Nadia Thacker – Page 79 – St. Joseph Post Archive

Missouri ranks third in nation for services to individuals with disabilities

Posted on July 22, 2015

JEFFERSON CITY – Rankings by United Cerebral Palsy shows Missouri is third in the nation and second most improved since 2007 for providing services to improve the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.

Gov. Jay Nixon said the report demonstrates the continued success of efforts to expand community-based services and improve quality of life for Missourians with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“When I took office in 2009, many Missourians had spent years waiting to get the community-based services they needed to live fuller, more productive lives,” said Gov. Nixon. “Working together, we changed all that, creating the Partnership for Hope and eliminating the waiting list for in-home Medicaid services for Missourians with developmental disabilities. This national ranking is a great testament to the efforts of our Department of Mental Health, provider agencies and local Senate Bill 40 boards, which continue to make a real, life-changing difference for thousands of Missourians and their families.”

The Case for Inclusion is an annual ranking of how well state Medicaid programs serve individuals and families to ensure the same opportunities and quality of life for everyone. The report by United Cerebral Palsy shows Missouri only behind Arizona and Maryland in the inclusion rankings.

The analysis also indicates Missouri’s as the second most improved state since 2007. Missouri dramatically increased the portion of resources dedicated to individuals living in the community (from 59 percent to 86 percent) as well as had a 57 percent reduction in the number of individuals living in state habilitation centers. Also since 2007, Missouri began participating in reporting outcomes for the National Core Indicators (NCI).

Two appointed to Northwest Board of Regents

Posted on July 21, 2015July 21, 2015

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Gov. Jay Nixon has announced his appointments of Dr. Marilou Joyner (D), of Kansas City, Mo., and Richard N. Smith (R), of Coffey, Mo., to the Northwest Missouri State University Board of Regents.

Both appointments must be confirmed by the Senate before they can become official. If confirmed, Joyner will fill the Board seat of Dr. Mark H. Hargens, and Smith will fill the Board seat of Dr. Douglas A. Wyckoff. Hargens’ term ended Jan. 1, and Wyckoff’s term ended in January 2013.

Joyner is the chief executive officer and owner and administrator of Cameron Group Care Inc., which provides services under the Medicaid waiver program and through an intermediate care facility home for developmentally disabled adults. She is a longtime educator in northwest Missouri public schools and was assistant commissioner for the Division of School Services within the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Joyner obtained her bachelor’s, master’s and education specialist degrees from Northwest, and she has a doctorate in education from the University of Kansas. Her term expires Jan. 1, 2021.

Smith is part-time superintendent of schools at the Cainsville R-1 School District and was superintendent of schools for the South Harrison R-11 School District in Bethany, Mo., from 2004 to 2008. He also served as a principal and teacher in the district from 1973 to 2004. Smith obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwest as well as his specialist in education degree. His term ends Jan. 1, 2019.

The Board of Regents develops policy and has responsibility for sound resource management of the University, and determines general, educational and financial policies. Dr. Patrick B. Harr (R), of Maryville, serves as Board chair, and Francis “Gene” Dorrel (R), of Maryville, is its vice chair.

Shooting suspect makes first court appearance

Posted on July 21, 2015July 21, 2015

A St. Joseph man made his first court appearance Tuesday morning in connection with a shooting incident that sent another St. Joseph man to the hospital.

According to online court documents, 24-year-old Michael Dennis appeared by video conference in Buchanan County Court. Online court records show a plea of not guilty was entered.

Dennis is charged with first-degree assault. Court documents allege he shot a a man twice Thursday in the 100 block of south 19th St. Police said the 22-year-old male victim was taken to Mosaic Life Care for treatment of serious injuries from being shot.

As of Monday, Capt. Jeff Wilson said the victim’s condition remains the same. However, the state of that condition was not released.

A preliminary hearing as been scheduled for August, 13 at 11 a.m. in Judge Rebecca Spencer’s courtroom.

School District receives extension from IRS

Posted on July 20, 2015July 21, 2015

The St. Joseph School District has requested and received an extension from the Internal Revenue Service regarding examination of documents.

The IRS is now scheduled to review information from the St. Joseph School District from August 4-7, 2015.

The district had been scheduled to be examined starting Tuesday.

The extension was requested due to the amount of information requested and the staff limitations from the district, as well finalizing the year-end budget and beginning a new budget year.

