As drivers head back home after the Labor Day weekend the Missouri State Highway Patrol will continue to enforce traffic laws and assist motorists.

Throughout the holiday weekend, troopers within Troop H and throughout the state have been taking part in Operation C.A.R.E. (Crash Awareness & Reduction Effort). Captain James E. McDonald, commanding officer Troop H, said that means every available officer is on the road.

In addition to Operation C.A.R.E., Troop H is also be participating in the statewide special enforcement operation during peak travel periods on Friday, September 1, and Monday, September 4. During this operation, troopers will be assigned to 20-mile sections of Interstate 29.

Enforcement efforts on secondary roads will be conducted during the same timeframe within Troop H. This year’s Labor Day weekend counting period is from 6 p.m. on Friday, September 1, 2017, to 11:59 p.m. on Monday, September 4, 2017.

“Labor Day is a busy travel holiday every year. The Missouri State Highway Patrol urges motorists to wear their seat belts and never drink and drive,” Captain McDonald said. “The Highway Patrol wants everyone to have a safe Labor Day weekend.”

The St. Joseph Police Department is searching for a suspect after shots were fired at an officer early Sunday morning.

Capt. Jeff Wilson said around 4 a.m. in the area of 18th and Sylvanie multiple shots were fired at an officer. The officer was not hit. Wilson said the officer did not return fire. As of Sunday evening police did not have any suspects.

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

The St. Joseph School District is inviting area residents to a presentation later this month on safeguarding youth against suicide. 

Kim Hill is the Counseling Coordinator for the School District. Hill said, according to a recent statistic, suicide moved up to the second leading cause of death for 10 to 25 year-olds. Hill said she thinks the presentation will be important for not only parents, but all community members to attend. 

“Last year, and the last two to three years, we’ve had several deaths of students by suicide as well as by violence, so I think our community is kind of on hyper alert about that and that’s a good thing, because it generates the conversation about then, how can we as a community safeguard our children, what can we, as a community, do to prevent suicide of our youth,” Hill said. “Also, there are other issues facing our teens and our children and so it just really brings a greater awareness to some of those risks that are out there and what we can do about it.”

The presentation will feature Dr. Scott Poland who is a nationally recognized expert on school crisis, youth violence, suicide intervention, school safety and more. A local expert, Dr. Jackie Kibler will also be a part of the presentation. Dr. Kibler has studied suicide prevention and crisis response for over 15 years. Kibler currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at Northwest Missouri State University. 

Hill said one of the main goals of the presentation is to help parents and the community understand how to build resiliency and coping skills in youth.

“I think that this is going to be a great presentation and probably could be one of the most important presentations a parent could attend right now in terms of concern for their child’s resiliency and safeguarding their child, but also for the other students that their child goes to school with and is friends with,” Hill said. 

Hill said the presentation is being put on because of grant money through a Project SERV grant.

The presentation is entitled, “Parenting in Challenging Times: How to Recognize Risk, Build Resiliency and Create Safeguards for Our Kids Against Suicide.” 

It will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21, at Wellspring Community Church at 2101 Jules Street in St. Joseph.

(News Release) Eagleville, Mo. – Missouri’s rich native grassland heritage will be celebrated at a free PrairieDays event Sept. 15 and 16 at Dunn Ranch Prairie and Pawnee Prairie Natural Area. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and other conservation partners are hosts for this special event in Harrison County. Visitors can enjoy the early autumn wildflowers, native grasses, bison tours, and experts discussing prairie ecology, from butterflies to birds such as prairie chickens.

Prairie Days will kick off on Friday, Sept. 15, with 7 p.m. social gathering at TNC’s Dunn Ranch headquarters, 16970 W. 150th St., Hatfield, Mo. The headquarters is west of Eagleville, Mo. Biologists will talk about prairie history, grassland management and projects such as prairiechicken restoration. A movie will be shown at dusk, “Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild.”

On Saturday, Sept. 16, the day will begin 7 to 8:30 a.m. with birding hikes at MDC’s PawneePrairie Natural Area. Participants should bring their own binoculars, cameras and field guides.

Activities will shift to The Nature Conservancy’s Dunn Ranch starting at 9 a.m. Tours of theprairie will be offered and will feature a ride on a tour wagon to see TNC’s bison herd. TNC staff will talk about the herd’s role in prairie ecology. Educational conservation sessions will be offered including plant identification, grazing nutrition, rare prairie species, pollinators, reptiles and amphibians, fire ecology, and mammals of the prairie.

Camping will be available at Dunn Ranch without hookups, or visitors can camp at Harrison County Lake with some hookups and primitive sites. Motel lodging is available in Eagleville and Bethany. A local non-profit group will operate a food concession. Booths or demonstrations will be offered by Missouri Prairie Foundation, Missouri Master Naturalists, and other prairieadvocates.

Prairie Days will also highlight the conservation efforts underway in the Grand River Grasslands, a partnership between MDC, TNC, Iowa conservation agencies, private landowners, and private, non-profit groups. MDC’s Pawnee Prairie and TNC’s Dunn Ranch offer high quality habitat in the heart of the Grand River Grasslands. MDC and partners are working to restore a functional grassland ecosystem over a broad geography that supports both production agriculture and nature. The goals include restoring Missouri’s endangered prairiechickens.

