Police are investigating an armed robbery Monday night in St. Joseph in addition to a robbery on Christmas Eve.

According to Sgt. Brett Kelley with the St. Joseph Police Department, around 4:30 a.m. Saturday, three individuals entered the Trex Mart gas station at 3625 King Hill Avenue. All displayed handguns and took cash from both registers. Sgt. Kelly said a customer saw the robbery as it was happening and called it in, but the suspects took off shortly before police arrived.

Monday night, Sgt. Kelley said it was close to midnight when three individuals entered the Kwik Stop gas station at 3215 South 22nd. At least two displayed handguns and took cash from the register. The suspects left in an unknown direction on foot and police have no good descriptions at this time.

The part of 9th Street closed early Tuesday morning was reopened that afternoon.

According to Senior Communications Specialist Marcia Johnson with the Missouri Department of Transportation, the road was reopened around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday after MoDOT inspected East 36. Johnson said crews found no structural issues and necessary repairs were made.

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Motorists are being urged to avoid the 1800 to 2000 block of South 9th street in St. Joseph until further notice.

The St. Joseph Police Department sent out a Nixle alert shortly after 3 a.m. warning motorists to avoid the area due to debris in the roadway.

According to the department, concrete and a piece of rebar fell from Eastbound 36 above from what appears to be the joint area between two bridges. East 36 is still open to traffic. The Missouri Department of Transportation had crews on scene Tuesday working to make repairs.  MoDOT anticipates reopening 9th street sometime later in the day.

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 Dec. 26– Jan.1 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. With the possibility of winter weather, scheduled maintenance and construction projects may be postponed.

MoDOT will halt temporary lane closures throughout the state to accommodate an increase in traffic due to the New Year holiday. Most temporary lane closures will stop at noon on Friday, Dec. 30, and resume again Tuesday morning, Jan. 3. Some long-term closures and head-to-head traffic will remain in place.

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.

Buchanan County

Interstate 29 and U.S. Route 36 – Crossover maintenance, Dec. 27 – 30

Route 116 – From Route M to Route E for sealing, Dec. 27 – 30

Clinton County

Route 33 – At Isley Road for drainage work, Dec. 27 – 30

Route 116 – From U.S. Route 169 to the Buchanan County line for sealing, Dec. 27 – 30

Route 33 – From Clinton Street to Short Street in Lathrop for drainage work, Dec. 27 – 30

Daviess County

Route 13 – From Route 6 to Route HH for sealing, Dec. 27 – 30

DeKalb County

Route J – From Route 6 to Patton Road for drainage work, Dec. 27 – 30

Route N – CLOSED from Route 6 to U.S. Route 36 for several culvert replacements, Dec. 27 – 30, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. The entire route will not be closed every day, but will be closed in short segments along the route as crews replace culverts. They will begin near Route 6 and progress south through the week towards U.S. Route 36.

Gentry County

Route Z – Sealing, Dec. 28 – 30

Grundy County

U.S. Route 65 and Route 6 – Pothole patching, Dec. 27 – 30

Harrison County

I-35 – At the Route N overpass for drainage work, Dec. 27

I-35 – At the U.S. Route 136 overpass for drainage work, Dec. 28

U.S. Route 69 – From Miller Street to Allen Street in Bethany for drainage work, Dec. 29

Holt County

Route 111 – From Route 118 to U.S. Route 59 for pothole patching, Dec. 27 – 30

U.S. Route 59 – From the city limits of Skidmore to I-29 (Oregon exit) for pothole patching, Dec. 27 – 30

Linn County

Route 139 – Brush cutting, Dec. 27 – 30

U.S. Route 36 – From Route 11 to Route TT for sealing, Dec. 27 – 29

Mercer County

Route P – CLOSED at the Brushy Creek Bridge for a bridge replacement. The road will be closed until February 2017.

Nodaway County

U.S. Route 136 – From the One Hundred and Two River Bridge to Route 46 for shoulder work, Dec. 27 – 30

U.S. Route 136 – From Route J to the Gentry County line for sealing, Dec. 27 – 30

Route AE – Pothole patching, Dec. 28 – 30

Putnam County

U.S. Route 136 and Route 5 – Shoulder work, Dec. 27 – 30

In less than a week Easterseals Midwest will officially take over disability services formally provided by Progressive Community Services and expanding job opportunities in St. Joseph.

