Missouri Western State University is seeking comments from the public about the University in preparation for its periodic evaluation by its regional accrediting agency.

Missouri Western will host a visit Oct. 3-5 with a team representing the Higher Learning Commission. Missouri Western has been accredited by HLC since 1919, when it was St. Joseph Junior College. The team will review Missouri Western’s ongoing ability to meet HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation.

The public is invited to submit comments regarding the University to the following address:

Public Comment on Missouri Western State University

Higher Learning Commission

230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500

Chicago, IL 60604-1411

The public may also submit comments on HLC’s website at www.hlcommission.org/comment.

Comments must address substantive matters related to the quality of the institution or its academic programs. Comments must be in writing. All comments must be received by Sept. 2.

The Buchanan County Clerk’s Office is making sure it’s ready for primary elections coming up in less than two weeks. 

Election workers gathered for a public test of election equipment on Friday. 

Chief Deputy Clerk Sandy Wood said the testing takes place ahead of every election. 

“We have to test these machines,” Wood said. “We have to bring in a Democrat and a Republican to do the testing to make sure that they’re counting accurately. So we do it before the election and then after the election we do the same thing to make sure that they’re still counting correctly.” 

Wood said she’s been working elections for 15 years and the machines mean nowadays there are not as many late nights.

“It used to be we didn’t even have these machines,” Wood said. “Everything was just counted and since we’ve been doing this since 2006 (with) these type of machines, I don’t even really remember what it was like. When they would bring the ballots in at night, we’d have stacks and stacks of ballots and we’d have this huge machine and it would just count – click-click-click-click -and then it would jam and you’d have a problem.” 

According to Wood, the Friday testing was also a training session for workers so they will be ready for the November elections. Wood said they’re estimating a 25 percent voter turnout for the upcoming August election but hope to see more. 

Primary elections take place on Tuesday, August 2nd. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

Area youth can play a pick-up game of basketball and pick up safety knowledge from local police officers at an upcoming camp. 

Commander Mike Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department is one of the officers helping organize the Cops Care Basketball Camp in August. 

Wilson said it’s been a few years since they’ve hosted a basketball camp and they wanted to bring it back this year. 

“This year we’re doing something a little bit different,” Wilson said. “Besides basketball we’re going to have some things on conflict resolution, internet safety and we’re going to have the fire department there on fire safety and we’ll have some bike safety. Just a few different classes during the morning and then the afternoon will be all basketball.” 

Wilson said one of the days of camp will be a public safety day and firefighters, juvenile officers, ambulance personnel and state troopers will all be participating during the camp at some point. 

He said the camp is a way to let kids ask questions, meet law enforcement officers and it’s another way to reach out to community. 

“Today we see a lot of negative things about police,” Wilson said. “It’s good that the kids get to know us and see us. We’re there for them and to help people and things like that, so just building those relationships within the community.” 

The free basketball camp for youth ages 9 to 12 takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., August 2-4 at the REC Center. Lunch is provided each day. For more information or to preregister, stop by the Police Department lobby between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or call Commander Mike Wilson at (816) 271-4881 or Sgt. Greg Gilpin at (816) 236-1473.

 

Rosecrans Memorial Airport celebrated the completion of its new runway Friday morning with a ribbon cutting.

The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the reconstruction of the 4,797 foot by 75 foot assault strip runway.

“Construction took approximately four months.  We went a little bit longer due to weather and due to unforeseen circumstances we had an emergency on our main runway where concrete blew out,” said Abe Forney, Rosecrans Memorial Airport manager.

He said the runway had to be redone because it had started to deteriorate.

“When that happens in concrete it starts to become brittle and when concrete on the runway becomes brittle it causes little pieces of concrete to damage engines and propeller which we call sod.  As that concrete starts to deteriorate it becomes more dangerous for aircraft to take off and land,” Forney said. “We had to completely tear it out and replace it.”

The cost of the structure was around $5.8 million.

“That was funded through 65-percent guard and the remaining 35-percent was funded through a grant from the FAA and local capital improvement funds paid for 10-percent of that 35-percent,” Forney said.

The runway serves general aviation and the Missouri Air National Guard’s 139th Airlift Wing.

“This is big enough to land large aircraft and the C-130s use it for their assault training,” Forney said. “It’s very important for the 139th’s mission to get these assault landings in and train on that runway and for civilian use it’s very important because aircraft take off and land in the direction of the wind so if the wind is out of the east or out of the west the main runway which is north and south is a lot hard for them to utilize.”

The five people charged in connection with Sunday’s double-homicide investigation on Safari Dr. made their first court appearance Friday.

Omar Martinez-Velez, 34, Luis Omar Robles-Vargas, 31, Alexi Martinez-Andino, 19, Luz A. Figueroa-Castillo, 29, and Raymond Jimenez Bencebi, Jr., 26 all from St. Joseph were each charged with a felony for second-degree murder in connection with the shooting deaths of Kevilee (Kevin) Villegas-Melendez, 22 and Raymond Gonzalez-Ortiz, 25 .  Each defendant appeared Friday morning by video conference from the Buchanan County Jail.

