The Joint Citizen’s Law Enforcement Academy will be expanded this year due to full sessions in the past.

The program, presented by the St. Joseph Police Department and the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office, has been offered for over 10 years and gives residents the opportunity to experience what it’s like to work in law enforcement.

Sgt. Roy Hoskins with the SJPD said the Citizen’s Academy will be expanded from 40 participant spots to 50 this year.

The sessions run for eight weeks every Tuesday from March 26th through May 14th. They run from 6 p.m. to approximately 9:30 p.m. each week.

Applications can be picked up at the Law Enforcement Center and must be returned by March 15th. For more information, contact Sgt. Roy Hoskins at royhoskins@stjoemo.org or (816) 236-1473.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Center for Entrepreneurship is accepting nominations for the 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year and Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

The awards will be given out during Entrepreneurship Week in March, which is hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship in the Craig School of Business and Technology at Missouri Western State University.

According to a press release from Missouri Western, the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award is given to someone who has been in business five years or less and is demonstrating innovation that has the potential to impact the community. The Entrepreneur of the Year Award is given to someone who has been in business for more than five years. It honors both their professional achievements and their civic contributions to the local community.

Nomination forms and instructions can be found on the Center for Entrepreneurship’s website, and should be completed and returned by March 9. Entrepreneurship Week is set for March 25-29, and winners will be announced at the capstone luncheon on March 29.

Entrepreneurship Week is a series of workshops and events for local business professionals, aspiring entrepreneurs, college and high school students and those curious about the skills needed to run a small business.

For more information or to register for an event, call the CFE office at (816) 271-4283 or email aweeks@missouriwestern.edu. You can also visit csb-cfe.missouriwestern.edu/entrepreneurship-week for a complete schedule of events and to register online.

The Missouri Department of Transportation is preparing for another winter weather event expected to begin Tuesday afternoon.

Tonya Lohman is the Maintenance and Traffic Engineer for MoDOT’s Northwest District. Lohman said, when preparing for a winter event, on the district and state levels, they are a part of conference calls with their National Weather Service partners to find out what kind of weather is on the way.

On Tuesday, the snow event is anticipated to begin around 4 p.m. with anywhere from three to six inches of snow expected. Lohman said the snow is expected to come in at a high intensity at the beginning.

The area will be under a Winter Weather Advisory from 6 p.m. Tuesday until 9 a.m. Wednesday.

For information on road conditions click here or call 888-ASK-MODOT.

Monday night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 20. East northeast wind around 6 mph.

Tuesday A chance of snow, mainly after 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. East northeast wind 7 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Tuesday Night Snow before 2am, then freezing rain, possibly mixed with snow. Low around 27. East wind 7 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New ice accumulation of less than a 0.1 of an inch possible. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

Wednesday A slight chance of snow and freezing rain before 11am, then a slight chance of rain between 11am and noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. Southeast wind 5 to 8 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

A Platte City woman died in a multiple vehicle crash on I-70 Friday morning.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, at 11:30 a.m. Friday, on westbound I-70 at mile marker 29.1, the driver of a tractor-trailer lost control of the vehicle on the snow covered road. The vehicle traveled off the left side of the road, before coming to rest, partially blocking the road. A Ford Escape, driven by 74-year-old James L. Henderson of Platte City, hit the back of the tractor trailer and a Dodge Ram hit the passenger side of the Ford Escape.

A passenger in the Ford Escape, 73-year-old Linda K. Henderson was pronounced deceased at the scene by a paramedic at 11:47 a.m. The driver of the Ford Escape was transported to Centerpoint Hospital in Independence for treatment of serious injuries. Several other people involved in the crash in other vehicles were transported to hospitals for treatment of minor injuries.

Northwest Missouri State University is mourning after learning of the passing of one of its students.

According to a press release from Northwest, Lonnae Young, a junior psychology major from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, died unexpectedly Saturday morning at SSM Health St. Francis Hospital in Maryville. An autopsy is planned.

Young was a resident assistant on the second floor of Dieterich Hall and was involved with Sigma Society. She was well-connected at Northwest.

Students needing counseling assistance are encouraged to contact Wellness Services at (660) 562-1348, or contact University Police at (660) 562-1254 outside of regular business hours. Faculty and staff should call the University employee assistance program at (800) 964-3577. A county counseling support line also is available to all members of the Northwest community at (888) 279-8188.

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The family of a Northwest Missouri State University staff member who found her passion assisting student teachers with their field experiences has established a scholarship in her honor to aid future student teachers at the University.

The family of Joyce Luke has established an endowed scholarship, the Joyce Luke Education Scholarship, with the assistance of cash gifts totaling more than $10,000. She had served as the assistant director of field experiences since 2009 when she passed away last November, at the age of 54.

“She worked in the area of placing student teachers, and when she was in the hospital, we had a tremendous amount of text messages and social media messages from previous students she helped place, thanking her for going above and beyond and taking the time to help them,” Mike Luke, Joyce’s brother, said. “We just knew we needed to keep helping kids in her name.”

A Maryville native, Joyce earned her bachelor’s degree in public relations at Northwest in 1990. She was diagnosed with cancer at age 29 and could not have children of her own. That fueled her passion of supporting and helping students succeed at Northwest and in life, Mike said.

“No matter what life throws at you, you have to have a positive attitude,” Mike said. “If a person didn’t know her personally, they would never have known the struggles and hardships she was facing. She seemed to always think of others before herself.”

Joyce’s impact on the School of Education lives on as her colleagues remember her hard-working, outgoing personality and her dedication to students and the School’s mission. Dr. Shantel Farnan, an assistant professor of professional education and friend of Joyce’s for more than 20 years, recalls the way she made others feel as if they were her top priority.

“She was very passionate about her job, her student teachers, her faculty, her colleagues, her student workers and graduate assistants and brought a personal touch to each aspect of her career,” Farnan said. “The emphasis on ‘her’ is intentional – as, for Joyce, she felt personally and professionally responsible for the success and happiness of all who entered the office. Her joy, professionalism, problem-solving skills and compassion will live on in each of us who had the pleasure of working with her and those thousands of students she has sent on their way to success over the years.”

Recipients of the Joyce Luke Education Scholarship must be senior education majors with a minimum grade-point average of 3.0. The scholarship will be awarded to students during their student teaching semester with first preference given to student teachers in rural areas. Recipients will be determined by a committee of faculty in the School of Education.

The scholarship will help ease anxiety for students transitioning to student teaching and provide financial support for those students who may need to eliminate or decrease the hours they work other jobs because of their student teaching responsibilities.

“This scholarship is vital,” Dr. Timothy Wall, the dean of the School of Education, said. “A university education is a valuable investment in ourselves. In education, salaries are consistently less than in business, engineering or high-tech fields. So, every dollar of scholarship support lightens the load on a group of people who do such meaningful work without the expected future earnings in other fields. Joyce would have been thrilled to celebrate our students and support them, as she always did.”

To support the Joyce Luke Education Scholarship, submit a tax-deductible gift to the Northwest Foundation at 800 University Dr., Maryville, MO 64468 or visit www.nwmissouri.edu/GiveOnline. For more information, contact Northwest’s Office of University Advancement at (660) 562-1248.

– Northwest Missouri State University news release –