Endangered Person Alert canceled for missing kids in St Joseph

Posted on July 20, 2015July 20, 2015

UPDATE 7:47 p.m. Monday ST JOSEPH PD: Children Nevaeh and Rourke Brown have been located. Thank you for your assistance.

Previous information ——–

The St. Joseph Police Department has issued an Endangered Person Advisory for a missing person incident that occurred at 1006 Prospect Ave., St. Joseph, MO at 7:00 pm on 07/19/2015.

Missing Is: Neveah Nicole Brown a white female, age 8

Roarke Ron-E Brown a white male, age 7

Vehicle Information: White late 90’s Ford Explorer bearing MO FL7A3U. Last seen at 3000 Parkway A, St. Joseph, MO

Possible suspects or associates are believed to be: David Earnest Brown, a white male, age 54, height 5’11”, 275-300 lbs., blonde hair, blue eyes, fair complexion, last seen wearing a white American flag t-shirt, blue shorts, and black flip flops.

The endangered missing person:

Neveah Nicole Brown, a white female, age 8, height 3’5″, 55 lbs, blonde hair, blue eyes, fair
complexion, wearing a red/pink t-shirt and purple shorts or pants.

Roarke Ron-E Brown, a white male, age 8, height 3’5″, 50 lbs, blonde hair, blue eyes, fair complexion, wearing a blue t-shirt, plaid shorts and dark flip flops.

Brief circumstances regarding the Endangered Missing Person incident:

Suspect David Earnest Brown, is the children’s biological father and does not have custody. Brown did not return the children to their aunt’s residence following a visitation on 07/19/15. At 11:30 am 7/20/15, suspect’s cell phone was pinged in Andrew County near Rosendale. St. Joseph Police also received information that the suspect was seen with the children in Maryville, MO on 07/20/15. Brown has a history of leaving the state with the children and has posted on social media that he does not want to go back to prison.
Anyone seeing the missing person, suspect, associate, or vehicle, or anyone having any information related to the endangered missing person should immediately dial 911 to contact the nearest law enforcement agency or call the St. Joseph Police Department at (816) 271-5336.

Slight break from rain chances Tuesday

Posted on July 20, 2015

Tonight
A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 65. North northeast wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Tuesday
Sunny, with a high near 82. Northeast wind around 6 mph.

Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 62. East wind around 5 mph.

Wednesday
Partly sunny, with a high near 81. Southeast wind 5 to 8 mph.

Wednesday Night
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Thursday
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 85. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Thursday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 71.

Friday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 91.

Friday Night
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 72. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Saturday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 91.

Saturday Night
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 71. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Sunday
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 89. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Weekend heat leads to Emergency Room visits

Posted on July 20, 2015July 20, 2015

Two people had to be treated and released from the hospital in St. Joseph over the weekend after being exposed to hot weather conditions.

Tracey Clark, Media and Community Relations with Mosaic Life Care said the community is doing a great job respecting the heat in relationship to their health.

“Only two heat related illnesses presented in the ER over the weekend,” Clark said.

A heat advisory was issued by the National Weather Service for Friday and Saturday. Friday the high was 94 at Rosecrans Memorial Airport and Saturday it was recorded at 90. However, the heat indices ranged from 103 to 109.

Clark said it’s important to stay hydrated.

“If a person waits until they are thirsty to drink water, they are already behind staying hydrated. Persons who anticipate being in the heat should begin hydrating before working or exercising outdoors,” she said.

Temperatures are expected to return to the low 90s again on Friday and Saturday.

“The recent heat is a great reminder of how important it is to stay hydrated to keep the body cool and working right,” Clark said. “Water is so important to our vital functions that without it, we can only survive for about one week.”

Mosaic Life Care said in it’s weekly edition of Inspired, a health report that even a three percent body-water loss can cause harmful physical changes.

“For many years, experts suggested drinking eight, 8–ounce glasses of water a day to stay hydrated. However, fluid needs vary by age, gender, physical activity, sweat rate, environmental conditions and diet. The Institute of Medicine suggests about 125 ounces of water (that’s 15 cups) for men and 91 ounces, or 11 cups, for women daily. That’s just a guideline. If you are eating lots of fruits and vegetables, you may already be getting 20 – 30 percent of your fluid needs from your food.”

