(Missourinet) – The Missouri deer harvest was down about one percent for opening weekend of the firearms season compared to last year’s opening weekend.
Hunters harvested nearly 94,977 deer. They checked 96,131 during opening weekend of 2016.
Top harvest counties this year were Howell with 2,095 deer checked, Franklin with 2,060 and Texas with 1,855.
The firearms deer season runs through Tuesday, November 21. Archery deer season opens again Nov. 22 through Jan. 15, 2018. Youth firearms deer season is Nov. 24-26. The antlerless portion of firearms deer season runs Dec. 1-3 and alternative methods will be Dec. 23- Jan. 2, 2018.
Deer hunting gives a $1 billion annual boost to the state and local economies.
Missouri Commissioner of Education, Dr. Margie Vandeven (courtesy; Missourinet)
(Missourinet) – Three new Missouri Board of Education members have called a closed door meeting for next week in hopes of reportedly considering the termination of Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven and board president Charlie Shields.
Claudia Onate Greim, Eddy Justice, and Doug Russell are suspected of being part of an effort led by Republican Governor Eric Greitens to remove Vandeven and apparently replace her with Atlanta charter school expert Kenneth Zeff.
In 1945, state lawmakers changed the Constitution to maintain the education department’s independence from politics. Missouri School Boards Association Executive Director Melissa Randol tells Missourinet Greitens wants to undermine the board’s independence. She says education is too precious and too important to allow it to be manipulated by political games.
Missouri School Boards Association Executive Director Melissa Randol. Photo courtesy Missourinet.
“This is unprecedented for a governor to essentially make the commissioner a political-appointee position. Once you set that precedent, you’ve eroded the protections that have been put forth in the Constitution to protect the commissioner,” Randol said.
Greitens has appointed five new board members. They are awaiting consideration by the State Senate and possible confirmation is not expected until next year.
“They haven’t even been vetted by the Senate,” Randol said. “They’re making the most important decision they have to make as a state board and that’s deciding who their CEO is going to be. Why is this so critical? Why do they have to move on it before their confirmation?”
Randol said statute requires the board to meet twice a year – once during the month of December. She questions the need to spend money on Tuesday’s special meeting in Jefferson City if another one must take place about 10 days later.
The governor’s office has not returned Missourinet’s request for comment.
The Missouri Legislature and governor, not the board and commissioner, have the power to expand charter schools. Attempts to expand them have met opposition on both sides of the aisle by members of the General Assembly.
Missouri’s charter schools are limited to St. Louis and Kansas City school districts, and any that are unaccredited. The state has 38 charters.
The current process to open a charter school starts with the submission of an application for approval to the sponsor. Vetting of potential charters happens by the sponsor, not the Missouri Board of Education or Commissioner. Current sponsors include seven Missouri universities, Kansas City Public School District and the Missouri Charter Public School Commission.
Charter-sponsored applications are then forwarded to the Missouri Board of Education for consideration. By the time a charter school application reaches the board, the panel is essentially putting a rubber stamp on it. A Missouri law enacted this year requires the state board to evaluate the sponsors every three years about its quality of charter applications, renewal, intervention and closure decisions.
The Education Commissioner has the power to withhold funds from a sponsor or limit the number of charters a sponsor can have.
The majority of sponsors are not currently accepting new charter applications because they are at capacity. The Missouri Charter Public School Commission is still accepting applications, but has denied recent submissions due to inadequate charter applications. The only charter the commission is currently sponsoring is a Kansas City school with about 130 students called Citizens of the World.
According to Missouri’s Board and Commissions page, two of nine commission members have current terms. Three are vacant and four are expired. The salary of Robbyn Wahby, who serves as the commission’s executive director, is right below Vandeven’s.
Crops of the farm of Brent Hoerr in Palmyra, MO. Hoerr is one of six Missouri farmers participating in the Soil Health Partnership. Photo courtesy Missourinet.
(Missourinet) – Six Missouri farms have joined the Soil Health Partnership (SHP), a research project aimed at bringing more benefits to farmers and the environment.
The six have joined crop growers across what’s referred to as the corn belt states in the Midwest to study ways to improve production and water quality as well as reduce greenhouse gases.
