(update) – I-29 is back open but MoDOT is urging people to stay inside if possible. The Missouri Department of Transportation has shutdown I-29 in both directions due to icy weather conditions.
Several vehicle crashes were reported around 10 p.m. Friday and then the department announced that the highway is closed northbound north of the Dearborn exit (exit 30) until further notice. Drivers who have been stuck in the traffic back up were being rerouted down I-29 southbound or Rte 371. Check the Traveler Map at modot.org or call 888 ASK MODOT.
Also, according to it’s Facebook page, shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday I-29 south of St. Joseph was still blocked due to vehicles stuck on black ice. MoDOT said crews are working with the Highway Patrol and our two agencies will close I-29 at Dearborn northbound and turn all stranded motorists around south so they may get somewhere safe, dry and warm.
…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CST
SATURDAY…
…WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM SATURDAY TO NOON CST
SUNDAY…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL HAS
ISSUED A WIND CHILL ADVISORY…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM
SATURDAY TO NOON CST SUNDAY.
* TIMING…FREEZING DRIZZLE WILL CONTINUE TO IMPACT NORTHERN MISSOURI
WITH ACTIVITY CONTINUING OVERNIGHT BEFORE TRANSITIONING TO SNOW
SATURDAY MORNING. ALL ACTIVITY SHOULD COME TO AN END BY SATURDAY
EVENING.
* WIND CHILL VALUES…WIND CHILL VALUES WILL FALL TO 15 TO 25 BELOW
ZERO LATE SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING.
* MAIN IMPACT…TOTAL ICE ACCUMULATIONS WILL APPROACH UP TO ONE TENTH
OF AN INCH BY SATURDAY MORNING BEFORE TRANSITIONING TO SNOW. TOTAL
SNOWFALL AMOUNTS FROM ONE TO THREE INCHES ARE LIKELY ON SATURDAY.
ICE ACCUMULATIONS FOLLOWED BY ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL MAKE FOR
HAZARDOUS ROADWAYS AND TRAVEL CONDITIONS.
* OTHER IMPACTS…THE LOW WIND CHILL VALUES WILL CAUSE FROST BITE TO
EXPOSED SKIN IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW…SLEET…OR
FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR
SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES…AND USE CAUTION WHILE
DRIVING.
A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS
WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN
FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.
IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS…MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND
GLOVES.
Due to the weather, the St Joseph Bicycle Club’s bike distribution that was scheduled for December 17, has been postponed. A new date will be announced. There is a possibility that the distribution will take place after Christmas. All children receiving bikes are from families signed up through the Adopt-A-Family Christmas program.
Penny Adams with AFL-CIO Community Services said the agency is planning on being opening Saturday from 9 to 1, weather permitting. They are asking all volunteers that are scheduled to work Saturday to please call 364-1131 or 390-4412 after 9 am to check if they are open.
The City of St. Joseph Parks, Recreation and Civic Facilities has advised the following closures, cancellations, and weather delay openings for December 16 and 17, 2016, due to the weather conditions.
Holiday Park (Krug Park) – Closed December 16, 2016.
REC Center – Closing at 5:00 p.m., December 16, 2016. All activities scheduled at the REC Center on the evening of December 16, 2016 have been cancelled.
REC Center – Delayed opening, December 17, 2016. Will open at 7:00 a.m.
Youth Basketball Games Scheduled for December 17, 2016 – Cancelled.
A Kansas prison escapee learned this week he will have to serve another ten years, in addition to the 128 years he’ll serve in Missouri for crimes committed while he was on the run.
Scott Gilbert, 53, was sentenced to 130 months for his aggravated escape from custody from the Lansing Correctional Facility on May 10, 2013. Todd Thompson, Leavenworth County Attorney, noted in court that Gilbert had already been convicted of 79 cases, including the ten from last year’s case in Platte County, Missouri.
Thompson says Gilbert acted as his own lawyer, had nothing to say about sentencing, and only made sure he could file an appeal. Earlier this month a judge found him guilty of an aggravated escape from custody after a bench trial.
Gilbert was previously convicted and sentenced to 128 years in Platte County, Missouri for crimes relating to this escape. Gilbert was sentenced last year on 10 felonies including firing at a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. A jury there convicted him after a two week trial.
In 2010, Gilbert was convicted in Sedgwick County for burglary and theft and was serving time at the Lansing Correctional Facility. He along with two others escaped the Lansing Facility on May 5, 2013. Randy Riddens previously pleaded guilty as charged to this same aggravated escape. Riddens received 122 months sentence for the escape. Allen Hurst still awaits trial.
A local contractor on Friday began pulling down the south wall of the historic Pioneer Building, which was destroyed by fire Nov. 20. Under a new deadline granted by the city, Madget Demolition has until December 23 to make the area safe for entry.
Workers are pulling down the south wall of the building, along Fifth Street, as a priority. They hope to reduce or eliminate any additional damage to adjacent properties, including a city parking garage across the street.
The cause of the fire has not been determined, because the building is not safe for fire inspectors to do their work. Once the building is deemed safe for entry, they can pick through the tons of rubble to try to determine the cause of the fire.
Once their work is done, the contractor can complete the demolition.
The owner of the Pioneer building has been granted, more time to make the building safe for entry so fire inspectors can try to determine what caused the fire that destroyed the building.
