MARYVILLE, Mo. – A special topics course at Northwest Missouri State University covering the spring political season will host a Maryville town hall for the upcoming municipal election.

The forum will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, in the second floor courtroom of the Nodaway County Courthouse on the Maryville square. Participants in the hour-long forum include Renee Reidel, Maryville’s mayor and city council member, who is running unopposed for re-election; Maryville R-II School Board candidates Rob Sparks and Josh McKim, who also are unopposed for two open seats on the board; and Maryville City Manager Greg McDanel.

The forum’s intent is to provide residents the opportunity to pose questions to the candidates about their plans for office, as well as to ask questions of the city manager regarding the two tax initiatives on the upcoming ballot and address other areas of concern regarding the city.

The forum will be broadcast live on KNWT Channel 8 for Suddenlink cable subscribers and live-streamed through KNWT’s Ustream channel. An archive of the forum will be available through the Northwest Missourian website after the event.

Steven Chappell, an instructor of mass media and Northwest’s director of student publications, said the students’ original intent was to host a debate, but when none of the candidates faced a challenger they shifted to a town hall event.

“I wanted the students in the course to experience what being a journalist in a political environment is really like,” Chappell said. “We have seen numerous debates and town hall events on national media covering the presidential primaries, and this is an opportunity to give these students a taste of producing such an event at the local level.”

He said the event was important, not just for the students, but also the residents.

“The best electorate is an informed electorate,” Chappell said. “Also, this gives residents a chance to talk directly to the candidates about any issues they want to see addressed regarding the city or the schools. And we thought, with the tax initiative that the city manager has been explaining to residents since the start of the year, it was important to include him as well, as that’s the main issue on the ballot.”

The students will produce the entire broadcast of the forum, providing camera work, engineering and support. They also will serve as the forum’s moderators. Audience members may ask questions directly of the candidates during the event.

The Wyeth-Tootle Mansion will open in April for the 2016 tourist season with a new exhibit tackling the 1993 flood.

The Wyeth-Tootle Mansion, of the St. Joseph Museums, opens for the 2016 tourist season on Friday, April 1. The Mansion will be open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. through October 29, 2016.

Not only does the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion celebrate Gothic architecture and Victorian-era interior design, it also houses exhibits that explore early local enterprises, cultural history, and even natural disasters that have shaped our region’s history. Each of the three floors of the ornate 1879 mansion is dedicated to one or more historical exhibits, the newest of which will debut on April 15 and is titled Confluence: The Great Flood of 1993. The exhibit will be a permanent fixture for the Mansion that addresses the flood’s physical, economic, and social effects on St. Joseph and the surrounding area.

The Wyeth-Tootle Mansion is located at 1100 Charles Street, St. Joseph, Missouri. Admission is $6 for adults $5 for seniors, and $4 for students between the ages of 7 and 18. Children under six and Museum Members are admitted free of charge.

Beginning Monday, March 28, the intersection at 8th & Felix will be completely closed sewer repairs. The repairs should be completed by Friday, April 1, weather permitting.

A detour route will be in place during the closure.

Please exercise caution while in work zones to ensure your safety and that of crews working. Thank you for your patience during this construction period.

(News Release)

The Easter Bunny is making an appearance at the Hillcrest Thrift Shopp Saturday morning.

Children will be able to get their picture taken with the Easter Bunny from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the shoppe located at 4826 Frederick Ave. Families can purchase the photo from Ultimate Look Photography. Each child will be able to take home a treat from the Easter Bunny.

While children are waiting to meet the Easter Bunny, Hillcrest said they will have a chance to color an Easter themed picture and enter it into our coloring contest. The pictures will be displayed at the Thrift Shoppe and judges will choose a winner. The winner will win a special gift from the Hillcrest Thrift Shoppe. Children will also have the opportunity to work on a craft project that they can take home with them.

“We hope that you will come out to the Thrift Shoppe for this special event.” says Shannen White, Affiliate Director of Hillcrest Transitional Housing of Buchanan County. “We are excited to have a family-friendly event where families can come and shop and children are able to have fun.”

Some mobile customers had texting problems Friday morning in the St. Joseph area.

For a short period of time around 7 a.m. texting was an issue for some in the area.

When we called the AT&T customer service line around 7:30 a.m. an automated message said there was a network outage in the area.

“It was a temporary issue that only affected texts,” said Chris Lester, spokesman for AT&T. “It was resolved before 8 a.m.”

Other service providers in the area were also reported by viewers to have issues with texting during that time also.

A DWI saturation held last weekend in Caldwell County ended in two arrests and numerous warnings.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the saturation was held from 7 p.m. on March 19, 2016, to 3 a.m. on March 20, 2016. During this enforcement operation, six officers patrolled Caldwell County with a goal of detecting impaired drivers and other traffic violations that contribute to traffic crashes. As a result of the operation, there were two arrests for driving while intoxicated, 11 traffic citations issued, and 53 warnings given.

“Impaired driving poses a significant threat to motorists on Missouri’s roadways,” said Captain James McDonald. “One of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s highest priorities is removing the impaired driver from our roadways. If drinking is part of your plans, choose a sober designated driver.”

One teenager was killed and another was seriously hurt in a single-vehicle crash in Caldwell County Thursday afternoon.

Traffic investigators say a Volkswagen rammed into a tree and caught fire south of Kingston along Yankee Ridge Road shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday.

A crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol indicates that Alexander Wilson of Kansas City, Missouri lost control of his vehicle, which left the road, hit a pair of trees and then burst into flames.

Wilson, 16, was prounounced dead at the scene. His passenger, 17-year-old Walter Eckenrod of Kansas City, Missouri, was transported to Liberty Hospital with serious injuries.