Images of Pluto mission fascinate, especially to Mizzou professor

Posted on July 20, 2015July 20, 2015

Pluto as seen from New Horizons on July 11, 2015 Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI — Pluto as seen from New Horizons on July 11, 2015
Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

(Missourinet) – A NASA probe is revealing new details about Pluto that are exciting people worldwide, particularly astronomers like Angela Speck at the University of Missouri. The New Horizons mission has taken nearly ten years to reach Pluto and will take at least a year for all of the data collected to be transmitted back to Earth.
pluto 2

“Now we’ve got a really good measure of how big it is and it turns out it’s a little bit bigger than we thought,” says Speck. “That has big impact on how we understand how it’s going to behave, what it’s made of and understand all of the objects out there.”

Dr. Speck says the technology used on this mission was state of the art.

“You think about some of the satellites that are going overhead and doing imaging like Google,” says Speck. “We’re actually getting almost as much details on this planet and that’s really impressive.”

Speck says even though the planet is bigger than astronomers thought, Pluto is still only about 1,473 miles across, or roughly a fifth the diameter of Earth. She says the planet is 40 times farther away from the sun than Earth is and the atmosphere is extremely cold, approximately 400 degrees below zero.

The New Horizons mission to Pluto cost an estimated $700 million.

For other images and details of this mission, visit https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html

Continuous road closures causing issues for county officials

Posted on July 19, 2015July 17, 2015

Buchanan County has closed roads five times so far this year due to high waters which is dipping into both man hours and resources.

Closing off roadways has become common practice for officials in Buchanan County. Emergency Management Director Bill Brinton said it’s unusual to have to have to close roads this much.

“The bad part about it is that the roads get flooded and then we go in and open them back up and we put new gravel on them and we take care of them and then about a week later they’re flooded again,” Brinton said.

Man hours dedicated to reopening roads is becoming a nuisance.

“They’re so busy opening the roads that are flooded that they can’t work on their plans for paving the roads that they have for the county,” Brinton said.

The total financial impact on the county’s budget from flooding is not yet known.

“I don’t know yet but if we go into working with FEMA/SEMA I will know exactly,” Brinton said.

However, disaster assistance is still up in the air. As we previously reported, the Federal Emergency Management Agency toured the county evaluating damage earlier this month.

“This is an ongoing process with FEMA and I would think based upon the severe weather that we’ve had in northwest Missouri a couple of days ago and with the weather that they’ve had down near Branson I think it looks more like it’s going to happen every day,” said Brinton.

Friday parts of Rock Creed Road, Saxton Easton Road, Mitchell Road, Kemmer Road, 112th Road off of 36 Highway and Picket Road south of 36 Highway were closed due to high waters in the Platte River.

“We know where the flooding areas are so we’ll have road closed signs at both ends of the road,” he said. “Every time we have a road closed there’s at least two signs to keep people from going either direction on the road.”

County officials are expected to evaluate the roads Monday in an attempt to once again, reopen them.

“We just ask people not to drive around our barricades and certainly don’t drive into any standing water,” Brinton said. “We just ask people to be safe and not to become victims of a water rescue or possibly even drown.”

Keep your cool, Heat Advisory continues

Posted on July 18, 2015July 17, 2015

NWS Watches/Warnings map as of Friday 2:35 p.m.1818

Heat and humidity returns for your Saturday.

The National Weather Service issued a Heat Advisory which went into effect at 1 p.m. Friday and continues until 9 p.m. Saturday.

Temperatures Saturday are expected in the mid-90s with dangerous afternoon heat indices between 103 to 109.

The NWS is urging caution with the dangerous conditions.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTIONS…IF YOU WORK OR SPEND TIME OUTSIDE. WHEN
POSSIBLE…RESCHEDULE STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES TO EARLY MORNING OR
EVENING. KNOW THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT
STROKE. WEAR LIGHT WEIGHT AND LOOSE FITTING CLOTHING WHEN
POSSIBLE AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER.

TO REDUCE RISK DURING OUTDOOR WORK…THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDS SCHEDULING FREQUENT REST
BREAKS IN SHADED OR AIR CONDITIONED ENVIRONMENTS. ANYONE OVERCOME
BY HEAT SHOULD BE MOVED TO A COOL AND SHADED LOCATION. HEAT
STROKE IS AN EMERGENCY…CALL 9 1 1.

A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES IS
EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY
WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE
POSSIBLE. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS…STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED
ROOM…STAY OUT OF THE SUN…AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND
NEIGHBORS.

A cold front moving through the region on Sunday will allow for slightly cooler and drier air to push into parts of the region.