UPDATE (3:40 p.m. Thursday) –  St. Joseph police are still investigating after a woman was injured from a gunshot early Thursday morning.

According to Capt. Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department, shortly after midnight Thursday, officers responded to a report of shots fired in the area of Harvard Street.

A woman was reportedly backing her vehicle into her driveway when she noticed a white male wearing a dark-colored hoodie in the alley. The man reportedly shot at her vehicle, hitting it. She was injured from the gunshots to her wrist and was treated and released from the hospital.  

Capt. Wilson said there are no suspects in custody at this time. 

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 238-TIPS.

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St. Joseph police are investigating after a woman was transported to the hospital with a gunshot wound early Thursday morning.

According to Sgt. Wayne Byrom with the police department, shortly after midnight, there was a report of shots fired coming from Harvard Street. Officers responded and found a woman with a gunshot wound.

She was transported to Mosaic Life Care for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 238-TIPS.

With warmer weather and construction season approaching, the Missouri Department of Transportation is urging motorists to be extra cautious in work zones.

Northwest District Engineer Chris Redline said since 2000, 13 MoDOT workers have been killed in work zones.

“That’s awful. The public is even more at risk in work zones, because 16 drivers lost their lives in work zones last year and almost 60 in the last five years, so people just really need to… put your phone down and pay attention to what you’re doing,” Redline said.

This week is National Work Zone Awareness Week and MoDOT staff, along with local law enforcement are urging motorists to pay attention and drive carefully through work zones so everyone arrives home safely.

Sergeant Jake Angle is the Public Information and Education Officer with Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop H. Angle said anytime there are signs designating work zone speed changes or workers present to pay attention to those.

“Even if the zone appears unoccupied, a lot of times there’s even people in there standing up cones from the day’s work or they are in there doing clean up work or other things behind the actual construction workers, so just because you don’t see a lot of workers present there still may be workers present and we need to heed those signs,” Angle said. “We talk to people all the time about paying attention, not being distracted when they’re going down the roadway… when you enter those construction zones, the risks increase so we need people to extra attention. That’s why we need them to put seatbelts on, put the phones down, pay attention to what’s going on, not just in construction zones but especially in construction zones.”

The MSHP reported that cellphone-involved crashes in 2016 resulted in 14 fatalities, 88 serious injuries and 1,020 minor injuries. Of those crashes, 24 occurred in work zones.

For more information on National Work Zone Awareness Week and the Buckle Up Phone Down challenge, click here.

The ones who are always there to answer 911 calls are being recognized during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.

“On somebody’s worst day, I’m there. I get them the help that they need to make sure that they are safe and my officers are safe,” said Kallie Sherwood, Communications Operator.

As part of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, communications operators with the Buchanan County area Communications Center had a rare opportunity to get together Tuesday morning. Communications Center Manager Capt. Jennifer Protzman said some operators and officers that were former dispatchers filled in for the morning.

“This is only the second time that we’ve been able to meet all together as a group because we’re 24/7, 365, so this is really unusual and a real blessing that we’re able to do this,” Protzman said.

According to Protzman, there are 17 operators overall with four supervisors. They spent the morning doing team building exercises together, painting, writing about some of the calls they have answered and more.

Protzman said the week recognizing those in the telecommunications profession is held the second week of April and was started in 1981 by a sheriff’s office in California.

“It’s just a way to recognize the work and the dedication of our communications operators. They often go unrecognized… they’re the calm in the storm, when the chaos is going on,” Protzman said. “The officers are known as the thin blue line and the communications operators are known as the thin gold line, the ones that information comes to first and they… as far as safety, safety of the citizens and the officers, they’re our first line of defense, so to speak.”

St. Joseph Police Chief Chris Connally said they couldn’t operate without the ones taking the calls in the 911 Center.

“They’re key to effectiveness in serving the community and a lot of what they do improves the situation before our officers even get there at the scene or before the firefighters get there at the scene. They gather that vital information for the fire department, they deescalate situations before the police arrive,” Connally said. “Just everything they do, they’re part of the lifeline of the police department and the lifeline of public safety for our community.”

Kallie Sherwood has been a Communications Operator for several years. Sherwood said one of the calls that has stuck with her was one she received just a few weeks ago.

“We had an open 911 call from a cell phone, which happens all the time, GPS coordinates, no conversation. I was actually getting ready to hang up the phone and I could hear this man making noises,” Sherwood said. “I stayed on the line with him, we sent police, we sent an ambulance, because he was able to tell me ‘ambulance,’ but that’s all he could tell me. I didn’t know until the officer opened the door that he had actually hanged himself and the bow that he was hanging from broke and he was laying on the floor when they got there.”

Sherwood said while receiving calls similar to that one is a difficult part of the job, knowing that officers arrived in time and the man in that situation is alright and alive is one of the rewarding parts of the job.  

