UPDATE – Plume is dissipating and roads are being reopened. CLICK HERE for the newest information on this story.

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Atchison Kansas residents are being urged to stay inside if they’re in town and everyone else is being asked to stay out of town as crews work a chemical spill at MGP Ingredients.

Atchison County Emergency management said on social media that there has been a chemical spill at MGP Ingredients between 10th and 14th Streets south of Main Street. The plume is moving north of this area.

“Please avoid this area,” Atchison Emergency Management said on Facebook. “Atchison residents: please shelter in place. If you are not in Atchison, please stay out of town.”

The City of Atchison Kansas is currently urging resident to stay inside as crews work the incident.

Mosaic Life Care is on alert and said it has been notified and that emergency personnel are standing by and will assist patients at Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph.

We are getting reports that they are evacuating the Benedictine College Campus by bus and classes are canceled.

If you are currently in the fog, seek shelter.  If you are East of 17th Street or K-7 and North of Main Street it is good time to seek shelter at the Atchison Event Center, Walmart or South of town.

Avoid the areas near Main Street, 17th Street, Division and the river.

The City posted on its Twitter feed asking everyone until further notice to close all their windows, turn off their air and furnaces and stay indoors.

For Shelter information from the Red Cross released by Atchison County Emergency Management CLICK HERE.

More than a million dollars still needs to be collected for the United Way of Greater St. Joseph’s Centennial Campaign with only two weeks to go.

So far, around $1.4 million has been raised towards the more than $3.1 million goal. In total the agency still needs to raise $1,708,211.

Around 100 people gathered Thursday at East Hills Shopping Center for the United Way Campaign Progress Report.  Campaign Chair, Dennis Rosonke said the funds raised go to benefit the United Way’s 18 partner agencies and 7 initiatives to help with causes in northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas.

“This is a really busy time of year and time in the campaign so I’m cautiously optimistic,” Rosonke said. “But we really do need all the folks in the community if they haven’t given to the United Way yet please help advocate for the United Way.”

The campaign kicked of Sept. 3 and will end Nov. 3.  Rosonke said there is still time for those who want to help donate.

Anyone interested in donating can call the United Way at (816) 364-2381.

Police still do not have anyone in custody in connection with the death of Kaytlin Root whose body was found Sunday morning at Krug Park.

Capt. Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department said Thursday morning that the investigation is ongoing and that there is no new information that can be released at this time.

Authorities started investigating Root’s death as a homicide after her body was found by a runner off of a bike trail Sunday morning around 9:20 a.m.  Root’s mother, Jamie Jaramillo told us the last time she spoke with her daughter was Saturday night.

We are continuing to follow up with authorities on this investigation. Capt. Wilson said there are a lot of moving parts in this case.

“When there is information that is appropriate to be released it will be put out but at this time it’s not,” Wilson said. “It’s all investigative information that’s sensitive to the case.”

Funeral arraignments for Root have been made at Clark-Sampson Funeral Home.  Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Clark-Sampson Funeral Home. Funeral Service will be at 3 p.m. Friday at Patee Park Baptist Church.

A large family was displaced from their apartment after a fire Wednesday afternoon, but an inspector with the St. Joseph Fire Department says it could have been much worse.

Crews responded to a duplex on fire in the 400 block of S. 15th St. Wednesday afternoon.

Inspector Jason Ziph said crews worked quickly to put out the fire but that the second floor of the duplex will need extensive repairs.  “If it had gone any longer it probably would have engulfed the entire upper floor of the house,” Ziph said.

“The lower level is habitable, but the upper level is going to need a complete rehab just because of the smoke damage and smoke staining,” he said.  “No one needs to be breathing all the particulate matter that’s put off by fire and smoke.”

Ziph says there were three adults and ten children in the building when the fire broke out Wednesday afternoon.  The two adults who lived downstairs were able to return to their home, but 11 people from upstairs are getting assistance from the American Red Cross of Northwest Missouri.

Ziph said the fire was caused by unattended smoking materials.  There were no injuries.

 

 

Snapchat may think ballot selfies are protected by the First Amendment but in Missouri and many other states they are illegal.

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston struck down a 2014 law in New Hampshire which banned voters from sharing photos of their marked ballots and sharing them on social media.  It comes after Snapchat filed an amicus brief earlier this year arguing that ballot selfies are the latest way that voters, especially young voters engage with the political process and that newsgathers, including digital newsgathers such as Snapchat have a First-Amendment interest in sharing voters’ ballot selfies.

There are many states where ballot selfies are not allowed and Missouri is one of them.  Buchanan County Clerk Mary Baack-Garvey said the issue isn’t taking a picture in the polling booth but rather your marked ballot.

“There’s a statute written in our election law book,” Baack-Garvey said. “Basically what it says is if a voter attempts to show how they voted, i.e. a selfie or if they take it with a camera or they show others with their marked ballot it’s an election offense.”

NBC News posted a list of states with similar laws.  According to NBC, lawyers for New Hampshire the law was originally passed to protect the purity and integrity of its elections by thwarting anyone who would try to buy or sell votes or threaten to harm someone who voted the wrong way.

Baack-Garvey said it’s okay to take a selfie at the polling place but it’s illegal to show your voted ballot.

“According to this election law it says they cannot show their marked ballot,” Baack-Garvey said.

And taking your cellphone into the polls is a hot debate in some areas as well.

