St. Joseph, Mo. —Missouri Western State University has established a new School of Nursing and Health Professions.

The change was approved by Missouri Western’s Board of Governors in a telephone poll Tuesday.

“Our health-related programs are extremely well respected and warrant a ‘school’ designation,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president. “The change recognizes the important role these programs have at Missouri Western, and will enhance the already strong external relationships our nursing and health professions programs have with Mosaic Life Care and other health industry organizations.”

The School of Nursing and Health Professions will be housed within the College of Professional Studies and will be led by an associate dean. The School will include Missouri Western’s master’s degree program in nursing and undergraduate programs for nursing, health information management, physical therapist assistant and the new population health management degree, established by a gift from Mosaic Life Care.

“The number of faculty, number of students, and number of graduates annually from programs in the existing Department of Nursing and Allied Health are similar to the numbers in the current Craig School of Business and the School of Fine Arts,” said Dr. Jeanne Daffron, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “School designation recognizes the excellence these programs have achieved and positions us well to reach new heights.”

Dr. Kathleen O’Connor, dean of professional studies, says the programs in the School of Nursing and Health Professions are complex and require extensive management.

“School designation will help us recruit an effective leader for the associate dean position who can provide strong oversight of the student admissions processes, regulatory expectations, clinical affiliations, and other factors that make these programs unique,” Dr. O’Connor said.

The search for the first associate dean of nursing and health professions is expected to begin immediately.

The St. Joseph Police Department is investigating after a vehicle hit a fire hydrant on Jules St. Monday afternoon.

Scott Gray with the St. Joseph Police Department said around 12:30 p.m. a Ford Taurus ran into the steps of a home located on the southwest corner of 16th and Jules and then hit a fire hydrant knocking the hydrant off.

Missouri American Water was called in to take care of the fire hydrant due to water gushing over the roadway. No one was injured. Gray said the cause of the one-vehicle accident is still under investigation.

A Missouri Western State University Craig School of Business graduate has come back to St. Joseph for a new business endeavor.

“I’m really excited to be back in St. Joseph,” said Scott Lassen, the new owner of Golden Corral located at 715 N. Belt Hwy.

He took over the business January 28th. Lassen said he was born in St. Joseph and grew up just outside of Atchison, Kan. in a small town called Cummings.

“I competed in the Craig School of Business Entrepreneurship Class in 2013 and I won the competition and I was awarded a store in Portland, Oregon.  It was a Mexican restaurant and through that experience and kind of combined with the connections I made through the program I was able to work out a deal with the family that previously owned this Golden Corral in St. Joseph and get a close on that,” Lassen said. “Again I’m excited to be back and I think it’s going to make a big difference with this store having a local owner.”

Lassen graduated from Missouri Western in 2010 then went out to California to earn his MBA.  That’s when he found the job market at that point in time to be a little tricky.

“I got my MBA there and having a rough time trying to land MBA jobs with the economy being what it was at the time so I worked in retail for awhile. The competition opened up for Alumni and I decided I was going to try to go ahead and compete and so I did and I won and here I am now,” Lassen said.

He said he’s hoping to get involved with the St. Joseph Community.

“I’d like to reach out with some local community organizations like the Salvation Army.  Since I am with a restaurant I’d really like to get involved in feeding people who can’t afford food. Also getting involved with some churches,” he said. “We’re a big small town and we like to take care of each other and I want to see that continue.”

The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art has a new Executive Director.

Dr. Brett Knappe started his first day of work Monday at the museum.  Knappe has been living in the Midwest since 1998.

“I was previously a professor of Art History at Baker University,” Knappe said.

He replaces Terry Oldham who retired as the museum’s Ex. Dir.

“He was at the Albrecht-Kemper for 16-years.  Did a lot of wonderful things for this museum and this community and it’s really my honor to take over after him and he’s already serving as a great mentor for me,” Knappe said.

He’s just getting his foot in the door but Knappe said he hopes to try to get everyone in the community through the museum doors for one reason or another at least once a year.

“I would like to create connections with everyone.  My ultimate goal would be that everyone in St. Joe would come through our doors at least once a year,” Knappe said. “Get to know us, get to know our collections, get to see the local artists that we show, get to see the work in our vault that comes out now and then.”

He said he and his wife Dr. Stephanie Knappe who is a curator at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and their 5-year-old daughter are moving to St. Joseph from Douglas County, Kan.  He said his parents have already bought a house in St. Joseph and have moved in.  Knappe said he knows how important it is to get to know the community.

“This is a community that is growing, it’s doing a lot of interesting things, getting to know the people is the primary aspect of this job I’m looking forward to,” Knappe said. “Please stop by and if you stop by ask to meet me.”

