Employers are being sought to take part in what’s being touted as the largest career fair in northwest Missouri.

The St. Joseph Employment Coalition plans to hold its 2017 Career & Resource Fair on April 18th from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Civic Arena in downtown St. Joseph.  Jennifer Whitson with the Employment Coalition said currently around 40 businesses have signed up for a booth as well as eight resources and five educational venues.  She hopes to see those numbers double by the April 7 deadline.

“You just have to be hiring if you’re an employer or hiring within the next six months,” Whitson said. “It doesn’t cost anything…As for resources and education we just want as many resources for the public.”

She estimated between 700 to 800 job seekers attended the career fair in 2016.  Whitson said in previous years they have seen more than 1,500.

Businesses or agencies wanting to register for a spot in the fair can do so online.  CLICK HERE for details.

A 17-year-old was seriously injured in a crash Thursday morning about a mile east of Maitland.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Tyler Steele was driving westbound on Route A around 7:45 a.m. in Nodaway County.  Steele was driving a 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier when he went off the north side of the road, over corrected and came back to the road then crossed the center line.  The patrol said that’s when Steele’s vehicle started to slide and went off the north side of the road, hit an embankment and rolled over.  Steele was transported by Ambulance to Mosaic Life Care.  He was reported to be wearing a seat belt.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Transportation is holding three job fairs this month.

MoDOT is looking for seasonal maintenance workers, wage employees and summer help for facilities in Bethany, Brookfield, Cameron, Carrollton, Chillicothe, Maryville and St. Joseph.

Applicants are encouraged to visit www.modot.org/jobs and complete their online profile and apply positions for which they would like to be considered.  While there, they can see the minimum qualifications and requirements for each position. A limited number of computers will be available at the fairs, but completing the profile and applying before the fair will speed up the applicant’s process during the fair. Interested applicants need attend only one of the fairs listed below:

March 10

3 – 6 p.m.

Northwest District Office

3602 N. Belt Highway, St. Joseph

 

March 14

3 – 6 p.m.

Chillicothe Maintenance Facility

1301 Mitchell Avenue, Chillicothe

 

March 16

3 – 6 p.m.

Maryville Maintenance Facility

28320 250th Street, Maryville

MoDOT staff will be on hand at the job fairs to talk to you about your work history, qualifications, any licenses you hold and your availability for work. Applicants should attend the fair prepared for a brief interview.

…NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR MARCH 6 2017 TORNADO EVENT…

This is an update to the tornado event that occurred on March 6, 2017.
Already there are 5 confirmed tornadoes from March 6, and this statement
will verify or confirm 3 more tornadoes after discussions with local
agencies and analysis of severe weather reports and radar.

.Holt County…

Rating: EF-0
Path length /Statute/: 2.9 miles
Path width /Maximum/: ~25 yards

Start date: March 6 2017
Start time: 617 PM CST
Start location: 3 W Mound City, Missouri
Start Lat/Lon: 40.12/-95.28

End date: March 6 2017
End time: 621 PM CST
End location: Mound City, Missouri
End_lat/lon: 40.14/-95.23

.Nodaway County…

Rating: EF-0
Path length /Statute/: 5.6 miles
Path width /Maximum/: ~25 yards

Start date: March 6 2017
Start time: 630 PM CST
Start location: 1 NW Skidmore, Missouri
Start Lat/Lon: 40.31/-95.09

End date: March 6 2017
End time: 636 PM CST
End location: 5 SW Maryville, Missouri
End_lat/lon: 40.31/-94.98

.Henry County…

Rating: EF-0
Path length /Statute/: 7.8 miles
Path width /Maximum/: ~25 yards

Start date: March 6 2017
Start time: 917 PM CST
Start location: 5 SE Clinton, Missouri
Start Lat/Lon: 38.33/-93.69

End date: March 6 2017
End time: 926 PM CST
End location: Tightwad, Missouri
End_lat/lon: 38.32/-93.54

Things have settled down quite a bit west of Rock Port, where a fire at a tire recycling facility shut down a highway and prompted safety warnings for nearby residents.

Atchison County’s Emergency Management Director Rhonda Wiley said Wednesday they still expect the fire to continue burning “for the foreseeable future.” Wiley said employees at EnTire Recycling continue to monitor the burning piles of tire remnants.

“They’re keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t flare up,” Wiley said. She said there were no injuries reported in the fire or the firefighting effort at the facility at 13974 U.S. Highway 136, just west of Rock Port.

The cause of the fire remains underinvestigation.

“We have no known cause for the fire,” said Scott Jones, Fire Chief in the West Atchison Fire Protection District. “I can tell you that we had an investigator there today, but I know nothing more than that.”

Jones said their firefighting effort has been frustrating. Piles of ground rubber continue to smolder outside the concrete building where the blaze started Sunday night.

“We can walk right up to them, but we’re just unable to put them out,” Jones said. “We are covering them up with foam, and within an hour they’ll be burning again.”

“We flooded the basement with 858,000 gallons of water, and the basement is the only thing we’ve been able to put out.”

As we reported earlier, the fire erupted Sunday, and by Monday was producing a huge cloud of potentially-toxic smoke that could be seen for miles.

By Tuesday, 136 Highway had reopened.

“There’s still smoke,” Wiley said, “but not as much as on Monday.

Missouri Western State University offers a special presentation for artists and what they need to know to file their taxes.

The Art Entrepreneurship Speaker Series at Missouri Western State University continues at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 8 with Dean Vivian’s talk titled “Figure Out the Numbers: Taxes for Artists.”

The 90-minute seminar is free and open to the public.

Vivian will review the details of what self-employed artists need to know to file their taxes. A graduate of Webster Conservatory and a working actor for 35 years, Vivian joined Actor’s Equity in 1981, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 1983 and the Screen Actors Guild in 1995.

He was a representative of his peers in Equity for eight years, and in his 18th year of serving on the AFTRA National Board and the SAG-AFTRA Joint Board of Directors. He was also recently elected as one of the 11 member-trustees for the multi-billion-dollar AFTRA Health & Retirement Fund.