Buchanan County Commissioners said Buchanan County is one of 18 counties included in a Kansas City bid as possibilities for an Amazon headquarters.

As previously reported, the internet giant announced it was looking to establish a second headquarters earlier this month. Amazon said it will employ as many as 50,000 people at its new base, with average employee pay of more than $100,000, and with a capital outlay of more than $5 billion to fully establish the new headquarters. Amazon’s RFP specifies that it’s interested in metropolitan areas with more than one million people. In Missouri, that means only St. Louis and Kansas City will even qualify. In its Request for Proposal (RFP), Amazon calls for a “summary of total incentives offered for the Project by the state/province and local community”.

Buchanan County commissioners visited with the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce on Monday to talk about a bid for an Amazon headquarters.

“We visited with the Chamber yesterday just to get their ideas. They had submitted a bid through Kansas City on two possible locations,” said Eastern District Commissioner Scott Burnham.

Western District Commissioner, Ron Hook said the bid submitted was for two areas of 100 acres or better for a potential Amazon headquarters.

“The Kansas City Economic Committee included 18 counties around the area that are involved in this and we happen to be one of them,” Hook said. “In doing so, we provided the two pad sites we thought would be best for headquarters.”

Burnham said the possibility of having Amazon move its headquarters to St. Joseph is a long-shot.

“When you look at the requirements, they want a metropolitan area of one million people or more,” Burnham said. “But when you encompass the Kansas City area and the surrounding, as Ron said everything from Olathe really to even far as Topeka, then I think the draw from that is a lot greater and the possibilities are a lot greater.”

Cities have until Oct. 19 to apply. Amazon said a final site selection and announcement will be made next year.

(Post staff and Missourinet contributions)

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District will convene court next month at Missouri Western State University.

According to a news release, on October 4, 2017 a three-judge panel consisting of Presiding Judge Victor Howard, Judge Alok Ahuja, and Judge Rex Gabbert will hear oral arguments in three cases beginning at 9:30 a.m.

The cases originated in area circuit courts. The judges will hear oral arguments and then take time after the arguments to discuss the court system and take general questions from the audience.

Judge Victor Howard will preside over the proceedings at Missouri Western. He was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1996. Previously he practiced law for fifteen years, and then served as a trial judge in Clay County. Judge Alok Ahuja joined the Western District in 2008. He previously practiced law in Washington D.C. and Kansas City.Judge Rex Gabbert was appointed to
the Court in 2013. Prior to that, he served as a municipal judge, an associate circuit judge, and as a circuit judge in Platte County.

The Court convenes regularly in Kansas City. However, for over twenty years, the Court has held sessions in several of the 45 counties in the Court’s jurisdiction, which includes all of northwest Missouri, and most of central Missouri.

The Court convenes oral arguments outside of Kansas City to give individuals an opportunity to observe a part of the judicial system they normally do not see, and familiarize those attending with the Court’s role in the judicial system.

CLICK HERE to view the 2017 Missouri Western summaries

Motorists are being asked to avoid the area of Parkway A from South 28th St. to 30th St. due to a water main break.

According to a Nixle alert issued at 4:32 a.m. Tuesday, the water company has been notified and crews are on scene working to find the source of the break.

Sgt. Brett Kelley with the St. Joseph Police Department said crews could be on scene for several hours.

A program to improve attendance in the St. Joseph School District is showing signs of success to start the school year.

According to a press release, the School District launched the “Strive for 5” attendance program a month ago to address the ongoing problem of chronic absenteeism in schools. The goal of the program is to encourage students to only miss five days or fewer throughout the year.

“While it is still too early to tell if the areas of growth are directly related to Strive for 5, we are thrilled to see improvement in attendance,” said Dr. Kendra Lau, Director of Assessment. “When students miss school, they miss opportunities to learn. This program is just one part of a multi-pronged approach being used to address chronic absenteeism in our district.”

The District set an attendance goal of 87% this year, which represents a three percent increase over last year. The following information includes highlights from the latest attendance reports:

District-level celebrations:

• District attendance is up 1.7% from this time last year (Current – 91.3%, Last Year – 89.6%)
• District attendance is currently 4.3% above its 2018 year-end goal of 87% 

 School building celebrations:

• Central High School attendance is at 91.8% up from last year by 1.9%
• Lafayette High School attendance is up 6.2% from last year
• Spring Garden Middle School attendance is up 4.5% from last year
• Truman Middle School is up 3.7% from last year
• Edison Elementary attendance is up 3.7% from last year
• Parkway Elementary attendance is up 3.8% from last year
• Hyde Elementary School was up 3.1% from last year

Other highlights:

• The number of high school students considered chronically absent by school year has dropped in all three high schools since last year.
• The number of middle school students considered chronically absent by school year has dropped in all four middle schools since last year.
• The number of elementary school students considered chronically absent by school year has either dropped or remained steady in nine of 16 elementary schools since last year.