As we previously report, January 1, Easterseals will transition Progressive’s Community Living services to Easterseals Midwest.

“We’re taking over the services that are currently provided by Progressive.  They’ve asked us to come in and provide the community living support that they’ve been doing for years,” said Jeanne Marshall, Chief Program Officer with Easterseals. “The federal government who funds these types of services has put out a rule that says you can no longer provide targeted case management which is where you help oversee the person’s services and help them access what they need and you help them access funding for their services, you can’t do that as well as be the service provider.”

Marshall said in addition to taking on the staff members who are currently working in positions with Progressive they are also looking to fill additional positions.

“We offered to hire everybody who was working for progressive in this capacity and we’ve been working with them over the past few months in this transition,” Marshall said.

Around 30 full and part-time positions are being added.  CLICK HERE to apply.

“We would like to hire people who have experience working with people with developmental disabilities,” Marshall said. “But we also provide the training that’s necessary for them to be able to complete their job.”

Easterseals will open a satellite office in St. Joseph.

“We’re not taking over Progressive’s building.  They are probably going to be expanding and doing some other services once January comes,” Marshall said.

 

 

Christmas lights will turn-off for the season at Holiday Park after New Year’s Day.

“Christmas is never over,” said Jeff Atkins, City of St. Joseph Assistant Parks Dir. “We’ll start tearing the displays down on January 3.  Our staff is off on January 2 because of the New Year’s holiday.”

Atkins said it takes a couple of weeks to get all of the lights put away.

“We’ve always got plans going for things we want to do in the future.  So we’re already discussing next year of course,” Atkins said. “I’ve got two or three of my guys that if they could work on Christmas lighting year round that’s all they’d want to do.”

Atkins said the number of people who came through the park this year has been based on the number of Cherry Mash that have been handed out.

“Our numbers were really doing well this year until we lost three days due to the ice storm. But based on the amount of candy we were giving away I actually had to call and order more,” Atkins said. “I’m thinking we would easily have reached the 85,000 visitor number.”

Atkins said next year, a demographic study will be held at Holiday Park.

“We will actually keep track of each vehicle as it comes through as far as the zip-code of the driver and how many people are in the car.  That way we are able to determine how many people are coming each night, how far they’re willing to travel to come,” he said.

New features at the park this year included the waterfall lit-up in the lagoon, some new features to the stage area, and new LED lighting.

“The new LED lighting is making such a difference. It’s just so much brighter and crisp and it just really makes the displays jump out at you,” Atkins said. “It’s really a whole new look at the park.”

Other than converting the park to LED lighting Atkins said funding for the displays is provided by free-will donations from patrons who visit every year.

The St. Joseph Animal Shelter has been implementing new ideas to place pets in homes and as a result, had a successful year of adoptions.

Kappy Hodges with the Friends of the Animal Shelter said the main goal of the Friends is to assist the shelter in any way possible. 

“They really make a big commitment to getting as many pets adopted as possible and so we do a lot of fundraisers to get money for vaccines and veterinarian care for dogs or cats that come in with problems that need fixing and we just do everything we can to help promote the adoptions of pets that are down there.” 

This year, 100-percent of the adoptable dogs were adopted. 

“Of all the ones that come in that were adoptable and put up for adoption they either went out to rescue or they got adopted to a home so that’s really encouraging information,” Hodges said. 

Cat adoptions are up at 82-percent, the highest in recent statistics. Hodges said she thinks the reasons for the increase include the animal shelter implementing some changes. 

“In the last several years the animal shelter’s been employing a lot of different innovative techniques to try to get fewer and fewer adoptable animals euthanized just because of space,” Hodges said. “One of the programs they’ve started is the Puppies for Parole program and that’s been going very well. This year, there were 61 adopted that were in the program.” 

The animal shelter staff also contacts rescues and other animal shelters that maybe are low on pets and they bring animals to those place. Also this year, because of a grant from Purina, the shelter was able to build a “catio” for the cats at the shelter. 

Hodges said they’re always looking for volunteers to help out with cleaning, Pet Previews and more. 

