Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and the St. Joseph Museum board and staff have announced that the Museum is the recipient of an Interpretive Grant.

The St. Joseph Museums has made a commitment to bring 15 printed Black Dignity images of the Mary Ellen Everhard collection from the Amon Carter Museum and have them professionally framed in museum-quality materials for exhibition in the Black Archives Museum. The installation of the Images from the Mary Everhard Photographic Collection exhibit will take place later this spring.

The funding provided by this grant will allow for an exhibition of photographs collected by Mary Ellen Everhard at the Black Archives Museum. Everhard ran a photography studio in Leavenworth, Kansas, from 1922 to 1968. She was a gifted studio photographer and a photography archivist. She had the vision to acquire and preserve thousands of negatives taken by four photographers who recorded images of Leavenworth County people and places. For this exhibit, the Black Archives Museum will showcase selected images of African Americans from this amazing collection.

The Freedom’s Frontier Interpretive Grant program was started in 2012. Since then, more than 48 projects have been awarded grant funding. Grant projects have been completed on both sides of the Missouri-Kansas border, in the 41-county region that comprises the heritage area.

Projects awarded grant funding must interpret local history, and connect to one or more of the three major themes of the heritage area: the shaping of the frontier, the Missouri-Kansas Border War, and the enduring struggle for freedom.

Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area is one of 49 heritage areas in the U.S. Heritage areas are nonprofit affiliates of the National Park Service (NPS). They act as coordinating entities between the local organizations telling nationally significant stories and the NPS. Freedom’s Frontier was established as a heritage area on October 12, 2006, when signed into law by President George Bush.

“We are honored that the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area approved our grant request and supports our efforts to interpret the story of African American history of the Midland Empire at the Black Archives Museum,” said Sara Wilson, executive director of the St. Joseph Museums.

ST. JOSEPH, MO. – The David H. Morton Memorial Fund for the Arts is now accepting applications for its annual grant to fund a cultural event.

The fund can award up to $2,000 to any public or private organization that has received or applied for tax-exempt status. Projects that may be considered for the grant include, but are not limited to, dance, theater, visual arts, media, music, literature, multi-discipline, arts-related conferences, architecture and exhibitions.

Criteria include need for financial support, potential for creating new audiences or new artistic experiences for audiences, quality of programming, and community-wide impact.

Applications are available at the Allied Arts Council office, 118 S. 8th Street, St. Joseph, MO. The application deadline is April 18, 2016.

The Morton Fund was established to pay tribute to the late David H. Morton’s leadership in the St. Joseph arts community, and accepts contributions at any time. For more information about the fund, call the Allied Arts Council at 233-0231.

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, will again convene court at Northwest Missouri State University to hear oral arguments in three cases, beginning at 1 p.m., Monday, March 28, in the J.W. Jones Student Union Ballroom.

A three-judge panel consisting of Western District judges Victor Howard and Gary Witt and Missouri Supreme Court Judge Zel Fischer will hear the arguments and remain after the court session to discuss the court system and explain the proceedings.

The program is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by Northwest’s Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Northwest Pre-Law Society.

The session will be the eighth time the Western District has convened in Maryville. The court has convened annually at the University since 2010, and it heard oral arguments at the Nodaway County Courthouse in 1993.

The Western District convenes regularly at its courthouse in Kansas City, and its jurisdiction is appeals from trial courts in 45 counties that include all of northwest Missouri and most of central Missouri.

The cases are appeals from previously held trials in area circuit courts. The judges will hear attorneys argue whether the trials had errors, which should cause them to be retried, or the trial court’s judgment reversed. The judges will read written arguments before the court session and may interrupt the attorneys’ arguments with questions.

“It is important for the Court to convene oral arguments outside of Kansas City,” Howard said. “This gives individuals an opportunity to observe a part of the judicial system they normally do not see. We hope those attending will gain a better understanding of the Court’s function.”

Howard, who will preside over the proceedings at Northwest, is the longest-serving judge on the Western District, having been appointed to the Court in 1996. Immediately prior to joining the court of appeals, he served as a circuit judge in Clay County, Missouri. Before his judicial service, he practiced law in Liberty, Missouri.

Witt was appointed to the court of appeals in 2010. Immediately prior to his appointment, he served as an associate circuit judge in Platte County, Missouri. Previously, he practiced law in Platte County and served in the Missouri House of Representatives.

Fischer, a native of Rock Port, Missouri, was appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court in 2008. Previously he was the associate circuit judge for Atchison County and practiced law in Atchison, Holt, Nodaway and Platte counties.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – A ramp closure is planned next week for I-229 in downtown St. Joseph

Motorists who utilize the exit ramp from southbound Interstate 229 to Felix Street in downtown St. Joseph will need to find an alternate route two days next week.

Crews from the Missouri Department of Transportation will close the 6A exit ramp March 22 and 23, 2016 between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. for routine repairs.

During the closure, motorists will need to use an alternate route.

The project is weather dependent and could be rescheduled.

A truck driver from Salt Lake City escaped with minor injuries after rolling his big rig along I-29 in Andrew County.

The crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol says 28-year-old James Tingey was transported to Mosaic Life Care.

Traffic investigators say Mr Tingey’s semi left the interstate for an unknown reason, and he then overcorrected. The vehicle returned to the roadway where it overturned.

A single-vehicle crash near Osborn in Dekalb County Thursday morning sent two people to the hospital.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Kayla Vainer of Osborn lost control of her vehicle along Missouri-33 highway shortly after 9 a.m. The vehicle left the roadway and overturned.

Ms Vainer, 24, suffered moderate injuries. Her passenger, 19-year-old Eric Shelley of Liberty sustained minor injuries.

Both were transported to Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph for treatment.

Smoke reduced visibility along U.S. Highway 36 in Caldwell County Thursday, contributing to a crash that left an 83-year-old man with serious injuries.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report says Richard Thorsen of Bevier rammed his pickup truck into the rear of a tractor-trailer that had slowed for the smoke four miles west of Breckinridge.

Mr Thorsen was transported to the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City.