 

A Lathrop man was seriously injured in a one vehicle crash early Monday morning in DeKalb County.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, at 5:05 a.m. Monday, 34-year-old Matthew G. Carrel was driving a Ford F-150 north on I-35 at mile marker 53.8 in the city limits of Cameron. Carrel’s vehicle ran off the east side of the road, hit a guardrail and came to rest on its wheels on the guardrail.

Carrel was transported by Cameron EMS to Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph.

According to the crash report, Carrel was wearing a seat belt.

One person was injured in a shooting in downtown St. Joseph Sunday night.

According to the St. Joseph Police Department, a call came in at 10:14 p.m. reporting three shots fired in the area of the 900 block of Angelique Street. Officers arrived to find a 20-year-old woman who had been shot three times. Officers reported that she was awake and stable and was transported to Mosaic Life Care for treatment of what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries.

Police do not have any suspects at this time. Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 238-TIPS.

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 Sept. 18 – 24 from the Missouri Department of Transportation. In addition to the work listed below, there may be pothole patching, 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 or visit modot.org/northwest. You can also follow MoDOT’s Northwest Missouri District on Twitter @ModotNorthwest and on Facebook.

Atchison County

• U.S. Route 136 – CLOSED at the Little Tarkio Creek for a bridge replacement project. The road will remain closed through December.

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 October.
• U.S. Route 36 – Pothole patching westbound at Southwest Parkway, Sept. 18
• I-29 – The on and off ramps at northbound I-29 will be CLOSED for the Route DD Bridge replacement project. Sept. 18 – Oct. 1. During this closure motorists will not be able to access the outer road (SE 45^th Road) or Route DD on the east side of the bridge.
• Route 116 – Bridge maintenance at the I-29 Overpass Bridge, Sept. 18 – 22. This will include an overnight lane closure with temporary traffic signals to direct traffic.
• U.S. Route 36 – Bridge and interchange project one mile east of Route AC, Sept. 18 – 23
• Route 6 (Frederick) – A resurfacing project between Route AC and Woodbine Road, Sept. 18 – 23
• I-229 – The ramp from I-229 southbound to eastbound U.S. Route 36 will be CLOSED for pothole patching, Sept. 19, 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• U.S. Route 36 – Pothole patching eastbound at 8^th Street, Sept. 19

Caldwell County

• Route D – Bridge maintenance at the Shoal Creek and Goose Creek bridges, Sept. 19
• Route 13 – Bridge maintenance at the Long Creek Bridge, Sept. 19
• Route U – Bridge maintenance at the Tom Creek bridge, Sept. 19
• Route W – Bridge maintenance at the Sheep Creek bridge, Sept. 19
• U.S. Route 36 – Bridge maintenance, Sept. 20

Carroll County

• U.S. Route 65 – Bridge maintenance, Sept. 18 – 20
• Route E – Bridge maintenance at the Turkey Creek Bridge, Sept. 21
• Route Z – Bridge maintenance at the Tater Hill Creek Bridge, Sept. 22

Daviess County

• Route 6 – Milling and pothole patching, Sept. 18 – 22
• Route K – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from Lilac Avenue to Jump Road, Sept. 19, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Gentry County

• U.S. Route 169 – Shoulder work from Route 31 to Stanberry, Sept. 18 – 23
• Route 31 – Resurfacing project from U.S. Route 36 toU.S. Route 169, Sept. 18 – 23
• Route P – CLOSED for a culvert replacement east of Route EE, Sept. 18, 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Route T – CLOSED for a culvert replacement one mile east of Route A, Sept. 19 – 20, 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Grundy County

• Route Z – Pothole patching, Sept. 18 – 19
• U.S. Route 65 – Pothole patching at Route 6, Sept. 19
• Route O – Pothole patching, Sept. 20 – 22

Harrison County

• Route P – Pothole patching, Sept. 18 – 19
• Route TT – CLOSED for a resurfacing project, Sept. 20, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Route P – CLOSED for a resurfacing project from Route ZZ to Route BB, Sept. 21 – 22, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

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 – Pavement repair southbound near the Oregon exit, Sept. 18 – 19
• I-29 – Bridge replacement project at the Davis Creek Bridge near Exit 84, Sept. 18 – 24. 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 overnight.
• U.S. Route 59 – Chip sealing northbound from the city limits of Oregon the city limits of Craig, Sept. 18 – 22. Includes a 14-foot width restriction.

Linn County

• U.S. Route 36 – Bridge maintenance at the West Yellow Creek and Mussel Fork bridges, Sept. 18
• U.S. Route 36 – Pothole patching from the Macon County line to Route 11, Sept. 18 – 19

Mercer County

• U.S. Route 136 – Shoulder work from U.S. Route 65 to the city limits of Ravanna, Sept. 18 – 22

Nodaway County

• U.S. Route 136 – Pavement repair from the west city limits of Burlington Junction to Route PP, Sept. 20 – 21

Sullivan County

• Route 5 – Pothole patching, Sept. 18 – 22