The St. Joseph Police Department works to invest in youth with programs throughout the year and is hoping to implement a mentorship program soon.

“We’re really trying to invest in our youth and that’s something that we see as the future of our community,” said St. Joseph Police Chief Chris Connally. “We’re in our strategic planning process, we had a lot of feedback with interest in seeing that involvement as well. We feel like the more we can have an impact, the more we can development a relationship, the stronger that makes the community and, particularly at-risk kids, hopefully we can have a positive influence and help them go a positive direction.”

A recent event the department put on was a picnic at the Bartlett Center and upcoming events include the yearly Cops Care Camp and a new Junior Police Academy.

Connally said they are in the planning stages of implementing a mentoring program for older at risk youth.

“We’re already planning on seeing how we can interact with the 15 to 18 year-olds, hope to get them exposed to career opportunities that are available in the community, work with them on everything from interview skills to… how to tie a tie, things to that nature,” Connally said. “Some of our kids in the community don’t always get that mentoring… so if we can do that, and we can help some of them be more successful or create a relationship when they have a challenge in their life, that they can come to us and we can refer them somewhere or help them directly, I think that’s something we really need in the community.”

For more information about the St. Joseph Police Department’s youth programs or school resource officers, click here, or visit the department’s Facebook page.

An opportunity to meet and talk with the mayor of St. Joseph and councilmembers takes place next week.

The City Talk is an open forum for comments and questions to St. Joseph Mayor Bill McMurray, councilmember Kent O’Dell and other councilmembers.

The June City Talk meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 25, at The Downtown Abbey, located at 1202 Felix Street.

For more information, contact the public information and communications division at (816) 271-4610.

PLATTE CITY, Mo. (AP) — A member of the Ferrelview Board of Trustees has been charged with stealing and acceding to corruption.

Prosecutors allege 52-year-old Russell Wilson purchased a decommissioned Ferrelview police vehicle under false pretenses after an open bidding process. A probable cause statement contends Wilson purchased the 2005 Ford Crown Victoria for $550 after falsely telling the board that the high bidder of $2,500 had declined to purchase it.

Wilson is also accused of ordering a Ferrelview employee not to shut off his water after he failed to pay his water bill.

Court records do not indicate whether Wilson has a defense attorney.

Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd says in a news release that he takes allegations of public officials misusing their office to benefit themselves personally very seriously.

OSBORN, Mo. – Crews are putting the finishing touches on the new alignment of the westbound lanes of U.S. Route 36 near Osborn.

Since March, crews from Herzog Contracting Corporation and their subcontractors, working with the Missouri Department of Transportation, have been rebuilding the westbound lanes on a new alignment and added turn lanes at the junction of U.S. Route 36 with Route 33 North and Route M. Traffic has been narrowed to one lane in each direction, head to head in the eastbound lanes while the westbound lanes were reconstructed.

The contractor planned to reopen the newly aligned lanes in early July, but was able to complete the work earlier than anticipated and hopes to open the new westbound lanes to traffic on Tuesday, June 26.

Although the westbound lanes will reopen, crews will close one lane in each direction as the temporary crossovers are removed. Workers and equipment will be working close to the roadway and drivers are urged to continue to exercise caution, slow down, and eliminate all distractions. These actions will help to keep themselves and workers safe.

Motorists will continue to see improvements along this corridor as resurfacing and signal improvements are planned for the section of U.S. Route 36 just east of this area and into Cameron. Some improvements at Bob Griffin Road in Cameron have already begun. You can read more about the planned resurfacing through Cameron and the Bob Griffin Road intersection improvements at the links below:

• Resurfacing
• Bob Griffin Road Intersection

For more information about this and other MoDOT projects, call 1-888-ASK-MODOT (888-275-6636) or visit modot.org/northwest and view the online Traveler Information Map. In addition, MoDOT provides updated information on Twitter @MoDOTNorthwest and Facebook.

– MoDOT Press Release –

A day encouraging people to ride their local public transit system is going on around the country Thursday.

According to the City of St. Joseph, City Transit is participating in Dump the Pump Day on June 21st.

Deviations still cost 50 cents, but regular bus fairs are waived for the day.

For more information, call the Transit Office at (816) 233-6700.

Kids can get a bike checkup, learn about bike safety and ride around Krug Park this weekend at the Kids Tour Missouri Bike Rides event.

Julie Noel with the St. Joseph Parks Recreation, and Civic Facilities said registration starts at 9 a.m. and the rides start at 10 a.m. Saturday at the upper parking lot of Krug Park.

“Each child who participates in a ride gets a medal… we will have some food available for the kids who participate and there will be music and it’s just a fun time,” Noel said. “We try to have one or two… cyclists that have gone through special training about bicycle safety… on hand every time we do an event to help kids learn about how to properly put on their helmet and how to check out their bicycles.”

There are three different lengths of rides to choose from including a short ride for beginners, a medium ride for more experienced riders and a long ride for those who are practiced riders.

The event for kids ages 3 to 14 is free and participants just need to bring their own bike and helmet. If a child has grown out of their helmet or lost one, there will be a few helmets given away at this event by the St. Joseph Safety Council.