A total of 110 farms in 10 states are taking part in the partnership.
There’s research suggesting that nurturing soil leads to better performance of crops and a higher resistance to floods and droughts, as well as benefits to water quality and carbon emissions.
Some farming experts have identified three practices as effective in improving the quality of soil. They include managing the use of fertilizers, cutting back on tilling procedures and planting cover crops during the off season.
Darrick Steen oversees environmental programs for both the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council and the state’s Corn Merchandising Council.
He says the purpose of the Soil Health Partnership is to provide proof the suggested practices actually work.
“The missing link has been data that show these practices can provide a significant economic benefit on real, working farms, in addition to positive environmental outcomes,” said Steen.
The six Missouri farms involved with the program will concentrate on the use of cover crops. Steen says there are two reasons to do so.
“The cover crop area, the science is not mature. So we’re focusing on cover crops because of that, but also because Missouri’s landscape in almost all areas is not flat. It’s subject to, and more prone to soil erosion.”
In a state where soil erosion is an issue, Steen says cover crops help provide protection.
“You’ve got a protective layer on top of the soil, as well as the root system from those plants that’s holding that soil in place, preventing it from eroding during rain storms.”
Soybeans are the number one revenue producing crop in Missouri, followed by corn. The vast majority of crop acres on Missouri farms are on a corn and soybean rotation. The two plants are a good fit for each other because soybeans tend to replenish the soil with nitrogen, while corn crops absorb the gas.
Brian D. Martin on his farm in Centralia, MO. Martin is one of six Missouri farmers participating in the Soil Health Partnership. Photo courtesy Missourinet.
Steen says farmers in Missouri and across the country are now facing hardships because commodity prices are at all-time lows, and because of changing weather patterns.
“We’re seeing more intense rainfalls, more rain coming down in one storm,” Steen said. “And when we have more intense rainfall we have a harder time addressing some of those environmental challenges like erosion, like nutrient run-off, and all those things.”
One of the goals of the Soil Health Partnership is to stop nutrients – namely fertilizer – from ending up in rivers. Steen says the farming community knows that water quality is an important issue in Missouri.
“Our state’s tourism is centered around the use of, and recreation of water. So it’s something that we’re always working to try and protect.”
There’s also the phenomenon of “Gulf Hypoxia.” According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Hypoxic zones are areas in the ocean that have such low oxygen concentration that marine life suffocates and dies. As a result, such areas are sometimes called “dead zones.”
Each spring as farmers fertilize their lands preparing for crop season, rain washes fertilizer off the land and into streams and rivers. Those runoffs have been cited as a major contributor to dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico. The largest dead zone ever recorded in the U.S. appeared last month in the Gulf.
Steen says the Soil Health Partnership is designed to help curb the occurrence of dead zones.
“That’s a big issue that we recognize. There are a number of things going on within Missouri to try and reduce our contribution, our impact to that and this one of those.”
Other groups involved in the Soil Health Partnership represent a wide range of agricultural, environmental, corporate and political interests that are often on opposite sides of farming issues. They include Monsanto, The Nature Conservancy, the Walton Family Foundation, General Mills, the USDA and the Environmental Defense Fund.
One of the six Missouri farmers taking part in the partnership, Richard Fordyce, is former director of the state Department of Agriculture. During his tenure, he championed initiatives such as the Agricultural Stewardship Assurance Program, a voluntary certification program.
Leonard Adreon. Photo courtesy hilltopdoc.com/ Missourinet
(Missourinet) – The Korean War – often called the “forgotten war”- is far from forgotten by 91-year-old Leonard Adreon, who has written a vivid memoir describing his time there in 1951.
During the St. Louis native’s year as a war medic, he fought to save lives while battling the Chinese on the hillsides and hilltops at the 38th Parallel in Korea.
He remembers his drill sergeant saying “Don’t get too close to anybody.” Adreon lost about two dozen friends during the conflict. About 36,000 Americans died, 103,000 were wounded and nearly 7,800 soldiers are listed as missing in action from the 37-month war.
Photo courtesy hilltopdoc.com/ Missourinet
Adreon stayed silent about the conflict for 60 years because he made an agreement with his war buddies to put Korea behind them. Even his wife of 60 plus years didn’t push him to open up about his experience.