“It’s up to the clerk,” Baack-Garvey said. ” There are clerks around the state of Missouri that say no cellphones period.  I allow it because how on earth are my judges going to keep track of who has their cellphones and who doesn’t?”

So in Missouri, those casting ballots in the Nov. 8 presidential election are not allowed to take a selfie with their ballot to show who they voted for.

 

 

 

 

 

Friends and family are inviting the public out to remember 17-year-old Kaytlin Root whose body was found Sunday morning in Krug Park.

A candlelight vigil will be held Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Krug Park near the rocks by the beginning of the hike and bike trails. The St. Joseph Police Department started investigating the case as a homicide Sunday after Kaytlin’s body was found by a runner off of the bike trails.

“She was very different, very outgoing, always put everybody else’s needs before her own,” said Jamie Jaramillo, Kaytlin’s mother. “She went to church, she was baptized, she loved kids, she loved being around babies.  She had friends with a couple of babies and pretty much made herself the kids’s aunt.”

Jaramillo said she is hoping the vigil gives people a chance to remember her daughter.

“I want people not to think of this as not so much a sad moment because Kaytlin was so loving, so giving and this is a sad moment and I don’t want anybody to think she’s not worth it,” Jaramillo said. “I loved my daughter more than words could ever express.  I’m angry that this happened.”

Kaytlin would have turned 18 on Nov. 11. Jaramillo moved to California at the beginning of September but said Kaytlin chose to stay in St. Joseph because she didn’t want to leave her friends.

Sydney Noble said she has been best friends with Kaytlin since sixth grade when they met during an orientation class for Truman Middle School.

“She was like the sun, she would brighten up anyone’s day.  Even if she was down she would make anyone happy,” Noble said. “Her laugh, it was so amazing. It was like you couldn’t stop laughing after you heard her laugh.”

Noble said Kaytlin was staying with other friends in St. Joseph after her mother moved away.

“She didn’t want to leave St. Joe.  She had friends here.  She had me and my mom,” Noble said. “I want people to know who she was who she really was not what people make it out to be and I want justice for her.”

The St. Joseph School District said Kaytlin was enrolled at Central High School for the first semester of the 2015-16 school year then withdrew the second semester to be home schooled and returned to enroll at Lafayette High School for the start of the 2016-17 year and withdrew with a parent on Aug. 31st. Jaramillo said two weeks ago Kaytlin tried to go back to public school but was denied because she was too far behind.

“I’m not sure what happened to her but this town is getting, this is crazy.  That little girl didn’t harm anybody, didn’t hurt anybody didn’t do nothing,” said Stephanie Embrey, Sydney’s mother.  “I just want everyone to come out and just realize this is a girl whose life wasn’t even started yet.  She was supposed to graduate.  They were supposed to do prom, they were supposed to do everything.”

Jaramillo said she has seen a lot of negative things being said recently about Kaytlin.

“I know there are a lot of bad things going around and things that have been said and things that have been posted and I just want them to stop,” Jaramillo said. “Because Kaytlin’s life was worth living.  She wasn’t a bad child.”

Sydney said the last time she saw Kaytlin was Wednesday afternoon. Jaramillo said that last time she spoke with her daughter was Saturday night.  Kaytlin’s body was discovered by a runner around 9 a.m. Sunday.

“I want to thank the jogger that found Kaytlin,” Jaramillo said. “She was missing.  If they wouldn’t have found her who knows how long she would have been there.”

Police are still investigating her death. Capt. Jeff Wilson said as of Tuesday afternoon no one was in custody in connection with the case.

The St. Joseph Police Department has identified a 17-year-old girl as the victim in a weekend homicide investigation.

Capt. Jeff Wilson said the victim has been identified as Kaytlin Angela Root.

Authorities started investigating the case as a homicide after Root’s body was found by a runner Sunday morning in Krug Park off of the bike trails. The park was shutdown shortly after for police to investigate the crime scene but has since reopened.

Police are continuing to investigate the case and little information is being released at this time. Wilson said currently no one is in custody in connection with the case.  Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 238-TIPS

(Update 2:14 p.m.) – Krug Park is back open but police are continuing to investigate after a woman’s body was found in the park over the weekend.

At 2:15 p.m. police issued a Nixle alert to say the park is now open.

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(11:15 a.m.) – Krug Park remains closed as police continue to investigate a possible homicide after a woman’s body was found over the weekend.

Capt. Jeff Wilson said authorities have been investigating since around 9:20 a.m. Sunday after a runner found the body in the Krug Park area off of the bike trails.

“There’s a lot of moving parts in this investigation so there’s little information that can be released at this time,” Wilson said. “We spent the day yesterday running down leads and the crime scene investigators spent the entire day working the crime scene in the Krug Park area. They will continue that work throughout the day today.”

Wilson said the body has been sent off for an autopsy in Kansas City, Kan.

Police are not yet releasing the woman’s identity or a cause of death. As we previously reported, police have said the victim is a female in her late teens to early 20s. Police currently do not have anyone in custody in connection with the investigation.

“We’ll continue to update you as more information comes in that we are able to release,” Wilson said. “There is a lot of moving parts and a lot of people that need to be spoke with.”

He said he anticipates the park which has been shutdown since Sunday morning will reopen later today.

“When the park is released I feel it is perfectly safe to conduct business as normal in the park area,” Wilson said.