The Ryan’s buffet in St. Joseph closed its doors Thursday.

A sign on the restaurant located at 4302 N. Belt Hwy. reads “To our valued guests, this location is now closed.”

It goes on to tell team members to return between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday to pick up their final paycheck.

In a statement released by Ovation Brands it said 74 under performing Old Country Buffet, Hometown Buffet, Ryan’s, Fire Mountain and Country Buffet Restaurants were closed permanently throughout the United States Thursday.

“Based on ongoing assessments of individual restaurants, it is necessary to shutter locations for the continued viability of the brands and our employees,” said Peter Donbavand, Vice President of Business Development.  “While we cannot predict future market conditions, the plan is to continue operating the remaining Ovation Brands’ restaurants as they are financially viable.”

The company said employees will be given the opportunity to apply for positions at operating stores.

Scott Lassen is the Owner of Golden Corral in St. Joseph and said he’s urging all Ryan’s employees to apply at Golden Corral.

“It’s news to us too. So we’re planning to pick up some of the employees from there.  It’s a real hard time for them.  It’s unfortunate but we’re going to get some of those guys and staff up our place because we’re probably going to be hit a little harder,” Lassen said.

As of 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon Lassen said he had already spoke with several former employees and anticipates talking with more.  He said he’s not sure how many employees worked at the location but anticipated it was around 30 to 40.

Wind is being blamed for a power outage in St. Joseph that shut off the lights to around 1,500 customers Wednesday morning.

According to KCP&L’s power outage map at 8:59 a.m. power went out to 1,567 customers around the area of Frederick and I-29 extending north to Gene Field Road, South to Faraon St. and East until right before Riverside Road.

A spokeswoman with KCP&L said wind is what caused the outage but did not have details on the location it occurred. Power was restored to most customers around 10:37 a.m.

The National Weather Service reported wind gusts at Rosecrans Memorial Airport around 8:53 a.m. at around 28 mph.

CLICK HERE to view the latest on the outage with KCP&L’s power outage map.

Two men will make their first court appearance next week in Nodaway County on charges stemming from a Monday morning police chase.

Steven Stains, 39 of Maryville and Jerry Gilpatrick, 32 of St. Joseph were each charged Tuesday with felonies for resisting arrest, unlawful possession of a firearm, tampering with physical evidence in felony prosecution, receiving stolen property, possession of marijuana and a misdemeanor for unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. Gilpatrick was also charged with a misdemeanor for driving while revoked and willfully failing or refusing to obey or resist or oppose a sheriff/deputy sheriff in the proper discharge of their duties. (Stains was originally reported to be a St. Joseph resident but court documents indicate otherwise.)

According to court documents on Monday, Deputy Travis Cochenour was dispatched to the area of 187th street, north of Burlington Junction for a suspicious vehicle.  As he was trying to stop the vehicle that he later identified as being driven by Gilpatrick with Stains in the passenger seat it left the area at a high rate of speed.  As we previously reported, authorities said the chase began around 11 a.m.

“A vehicle pursuit ensued with the suspect vehicle traveling at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.  The pursuit lasted approximately 25 miles with the suspect vehicle driving in a manner that placed people in grave risk of death or great bodily harm; by excess speed, traveling on the shoulder of the road to pass other vehicles, and disobeying a variety of traffic laws.  Once the vehicle was disabled and finally stopped the driver and passenger fled on foot and were taken into custody after a foot pursuit,” Cochenour said.

During the course of the pursuit of the vehicle Cochenour said the passenger door of the vehicle was observed to open and Capt. Glidden reported seeing Stains drop items out of the car.

“Later, at the first of these two locations a loaded Smith and Wesson 380 caliber semi-automatic handgun was recovered.  Further investigation revealed the handgun is stolen.  At the second location a black eye glass case with two syringes and a bent silver spoon were recovered,” Cochenour said. “Gilpatrick stated he fled from Law Enforcement as he knew he had a warrant. He said he handed the eyeglass case, with syringes and spoon to Mr. Stain to get it out of the car.  Mr. Gilpatrick stated he knew nothing about Mr. Stain dropping a gun out of the car.  Mr. Gilpatrick admitted the syringes and spoon was his and that he used them to ingest meth.”

The license plates on the vehicle were not assigned to it.

“Mr. Gilpatrick stated that the vehicle belonged to his deceased father.  Mr. Gilpatrick went on to state he had attached improper plates to it,” Cochenour said.

After Stains was arrested authorities said they found a substance concealed in his shoe which field tested positive for meth.

Gilpatrick and Stains are being held without bond in the Nodaway County Jail pending their first court appearance.  An arraignment is set for both of them for Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 9 a.m.