Sugarplum Festival file photo. Photo courtesy Jane Graves
An annual holiday event featuring local and regional vendors is coming up in November.
The Sugarplum Festival at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art will be held November 9-11.
Museum Executive Director Brett Knappe said the event is a holiday themed bazaar and has new vendors every year.
“We have upscale sales of all kinds of Christmas gifts, potential gifts for the holidays and other things as well. There will be food, there’s a wine tasting, we have our patrons night which has special food as well,” Knappe said. “There’s really a lot going on over the course of two and a half days. It’s a good time to enjoy some Christmas music, it’s a good time to just enjoy yourself.”
For more information about the Sugarplum Festival, contact the museum at (816) 233-7003 or click here.
The United Way of Greater St. Joseph is recruiting volunteers for a school-based versions of its Reading Adventures program.
Jodi Bloemker, Dir. of Community Investment with United Way said United Way Reading Adventure will be held this fall with second grade classes at Lake Contrary and Humboldt elementary schools. The agency also plans to hold United Way Reading Adventure at several other schools in the spring.
Each second grade class has 30 minutes for the program. There are two sections of students at both Lake Contrary and Humboldt, so Bloemker said volunteers are needed for 60 minutes.
“Volunteers will read with small groups of children,” she said. “The books you will be reading will be provided by the teachers and students grouped by reading level.”
“Simply fill out the form with your contact information and select the dates you are available to read. I will send out further details as well as reminders and directions prior to the start of the program. I have some volunteers who are able to read all five weeks at a school and some that can only do a week or two. It is whatever works best for the volunteer,” Bloemker said.
(news release) MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University’s Board of Regents during its regular meeting Friday approved a proposal to create a Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity and begin offering it to students next fall.
Interim Provost Dr. Jamie Hooyman presented the proposal to the Board and said the program will require no new resources. The University’s current computer science faculty will teach the coursework at Northwest’s Maryville campus.
Northwest will create five courses, as requirements or electives, for degree completion.
“Cybersecurity knowledge is essential to the protection of our national electronic systems and data,” Dr. Carol Spradling, the director of Northwest’s School of Computer Science and Information Systems. “Our cybersecurity program will provide students with cutting-edge skills to meet national security challenges and will contribute talent to meet the long-term economic cybersecurity industry needs.”
The program will help students develop skills and expertise related to cybersecurity, including the prevention and detection of cyberattacks on computer-related infrastructures within an organization. Students will gain a broad understanding of computer systems, including software, hardware, networks, information assurance and programming. Students also will develop skills related to computer security policies and implementation as well as a relevant understanding of social engineering as a means of computer vulnerability.
Hooyman also noted graduates in the cybersecurity field are in high demand. The Department of Labor Statistics projects 18 percent job growth for information security analysts, which include cybersecurity professionals, while Forbes magazine has reported that the cybersecurity market is expected to grow from $75 billion in 2015 to $170 billion by 2020.
A one vehicle crash in Andrew County sent two to the hospital Friday morning after the driver tried to avoid hitting a deer.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report, Jon Edwards, 27 of Kansas City, Mo. was driving a 2006 Jeep Cherokee northbound on I-29 just three miles north of St. Joseph around 2: 15 a.m. The patrol said Edwards attempted to avoid a deer in the roadway, and went off the west side crossing both southbound lanes and then off the east side of the road. The patrol said the vehicle then went over the median, crossing both northbound lanes and hit a guardrail. Edwards was transported to Mosaic for treatment of what was described as minor injuries. His passenger, Eric Jones, 32 of Kansas City, Mo. was transported for treatment of a moderate injury. Neither were reported to be wearing a seat belt.
A group has formed to oppose the passage of a tax levy for the St. Joseph School District up for vote on the November ballot.
Two former St. Joseph School District Board of Education members are taking a stance against Proposition 1 as part of Support A Better SJSD . Chris Danford and Eric Bruder said the $1.15 tax increase is excessive.
“It’s nearly a 40-percent property tax increase,” Danford said. “We’re not anti-education. We’re supporters for a better school district. We want to also do what’s right for the kids and right for the community.”
Bruder said he’s simply against this levy.
“I would fully support a levy of .40 to .50 cents where all of that money is going directly to the teachers,” Bruder said. “If they would come forward with a plan…with the math that says here is the number of classrooms we need. We don’t have them in these areas, we’re going to put temporary classroom spaces in place. We’re going to hire the right number of teachers, we’re going to pay our teachers properly the public’s going to support that. But along with that they have to cover the other side and cut the administrative spending.”
The St. Joseph School District said the tax proposal was developed by the SJSD 1 Vision community engagement program that involved hundreds of St. Joseph residents. The district said, “While the SJSD 1 Vision Task Force considered an option with a larger increase to address identified goals, a decision was reached to take a conservative first step to achieve these goals by restoring the tax rate to the pre-2015 level.”
The proposition is up for vote on the Nov. 7 ballot.
To listen to Danford and Bruder’s interview with 680 KFEQ’s Barry Birr on the Hotline see the audio files below:
Another mild Fall day is in store today with highs in the mid to upper 70s. A few scattered showers will be possible after midnight tonight into Saturday morning. However, the main round of potentially severe thunderstorms will move into the area late Saturday afternoon. These thunderstorms are expected to develop into a line of storms which will be capable of damaging winds, heavy rain, and minor flooding. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 76. Breezy, with a south wind 9 to 14 mph increasing to 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph.
Tonight: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 64. Breezy, with a south wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Saturday: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 2 p.m. High near 74. South wind 13 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Saturday Night: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 2 a.m. Low around 48. West southwest wind 6 to 9 mph becoming north northwest in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.