“We reached a consensus: We should focus on the future. We did not exchange telephone numbers. We did not exchange addresses. We said there’ll be no reunions and it was forever goodbye,” says Adreon. “I think it was probably a healthy thing to do. I read about all of these people coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan and having post-traumatic stress syndrome because they relive what happened and the carnage and the blood.”
When Adreon retired from a successful real estate career, he stayed engaged by taking classes at Washington University. He was a guest speaker at the school for a class about the Korean War. Adreon’s appearance that was supposed to last about 15 minutes, turned into a three week commitment. The students were fascinated with his stories and couldn’t get enough of them.
“Something that astonished me in that class and that is my memory of what happened there was very crisp, very vivid, very clear,” says Adreon.
Adreon saw a reoccurring theme involving blood baths and the blank stare of death in front of his eyes. He could feel the vibrations of the explosions. He could see the faces. He heard the voices.
Washington University faculty and his classmates in a writing class urged Adreon to write a book that reflects on his time in war. At first, Adreon resisted the idea.
“I didn’t think that anybody would want to read a book, a personal account, of a war that was mostly forgotten that happened 65 years ago and seen through the eyes of low-ranked Corpsman with the Marine Corps all those years ago. I didn’t think anybody would want to read a book written by a 90-year-old relic of the past,” says Adreon.
Then he began to think about his dear friends who tragically died on the battlefield in his presence: Big Mike, Sammy, Sgt. Jimmy and Derry. He wanted to honor his friends he fought with. His about-face has led to the birth of Hilltop Doc: A Marine Corpsman Fighting Through the Mud and Blood of the Korean War.
Photo courtesy hilltopdoc.com/ Missourinet
Another main reason Adreon wanted to write the book is to spotlight the importance of the “forgotten war”. He says he takes great exception to those who argue that the Korean War did not accomplish anything.
“There are 50 million people living in South Korea in freedom and in relative prosperity, compared to 25 million miserable, impoverished North Koreans under Kim Jong Un,” says Adreon. “If we had not interceded in that war and we hadn’t saved South Korea, Kim Jong Un would have the whole peninsula today and the menace that he is would be an even greater menace.”
According to Adreon, another war on the ground in Korea should be avoided. He thinks a peaceful solution must come through China making North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un give up his weaponry in exchange for guaranteeing his safety.
Adreon says he hopes those who read his book will learn that the U.S. should find a way to avoid another war with Korea.
Republican House member Kathy Swan of Cape Girardeau who chairs the Legislative Task Force on Dyslexia addresses reporters. Photo courtesy Missourinet.
(Missourinet) – A legislative task force has completed its work to address dyslexia in elementary schools in Missouri.
A bill passed last year requires public schools to screen students for dyslexia and calls for teachers to go through two hours of training on handling the disorder.
The measure also created the task force itself, which is charged with making recommendations for a statewide plan to identify students with dyslexia, and developing a system to assist those kids in the classroom.
Republican House member Kathy Swan of Cape Girardeau, who chairs the task force, outlined the group’s conclusions at a news conference Tuesday.
Swan stated that early identification of dyslexia and intervention can significantly reduce the number of students reading below grade level. She said she doesn’t think schools are aggressive enough in tackling the issue.
One of the specific recommendations of the task force concerned screening of children. The task force is proposing for all kids from kindergarten through third grade to be screened for dyslexia.
First through third grade students would be screened within 30 days of the first day of attendance, while kindergartners would receive the examination no later than January 31st of each year.
In addition, the group is recommending dyslexia screening for transfer students, and those identified as struggling by their teachers, parents or by scoring in the lower 30th percentile of assessments.
Swan says the task force has developed a process for dealing with students identified as needing help.
“One of our recommendations is that we study advanced assessments as they would be needed, and then follow through with interventions that then address the specific reading needs and learning of a child.”
The program would include a dyslexia training program for teachers and targeted intervention for students. Tools and practices to support students in the classroom will be selected by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), based on the recommendation of the task force.
Another key proposal from the group is for schools to require teachers to get two hours of in-service dyslexia training every year, instead of the current arrangement in which they must only offer the instruction.
