ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Intersection improvement work has already begun at U.S. Route 169 (Belt Highway) and Route YY (Mitchell Avenue) in St. Joseph, but an upcoming phase of the project will require some motorists to seek an alternate route across the Belt Highway.
Contractors from Mega Industries Corporation, working with the Missouri Department of Transportation, will remove the old pavement at the intersection and lay new pavement August 8-11 and August 15-18.
This work will necessitate two four-day around-the-clock closures of Mitchell Avenue at the Belt Highway and the narrowing of traffic on the Belt to one lane in each direction. The first closure will begin at approximately 7 a.m. on Monday, August 8. Contractors plan to reopen access across the Belt Highway at Mitchell by 5 p.m. Thursday, August 11. They will then close the road again on Monday, August 15 through Thursday, August 18, during the same hours.
Photo by Sarah Thomack
During the closure, all business entrances on Mitchell Avenue will be accessible, traffic will only be restricted from crossing or accessing the Belt Highway from Mitchell Avenue. Motorists traveling north and south on the Belt Highway may notice delays and will not be able to turn onto Mitchell Avenue from the Belt Highway.
All work is weather permitting and could be rescheduled.
Kansas City, Mo. – Fish and wild game gourmet meals are the topic in an upcoming cooking series hosted by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
MDC’s free Field to Fork cooking series will offer cooking tips and taste-bud-tempting recipes at the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center, 4750 Troost Ave. in Kansas City.
Cooking catfish and rough fish will lead off the series 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 16. Registration is required and opens July 19. Some sport fish favorites will be on the menu such as flathead catfish, channel catfish and blue catfish. But chefs will also tackle oft-ignored fish, sometimes called rough fish, such as gar, carp, buffalo, Asian carp and drum. They often require more care in preparation due to bones and differing types of meat.
“These fish may not be beautiful, but they can be delicious,” said James Worley, an MDC education specialist and food expert who organizes the series.
In MDC’s Field to Fork sessions, Worley demonstrates how to fillet or dress fresh-caught fish for cooking. He also discusses where and how the various fish species can be caught, and he provides information about conservation and regulations.
Chef Brett Atkinson of Wilma’s Real Good Food and Chef Carlos Falcon of Jaroscho Pescados y Maricos will handle the cooking duties. They will share recipes and cooking tips. Small plate samples are available for tasting.
Seating is limited for the sessions. There is a refundable deposit of $20 per person, per class session, to hold a spot. Deposits will be returned to attendees or they may choose to donate it to the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation.
Registration for the following Field to Fork session will begin after each class. The series will include: panfish and squirrel, Sept. 20; Canada goose and wild turkey, Oct. 18; deer, Nov. 15; and waterfowl, Dec. 20.
writer/director Elliot Swope with the Bronze Telly. Photo courtesy MWSU
Missouri Western State University is a Bronze winner in the 37th annual Telly Awards for a short video titled “Am I Interrupting.”
“Am I Interrupting” was created by Missouri Western’s Instructional Media Center – Video Services for the Student Success and Academic Advising Center. The video tells the story of a frustrated professor in a faculty conference and of a student rushing across campus to get his PIN. The goal of the video is to teach students the best practices in being prepared for advisement in order to make the most of their collegiate career.
The cast is composed entirely of Missouri Western students, staff, and faculty, and features Dr. Jonathan Rhoad, associate professor of chemistry, and theatre/cinema student Thomas Delgado ’16. Elliot Swope ’14, video communications specialist, wrote and directed the spot, with writing assistance from Cathy Gann ’80 and Elaine Bryant ’04 in the Student Success Center and Kevin McQuirter, video communications specialist. Student Jeni Swope ’16 was assistant director. The video can be seen at HERE.
The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 and is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, and online commercials, video and films. Winners represent the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world.
Authorities have issued an Amber Alert for a missing 3-year-old from Arkansas who could be in western Kansas.
Layla Munholland, 3 was last seen between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. Friday at a home in Van Buren, Arkansas. The child and suspects, Chelsea Munholland, 24 and Allen Thomas, 30 are believed to be traveling in a 2006 Toyota Corolla, Gray with Arkansas plate #245 USV. Recent debit card activity indicates they traveled through Stilwell, Oklahoma, at 3:30am, Friday, and were last in Westville, OK. Information obtained from hotel indicates maybe headed to Royal George Colorado. As of 4:49 p.m. authorities said the vehicle may be in western Kansas at this time.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-KS-CRIME.
FAUCETT, Mo. – Route 116 in Buchanan County will close next week for a culvert replacement.
Local crews from the Missouri Department of Transportation plan to close Route 116 south of Faucett from the I-29 Overpass Bridge to Route Y. The road will be closed on Monday, July 18 at 7 a.m. and will be closed around the clock, reopening on Friday, July 22 at 2:30 p.m.
