Firefighters were called to the scene sometime after midnight when a fire, started by a cigar, started to spread through apartments in a building along the towns square.
A salon was housed underneath the apartments. Several residents, many of them Northwest students, were displaced.
The university is working to help find housing for the students. The building will likely be destroyed. No injuries were reported.
(AP)The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to significantly reduce the amount of water being released into the Missouri River in late August and September.
Brig. Gen. John McMahon outlined the plan for bringing an end to flooding along the river.
The corps has been releasing massive amounts of water from the six dams along the river to deal with heavy spring rains and above-average mountain snowpack.
The corps says the biggest reductions in water releases from Gavins Point dam won’t begin until mid-August. But their goal is to cut the releases from the current 160,000 cubic feet per second to 40,000 by Oct. 1.
McMahon says the water flow will be reduced gradually to reduce the risk of damage to levees along the river.
Dan Nicoson, the Vice President for Advancement and Foundation Executive Director for Missouri Western will retire next summer. Northwest Missouri State University’s business college dean Tom Billesbach retires Friday.
Nicoson will retire June 30 of next year from Western. He made the announcement at a Foundation board meeting Wednesday. Nicoson has been with the university since 2004. He is also serving as the interim Athletics Director. The university plans to fill that position by January of next year. A national search for a replacement of Nicoson will begin this fall.
Billesbach retire’s from Northwest Friday after being with the university since 1994. He served as the
Booth College of Business and Professional Studies Dean. Greg Haddick, Vice Provost and graduate school dean, will serve as the acting dean of the Booth college.
Private First Class Jordan House died in an accident at I-435 and northeast 108th Street Monday afternoon.
He was working state emergency duty since June 26th on the Quick Reaction Force in Northwest Missouri.
He was allowed to head home from Maryville Monday. House helped with sandbagging including protecting the Forest City water plant and later worked security checkpoints.
House joined the National Guard in May of last year.
Though his service with the National Guard was brief, House earned the Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Missouri Basic Training Service Ribbon and the Missouri State Emergency Duty Ribbon.
27 area Post Office’s could close pending the outcome of Postal Service study.
The study was announced this week. They are looking at roughly 3,700 post offices that may close.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in May said the future of the Post Office will be smaller, yet with more access. That may include putting up automated Post Office Stations.
The so-called “Village Post Office” may replace the current offices. That’s a Post Office operated by a local business, rather than the Postal Service.
Other replacements include the USPS website, ATM’s and office supply stores.
Andrew County Buchanan County Daviess County
Cosby Dekalb Coffey
Fillmore Jameson
Helena
Rea
Rosendale
Dekalb County Gentry County Harrison County
Amity Denver Blythdale
Gentry Matinsville
McFall
Livingston County Nodaway County Worth County
Utica Clearmont Allendale
Clyde Worth
Graham
Guilford
Parnell
Pickering
Kansas City
Center Square
Civic Center
Hickman Hills
Owners overwhelmingly approved a proposal last week, but some unresolved issues still needed to be reviewed to satisfy players; the owners do not need to vote again.
The sides worked through the weekend and wrapped up the details Monday morning on a final pact that is for 10 years, without an opt-out clause, a person familiar with said.
Owners decided in 2008 to opt out of the league’s old labor contract, which expired this March. That’s when the owners locked out the players, creating the NFL’s first work stoppage since 1987.
No details have been released on the Chiefs training camp yet. A semi was seen unloading supplies for the Chiefs at the facility Monday morning.
According to NFL rules, the Chiefs can start practicing 15 days before the teams first preseason game. That would be this Thursday.
The Chiefs and Missouri Western have everything ready to go for camp. The Chiefs will announce their plans for training camp Tuesday morning during a press conference in the Kansas City Training Facility.
Missouri nature lovers will soon be able to view a herd of bison at a northwestern nature preserve near the Iowa border.
The nonprofit Nature Conservancy plans to relocate 30 bison later this year from preserves in South Dakota and Iowa to the Dunn Ranch preserve in Harrison County. Another 30 bison will be added to the preserve in 2012.
The only other bison herd on public conservation land in the state is at Prairie State Park in southwest Missouri. The northwest Missouri project is designed to restore the natural prairie ecosystem.
The animals won’t roam free but instead remain in a fenced enclosure.
Gower is under a boil order as a leak in a supply line to the town’s water tower and the town may run out of water soon.
The leak is out in the water district,Dekalb County P.W.S.P 1, which is outside of the towns control.
The boil order was issued for the entire water district and the leak is somewhere up the line that feeds the water tower for the town.
City officials say they are working to bring in bottled and non-bottled water for residents.
They are also bringing in porta-potty’s as well. Gower officials say workers from the water district are trying to track down the leak now. Clinton County has issued a county-wide burn-ban as well.
A so-called break from the heat wave comes this weekend when temperatures will drop slightly.
The break comes Sunday when the predicted high will drop to near 90 degrees, compared to near 100 degrees for more than a week in the Midwest. But that’s not before the National Weather Service predicts a high of 101 degrees for Saturday.
Temperatures by mid-week next week will inch back up to near 95 degrees by Wednesday. If you need a place to cool off, visit the Department of Heath’s Cooling Center Locator by typing in a St Joseph zip-code.
In the meantime, the unhealthy levels of heat and humidity have made their way to the eastern half of the country. According to NOAA’s National Weather Service, approximately 132 million people in the United States were under a heat alert (Excessive Heat Warning or Watch or Heat Advisory) as of Friday morning.
Temperatures in the 90s to near 100 degrees will feel as hot as 115 degrees or higher when factoring in the high humidity.
Record high temperatures are likely to be set in some locations — adding to the more than 1000 records that have been set or tied so far this month. You can watch a graphic of how the heat-wave has moved across the nation below.
The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld state regulators’ order approving the merger of two Kansas City-based power companies.
The Public Service Commission in 2008 approved the bid by Great Plains Energy Inc., parent company of Kansas City Power & Light, to acquire Aquila, Inc.
The deal was challenged by several industrial users and the Missouri public counsel, who represents the interests of utility customers. The public counsel raised questions about private meetings between regulators and utility executives before the merger request was filed. Industrial users argued that regulators should have allowed evidence about employee gift policies.
In its ruling Tuesday, Missouri’s high court found fault with how the regulators handled evidence about gift polices but concluded the error did not substantially affect the facts relevant to the merger.