Task force member Kim Stuckey, a dyslexia specialist with the DESE, says Missouri is unique in the level of aid it intends to offer dyslexic students.
“It’s my understanding that we’re the only state that has mandated supports written into statute,” Stuckey said. “So that will be something that other states will be looking to.”
DESE is the agency that will determine what classroom supports will be offered. It’s required to have a plan in place by the end of the year.
Arkansas is an adjacent state with a proposal to address dyslexia in kids, but Swan contends Missouri is now the leader on the issue.
“I was told very, very recently that Missouri is being observed and watched by many other states in the nation because they feel like we have done a more comprehensive job of addressing not only screening, but what do we do after we screen in the interventions so that we continue monitor students.”
She says the task force is also recommending that college curriculum for teachers in Missouri include three specific elements to address dyslexia.
“We would like to see them infuse the characteristics of dyslexia, information about intervention, related disorders, all of those components of identifying and intervening and providing support for students, as a part of every teacher preparation program in the state of Missouri,” said Swan.
She said she thinks it would be important for teachers to get proper preparation at the higher education level in order to deal with what she refers to as a reading failure.
The 21-member task force includes educators, therapists and citizens with dyslexic relatives as well as a bipartisan group of four lawmakers. It conducted a survey of 30 colleges and universities, and found that many of them provide little or no training for handling dyslexic students in their teacher preparation programs.
The group is further encouraging DESE to exchange insights on dyslexia with early childhood partners such as preschools, foster care organizations and the Children’s Division of the Department of Social Services.
Task force member Anita Kuttenkuler is a retired school teacher who has worked as a private dyslexia tutor for the past 12 years. She said she thinks the steps being taken will open doors that were never there before for students who have the disorder.
“It gives them hope,” said Kuttenkuler. “They are very bright kids. And with a little hope, they can accomplish what anybody else can.”
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must develop guidelines for appropriate screening of students for dyslexia and related disorders and for necessary classroom support by December 31, 2017. Public schools will begin screening students, provide reasonable classroom support for students, and offer in-service training for teachers in the 2018-19 school year.
Swan said she thinks the program will offer a solution for children who would otherwise be blocked from getting an education.
“If our children do not learn to read, they will and cannot read to learn.”
The committee’s findings will be sent to Governor Eric Greitens.
Photo courtesy of Missouri Agriculture Department/Missourinet.
(Missourinet) – The Missouri Beef Industry Council has launched a program, “MO Beef for MO Kids,” aimed at getting more beef into Missouri public schools starting with the Mount Vernon school district in southwest Missouri.
Council director Mark Russell says beef is not often served in school lunches and most school lunch services are contracted. He says it’s hard to tell where the beef comes from.
“There’s not a lot of money in the school lunch program and it’s hard to make ends meet. So, usually it’s the low bid and there’s not really a way to trace back the origin or the start of that beef production.”
Russell says many farmers and ranchers in Lawrence County, members of the Southwest Missouri Cattlemen’s group, are donating their homegrown Missouri beef. The goal is to double the amount of beef in the Mount Vernon schools in one year.
Russell says the school’s food service contractor Opaa will offer a lot more beef menu items for students to choose from.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture is a partner in the pilot program which was launched October 19th during National School Lunch week. The goal is to get more Missouri beef not only in schools but into other institutions.
(Missourinet) – The opioid crisis is now a nationwide public health emergency. President Trump made that declaration last week, although he didn’t pledge any federal money to battle the problem.
The move does allow the government to redirect resources and expand medical services in rural areas. The University of Missouri school of medicine is now using telemedicine to connect doctors in under-served areas with opioid specialists.
Dr. Karen Edison says the technology allows the best possible treatment to reach people who normally wouldn’t have access to it.
“The promise of the program is really to take evidence based, expert care out through underserved Missouri, and into inner city Missouri, anywhere where there is a need for expertise.”
Even if the federal government can subsidize various programs to help fight the epidemic, Edison said treatment needs to be delivered at the frontline.
“Really, health care is best if it’s delivered regionally, if not locally, because local health care providers know the culture,” said Edison. “They know the resources. They know the infrastructure. They know the town where that patient lives, and how to get things done for that patient.”
