Applications are being accepted for a family in need of a little warmth this winter.

“Just trying to help out the community by giving away a furnace to somebody who really needs it,” said Greg Kerns, Comfort Heating and Cooling Co-Owner.

It’s the forth year for Comfort Heating and Cooling to team up with Q-Country to give away a furnace to a family in need.

“You read the stories and it wrenches at your heart and you want to help everybody,” said Shelley Kerns, Comfort Heating and Cooling Co-Owner. “We just can’t so we do our best to pick the one that seems most deserving and meets all of our qualifications.”

The high efficiency furnace is valued at $3,380 and is being provided by Lennox and installed for free by Comfort Heating & Cooling.

The deadline the apply to enter to win the furnace is midnight Dec. 15.

To apply check out Q-Country’s website by clicking here.

680 AM KFEQ Farm Dir. Micheal Clements has a look at what’s coming up in Ag News.

A St. Joseph man received the maximum sentence in Buchanan County Court Thursday for stalking.

26-year-old Joseph Solomon was sentenced to four years in prison by Circuit court Just Dan Kellogg.

Solomon entered a guilty plea in October to stalking a woman who was running along Ashland Avenue.

According to a circuit clerk Solomon received the largest sentence possible.

Online court documents show Solomon is also charged with two felony counts of stalking in Andrew County.

3D printing technology is helping a local Truman Middle School student overcome cerebral palsy challenges he faces daily.

According to the St. Joseph School District, Truman teacher Chris Carpenter knew student Trenton Olinger was having issues using his iPad due to his fingers that tend to be spastic because of issues associated with cerebral palsy.

Using a 3D printer the school was demoing, Carpenter started to draw a spcial grid to help Olinger use his iPad more effeciently.

After hours of grafty and using the 3D printer Carpenter was able to place it securely on Olinger’s iPad.

The district said Olinger has been able to further his math studies with the new grid and study square roots.

“He is… ‘elated.” His smile certainly confirms it!” said Carpenter in a school district article.

 

Seats are hard to come by in the St. Joseph School District’s Adult English Language program.

“The ELL program has been around for more than 40 years but over the past 10 to 15 years it’s increased,” said Betty Wymore St. Joseph Adult Education and Literacy program director. “In the past 5 years they’ve seen a huge spike.”

Registration is being held for the January start of the English Language Learners program December 8 to 9 and December 15 to 16 from 9 a.m. to noon and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Webster Learning Center located at 1211 N. 18th Street.

However, not everyone who registers may have a spot.

“In the next couple of weeks we could possibly have 50 to 60 people,” said Wymore. “I mean we could have 80 people show up but we might not be able to enroll them all due to space issues.”

There was already a waiting list of more than 40 students who were unable to attend the last session due to a limited number of class participants.

Wymore said in the past 5 years enrollments in the English Language program have doubled.  She attributes the increase to several issues.

“Work, like local plants such as Triumph,” said Wymore. “Plus many people are coming in wanting to be U.S. Citizens.”

Because of the influx of more students wanting to take classes additional teachers will be added to the ELL program.

In January Wymore said two part-time evening instructors will increase the ELL teaching staff to 10 part-time instructors.

“We’re easily doubling what we did 5-years-ago,” said Wymore.

ELL classes will start January, 6. 2015.  Day and evening classes will be available.  Wymore said if someone is interested in participating in the course they need to sign up as soon as possible to make sure they have a spot.

The St. Joseph Downtown Association will light up Felix Street Square for the holiday season Saturday.

“Christmas at the Square” will kick off Saturday at 6 p.m. at Coleman Hawkins Park located at Felix Street Square at Seventh and Felix Streets.

Santa will arrive by carriage at 6 p.m. led by members of The Dance Arts Center.  Kids will be able to get their pictures taken with Santa for a small fee throughout the evening.

Canned food donations will also be collected for the Second Harvest Community Food Bank.  Individuals who donated a canned food item will be able to purchase photos with Santa at half-price.

Live performances will also be held at the gazebo.

The Mayor’s Christmas Tree will be list up at 7:45 p.m.

 

Electrical house fires increase during the winter months and it’s taking a toll on disaster response.

Since Nov. 1 the Midland Empire Chapter of the American Red Cross has been called out to assist 24 families around its 18 county jurisdiction that have been displaced from their homes because of a house fire.

“We think space heaters have certainly played a big impact,” said Karla Long, Director of Emergency Services. “As the weather gets colder we all start using a little bit of an alternate heat source and plugging in space heaters which overloads your circuits or not giving them the space they need which can start a fire.”