“It’s not for somebody that’s faint of heart. You have to have a thick skin because you’re going to be called every name in the book,” Sherwood said. “ You have to really do some soul searching before you decide if this is a career for you, and if it is, we welcome everybody.”

Those working in the Communications Center dispatch for the St. Joseph Police Department, Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department, St. Joseph Fire Department, and six rural fire departments. The center is also a public safety answering point for all 911 calls in the county. 

Several events will be held this week to recognize National Crime Victims’ Rights Week in Buchanan County.

Debbie Wells is a Paralegal with the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office, which is sponsoring the events this week. Wells said Missouri was one of the first states to have crime victims’ rights put into their constitution.

“It’s only the right thing to do that they be allowed to be in court hearings, that they be notified of court hearings, that they have a say in their case where at least you can have a discussion with who is handling your case on the prosecution end and that, at sentencing of a defendant, you have the right to come in and speak to the judge and tell them what you would like to see happen,” Wells said. “It’s always been important to us and so, during this one week during the year, when…things are going on regarding crime victims and everyone is recognizing this throughout the nation, we want to do our part too.”

As part of the week, on Tuesday, the Northwest Missouri Children’s Advocacy Center will be holding a pinwheel event in front of the courthouse. Wells said pinwheels will be displayed to represent every abused child in Missouri last year.

Other events during the week include a balloon release on Wednesday to honor homicide victims, the annual Crime Victims’ Rights breakfast on Friday and a dance recital on Saturday to raise funds for the Northwest Missouri Children’s Advocacy Center.

For more information on National Crime Victims’ Rights Week events, contact the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office at (816) 271-1481  or visit the Children’s Advocacy Center Facebook page.

A free educational event just for children will be offered later this month.

The annual Children’s Fair at the St. Joseph Civic Arena is organized by the St. Joseph Youth Alliance. The fair offers a wide variety of activities for children from birth to six-years-old.

Linda Midyett is the Educare Director at St. Joseph Youth Alliance. Midyett said they have put on the fair for several years as something for families to do at no cost.

“There’s just not a lot of free things that are educational, so we really want to provide that for our community as well as just modeling ideas about play as a learning opportunity, that’s how that age group learns is through their play,” Midyett said. “(In) each of the activity areas, they provide something that links in to a children’s book that shows how they can expand that book and the children can learn while they’re actively involved in something.”

The theme of this year’s fair is “Mix it Up.”

“We are focusing on all the different arts such as music, art itself, dance, just a variety of areas that fit in with that theme and then each agency picks a book that goes along with that theme and designs their activity around it,” Midyett said. “So it’s another way for parents, or adults, whoever brings the child, they can learn how to expand a book beyond just reading it, to really make an activity around it.”

Midyett said several agencies will be at the fair this year including Parents As Teachers, the St. Joseph Public Library, the Noyes Home and more. The Conservation Department will be bringing a large aquarium with live fish, the University of Missouri Extension will bring live animals and members from the fire department, police department, highway patrol and sheriff’s department will be there with their vehicles.

The Children’s Fair will take place on Tuesday, April 17th, at the Civic Arena.

It will be open from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and 5 to 7:30 p.m. that day.

For more information about the event or to volunteer, contact the St. Joseph Youth Alliance at (816) 232-0050.

The Wyeth Tootle Mansion opens for the 2018 season on Friday and several events are already planned.

The mansion, located at 1100 Charles St. in St. Joseph, will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through October.

St. Joseph Museums Public Relations Officer Kathy Reno said the first event of the season will be Music at the Mansion on April 14th.

“There will be five different acts, tons of great food… and it’s just $5 at the door, children eight and under are free,” Reno said. “So if you want to hear local talent throughout the afternoon, 12:30 to 5:30, have lunch, have a drink, that’s the time to do it.”

An ongoing event throughout the season at the mansion will be Coffee and Gingerbread at 10 a.m. every third Saturday of the month.

“Stop by, have some coffee and then we’ll talk about different aspects of your older home and restoring and fixing,” Reno said. “The very first one is going to focus on stained glass windows, how to repair them, how to care for them because, obviously, there’s a lot of that in St Joseph, there’s a lot inside the mansion.”

The first Coffee and Gingerbread program will be held at 10 a.m. on April 21st.

An opportunity to learn and practice photography skills will be coming up in May at the mansion. According to Reno, a photography workshop will be offered by Megan Wyeth on May 16th.

“Megan is a professional photographer who has studied with some of the greatest photographers in the country. She will teach you how to see, how to experiment, how to work with lighting, how to frame your shots. The mansion is a great place to do that because sometimes the mansion inside and outside the museum can be tricky,” Reno said.  “You can bring any type of camera that you want to. Megan says that she realizes a lot of people even today have gone to the very sophisticated camera phones that are out there now, so if you want to use that, you certainly can.”

Registration for the photography workshop is required in advance as there is limited space. Find information on these events and more, at stjosephmuseum.org.