For more information on volunteering with the Friends of the Animal Shelter or donating, click here.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is urging people to drive safely over the Christmas holiday.

The patrol reminds motorists to check their vehicle before travel to ensure that it is in good working condition.

“Make sure you are well rested before driving to your destination, no matter how short the distance. Keep an eye on the weather, too. Above all, please, please obey all traffic laws, be a courteous driver, and drive sober,” the law enforcement agency said in a news release.

Last year, there were 1,070 traffic crashes during the Christmas counting period. In those crashes, five people were killed and another 363 were injured. During the 2015 Christmas holiday, one person was killed or injured every 12.7 minutes.

The 2016 Christmas holiday counting period began at 6 p.m. on Friday, December 23, 2016, and ends at 11:59 p.m. Monday, December 26, 2016.

If faced with a traffic emergency, motorists can contact the Missouri State Highway Patrol at 1-800-525-5555 or *55 on a cellular phone. This emergency number will ring into the nearest Highway Patrol headquarters. Motorists should use this number if they are in a traffic crash, witness a crash or crime, or observe a stranded motorist in need of assistance, or other traffic emergencies.

“On behalf of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, I want to wish everyone a very, merry Christmas, ” said Colonel J. Bret Johnson, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. “As you make your way from one gathering to the next, please drive safely. If you include alcohol in your celebrations, please don’t drive. A sober chauffer or other alternative transportation are always the best choices. Remember to buckle up, and let’s all make safety an integral part of our holiday plans.”

DEARBORN, Mo. (AP) —  Missouri authorities say an armed trucker is in custody after his hours-long standoff at a rest stop near Kansas City, Missouri, forced the closure of the freeway ahead of the holiday weekend.

The State Highway Patrol said in a Twitter post Friday afternoon that the man was arrested at the Interstate 29 rest stop, though it offered no additional details about his arrest. His name was not released.

The patrol said the standoff began shortly before 9 a.m. following reports of a man pointing a rifle at traffic. Authorities evacuated the rest area, leaving only the unidentified trucker and officers.

Patrol Sgt. Bill Lowe says no shots were fired.

Televised aerial footage shows traffic in both directions of I-29 backed up for miles. The highways have been reopened to travel.

— MSHP Troop A (@MSHPTrooperA) December 23, 2016

(UPDATE 12:50 p.m.) – The Missouri State Highway Patrol is now rerouting traffic off of Southbound I-29 in St. Joseph to US 36 East to I-35 South. The patrol said the traffic is so bad that they increased the distances to the start of the reroute beginning in St. Joseph.

NB I-29 rest area near Platte City regarding an armed individual pointing a rifle at traffic. NB & SB interstate traffic is being diverted.

— MSHP Troop A (@MSHPTrooperA) December 23, 2016

Another option if you are heading north toward st Joe today and need to avoid I29 is to take I35 NB to 36 WB.

— MoDOT Kansas City (@MoDOT_KC) December 23, 2016

(Update 10 a.m.): Both north and southbound traffic on I-29 are being diverted due to an incident in Platte County.

Traffic on southbound I-29 is being diverted near the Dearborn exit and traffic on northbound near the Tracy exit.

Preliminary information we’ve received from the Missouri State Highway Patrol is that the closure is not related to a crash.  Authorities are possibly working an incident involving a weapon at a rest area along that route.  Troop A is working the scene.  As we learn more information we will updated this post.

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Southbound traffic on I-29 is being diverted to the Dearborn exit.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the reroute is due to an incident in Platte County and they ask for motorists patience as traffic changes will be in place until further notice.

St. Joseph Police are investigating a hit and run crash early Friday morning.

Police responded to a call about a single vehicle crash at 1:20 a.m. in the 3400 block of South 22nd.

According to police, a driver traveling north in a Ford Expedition, lost control and ran off the east side of the road. The vehicle hit a utility pole, breaking it off and hit a single family residence. Witnesses say a male driver and at least one other person got out and fled on foot. No one in the house was injured. 

Police say there was no power loss in the area due the utility pole being hit, but KCP&L was on scene after the crash to replace the pole. Roads were blocked off but are expected to reopen by 6 a.m. 

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