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. 10 – 16 from the Missouri Department of Transportation.

In addition to the work listed below, there may be other road work conducted throughout the region. Many of these will be moving operations and could include lane closures with delays. All scheduled maintenance and construction projects are subject to change, and may be postponed during inclement weather.

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.

For more information about a project, please contact MoDOT at 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (888-275-6636) or visit modot.org/northwest. You can also follow MoDOT’s Northwest Missouri District on Twitter @ModotNorthwest and on Facebook.

Atchison County

U.S. Route 59 – Pothole patching from U.S. Route 136 to the Holt County line, Dec. 10 – 14

Buchanan County

U.S. Route 169 (Belt Highway) – Signal work at U.S. Route 36, Dec. 10

U.S. Route 169 (Belt Highway) – Signal work at South Belt Wal-Mart, Dec. 10 – 15

Interstate 229 – CLOSED for ramp work at the southbound off ramp to Felix Street (Exit 6.2), Dec. 11, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Caldwell County

U.S. Route 36 – Milling westbound from the Livingston County line to Route 13, Dec. 12 – 13

Carroll County

Route NN – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from County Road 341 to County Road 351, Dec. 12, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Route WW – CLOSED for a culvert replacement from County Road 281 to County Road 291, Dec. 13, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Chariton County

U.S. Route 24 – Milling from King Hill Road to Route 11, Dec. 10 – 11

Linn County

U.S. Route 36 – Pothole patching from Route 139 (Meadville Junction) to the Macon County line, Dec. 10 – 14

Nodaway County

U.S. Route 136 – Pothole patching from U.S. Route 71 to U.S. Route 46 (Ravenwood), Dec. 11 – 12

U.S. Route 71 – Pothole patching from U.S. Route 136 to Route A, Dec. 13

Sullivan County

Route PP – CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE at the East Medicine Creek Bridge after a regularly scheduled inspection revealed critical deterioration to the structure. For more information, click here.

Worth County

Route YY – CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE at the Middle Fork of the Grand River after a regularly scheduled inspection revealed critical deterioration to the structure. For more information, visit the project’s web page.

Second Harvest Community Food Bank wants to hear feedback and get ideas as they begin developing their next five-year strategic plan.

Michelle Fagerstone is the Chief Development Officer with Second Harvest. Fagerstone said they are coming up on the end of their three-year strategic plan and are in the process of developing their next five-year plan.

“Part of the work in doing that plan is listening to what our communities that we support have to say to us. We have about 15 set questions that we ask during the session and it ranges from, ‘Do you know any of the programs that Second Harvest does,’ ‘Do you believe there is food insecurity in your community,’ questions like that,” Fagerstone said. “We will look at all those answers, along with all the concerns or the praises that we get at those listening sessions and we will incorporate that then into the develop of our five year plan.”

Fagerstone said during their listening sessions three years ago, they received a lot of feedback about there not being enough fresh produce distributed.

“It just so happened that, at the same time, Mosaic was looking at the Community Connect Foundation and what their goals were going to be and our two goals kind of intersected,” Fagerstone said. “They wanted to get more nutrition out to people and we wanted to get produce out to people. From that combined effort came the Fresh Mobile Pantry. The Fresh Mobile Pantry now goes to 19 communities every single month to distribute fresh produce and lean protein.”  

Upcoming listening sessions:

Leavenworth, Kansas – 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, December 11th, at Catholic Charities of NE KS located at 716 N 5th St.

Atchison, Kansas – 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. on December 13th, at the Salvation Army located at 926 Commercial.

St. Joseph – 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on December 19th, at Riverside Baptist Church at 5401 Mitchell Ave.

For more information, go to the Second Harvest Community Food Bank Facebook page.

The St. Joseph School District Board of Education elections take place April 2, 2019, and candidate filing begins Dec. 11, 2018.

Anyone interested may file at the superintendent’s offices located at 925 Felix Street, St. Joseph, Missouri. Filing will begin on December 11, 2018, at 8:00 a.m. and will continue during the district’s regular business hours, which are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Filing will not occur on days that the school district’s offices are closed due to inclement weather. Filing will also not occur on the following holidays when the school district’s offices are closed: December 21 at 12:00 p.m. through January 1, 2019. The last day for Candidate Filing is January 15, 2019, at 5:00 p.m.

There are 2 (two) positions available with three-year terms.

Qualifications are as follows:

1. Be citizens of the United States of America. Mo. Const. art.VII, § 8.

2. Be voters of the St. Joseph School District. §162.471, RSMo.

3. Have resided in Missouri for a minimum of one year immediately preceding their election or appointment. Mo. Const. art.VII, § 8; § 162.471, RSMo

4. Be at least 24 years of age. § 162.471, RSMo

5. Not be delinquent in the payment of any state income taxes, personal property taxes, municipal taxes or real property taxes on their place of residence. If an applicant is a past or present corporate officer of any fee office, that office cannot be delinquent in the payment of any taxes owed the state. § 115.306, RSMo.

6. Have not been found guilty of nor pled guilty to a felony or misdemeanor under the federal laws of the United States of America or to a felony under Missouri law or an offense committed in another state that would be considered a felony in Missouri. § 115.306, RSMo.

7. Not be a registered or required to be registered as a sex offender pursuant to § 162.014, RSMo.

8. Have filed, or the treasurer of an existing candidate committee has filed, all required campaign disclosure reports with the Missouri
Ethics Commission, when applicable, for all previous elections in which they were candidates. § 130.071, RSMo.

(Missourinet) – About 6,000 people applied as volunteers to decorate the White House and Cindy Roy of Trenton was one of about 200 volunteers chosen.

