St. Joseph Police are investigating after shots were fired in the North Belt Walmart parking lot Wednesday night.

According to Sgt. Brad Kerns, several calls came in around 7:40 p.m. reporting shots fired. Officers found several shell casings and vehicles in the the parking lot that had been hit. No one was injured.

Police are still investigating and reviewing surveillance footage.

A number of students at Central High School joined in the National Walkout Day Wednesday morning to protest gun violence.

Several thousand walkouts were planned across the country. Wednesday marks one month since the deadly shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

Shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday, students walked out of Central and to the bleachers at the football field where a short peaceful rally took place that ended with students chanting, “We want change.”

Devon and Emily are two students who worked to coordinate the walkout at Central.

“Today, our protest ensures that gun violence can and will be stopped with the help of you, the students,” said Devon during a speech at the walkout. “As students, this is our most pressing issue. School safety must be prioritized. Just because you are young, does not mean that your voice does not matter… You can make a difference in the world. Central High School is saying, ‘Enough,’ to gun violence. St. Joseph, Missouri, is saying, ‘Enough,’ to gun violence and your action in walking out today is saying, ‘Enough,’ to gun violence.”

Emily said the turnout was better than expected and the goal of the walkout is change.

“The ultimate hope is that lawmakers see that we want change to be made and we want them to do something about the violence that exists in schools,” Emily said. “We really want people to call their congressmen, we really want people to keep speaking out about this, having constructive conversations with people about the situation and not just hiding behind a Twitter profile, but really talking to people about why this means something and why we care.”

One person was killed Tuesday morning in a crash with a semi on US-59.

According to Capt. Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department, the crash between a passenger vehicle and the semi occurred shortly after 8 a.m. on 59 Highway near Parker Road.

Wilson said the person in the passenger vehicle was killed. The driver of the semi was not injured.

No further details have been released at this time.

As of 10:50 a.m., the road was still blocked off as the crash is still being investigated.

 

A 5K run/walk takes place this weekend in St. Joseph, with proceeds benefiting local and area athletes who compete in Special Olympics Missouri.

On Saturday, Special Olympics Missouri North Area and Norty’s will be holding the 5th Annual Shamrock Run. The run will take place prior to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade at 11:00 a.m. and begins on 11th & Grand and will wind down the parkway to Noyes to Frederick and down the parade route and finish at Norty’s. Registration on the day of the race will begin at 9:30 a.m. at 11th and Grand

For more information or to register online click here. 

 

The Special Olympics Missouri State Indoor Games will also be taking place this weekend in St. Joseph.

The event will bring nearly 3,000 athletes, coaches and Unified Partners from across the state to St. Joseph to compete in basketball and bowling, as well as take part in other special events. This state-level event takes place March 16-17, at various facilities in St. Joseph.

The State Indoor Games kick off on Friday with an Opening Ceremony at 7:00 p.m. at Bishop LeBlond High School.

Competition events will take place at several venues, with bowling competitions on Friday and Saturday and basketball competition on Saturday only.

Visit somo.org/indoor to make a donation, register to volunteer or find out more information.

 

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 March 12 – 18 from the Missouri Department of Transportation. In addition to the work listed below, there may be pothole patching, shoulder work, bridge maintenance, striping, brush cutting, 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.

MoDOT reminds the public to stay alert, watch for road work, buckle up, slow down, and drive with extreme caution through work zones and in changing weather conditions.

For more information about a project, please contact MoDOT at 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (888-275-6636) or visit modot.org/northwest. You can also follow MoDOT’s Northwest Missouri District on Twitter @ModotNorthwest and on Facebook.

Andrew County

• U.S. Route 71 – Pothole patching from the city limits of Maryville (Nodaway County) to Route B, March 12 – 16

Atchison County

• U.S. Route 275 – Shoulder and drainage work, March 12 – 16
• Route CC – Pothole patching, March 12 – 16

Carroll County

• Route UU – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from County Road 210 to County Road 230, March 13, 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Chariton County

• Route E – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Route CC to Route 11, March 14, 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Route 5 – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Route O to Route UU, March 12 – 16, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily

Dekalb County

• Route F – Pothole patching, March 12 – 16

Grundy County

• U.S. Route 65 and Route 6 – Pothole patching, March 12 – 16

Harrison County

• Interstate 35 and U.S Route 136 – Pothole patching, March 12 – 16

Linn County

• U.S. Route 36 – Pothole patching from the Macon County line to Route 139, March 12 – 13

Nodaway County

• Route C – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Century Trail to the city limits of Elmo, March 12 – 13, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily
• U.S. Route 71 – Pothole patching from the city limits of Maryville to Route B (Andrew County), March 12 – 16
• Route C – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Route YY to Route UU, March 14, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Route C – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Route UU to Bluebird Trail, March 15 – 16, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily

Sullivan County

• Route Z – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Vista Road to Walker Road, March 13, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
• Route N – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from West Avenue to Guard Drive, March 15, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Worth County

• Route AA – CLOSED for a culvert replacement 0.2 miles east of Route C, March 13, 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Route AA – CLOSED for a culvert replacement 1.5 miles east of Route C, March 14 – 15, 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily
• Route AA – CLOSED for a culvert replacement 2 miles east of Route C, March 16, 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

A coworking space is meeting needs and filling coffee cups of entrepreneurs in St. Joseph.

CoJoe opened January 31st at 518 Felix St. and features space for rent including table space in an open coworking space or private, furnished offices on a month-to-month or more long-term basis. A conference room also is available to rent by the hour or by the day for important meetings.

“Coworking spaces have opened up all across America and we definitely wanted to be able to provide something like that in St. Joe and test it out and see if we have a market for it,” said Kristie Arthur, St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce Director of Workforce Development. “We really feel like there’s really more opportunity than we know so far.”

Arthur said there have been at least 100 people from a variety of business backgrounds that have come through CoJoe over the past month for short or long term needs and meetings.

“There’s kind of two aspects… looking for those people that need a place to work every once in awhile, they work from home, they want to get out or they are salespeople that need a place to stop by,” Arthur said. “We have access to coffee, you get free WiFi, copy machine access and if you are an entrepreneur and you’re looking for advice, there’s lot of folks that are associated with CoJoe that can get you to the right people if they don’t know how to help you.”

Kyle Kormeier is the Lead Pastor at Renovation Church in St. Joseph. Kormeier said he hasn’t had an office for over three years, since starting Renovation Church, and has been working from home or at coffee shops. With the church growing over the years, he and the associate pastor at Renovation Church had been looking for an office space in St. Joseph.

“I knew immediately that (CoJoe) was a good fit. For us, it’s really helped us to be significantly more productive in how much we can get done, the quality of what we are getting done… because we’re able to have a lot more of that face-to-face time that is really important for any team,” Kormeier said. “Even if I could have an office at our church, I think I’d probably still choose to come down here… There’s so many benefits to coming to a workspace like this and that’s why I want to see more of these offices filled up because I love working with people. There’s just something about being with other entrepreneurs and professionals… creativity feeds creativity and that’s been one of the greatest benefits of being here.”

For more information on CoJoe, click here.