The City of St. Joseph on Dec. 1 issued an emergency demolition of the building, which was gutted by fire last month.
Fifth St. and Francis St. have been closed since the fire. There is some heavy equipment on the site for the eventual demolition of the building. The order included a deadline of Dec. 15.
In a news release Friday, city officials said they had granted a delay in the deadline provided in the emergency order.
“At the request of the property owner of the Pioneer Building, the contractor has been granted by the city an additional period of time to continue work on the demolition of the property located at 505-514 Francis Street,” according to the news release. “The contractor will have until Friday, December 23, to render the structure safe for entry.”
“As the Pioneer Building is privately owned, the process of the demolition is between the property owner and the contractor. The contractor has been removing the south wall as a priority to reduce and/or eliminate any further damage to existing adjacent properties. When the south wall has been removed, larger equipment, which is already on site, will be used to more expediently bring down the remaining walls.”
Officials say that if the owners fail to meet the new deadline, they will besubject to administrative fines for failure to comply.
“The city is anxious to proceed with the fire investigation as to the cause of the fire, as well as reopen the streets to pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and allow businesses to reopen,” according to the news release. “As such, the city will continue to work with the property owner to expediently demolish the structure and clear the area in the best interest and safety of the public and downtown businesses.”
Once the fire investigation has concluded, the property owner will resume complete demolition of the structure.
Judge Weldon Judah swears in Commissioner Ron Hook
Judge Weldon Judah swears in Treasurer John Nash
At the courthouse Friday, officials gathered to honor a judge who is retiring after thirty years on the bench.
Circuit Judge Weldon Judah was first elected to serve in the Municipal Division of the Buchanan County Circuit Court in April, 1986. He served in that capacity until November, 1988, when he was elected an Associate Division Judge. In 1995, he was appointed by the Governor as Circuit Judge, Division 2, of the Fifth Judicial Circuit. He was elected to that position in 1996 and re-elected in 1998, 2004 and 2010. His present term expires December 31, 2016.
Among his final duties was the swearing in of two county officials who won their elections last month, Western District Commissioner Ron Hook and Treasurer John Nash. Judge Judah has some kind words for Commissioner Hook.
“I didn’t know anybody could be this sincere,” Judah said. “How could anybody be such a nice, kind, generous, good looking, hard-working guy?”
The judge recounted a story to illustrate his admiration for the Western District Commissioner. Judge Judah says during a break in a jury trial some time back he took a look out of his courtroom window to check the weather and he spotted Hook outside.
“It was a cold day, he was kind of halfway jogging or running…”
“…I don’t remember that,” interrupted the commissioner. “Jogging?”
But the judge said he remembered. It was a cold day, he said, and Hook stopped to pick up some litter on the courthouse grounds.
“I saw him stop, and bend down, and pick up one of those paper things they put on a disposable straw,” the judge said. “I couldn’t see it, and I don’t know how anybody could see it.”
“But that’s the kind of pride he takes in the courthouse, in the western district, in his job, and it’s just the kind of person he is. And I went ‘how many hundreds of people, not to mention the person who threw that there, not to mention all the people that walked by, didn’t pay it a bit of attention at all? And, he did this thanklessly.”
“And, I just said what a great guy, what a sweet guy.”
A reception was held over the noon hour for Judge Judah. He says he has made no immediate plans for his retirement.
“I’m sure eventually my wife will come up with a good idea,” he said.
Judah’s seat will be filled in January by David Bolander, who defeated Gary Myers in the general election last month.
Amanda BennettA teenager charged as an adult in the death of Kaytlin Root in October waived her preliminary hearing Friday.
Amanda Donna Bennett and co-defendant Sebastian Dowell are charged with luring Root to Krug Park, rendering her unconscious, and then stabbing her to death. Her body was found by a runner along a trail at the park October 16.
Associate Circuit Judge Rebecca Spencer bound Bennett over for trial in circuit court.
Bennett and Dowell are charged with second degree murder. Judge Spencer scheduled Bennett’s arraignment January 23 before Judge Patrick Robb. Bennett remains in custody, unable to post a quarter million dollars bail.
Dowell is being held without bail awaiting his next court appearance in February.
A St. Joseph woman is charged with resisting after allegedly getting tased in an attempt to run from Drug Strike Force investigators.
Abby Riggs, 25 was charged Thursday in Buchanan County with a felony for resisting arrest stemming from an incident that court documents claim took place October in the 1700 block of Vernon St.
“The defendant was sitting in a chair next to the front door. Investigator Terry White and I exited my vehicle to make contact with the defendant,” said Investigator Stephen Clark with the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force. “The defendant jumped up and fled into the front door of the residence. I chased the defendant through the residence to the basement. The defendant fell and got back up to continue to run.”
Clark said he then made the decision to deploy his taser.
“I felt that deploying the taser would cause less harm to the defendant and I, if I was to tackle her,” Clark said. “After speaking with the defendant, I believe she knew of her active felony arrest warrant and attempted to get away from investigators to avoid arrest.”
Bail for Riggs has been set at $7,500 cash only. According to the Buchanan County Jail a court date is scheduled for Jan. 3.
The Missouri Department of Transportation has shutdown I-29 in both directions due to icy weather conditions.
