The St. Joseph Police Department is inviting the community to take part in a National Night Out event next week at Civic Center Park.

Sgt. Roy Hoskins with the Crime Prevention Unit, said the police department will hold National Night Out from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, August 1st at the park. The nationwide initiative is meant to promote police-community partnerships and neighborhood relationships to improve safety.

“It’s an opportunity for neighborhood watch members and other community members to come out and meet local law enforcement and meet other watch group members and community members,” Hoskins said. “Just to get a good dialogue going about some crime prevention things we can address here in the city.”

Hoskins said the annual event is sponsored by Target which will assist in providing games, food and drinks and coloring books for the kids.

“We really want anyone interested in being an active partner in their neighborhood or community to come out,” Hoskins said. “We would just like to get together and have a casual conversation about some things going on in the city.”

A task force focused on the future needs and finances of the St. Joseph School District presented its conclusions Thursday, recommending we restore an expired 62-cent operating levee, and increase revenue by restoring the full Prop. C tax waiver.

The 1Vision community task force proposal sets a lofty set of goals in everything from facilities planning to student performance.

They hope to balance the budget without spending down the district’s reserves, and are already considering several future bond issues for capital improvements. They also plan to continue their efforts at community engagement. (Watch the entire presentation above)

Co-chairs Tara Stoll and Curtis Zahnd told the school board a group of 40 community members volunteered to take part in the task force, attending six meetings of about two hours each. About 300 community members attended meetings at various school buildings throughout the district. From their input, the task force set out to determine what is important for quality education, what that means in terms of support, and what future steps need to be taken to achieve those goals.

If adopted by the Board of Education, the first phase of the tax plan calls for a vote in November on increasing the district levy by a total of $1.15, which includes the 63-cent operating levy and 52 cents via the Prop-C rollback. If approved by voters, Zahnd said the levy increase would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $218.50 per year in taxes.

Stoll told the board that 95% of the school districts in Missouri have restored the full Proposition-C tax waiver. The 63-cent operating levy was allowed to expire during the peak of the school district’s controversies over stipends and nepotism.

If approved by voters, the proposal would generate an additional $11.5 million dollars in revenue each year. Zahnd said they’re recommending $5.4 million of that be spent to maintain and improve the current staff and programs with a balanced budget, and to continue basic building maintenance and repair. He also listed some new needs for the coming school year that will cost about $6.1 million.

“And then there are new needs,” Zahnd said. “Student performance, achievement and safety; after-school student opportunities and programs; curriculum and instructions; what’s very important now, the HVAC, and the technology, for a total of $6.1 million. Again, that total: $11.5 million annually.”

As it stands now, the board could consider such a proposal at their next meeting August 14. Board Chairman Martin Rucker told board members they have plenty of time to go over the details of the very extensive task-force proposal.

You can go over the conclusions here, or go to the district’s Web site.

Habitat for Humanity bestowed a St. Joseph mother with the keys to her new home Thursday.

Ashley Carpenter said she started the process of applying for home ownership with Habitat last spring. After finding out she was approved, Carpenter said she dedicated the 200 hours required by helping to build her home and working in the ReStore.

“You have to do a lot of homeowner classes. You have to do your 200 hours, you have to have your family and friends do 200 hours,” Carpenter said. “I love having my family and friends see the transformation in what we’ve all accomplished.”

Carpenter said she has a 5-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl. She said without assistance from Habitat it would have been a lot more difficult to become a homeowner.

“I get my keys today at 1 o’clock and I get to go after that,” she said.

New Habitat for Humanity Executive Director, Cate Manley attended the 66th home blessing in the 3100 block of Locust. Manley said she officially started with the agency last week.

“I have not interacted a lot with this new homeowner because it’s only been a week and a half but we have seen her several times and she’s worked really hard for this house,” Manley said.

Manley said she’s looking forward to taking on her new role with Habitat.

“I’m really looking forward to integrating into the community myself,” Manley said. “I haven’t been in the community for about 25 years and really growing and expanding our collaboration with other partners and our volunteers.”

A St. Joseph woman is facing a felony after a multi-agency chase earlier this week crossing between Iowa and Missouri.

Kelsey Dawn Amos is charged in Taylor County, Iowa with a felony of eluding.

According to the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, around 2 a.m. Monday, the Clarinda Police Department tried to stop a 1998 Mitsubishi Montero driven by Amos. Clarinda Police pursued the vehicle South of Clarinda on Hwy 71 into Missouri. Nodaway County and Maryville PD joined in on the pursuit east bound on JJ to Hopkins. Authorities said a Nodaway County Deputy was able to successfully deploy spike strips deflating the front passengers side tire. From Hopkins, the vehicle went north bound on Hwy 148 into Bedford. From Bedford, the pursuit went west on Hwy 2 before stopping near Diamond Ave.

The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office said, after a search of the suspect and vehicle cocaine, methamphetamine and money was seized.

The sheriff’s office said, a man who was a passenger in the vehicle was taken to Clarinda Regional Medical Center for conditions related to illegal drug activities.

Authorities from Clarinda PD, Page County Sheriff, Nodaway County Sheriff, Maryville PD, Taylor County Sheriff and Adams County Sheriff assisted in the chase.

According to online court records, Amos is being held on $25,000 cash only bail in the Taylor County Sheriff’s Department. She’s due in court Aug. 4 for a preliminary hearing.

Service is restored for customers in the greater Kansas City area affected by a voice calling issue earlier this morning.

— ATTCares (@ATTCares) July 26, 2017

Update – ATT reported around noon that service has been restored for customers in the great Kansas City area affected by a voice calling issue earlier in the morning.

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Many AT&T customers in Kansas and Missouri could be experiencing problems making calls and sending text messages.

The St. Joseph Police Department issued an alert around 9:45 a.m. Wednesday advising the public to be aware that an outage with AT&T is affecting cellular devices.

According to the website downdetector.com, which tracks outage complaints across the country, the outage seems to be impacting several areas in northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri. A large portion of Kansas City appeared to be dealing with outages.