So far this year the St. Joseph Fire Department has responded to 130 building fires. There were 148 reported in 2013  Fire Inspector Steven Henrichson said that number is close to the average.

“It’s just that time of year where we get a bunch of them put together” said Henrichson. “We go for a couple of months where we might have one or two and then we’ll have five or six in a row.”

He said there has been an increase in electrical fires.

“Especially in the older houses that have outdated electrical wiring,” said Henrichson. “We’re running four or five different computers, video game systems, TVs high-definition all electrical and then on top of that you add space heaters and it just overwhelms the capacity of the old systems.”

He said a lot of the house fires that have occurred recently are because of overloaded electrical systems.  He suggests having an electrician check out your wiring if you have an older home with electrical problems.

“Make sure that your house if capable of handling it,” said Henrichson. “If you’re popping breakers one after another and having to reset them constantly that’s the first sign of something wrong and if you have a breaker that pops and you can’t reset it then you need to have it checked out really soon because then something has gone wrong in the electrical system.”

Another issue with electrical fires is where they start.

“They’re up in the attics and the smoke detectors won’t work until the smoke gets down low enough to get to them,” said Henrichson. “Until it almost falls through the ceiling occupants don’t know it’s there.”

Because there have been so many house fires so close together this year the Red Cross has seen that impact its disaster response budget.

“On average it takes $2,000 to $2,500 of Red Cross funds to help this family start over again and when you multiple that by 24 families since the first of November the math shows us that it’s really putting a big strain on our budget,” said Long.

The Red Cross is asking for monetary donations to continue to assist families with disaster relief.

“It’s going to be very hard but we’ll continue to be there,” said Long. “We are America’s disaster relief charity and that’s what we do so we will scrimp and save everywhere else so that we can continue to support the families.”

For more information on Red Cross programs or services or to make a donation Long said to contact the Red Cross at (816) 232-8439.

 

 

The Platte County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a case of identity theft that occurred on Wednesday, November 26, 2014. The suspects are an unknown hispanic male and an unknown hispanic female. Security cameras from several local stores show both suspects at each location the victim’s bank card was used. The male suspect was wearing a dark-colored jacket, dark-colored t-shirt, gray pants and black shoes. He is believed to be in his 20’s, approximately 5’2″ – 5’5″ and medium build. The female is believed to be between 20-25 years of age, 4’9″ – 4’11”, 95-105 pounds, with black hair, wearing a dark-colored jacket with a graphic design on the front and red and white striped cuffs, blue-colored pants and white tennis shoes.

The suspects are believed to be driving a red, late model, possibly Mitsubishi Eclipse, 4-door, low-rise rear spoiler, light below the spoiler, and silver wheel covers, or a dark-colored, late model, Chevrolet Impala.

The Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to contact Detective Richard Ford at (816) 858-3521or the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS, if they can provide information about the suspects.

 

The United Way of Greater St. Joseph will see 28 adults graduate from its Leadership St. Joseph program Thursday.

“The purpose of the program is to build the skills of individuals to be effective leaders in the community,” said United Way President Kylee Strough. “Program curriculum is designed to help participants identify and maximize their leadership styles and to increase their knowledge of the issues, needs and services available in our community.”

Participants in the program are accepted by a committee after review of submitted applications. It begins with a two-day leadership retreat in January and continues once a month for the entire year.

More than 700 people have graduated from the program in the past 32 years it’s been held in St. Joseph.

“The program has been in place since 1982 and has evolved over time,” said Strough. “From our perspective the program has not only benefited participants, but also sponsors, employers and our community.”

The participants come from the community and companies that want to grow their employees.  Tuition to participate is $1,200 and employers usually pay for their employee.

“Employers share a variety of reasons as to why they sponsor employees to participate,” she said. “Reasons include, but are not limited to: increased leadership skills; increased ability to understand, identify and work effectively with all personality types; networking; and increased understanding of community resources, assets, etc.”

A graduation will be held Thursday at 4 p.m. in the Green Acres building located at 3500 N. Village Dr.  An alumni of the program will also be named as the 2014 United Way Leadership St. Joseph Distinguished Leader of the year during the event.

A midtown family is without a home after an overnight fire.

The St. Joseph Fire Department responded to a house fire around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday in the 500 block of North 19th Street.

When fire crews arrived on scene smoke was coming out of the windows.

Fire Department Inspector Steve Henrichson said the family had been having some electrical problems earlier in the night and had shut off the breaker not thinking anything about it.  The family’s dog began barking in the middle of the night waking them up to find smoke coming from the roof.

Henrichson said the cause of the fire was electrical and estimates the damage at around $25,000.

The three family members that had been living in the house are now being assisted by the Red Cross.