The City of St. Joseph Health Department’s March Parent with Purpose series will focus on preventing childhood choking.

The department said “Parent with Purpose” offers interactive learning opportunities to expectant or new families.

The March class, “Preventing Childhood Choking”, will be Tuesday, March 8th at 10:00 a.m. at the City of St. Joseph Health Department, 901 South 10th Street.

The session will last 30-60 minutes, depending on participant interaction and the length of a follow-up question/answer session.

“Preventing Childhood Choking” will focus on how to take action if a child chokes and steps to protect children from choking. Starting with a review of common ways to baby-proof a home for safety, this class will reveal specific hazards related to choking, signs of choking, and basic steps to dislodge an obstacle a child may be choking on.

Contact the City of St. Joseph Health Department to sign up for “Preventing Childhood Choking”, scheduled Tuesday, March 8th at 10:00 a.m. at the City of St. Joseph Health Department. Call 816-271-4725 to reserve your seat.

Authorities are investigating what at first appeared to be a possible attempted robbery, but was later determined to be an error in judgment involving a handgun. Shortly after 5:30 a.m. Friday, a clerk reported the incident at the Stop and Go convenience store in Buchanan County on US Highway 59 near the bridge into Atchison.

Based on the first report, deputies with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office responded to the area. The clerk says a man placed a handgun on the counter, and when another customer came in, she told him she was “very glad to see him.”

Upon further investigation, deputies learned that the man didn’t steal anything, and didn’t make any demands. He simply pulled a handgun out of his pocket as he searched for money to pay for his purchase.

He was described as an older white male, perhaps in his 60s, driving a dark blue pickup truck with a baby blue stripe. He was last seen driving across the bridge into Kansas. Authorities are comparing notes with law enforcement agencies in Atchison.

Colonel Bill Puett says they are still trying to determine if there was any violation of the law.

“It didn’t appear the gun was involved, except that it was placed on the counter as he fished for money in his pocket,” Col. Puett said. “It was probably inappropriate to pull the gun out while looking for money.”

There were no injuries and, so far there have been no arrests.

Windy conditions continue in our area. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning from noon to 6 p.m. Friday.

Here’s the latest seven-day forecast from the National Weather Service.

Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 64. Breezy, with a light and variable wind becoming south 18 to 23 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 34. South southwest wind 6 to 9 mph becoming north northwest in the evening.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 59. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming east in the afternoon.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. Southeast wind 5 to 8 mph.

Sunday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66. South wind 9 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54.

Monday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 70. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Monday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 66.

Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 42.

Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 57.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 38.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 60.

The St. Joseph School District is giving students another day of spring break due to some unused snow days.

The District said it will not be in session on Friday, March 18, 2016 and all offices will be closed that day as well.

Since the district did not use any snow days this school year, an additional day was added to the spring break vacation time.

The City of St. Joseph installed two bicycle repair stations Thursday along the Parkway.

“They are a single post but inside of the post there are several cables that have a variety of tools with them that bicyclists can use to preform a variety of different kinds of repairs,” said Chuck Kempf, St. Joseph Parks Director. “Tools that can really deal with any variety of bicycle issue while folks are out on the trail system.”

One station was installed near the St. Joseph REC Center, the other station was installed near Corby Pond.

“A lot of cyclists knew that we had received them…and that the stations were going to be installed and there was a lot of good feedback on that,” Kempf said. “This morning when they were putting in the unit to the north of Corby Pond quite a few people slowed down just to see what we were doing there.”

Kempf said the St. Joseph Health Dept. received a grant to pay for the stations and around 10 new bike racks that will be installed at a later date. He said it’s all part of an effort to make St. Joseph a bicycle friendly community.

“Also another effort to encourage people to get out to make things easier for them to exercise, to get fit, to enjoy the beautiful parks and trails that we have to offer,” Kempf said. “We’re just really encouraging our own citizens to get out and take advantage of the great opportunities that they have in their own backyard.”