Several of the defendants appeared for their arraignment with an interpreter.  Police have previously confirmed their background from Puerto Rico but that they are St. Joseph residents.

According to court documents all five of the defendants were in the area of Lion Rd. and Safari Dr. Sunday and had a loaded firearm at the time multiple rounds were fired from several weapons striking and causing the death of Villegas-Melendez and Ortiz.  Each defendant is accused of firing numerous rounds at the victims striking both of them.

Police Chief Chris Connally has said previously in reference to this case that police believe this was a situation that involved career criminals.

As we previously reported, extra security measures were taken Friday morning at the Buchanan County Courthouse for the arraignments.

Cpl. Sarah Hardin with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said extra personnel was on hand because of the high-profile case. She said offices inside the courthouse are closed today due to decisions individual offices made.  The municipal court also closed until 1 p.m.

The St. Joseph Police Department began investigating shots fired Monday on Delaware in connection with Sunday’s double-homicide investigation.  Court documents show that area is near the home of two of the defendants in this case.

Preliminary hearings were set Friday at separate times for each of the defendants.   Martinez-Velez for Aug. 22 at 1 p.m., Robles-Vargas Aug. 18 at 3 p.m., Martinez-Andino Aug. 11 at 3 p.m., Figueroa-Castillo Aug. 19 at 1 p.m., and Bencebi Aug. 19 at 9 a.m.

Extra security measures are being taken at the Buchanan County Courthouse Friday morning with five defendants scheduled for an arraignment in a double-homicide investigation.

Cpl. Sarah Hardin with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said extra personnel is on hand this morning.

“Anytime there’s a high profile murder case, specifically with several defendants then we weigh out any security risks and we go from there as to how we proceed with security for the day,” Hardin said.

She said offices inside the courthouse are closed today due to decisions individual offices made.  The municipal court is also closed until 1 p.m.

Omar Martinez-Velez, 34, Luis Omar Robles-Vargas, 31, Alexi Martinez-Andino, 19, Luz A. Figueroa-Castillo, 29, and Raymond Jimenez Bencebi, Jr., 26 have each been charged with a felony for second-degree murder.  The charges are in connection with the shooting deaths of Kevilee (Kevin) Villegas-Melendez, 22 and Raymond Gonzalez Ortiz, 25 who were found dead Sunday morning in the 1900 block of Safari Dr.

Each of the defendants are scheduled for an arraignment Friday morning.  They are all being held without Bond.

A man brandishing a knife robbed a shoe store on the Belt Highway Thursday night.

According to the St. Joseph Police Department, a man described as a white male entered the Red Wing shoe store at 411 South Belt at 7 p.m., displayed a knife and demanded money.

Police said the suspect is described as being a white male approximately 20 to 30 years old, 5’4″ and 190 lbs with a long scruffy brown beard.

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

(News release) – A former owner of a solar energy installation company in St. Joseph, Mo., was sentenced in federal court Thursday for his role in a fraud scheme that totaled nearly $1.4 million in rebates through state and federal programs.

Trevor Dryden, 36, of Texas but formerly of St. Joseph, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to two years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Dryden to pay $1,396,956 in restitution to the victims of his fraud scheme, consisting of $464,080 payable to KCP&L for the state rebate fraud and $932,876 payable to the government for the federal rebate fraud (with the amount owed to the government jointly and severally with Richard Shonemann).

On Feb. 2, 2016, Dryden pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain state and federal solar rebates and to four counts of making false statements related to state and federal solar rebate programs.

Dryden was an owner of US Solar in St. Joseph, which sold and installed solar-powered panel systems to businesses and home owners in northwest Missouri. In a separate but related case, US Solar co-owner Richard Schonemann, 39, of St. Joseph, pleaded guilty on Sept. 2, 2015, to his role in the conspiracy and to one count of making false statements. Schonemann’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 8, 2016.

Dryden admitted that he was involved in three separate fraud schemes: first, a fraud related to KCP&L state rebates; second, a fraud related to the federal rebate program; and third, a fraud related to annual updates for the federal program. The total loss from the fraudulent schemes is $1,396,956.

 

All Hastings Entertainment stores are expected to close.

Hastings said the timeline of store closures is still to be determined.

As we previously reported, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection five weeks ago.

All Hastings Stores, e-Commerce business and corporate office plan to discontinue operations. According to the store’s website there are more than 150 retail locations including a location in St. Joseph.

The company said the Bankruptcy Court is expected to approve an agreement on Friday with the companies who will oversee store closing sales, Hilco Merchant Resources LLC and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC.

Gift cards to the store expired on July 13 and it previously discontinued game rentals and its buyback program.

In a statement Hastings said filing for Chapter 11 was with the goal of expediting its search for a buyer that would help complete its remerchandising strategy and position the business for long-term success.

“At the completion of the sale process yesterday, the winning buyer was a joint venture that will instead oversee a liquidation of our stores to ensure we are maximizing the value of all of our remaining merchandise and assets as we prepare to close,” the statement said. “We thank our customers and employees for their loyalty over the years, and we hope to see our customers at store closing sales.”