JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) recently awarded 38 grants totaling $302,346 to Missouri communities through its Tree Resource Improvement and Maintenance (TRIM) grant program.

According to the MDC, TRIM grants offer cost-share funding for government agencies, public schools and nonprofit groups to manage, improve or conserve trees on public lands.

St. Joseph Parks, Recreation, and Civic Facility received a $1,700 grant for Removal and Northwest Missouri State University received a $10,000 grant for Pruning and Removal.

“Trees make life better for our cities and towns every day,” said MDC Community Forestry Program Supervisor Russell Hinnah. “TRIM grants help communities with tree inventory, pruning, planting, and programs that help keep our neighborhood trees healthy and thriving.”

Trees work in Missouri communities by providing an amazing number of benefits — from cleaning the air and water to reducing stress and helping children concentrate. As with other natural resources, it takes active involvement to keep community trees thriving.

“Tree inventories are an important way for communities to manage and plan for the future,” said Hinnah. “You have to know not only where the trees are, but how to care for them. An inventory allows a community to thoughtfully plan work rather than responding to the latest disaster.”

A tree inventory is particularly important to prepare for invasive pests such as emerald ash borers (EAB). Several communities are conducting inventories this year that will help with management of EAB.

For more information on TRIM grants, visit MDC’s website at mdc.mo.gov/trim.

Middle schools and high schools in the St. Joseph School District will have a 2-hour early out on Thursday due to heat.

According to the District, Elementary schools will remain in session for the full day as scheduled.

Hillyard Technical Center and Webster Learning Center will follow the same schedule as Wednesday. All SJSD preschool schedules will remain unchanged and after school activities will follow MSHSAA guidelines

Visiting one or more of the many area museums will free of charge on Saturday.

Museum Day, created by Smithsonian Magazine, started over a decade ago and 40,000 institutions are expected to participate, including museums in St. Joseph.

St. Joseph Museums Public Relations Officer Kathy Reno said there are a variety of museums in the area with something for everyone.

“Each museum kind of does their own thing, they have their own hours, they may be having docents more on site that day.. I would check with each museum that you’re interested in visiting, and check out their hours on their website and plan your day,” Reno said. “I do think this day is a lot of fun… You might want to do the Remington Nature Center, which I know my three-year-old granddaughter just adores. So you can also think about the age of the people in your family and plan your day that way.”

Reno said one of the things being offered at the Glore Psychiatric Museum is guided tours of the history of mental health treatments.

“We thought we would provide our best guides and give you the experience of it. It can be intense and it helps if you have a guide and they make it interesting,” Reno said. “They’ll include one of the tunnels in the tour. Tunnels once connected the main buildings of the hospital. There is one that is accessible that was part of a patient art project.. Quite unusual.”

Guided tours of the history of mental health treatments will be given at 11 a.m. and at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. at the Glore Psychiatric Museum. At the St. Joseph Museum, the featured exhibit is World War I St. Joseph:  Community and Conflict.  At the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion, docents will be available to share the history of the Mansion and visitors can tour “Intersections of Time and Buildings,” “The Architecture of E. J. Eckel,” “Confluence:  The Great Flood of 1993,” and “Ruth Warrick:  Fame and Politics.”

Museum Day takes place Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. For more information and a list of museums participating in the area, click here.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Contractors from Herzog Contracting Corp, working with the Missouri Department of Transportation, will close Route 752 between Route 371 (22nd Street) and I-229 beginning Wednesday.

The closure allows crews to safely work on milling and paving the roadway, shoulders and ramps in this section, provide a better end product for drivers, and finish the project much sooner than originally anticipated.

The road will close at 5:30 a.m. and reopen at approximately 7 p.m. daily, Wednesday through Monday, Sept. 24. This includes both Saturday and Sunday. During the work motorists need to use an alternate route. The project is weather dependent and schedules could change.

For more information on this and other MoDOT projects, call 1-888-ASK-MODOT (888-275-6636) or visit modot.org/northwest.

Middle schools and high schools in the St. Joseph School District will have a two-hour early dismissal on Wednesday, due to heat.

According to the District, elementary schools will remain in session for the full day as scheduled.

After school activities will follow MSHSAA guidelines.

ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) — The second of two teenagers trapped inside a car that landed upside down in an Atchison creek on Sunday has died.

Sixteen-year-old Regan Moger, of Houston, Texas, died Tuesday at the University of Kansas Hospital, where she was flown after the wreck.

Moger was a passenger in the car driven by 16-year-old Zachary Armontrout, of Rushville, Missouri, who died Monday. Three other students in the car escaped serious injury when the vehicle went into Independence Creek.

All the teenagers were students at Maur Hill-Mount Academy Catholic High School in Atchison.

MSC Radio News reports the school confirmed Moger died Tuesday while surrounded by loved ones.

Atchison County Undersheriff Toby Smith said the vehicle crashed through a guardrail before landing in the creek.

———

ATCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Atchison County authorities say a Missouri teenager has died and another teenager from Texas is in critical condition after a car they were in went into a creek in northeast Kansas during the weekend. Three other teens were able to escape without serious injury.

Undersheriff Toby Smith said 16-year-old Zachary Armontrout, of Rushville, Missouri, died Monday at a Kansas City hospital. Sixteen-year-old Regan Moger, of Houston, Texas, remains in critical condition.

The vehicle they were in hit an object on a bridge and went into Independence Creek two miles north of Atchison Sunday afternoon. Investigators believe the car was submerged for about 30 minutes before first responders extracted it.

The five teenagers are all students at Maur Hill-Mount Academy, a Catholic boarding school in Atchison.

————-

ATCHISON COUNTY — Five people were injured in an accident just before 2:30p.m. Sunday in Atchison County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2009 Honda SUV driven by Zachary Armontrout, 16, Rushville, MO., was westbound on River Road just west of Levy Road in Atchison.

The SUV left the roadway to the right, struck the guardrail and landed in the creek.

Armontrout and passenger Regan Moger, 16, Houston, TX., were transported to KU Medical Center.

Passengers Hamilton Snyder, 14, Whittier, CA.; Philip Saragusa, 16, Atchison; Aurora L. Dericotte, 14, Stilwell, were transported to Atchison Hospital. All five were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.