A St. Joseph teenager was killed in a one vehicle crash in Andrew County Wednesday.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Darren Richardson, 16 was killed in a crash about 1/2 mile southwest of Savannah Wednesday and McKenzie Ishmael, 16 of Savannah was seriously injured.  The reports said the crash happened as the 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix was westbound on County Road 366 about 1 mile west of route DD around 11:27 p.m. when Richardson lost control of the vehicle and tried to over-correct causing the vehicle to travel off the north side of the road.  The vehicle driver’s side hit a tree and came to rest facing west on its wheels off the north side of the road.  Richardson was pronounced dead at the scene.  Ishmael was transported by Andrew County EMS to Mosaic Life Care.

Neither Ishmael nor Richardson were reported to be wearing their seat belts.

Warm and windy conditions continue. Here’s the latest 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service.

Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 49. North wind 10 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 27. North wind 5 to 9 mph becoming southeast after midnight.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 59. South wind 5 to 10 mph increasing to 11 to 16 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 37. South wind 6 to 9 mph becoming north northwest after midnight.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 58. North northwest wind 6 to 9 mph becoming northeast in the afternoon.

Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 36.

Sunday: A chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 63. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Sunday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Monday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 70. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Monday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Tuesday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 66. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Tuesday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 44. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 56.

The St. Joseph Police Department is searching for several individuals after shots were fired at a trailer Wednesday morning.

Capt. Jeff Wilson said Officers responded to the 5000 block of Faraon around 7:20 a.m. in reference to a call of shots fired.

“Upon arrival we did locate evidence of a shooting,” Wilson said. “Shell casings were located as well as the trailer appeared to have been struck at least once.”

No one was reported to be injured and no one was at home when officers arrived.

Capt. Wilson said a witness reported seeing a green Toyota late model car leaving the scene at the time.

“It is a four door with three subjects occupying.  Possible suspect vehicle,” Wilson said. “Witness also stated that shortly thereafter they saw two subjects leave the trailer.  We have not been able to locate any of those subjects at this time.”

Detectives are continuing to investigate.

A Red Flag warning has been issued for high winds today, from noon until 6 p.m. Here’s the latest 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service.

Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 63. Breezy, with a south wind 6 to 11 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.

Tonight: A chance of rain, mainly before 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38. South wind 8 to 13 mph becoming north northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Thursday: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 50. North northwest wind 11 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 30. Southwest wind 6 to 10 mph becoming northeast in the evening.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 59. South southeast wind 7 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 37.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 59.

Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 36.

Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 65.

Sunday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Monday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 70. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Monday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Tuesday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Two out-0f-state residents are facing felony drug charges in Andrew County after the Missouri State Highway Patrol said it pulled a vehicle over for speeding on I-29.

It’s the third drug bust on I-29 in Andrew County the St. Joseph Post has reported on since Feb. 1.

Thomas Aaron Harper, 30 and Dennis Carl Moss Jr., 27 both of Portland, Oreg. are each charged with a felony for distribution, three felonies for possession , a misdemeanor for possession and a misdemeanor for unlawful use of drug paraphernalia.  Harper is also charged with a misdemeanor for exceeded posted speed limited.

According to court documents on Monday just before noon Cpl. A. Webb with the MSHP said he was notified of a careless and imprudent driver with California plates traveling northbound on I-29 near the 52 mile marker.

“I observed the suspect vehicle traveling north and I checked the vehicle speeding at approximately the 58 mile marker,” Cpl. Webb said. “I immediately detected a strong odor of green marijuana from inside the vehicle.”

Webb said a search of the vehicle lead to the discovery of four bottles containing marijuana, three sets or rolling papers, one wrapper of a brown substance with an indication it contained THC, one partial bottle of a liquid labeled it contained THC, one tin of cream labeled that it contained THC, a cup of numerous partially smoked marijuana cigarettes and $2,900 cash.

Harper who was identified as the driver and Moss who was a passenger in the vehicle were both arrested at the scene and booked into the Andrew County Jail.

Both are being held on $100,000 bond. An arraignment for Harper has been set for April 5th.  Online court documents do not yet list a court date for Moss.

The most recent drug bust on I-29 in Andrew County resulted in three charged with felonies just last week.