All work is weather permitting and schedules are subject to change. Motorists will need to use an alternate route during the closure.
A St. Joseph man has been charged after authorities began investigating a garage fire believed to have been intentionally set Thursday in midtown.
Joshuwa M. Lawrence, 29 is charged in Buchanan County with a felony for knowingly burning.
According to court documents, on Thursday Lawrence was seen on the sidewalk at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the back of 1305 S. 20th where a garage was fully engulfed in flames.
“According to the witness the defendant said that someone put out a cigarette and then took off in a hurry,” said Det. Richard Woodley with the St. Joseph Police Department. “The fire caused a total loss of the garage.”
Court documents said Lawrence has been arrested 22 times for failure to appear in municipal court, two times on a misdemeanor failure to appear in state court and one felony arrest for failure to appear. He also has a criminal history that includes three convictions for domestic assault and violation of an adult order of protection.
“The defendant set the victims garage on fire,” Det. Woodley said. “The defendant is a suspect in another open arson investigation unrelated.”
Lawrence is set for an arraignment for Tuesday. Bail has been denied.
General Frank J GrassMore than two hundred people converged on Missouri Western’s Fulkerson Center for the Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Breakfast, featuring a speech by General Frank J. Grass, the outgoing Chief of the National Guard Bureau.
General Grass regaled the crowd with some startling statistics on the current state and deployments of the National Guard, around the country and around the world.
He says the 139th Airlift Wing’s future looks bright, and despite their age, the C-130-H aircraft are still an essential element to the United States Armed Forces.
“They’re still the workhorse,” General Grass told the Chamber crowd. “They just picked me up yesterday and flew me in one, and I was thinking, wow, this thing is still the workhorse on tactical airlift of the world, really, and many other countries fly them.”
“So we’re going to have those H models for a number of years yet. One number I’ve seen is we’ll be flying H models, in really, probably the 2040 time frame, so we’ve got to modernize them.”
On the Wing’s wish list is the newer C-130-J aircraft. The Guard already has a few of them, but Grass said it would cost billions of dollars to upgrade the entire fleet, which he says is something we cannot afford right now. But the older aircraft, even given pending safety upgrades, will continue to be the work horse he described.
“There’s a huge expectation, whether it’s first responders or National Guard, that we’re going to be their when crisis occurs, probably quicker than we ever have before,” he said. “You know our overseas mission and our homeland are going to drive more use of the National Guard.
“And for the C-130s, I guarantee you the Air Force cannot go to war without the National Guard, flat out cannot do it, because the bulk of the C-130 (fleet) is in the Reserve component.”
General Grass offered up some strong numbers on the current status of the National Guard. He noted there are currently more than 8,000 members deployed today in support of combat missions. Since 9-11, some 780-thousand members have been deployed. Guard units are currently supporting relief efforts in four different flood zones, including one in Missouri.
He stressed several times the importance of community support for local National Guard units, and says St Joe does a great job of that.
“Where I live in Washington DC, it’s a great city to live in, and it’s the hub of so much activity, but it’s not really reality,” he said. “You’ve got to get away from that place and get down and see the American people, and the American communities, which are so vibrant and so powerful.
“And that’s what I see in St. Joe.”
General Grass is the 27th Chief of the National Guard Bureau and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but said Friday he expects to retire soon.
A jury has decided the fate of a Cameron man accused of killing his wife.
Adam Baker was found guilty by a jury Thursday of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with the fatal shooting of his wife Holly Baker. Investigators said the pair argued in their home on February 25, 2015.
According to court documents, Baker told police he took a gun away from his wife and later shot her.
The case was transferred to Clay County on a change of venue. The trial began earlier this week in Liberty, Mo.
A sentencing date has been set for Sept. 8. Sentencing recommendations include 13 years for second-degree murder and three years for armed criminal action.
High humidity readings, warm temperatures and rain continue to highlight the weather forecast. Here’s the latest from the National Weather Service.
Today: A 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Areas of fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 82. Northeast wind 5 to 7 mph.
Tonight: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 65. East wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 84. Southeast wind 6 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72. South southeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 94. South wind 10 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.
Sunday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 92.
Monday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tuesday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 90. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 72.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 94.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 75.
A crash on I-29 in Holt County Thursday afternoon sent an 83-year-old woman to the hospital.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the accident happened at 2:08 pm on I-29 at the 67.2 mile marker, file miles southeast of Oregon. According to the crash report another motorist pulled into a lane that was blocked off, and then tried to merge back into traffic.
That vehicle hit another driven by Shirley Davis of Oregon, Missouri. Davis’es car skidded into the median but remained on its wheels.
Davis was transported to Mosaic Life Care for treatment of what were described as moderate injuries. The other driver was identified as 89-year-old Mary Carter of Mound City. She was not injured.
