HONOLULU (AP) — A 67-year-old boater missing at sea for 12 days is on his way to shore after being found uninjured 64 miles south of Honolulu.

The Coast Guard says Ron Ingraham was weak, hungry and dehydrated when a Navy ship reached him Tuesday. The agency said Wednesday that he’s aboard a cutter that’s towing his 25-foot vessel to the Hawaii island of Molokai.

The Coast Guard had searched for him since receiving his mayday call on Thanksgiving reporting flooding in his small boat about 50 miles west of Kailua-Kona. In an audio clip of the call, he’s heard saying he was in danger of sinking.

The search was suspended Dec. 1 until he sent another mayday call Tuesday. A guided-missile destroyer was nearby, and its crew members reached Ingraham and gave him water and food.

According to Hawaii News Now Coordinates placed Ingraham 64 miles south of Oahu, and three miles from the Navy Destroyer USS Paul Hamilton. It reached him and rendered aid. In St. Joseph, MO, Zakary Ingraham’s telephone rang.

“They said, ‘Well, we found your dad. He’s alive and well on his boat.’ For him to be found is awesome. I can’t believe it,” he said in an interview with Hawaii News Now. “Twelve days, man. He’s a champ! He’s tough!”

MAYSVILLE, Mo. – Access to Maple Road from Route 6 will be restricted tomorrow, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. On Thursday, December 11, local maintenance crews will close access to Maple Road north of Route 6 in DeKalb County for up to two hours at a time as they build up and smooth the area where Maple Road meets Route 6. The work will begin at approximately 7:30 a.m. and access should be open by 4 p.m. that afternoon. Access to Maple Road south of Route 6 will remain open. All planned work is weather permitting. Motorists will need to use an alternate route.

ROCK PORT, Mo. – Southbound Interstate 29 will be narrowed just south of the Iowa state line, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. On Thursday, Dec. 11, at approximately 8 a.m., local maintenance crews will close the driving lane of southbound I-29 between mile markers 124 and 123 to perform routine maintenance on the bridge over the Nishnabotna River. The lane will remain closed overnight and should reopen after 2 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 12. All planned work is weather permitting.

The Salvation Army’s 2014 Red Kettle Campaign in St. Joseph is about 75% behind on its goal.

The campaign kicked off  four weeks ago with 14 bell ringing locations around town.

The goal was to raise $350,000 to support the agency’s programs and services including the homeless shelter, food assistance, emergency rent and utility assistance, youth and senior programs and more.

Captain Chuck Cook said the agency is still hoping to achieve that goal with less than two weeks left.

“We are dependent on the funds we receive from the red kettles to help people in need in our community all year long,” said Cook. “We’re counting on the many generous members of our community to dig a little deeper this year, if they’re able, to help us reach our goal.”

The 2014 Kettle Campaign will end Christmas Eve, however donations will continue to be accepted through January.

If you would like to help out you can make a credit card donation by calling 816-232-5824.

Checks may be mailed to The Salvation Army at P O Box 1417, St. Joseph, MO 64502

The money collected during the Red Kettle Campaign support Salvation Army programs in St. Joseph for the entire year.

All of the kids at the Noyes Home for Children have been fully adopted this Christmas through the Toyland Express, A Toy Drive held by K-Jo 105.5 and Olive Garden.

“We thought we had everybody adopted,” said Aaryn Sommers with K-JO. “I kept up with the Noyes Home and they just get kids in and out a lot it’s just kind of how it works and yesterday I got an email and I had six new kids.”

All 31 kids staying at the Noyes Home have been adopted according to Sommers, but it was close.

“They’re teenagers so they’re a little more expensive gifts and I didn’t know what to do and I’m like I’m going to have to figure out how to get money,” she said. “We had people bring in money and we were able to go shopping for these six new kids that needed five presents each.”

More than 100 community members took part in this year’s drive dropping off monetary donations and gifts to benefit the Noyes Home for Children and the Adopt-A-Family program.

“We did a lot here but It was our listeners and people who came in and donated and gave,” said Sommers. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this without them, there’s no way.”

All of the presents for the Noyes Home have been wrapped and are ready for delivery.  A parade from the station located at 4104 Country Lane to the Noyes Home will take place tonight at 5 p.m.

“We’re going to eat and watch the kids open toys,” said Sommers.

The extra toys collected from the drive will go to AFL-CIO Community Services for the agency’s Adopt-A-Family Christmas program.

JEFFERSON CITY – Governor Jay Nixon has written to Stephen Miller, Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission chairman requesting MoDOT to analyze and provide options for using tolls to improve and expand I-70. In response to the Governor’s request, Chairman Miller has directed MoDOT staff to immediately prepare the report and to submit it to the Governor by December 31 as requested.

In a letter to the Governor, Chairman Miller stated that the Commission welcomed the Governor’s involvement in exploring ways to fund transportation and concurred in the Governor’s assessment that transportation is vital to Missouri’s prosperity and funding has reached a critical juncture.

AFL-CIO Community Service’s Adopt-A-Family program continues to seek volunteers to help provide a Christmas to area families and individuals who may not be able to afford one otherwise.

“Most of them try their best to manage their finances to make it day-to-day but to find extra dollars to purchase Christmas gifts is near impossible for them,” said Penny Adams, AFL-CIO Ex. Dir. “Many of them the only way they could do it is not pay their rent, or utilities…and then that gets them in a deeper hole than they’re already in.”

