the federal court ruling. Breckenridge says Jason Clay Carr must be re-sentenced.
Chief Justice Zel Fischer was the lone dissenter in the Carr case. Justice Fischer said the US court precedent applies only to cases involving a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility for parole.
Jason Carr was convicted in 1983 of three counts of capital murder for killing his brother, stepmother and stepsister when he was 16 years old. He was sentenced to three concurrent terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole for 50 years the only sentence he could receive under state law at the time.
HAMILTON, Mo. – Pavement repairs are planned for westbound U.S. Route 36.
The Missouri Department of Transportation issued a second news release stating the days of pavement repairs have been changed from July 12-13 to July 13th and 17th.
On Thursday, July 13, local maintenance crews from MoDOT will close the driving lane of westbound U.S. Route 36 between Turkey Road and Des Moines Road at approximately 6:30 a.m. for concrete replacement. The lane should reopen around 5 p.m. that same evening.
On Monday, July 17, crews plan to close the driving lane between Des Moines Road and Nettleton Road for the same type of work. The hours will again be 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A 12-foot width restriction will be in place during each lane closure.
Motorists should be alert and follow all construction signs and message boards. All work is weather permitting and schedules are subject to change.
For more information about this and other MoDOT projects, call 1-888-ASK-MODOT or visit modot.org/northwest.
Hazardous heat will continue to affect the area for the next couple days with temperatures in the mid to upper 90s and heat index values between 100 and 105 degrees. It is recommended to slow down, reduce or eliminate any strenuous activity until the cooler times of the day. Children, seniors and anyone with health problems should stay in the coolest place available, not necessarily indoors. With this being the second day of excessive heat in a three day event it is recommended to check on the older, sick, or frail people who may need help responding to the heat. Do NOT leave children or pets in parked vehicles, even with windows down, for any amount of time as temperatures can rise extremely fast. A slight break in the heat will come Thursday as a weak cold front pushes through the region lowering the dewpoint temperatures and increasing chances of clouds and precipitation. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: Sunny, with a high near 96. Heat index values as high as 104. South southwest wind 7 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 78. South wind 9 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 95. Heat index values as high as 103. South southwest wind 8 to 10 mph.
Wednesday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. South southwest wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Thursday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. East wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Thursday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Friday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 88. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 69.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 89.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 68.
A Grant City woman was injured in a single-vehicle crash in Gentry County Tuesday morning. The Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report says the driver fell asleep at the wheel.
