The Nodaway County Sheriff’s Department said a tragic school shooting has been prevented at North Nodaway High School.

“We had an attempted school shooting yesterday,” Sheriff Darren White said. “We were very lucky, we’re fortunate we had young people that when they got wind of it that they went to staff members, they went to the principal and they made him aware that they thought this student had a weapon and they thought he was a real threat and the principal took action and everybody did their part.”

Authorities responded to the high school in Hopkins, Mo. around 11:30 Monday morning.

“He thought that he was being bullied and he had a list of students that he was not going to be bullied by anymore,” White said. “He was ready to go.”

White said a handgun was found in the student’s locker.

A 15-year-old has been taken into juvenile court custody and is currently being held in the investigation.

 

Students throughout the St. Joseph School District are chalking up drug and alcohol prevention messages as part of Red Ribbon week.

The St. Joseph Youth Alliance and the St. Joseph School District have activities planned all week as part of a national campaign to urge communities to take a stand against drugs.  This year’s Red Ribbon Week is slated to run Oct. 23-31 and the theme is, “Respect Yourself. Be Drug Free.”

“We’re trying to make students aware,” said Cindy Richardson, Central High School school counselor, “So that students can know the importance of being drug-free and alcohol-free for their future success.”

Students at Edison, Ellison and Eugene Field, Central High School, Pershing and Truman each took time Monday morning at their schools to create sidewalk chalk messages urging others to stay drug and alcohol free.

“Just a positive way to remind the students as they come to school and leave school that this is a National Campaign, not just a St. Joe school district campaign it’s a National Campaign to keep kids safe, to keep them focused,” Richardson said. “They have help here at school to help them stay on that right track.”

Central High School also took its anti-drug and alcohol message to social media, sending out numerous tweets throughout the day on studies and statistics surrounding the issue of prevention.

The Trenton Police Department is asking the public for help identifying and finding a man who allegedly broke into several homes in the area and slept inside.

“Several Trenton residents have located an unknown male either sleeping in their home or inside of their home,” said Chief Tommy Wright with the Trenton police department.

Wright said the recent break-ins have taken place over the last few weeks. The man is described as white, slight build, multiple tattoos on his arms last seen wearing a red shirt, jeans and possibly one black glove with bones printed on it.

Det. Jerry Smith said there have been two reports of possible break-ins.  The first Oct. 11 on Mulberry Street where the homeowner had noticed someone had been in her house and moved stuff around.

The second on Oct. 12 on McPhearson street where a woman found a man in her bedroom around three in the afternoon.

“Her husband was at work, she walks into the bedroom and he’s down on his hands and knees on the side of the bed,” Smith said. “He pushes her down on the bed goes out looks out the front door, probably checking to see if there was anyone else there and there wasn’t anybody out there so he he bolted out of the house towards the railroad tracks.”

Smith said the woman found a bag of items on the bed the man had collected from around her home.

“Picked up items like boxer shorts, leather-man knives, pennies,” Smith said. “Phone charger, bottles of pop.”

Smith said he believes the invader was probably a transient, someone who came into town off of a train and said it’s unknown if the individual is still in the area.

Wright is still encouraging residents to secure their homes.

“All area residents are encouraged to lock their doors, secure their property and report any suspicious persons or activities in their neighborhood,” Wright said.

Anyone who may have encountered this person in their home and has not reported it yet is asked to contact the Trenton Police Department.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Lt. Rex Ross or Detective Jerry Smith at (660) 359-5557.

(Missourinet) – The state Department of Education will stop collecting students’ Social Security numbers except when it has to have them, after a state auditor’s review.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway looked at the Department’s handling of its Student Information System. That system collects information from school districts for the administration of state and federal programs for students and for providing the public with feedback on district and charter school performance.

It found the Department unnecessarily collected and kept personal information from students, including Social Security numbers.

“What we’re saying is, collect it at the time you need it, and then don’t collect it again, don’t type it in the system again, don’t type it in a spreadsheet and upload it to DESE’s system again,” said Galloway. “Only do it when you need to because every time you do it, it creates an opportunity for it to fall into the wrong hands.”

Galloway said the Department has agreed to collect only “absolutely necessary” information, destroy unneeded sensitive data from its systems, and to maintain the information it does need safely and securely.

It has also agreed to create policies for dealing with data breaches and to update its policy for recovering from one.

Galloway said DESE does not have a comprehensive data breach policy that would allow, “a quick and effective response when a data breach occurs.” She said the Department’s plan for recovery after a breach has not been updated since 2004.

The audit also recommends DESE end the sharing between personnel of user names and passwords. Such sharing makes identifying those responsible for unauthorized or inappropriate changes difficult or impossible.

Galloway says the Department should be implementing changes in practice now.

“DESE has been cooperative throughout the audit process. They started making changes immediately when we brought them to their attention,” said Galloway.

In a statement the Department said it will remove optional social security numbers in Student Information System data collection by June 30, 2016.

“Department staff agrees that this is no longer a necessary collection field as it was historically collected for determining A+ scholarship eligibility, but that responsibility now falls within the Department of Higher Education,” the statement reads. “However, the auditor acknowledged the need for SSN in certain records ‘because of the importance of using the data when linkages are needed to other record systems, such as across education levels within a state.’”

DESE said it will also conduct periodic reviews to ensure that any personally identifiable information collected is necessary. It agreed with the auditor’s recommendations and says it has already implemented or is implementing changes.

The overall rating of the Department’s management of the Student Information System was “Good.” It found no deficiencies in internal controls and no significant noncompliance with legal provisions.

Galloway’s office recently launched a review of five school districts’ cyber security status, and says those reviews are ongoing with more to start once those are finished.

UPDATE: The St. Joseph Police Department is investigating after two men were taken to the hospital Saturday after being stabbed.

According to Capt. Jeff Wilson officers responded around 4:50 a.m. Saturday to the 2200 block of Sycamore Court on a report of two individuals who sustained stab wounds.

Wilson said officers arrived to find a 28-year-old man and a 37-year-old man both from St. Joseph who had received serious injuries consistent with being stabbed. Both were transported to Mosaic Life Care for treatment, one in critical condition.

Wilson said later that day officers located and arrested two men ages 35 and 32 at another location in connection with the investigation.

He said one of the suspects has since been released, another remains in custody on unrelated charges.

Wilson said Tuesday afternoon one of the victim’s is still in the hospital receiving treatment for his injuries.

The case has been submitted to the prosecutor’s officer for charges. The investigation is ongoing.