Sunday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8 a.m. Partly sunny, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 67. Northwest wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 45.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 70.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 47.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 59.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 38.
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 62.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 45.
Students check out the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service display at the My Success Event in St. Joseph Oct. 19, 2017.
High school sophomores got the chance to talk with local veterinarians, morticians, police officers and more at an event this week.
St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce Programs Coordinator Mary Brown said the My Success Event organized by the Chamber and presented by Boehringer Ingelheim featured 65 area businesses this year.
“The My Success event is a hands-on career laboratory for high school sophomore students,” Brown said. “We showcase the careers that are available, not just in St. Joseph, but in the northwest Missouri area, the businesses where they can find those careers and the educational requirements necessary for those careers.”
Some of the “hands-on” opportunities included the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Service display. Dr. Nada Woodworth works for the USDA and said their tables at the event included displays of animal organs that, with gloves on, students could touch.
“I am a veterinarian and I have two inspectors who come with me and we explain to the kids that the meat that they eat is safe,” Woodworth said. “So we bring samples of normal body parts, the normal cow, the normal pig, normal sheep and normal chicken and then we have, at the last table, the abnormal and we show them examples of things that would not go into the food chain.”
Woodworth said they also talk with the students and give them information about careers available in food safety, including food inspectors, veterinarians, enforcement investigative officers and more. Woodworth has been a part of the event for 10 of the 11 years it’s been offered.
“The event is just so awesome from the standpoint of exposing the kids to what is available out there as far as the different jobs, the different career opportunities that are there,” Woodworth said. “I’m almost 60-years-old and I didn’t get to do something like this when I was in high school and I wish somebody would’ve thought of this back then. For them to be exposed to all the different opportunities that are there is just wonderful.”
Destiny, a sophomore at Benton High School, said the event is interesting, fun and introduces them to the options available.
“We took an online test and it determined which category we went into like human services or technical stuff like that and based on that, we go to different booths that would lead to careers in that pathway,” Destiny said. “We’ve been to a bunch of (displays), it’s a bunch of great opportunities and it’s really interesting learning about everything.”
Mary Brown with the Chamber said 2,500 students came through the event this year from 49 high schools in the area.
“It’s a lot of work to put this event on, but it’s so worthwhile,” Brown said. “It exposes these kids to so many great opportunities. They are our future workforce.”
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Pavement repair will close a ramp at the Interstate 229 and I-29 interchange on the south side of St. Joseph tomorrow.
Local maintenance crews from the Missouri Department of Transportation will close the ramp from northbound I-29 to northbound I-229 from approximately 7:30 to 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 20. Motorists will need to use an alternate route during the closures. All work is weather permitting and subject to change.
MoDOT encourages all motorists to slow down, buckle up, eliminate distractions and drive safely to ensure everyone is able to Arrive Alive.
For more information about this and other MoDOT projects, call 1-888-ASK-MODOT (888-275-6636) or visit modot.org/northwest and view the online Traveler Information Map. In addition, MoDOT provides updated information on Twitter @MoDOTNorthwest and Facebook.
New Madrid Seismic Zone – Quaternary Fault Localities. Earthquakes with magnitudes equal to or larger than 2.5 are shown by the yellow dots. Photo courtesy of USGS.
(Missourinet) – In 1811 and 1812, Missouri’s New Madrid Seismic Zone produced some of the largest earthquakes ever in the continental U.S. If a future quake is centered near the southeast Missouri fault, Jeff Briggs with the State Emergency Management Agency says the shaking will be felt for hundreds of miles in every direction.
“That’s because of the way the geology is here in the Midwest,” says Briggs. “Out west, it’s very mountainous. The rocks are broken up. So the shaking doesn’t travel as far. The energy gets dissipated. Here in this part of the country though, there’s a lot of loose, sandy soil, wet soil, riverbeds.”
More than 500,000 Missourians will participate Thursday morning in the annual “ShakeOut” earthquake drill by dropping to their hands and knees, taking shelter under a table or desk, covering their heads and holding on. In all, nearly 2.5 million people are registered in the 14 central U.S. states that could be impacted by a New Madrid Fault earthquake. The St. Joseph Police Department said the drill will take place at 10:19 a.m. for locations participating.
The “ShakeOut” earthquake drill kicked off in the central U.S. about 200 years after the deadly quakes of 1811 and 1812. Geologists say there’s a 7-10% chance of another major earthquake occurring in a 50 year period.
Unlike tornadoes and floods, there’s no way to predict when an earthquake will hit.
“Scientists have never figured out a way to predict when it’s going to happen, what time of year it’s going to happen or anything. It’s one of the real challenges of earthquake safety,” says Briggs.
He says a 3.6 magnitude earthquake that was widely felt in southeast Missouri on Sunday is a reminder why the drill is important.
“It was based just about 25-30 miles south of Kennett, right down there in the bootheel just barely into that northeastern tip of Arkansas. That was an example of the kind of earthquakes we get down there from time to time,” says Briggs.
The New Madrid Seismic Zone is not the only fault in Missouri. The Humboldt Fault Zone is in the northwest part of the state. It extends from northeastern Kansas to central Oklahoma and is along a buried geologic feature called the Nemaha Ridge. Sometime it is referred to as the Nemaha Fault Zone due to its proximity.
Those who want to participate in Thursday’s drill can sign up by going to shakeout.org/centralus
St. Joseph Police are investigating after a house was hit by gunshots early Thursday morning.
According to Captain Keith Dudley with the St. Joseph Police Department, a call reporting shots fired came in shortly after 4 a.m. Officers responded to the 2000 block of South 17th and found a house had been hit by multiple gunshots.
Dudley said there were no injuries and there is no suspect information at this time.