As of Tuesday only 357 families out of 861 had been adopted.

Adams said usually at this point in time around 50-percent of families have been adopted.

“I know right now a lot of people are doing their own shopping,” said Adams. “We’re hoping as soon as they’re done with their own Christmas they’re check their dollars and pennies and see if they have enough to spare.”

Adams said there are many families with many different stories in need of help this Christmas.

St. Joe’s Qcountry 92.7 is joining with the Adopt-A-Family program to ask the community’s support again this year.  Q-Country will be broadcasting stories of families signed up in the program Wednesday, Dec. 10 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“What we’ll do is review families that are in the books still to be adopted,” said Adams. “Whatever size of family they want.  What we’ll do is pull three or four or five of those families that meet their guidelines send them to them to review and then they get to chose who they want.”

Here are examples from past years of families that needed help.

St. Joseph Post’s Nadia Thacker reports. Newscast from 12/9/14

Missing 10-year-old girl found by SJPD Click here to read that story

St. Joseph City Councilman Spanky O’Dell pleads guilty to BAC.  Click here to read that story.

St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce touts unemployment numbers. Click here to read that story.

SJSD receives Audit findings. Click here to read that story.

Local News, Fast, Free, Mobile.

http://www.stjosephpost.com/

The St. Joseph Police Department issued a warning on Social Media Tuesday to let residents know of possible phone scams taking place in the community.

According to the department recently a few residents have received phone calls from individuals claiming that they have won a large amount of money and a car.

One of the possible scams claimed to be from Publishers Clearing House.

The SJPD reminds residents that if they were to win a prize they will never be asked to provide money or a credit card.

The Publishers Clearing House scam has been a warning issued by the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office in past years.

In 2012 the Sheriff’s Office reported scammers told the victim they had won $1.2 million prize, but the caller stated they would need a money card from Wal-Mart worth $500 to claim the prize.

The winners were told to call back with the money card number for their package to be shipped.

The scammers called the victim three times asking if the winner had gotten the money card and said the fee would go up if they didn’t act soon.  The victim was a senior citizen and told the caller they could not afford the money card.

If you come into contact with a scam authorities urge you to contact your local law enforcement agency.

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University President Dr. John Jasinski has been appointed to serve on the Missouri Higher Education Coordinated Plan Steering Committee to develop a new coordinated plan for higher education in the state.

The Missouri Department for Higher Education will spend the next year developing the plan “Preparing Missourians for Success: A Blueprint for Higher Education.” A final plan will be presented to the coordinating board for approval in December 2015.

“Higher Education in Missouri is quickly evolving to meet the needs of our state and its students,” said Dalton Wright, chair of the coordinating board. “It is vital that we have a plan in place that reflects today’s higher education environment, makes good use of our available resources and produces the highly-skilled graduates needed for economic growth.”

The steering committee of members representing commerce and industry, education and government will assist with the development of the plan. The department will gather input from steering committee members and the public during a series of nine meetings. The plan will focus on the topics of accessibility, affordability, quality and degree completion.

State law calls for the coordinating board to design a coordinated plan for higher education in Missouri. The current plan, “Imperatives for Change,” was adopted in 2008.

Public meetings will take place throughout the state, beginning Dec. 11. More information is available atdhe.mo.gov/blueprint.php.

Jasinski, who began his presidency at Northwest in 2009, also serves as chair of the Council on Public Higher Education, the organization consisting of CEOs from Missouri’s public four-year universities.

A monthly report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday show St. Joseph’s unemployment rate has dropped to 3.8 percent, the lowest it has been since April of 2007.

In a news release issued by the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Patt Lilly said Gallup Inc. may be looking at the city.

“I recently got a call from the Missouri Chamber saying Gallup may call me to figure out how we do it,” said Lilly. “We were able to continue growing local business and employment thanks to St. Joseph’s strong agricultural companies, as well as a diverse wealth of other employers.”

The city is below state average of 5.9 and the national average of 5.8.

Other Missouri cities also saw drops in unemployment rates with Columbia at 3.1 percent and Jefferson City tied with St. Joseph at 3.8.

However, according to the Chamber St. Joseph has a distinction that the other cities did not.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce recently commissioned Gallup Inc. to perform a study of Missouri Business Dynamics between the years 1977-2011. That study showed the Missouri’s major metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) grew at different rates at different times during the last three decades.

“Growth slowed over most of that time in each MSA except St. Joseph (one of the top consistently growing MSAs in the country 2001-2011),” it stated in the Gallup report.

The release said that while every other Missouri MSA saw a decline in either or both employment growth or increase in firms, St. Joseph was the only city to see growth in both categories.

Lilly said that in times of recession, the world’s population still has to eat, because St. Joseph is the top exporter of goods worldwide from Missouri behind St. Louis and Kansas City. So agricultural science companies continued strong production and animal health companies, which work closely with the agriculture market, were able to grow.Food processing companies also maintained its strong presence in the local economy.

“St. Joseph should be aware of and proud of its economic success,” Lilly said. “With the hard work of the City of St. Joseph, Buchanan County, State of Missouri and local business investors, we’ll continue to be a statewide leader in 2015 and the years to come.”