She first heard about the opportunity when a former White House intern visited her during his winter break from college last year.

She applied in September with her sister and friend. Roy was chosen in October, but her sister and friend were not selected.

“It was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity and it would be rude to not accept an invitation from the first lady,” Roy says.

Roy says the selected volunteers were split into two groups with one helping with Christmas decorating before Thanksgiving, and the other helping after. She was in the group that helped decorate after Thanksgiving from November 23rd to 25th.

She and her husband traveled by plane to Washington, D. C. on Thanksgiving Day. All volunteers were responsible for their own travel arrangements and lodging.

Roy says a decorating plan was designed before the volunteers arrived.

“They had a very definite plan as far as what needed to be done with each tree and each room of the White House in the West Wing,” Roy says. “As volunteers, we just show up and they lead us in the right direction.”

Roy was one of only six volunteers who was also allowed to decorate the Oval Office.

She says she’s considering whether to apply again next year to decorate.

Story provided by Missourinet affiliate KTTN in Trenton

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Mosaic Life Care, a health-care system based in St. Joseph, and St. Louis-based SSM Health, have finalized the purchase agreement to transfer ownership of SSM Health St. Francis Hospital – Maryville.

According to a news release from Mosaic, the agreement includes St. Francis Hospital and its affiliated outpatient, home care, hospice, and medical group services and locations, as well as SSM Health Preschool and Child Care. It is anticipated that Mosaic will officially assume operations of those facilities in the spring of 2019.

“It is a tremendous privilege to serve the people of Maryville and surrounding communities,” said Mark Laney, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Mosaic Life Care. “It’s our opportunity to broaden the scope of health-care services to ensure the long-term sustainability of high-quality health care in the area. Accessible and excellent care will remain close to home.”

As part of the agreement, SSM Health and Mosaic have mutually agreed that the “St. Francis” name would not be a part of the transition of ownership. Therefore, when Mosaic assumes operations in the spring of 2019, SSM Health St. Francis Hospital will become Mosaic Medical Center-Maryville.

“SSM Health and Mosaic Life Care share a commitment to ensuring our communities have convenient and affordable access to the high-quality care they want and need,” says Laura S. Kaiser, FACHE, President/CEO of SSM Health. “While the decision to transfer ownership of our ministries to another health system was not easy, we believe this will best serve the people of Maryville and the surrounding communities in the long-term.”

According to the news release, SSM Health and Mosaic personnel will be working closely together during the next several months to ensure the transition is as seamless as possible for patients, visitors, and the community. In the meantime, SSM Health will continue operating St. Francis Hospital and services.

No further terms of the agreement are being released.

(UPDATE Saturday 2:36 p.m.) – AFL-CIO Community Services Executive Director Penny Adams said, with the program concluding Saturday, there are 688 families that have applied and of those, 412 have been adopted.

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The application period for the Adopt-A-Family program ends this weekend.

The program matches families and individuals in need in the area with families, groups or organizations that are willing to help so everyone can enjoy Christmas.

The last day to apply is Saturday by appointment only from 9 a.m. to noon.

Applications should be submitted at the AFL-CIO Community Services building at 1203 N 6th in St Joseph. For more information on the application process or to adopt a family, contact AFL-CIO at (816) 364-1131.

(Missourinet) – Efforts to reopen Tarkio College as a two-year technical institution took a step forward this week.

At a special presentation inside Thompson Hall on the Tarkio College campus, assistant to the college president, John Davis, says an application for certification has been submitted to the Missouri Department of Higher Education. Davis says the decision to open the college’s doors now lies in the state’s hands.

“We believe it will take anywhere from 45 to 90 days,” Davis says on the state’s application process. “We will keep the pressure on the state. One of our board members, who actually is kind of our chief engineer when it comes to the buildings, lives right outside of Jefferson City. He’ll be going in on a regular basis to visit and make sure they are moving along on that. We’re optimistic it will be closer to 45 (days) than the 90.”

To finalize certification, the state requires the college to have $150,000 in escrow. Davis says a “Founder’s Fund” campaign was kicked off in June and has raised $212,000 toward a year-end goal of $250,000. Those funds will help keep the college open for the first year and maintain lower costs for students.

In the meantime, Davis says work will continue to shore up a few facility needs inside Thompson Hall, which already has an entire floor of classrooms fully equipped for student use.

“We have some classrooms identified on the first floor for some of our technical programs that still need to be outfitted with the equipment to teach those classes,” Davis says. “We’ll also need to clean them up and paint them. The biggest hurdle right now is that we have a fire alarm system that was built in 1968 that has to be updated.”

Davis believes regional businesses need workers with specialized training and skills, which led to the idea for Tarkio College to become a two-year technical institution rather than a four-year college.

“The programs we’ve identified for our application are plumbing, wind energy, and computer technology,” Davis says. “Also, we’ll have a series of academic development courses for students that do not have the skills to compete at a two-year or four-year college.”

Various regional businesses and manufacturers attended this week’s presentation about plans to reopen the school, which closed in 1992. Davis says it was important to host a wide variety of employers to gauge expectations from students entering a technical institution.

“It was really a combination of two groups,” he says. “One group was business and industry, and the other group was different economic development groups. We had the Missouri Department of Economic Development here, Northwest Development, and Atchison County Development Corporation. All of those groups have access to funding for some of the repairs we have to do, and some of the money we need for startup costs.”

Pending the state’s decision on certification, Davis says the vision is to reopen Tarkio College sometime during 2019, specifically the summer semester. Within five years, the goal is to offer technical and career-oriented certificates in five areas to 200 students a term.

By Brent Barnett of Missourinet affiliate KMA in Shenandoah, Iowa