For more information about Dunn Ranch, visit http://bit.ly/2vp6agW.

(News release) JEFFERSON CITY –The majority of construction work on state routes in Missouri will stop starting Friday, September 1 at noon for the Labor Day holiday weekend.  However, late Friday night into Saturday morning, one active work zone will close the westbound/southbound direction of Interstate 44 and Interstate 55 in downtown St. Louis including the ramp from the Mississippi River Bridge to I-44/I-55 coming into Missouri. There are also many locations across the state where work zones have permanent lane closures and barriers will remain in place this weekend. Construction work across Missouri will resume Tuesday, September 5 at 9 a.m. For the locations of all state work zones, please check MoDOT’s Traveler Information Map.

Travelers should avoid downtown St. Louis between 10 p.m. Friday, September 1 through noon Saturday, September 2. All lanes of westbound I-44 will be closed from the Interstate 70 Stan Musial Mississippi River Bridge through downtown to the I-44/I-55 interchange.  The ramp from the westbound I-64/I-55 Poplar Street Bridge over the Mississippi River to southbound I-44/I-55 will also be closed during this same time. Crews are removing barrier wall and restriping the highway to reopen all lanes that have been closed due to ongoing construction work. Once the lanes reopen at noon September 2, there will not be any other work in this area until Tuesday, September 5.

The Route 65 full closure in Springfield has reopened. Motorists headed to Branson for the holiday weekend will be able to use both directions of Route 65 now that the pavement repairs are complete.

The St. Joseph Public Library is encouraging residents to get a library card during library card sign up month. 

Director of the St. Joseph Public Library Mary Beth Revels said the American Library Association promotes the nationwide campaign in September for all libraries in the country. 

“With a library card, it just opens up the world to people, not only can you check out books on a myriad of subjects for all ages, you can also access the internet with a library card, you can sign in from home and log into one of our databases,” Revels said. “Our databases that we provide, online resources is another way to say them, we’ve got all kinds of different things, we have legal forms, we have genealogy help, we have car repair, we have resume help… and more, just all kinds of different things that you can do with your library card.” 

According to Revels, during the month, anyone who uses their library card can be entered in drawings for different ages at each of the different branches.

Revels said anyone can stop by any of the branches to find out what events are going on during the month or to get a library card.

For more information, contact the St. Joseph Public Library at (816) 232-7729 or visit their website.

As drivers hit the road for the Labor Day weekend the Missouri State Highway Patrol is stepping up enforcement efforts.

Throughout the holiday weekend, troopers within Troop H and throughout the state will be participating in Operation C.A.R.E. (Crash Awareness & Reduction Effort). Captain James E. McDonald, commanding officer Troop H, said this means every available officer will be on the road enforcing traffic laws and assisting motorists.

In addition to Operation C.A.R.E., Troop H will be participating in the statewide special enforcement operation during peak travel periods on Friday, September 1, and Monday, September 4. During this operation, troopers will be assigned to 20-mile sections of Interstate 29.

Enforcement efforts on secondary roads will be conducted during the same timeframe within Troop H. This year’s Labor Day weekend counting period is from 6 p.m. on Friday, September 1, 2017, to 11:59 p.m. on Monday, September 4, 2017.

“Labor Day is a busy travel holiday every year. The Missouri State Highway Patrol urges motorists to wear their seat belts and never drink and drive,” Captain McDonald said. “The Highway Patrol wants everyone to have a safe Labor Day weekend.”

Kansas officials are warning the public about 10 lakes including two in Brown County due to harmful algal blooms.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), in conjunction with the Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks and Tourism (KDWPT), has issued a public health warning for 10 lakes and a watch for three lakes due to harmful algal blooms.

If a lake is under a public health warning for blue-green algae, activities such as boating and fishing may be safe. However, direct contact with water (i.e., wading, skiing and swimming) is strongly discouraged for people, pets and livestock. The lakes currently under a watch or warning status are:

Warning: Brown State Fishing Lake, Brown County
Warning: Central Park Lake, Shawnee County
Warning: Hiawatha City Lake, Brown County
Warning: Marion County Lake, Marion County
Warning: Melvern Outlet River Pond, Osage County
Warning: Melvern Outlet Swim Pond, Osage County
Warning: Overbrook City Lake, Osage County
Warning: Perry Lake (Zone A), Jefferson County
Warning: Sam’s Pond, Syracuse, Hamilton County
Warning: South Lake, Johnson County
Watch: Milford Reservoir (all zones), Geary, Dickinson and Clay counties
Watch: Perry Lake (Zones B, C and D), Jefferson County
Watch: Veteran’s Lake, Cowley County

Officials said lakes under a warning are not closed. Marinas, lakeside businesses and park camping facilities are open for business. Boating and fishing are safe on lakes under a warning, but contact with the water should be avoided.

When a warning is issued, KDHE recommends the following precautions be taken:

• Lake water is not safe to drink for pets or livestock.
• Lake water, regardless of blue-green algae status, should never be consumed by humans.
• Water contact should be avoided.
• Fish may be eaten as long as they are rinsed with clean water and only the fillet portion is consumed, while all other parts are discarded.
• Do not allow pets to eat dried algae.
• If lake water contacts skin, wash with clean water as soon as possible.
• Avoid areas of visible algae accumulation.