The Centers for Disease Control says opioid overdose deaths in Missouri went up 63-percent from 2014 to 2015. The agency says about 91 Americans a day die from opioid overdoses.
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The following is a listing of general highway maintenance and construction work in the Northwest Missouri region planned for the week of Oct. 30 – Nov. 5 from the Missouri Department of Transportation. In addition to the work listed below, there may be pothole patching, bridge maintenance, striping, brush cutting, mowing, guardrail repairs and other road work conducted throughout the region. Many of these will be moving operations and could include lane closures with delays. All scheduled maintenance and construction projects are subject to change.
Atchison County
U.S. Route 136 – CLOSED at the Little Tarkio Creek for a bridge replacement project. The road will remain closed through December.
Route 275 – Drainage and shoulder work from U.S. Route 136 to Red Star Road, Oct. 30 – Nov. 3
Buchanan County
Route DD – CLOSED for a bridge replacement project at the bridge over Interstate 29 at Faucett at Exit 35. The bridge will remain closed through mid-November.
U.S. Route 371 – Drainage work from Bush Road to Moore Road, Oct. 30 – Nov. 3
Route 759 – Shoulder work, Oct. 30 – Nov. 3
U.S. Route 36 – CLOSED for electrical work eastbound U.S. Route 36 at 9th and 10th Streets, Oct. 31, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Chariton County
Route KK – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Cazzell Road to Flat Road, Oct. 30, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Route W – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from County Road 1040 to County Road 1045 (Randolph County), Oct. 31, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Daviess County
I-35 – Pavement repair, Oct. 30 – Nov. 2
DeKalb County
Route EE – Milling and pothole patching, Oct. 30 – Nov. 3
Grundy County
Route AA – Drainage work, Oct. 30 – Nov. 3
Holt County
Route 118 – The ramp from Route 118 to southbound I-29 is CLOSED for the Davis Creek Bridge replacement project through mid-December.
I-29 – Bridge replacement project at the Davis Creek Bridge near Exit 84. I-29 will be narrowed to one lane in each direction. This includes a 12-foot width restriction. The lane closures will remain in place through mid-December.
Linn County
Route C – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Route V to Route 11, Oct. 31, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Livingston County
Route D – CLOSED for railroad maintenance in the city limits of Ludlow, Oct. 31 – Nov. 1. This will be an overnight closure and the road should reopen by 2 p.m. on Nov. 1
Mercer County
U.S. Route 136 − CLOSED for a bridge replacement project at the Muddy Creek Bridge. The road will be closed through February 2018.
U.S. Route 136 – Bridge maintenance at the West Medicine Creek Bridge, Oct. 30 – Nov. 2
Nodaway County
Route YY – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Almond Street to 155th Street, Oct. 30, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Route 46 – Shoulder work from the west city limits of Maryville to the Atchison County line, Oct. 30 – Nov. 3
Route M – Pothole patching from U.S. Route 71 to Route N, Oct. 30 – Nov. 3
Route KK – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Route D to the Iowa state line, Oct. 31, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Route JJ – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Route FF and Imperial Road, Nov. 3, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Putnam County
U.S. Route 136 – Shoulder work, Oct. 30 – Nov. 3
Worth County
U.S. Route 169 – Guardrail work one mile south of Route 46, Oct. 31 – Nov. 1
36 Highway ramp closure planned at 9th and 10th streets. Courtesy google maps
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Electrical work on U.S. Route 36 near 9th and 10th Streets will briefly close those ramps this week.
Crews from the Missouri Department of Transportation will close the ramps on eastbound U.S. Route 36 at 9th and 10th Streets on Tuesday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. to perform routine electrical maintenance. Motorists should use an alternate route during the closure.
All work is weather permitting and could be rescheduled.
Fish will be stocked this week at the Krug Park Lagoon.
According to the City of St. Joseph Park’s Department, on Wednesday from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. the Missouri Department of Conservation will be stocking the lagoon with trout. Kids are invited to see, touch and learn about the fish before they are placed into the lagoon.
For more information follow the parks department on Facebook HERE.
