East Hills Shopping Center welcomes a new tenant this fall, the young girls’ fashion and accessories store “Justice.”
Officials at the mall say the new store is going in next to the Bath & Body Works, featuring 4,100 square feet of pre-teen clothing and fashion accessories.
Construction will begin this fall, and Justice should be open in time for the 2012 holiday season.
The Saint Joseph Police Department has launched its redesigned website. Chief Chris Connally says the new pages are better organized and easier to navigate.
Connally says the old website had grown over the years and needed to be reorganized. He says police secretary Delores Collins, who studied website design in college, stepped up with good ideas and headed the reorganization team. Check out their work here.
A new study projects all 50 states could have obesity rates above 44 percent by 2030. The report, “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2012, was released by Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
According to the report, the current obesity rate in Missouri of 30.3% of adults could more than double in 18 years to 61.9%. The current rate in Kansas (29.6%) could rise even higher, to 62.1%.
The number of obese adults, along with related disease rates and health care costs, are on course to increase dramatically in every state in the country.
For the first time, the annual report includes an analysis that forecasts 2030 adult obesity rates in each state and the likely resulting rise in obesity-related disease rates and health care costs.
By contrast, the analysis also shows that states could prevent obesity-related diseases and dramatically reduce health care costs if they reduced the average body mass index of their residents by just five percent.
A former chairman of the Republican National Committee will speak at Benedictine College in Atchison Thursday night.
Jim Nicholson, former RNC chair and Ambassador to the Holy See will present “With No Apologies: How to Live your Faith and Make a Difference.”
Nicholson is a former Army Ranger and West Point graduate. He was elected as the RNC chair in 1997 and was appointed by President George Bush as the Ambassador to the Holy See in 2001.
He later served as the US Secretary of Veteran Affairs under President Bush from 2005-2007.
His speech starts at 7:30 Thursday night at the McAllister Board Room in the Ferrell Academic Center at Benedictine. The event is open to the public.
Cindy Daffron is now the executive director of the Pony Express National Museum in Saint Joseph. The museum board promoted her from Director of Development.
Museum President Dick DeShon says Daffron deserves recognition for all she has done to raise the quality of the museum. Daffron has been with the Pony Express National Museum since 2005.
A British man swimming 1,000 miles down the Missouri River to raise money for breast cancer awareness is swimming through Northwest Missouri.
David Cornthwaite and his support group are swimming 1,000 miles down the Missouri River to raise $150,000 for the Coppa Feel! foundation.
Listen as Dave talks with KFEQ’s Micheal Clements below.
[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/swim1000.mp3|titles=Swim 1000’s David Cornthwaite]They started their journey August 10th in Chamberlain South Dakota and expect to wrap up in St Louis in the first pa
Cornthwaite is currently on his seventh 1,000 mile journey in his long-term project called Expedition 1,000. He’s attempting to do 25 1,000 mile non-motorized expeditions.
“Seven years ago I was a graphic designer and completely miserable at my job.” I decided I needed to make a change and pursue a career and I guess a vocation doing something I was really pationate about.”
Now, he is hoping to travel 1,000 miles on every Continent and take a group of newcomers along with him each time.
“I think adventure is something everybody can take on, I honestly think that. Even though 1,000 miles of swimming sounds like a ridiculous idea, anyone can do it. I really want to show that with all of my trips and I tend to start out having no experience and built it up from there,” he said.
The organization they are fundraising for CoppaFeel! states on it’s website that it exist to educate women in the UK that early detection and self examination can save lives from breast cancer.
“My friend Kris was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 23 and subsequently sent up a charity and it’s an absolute privilege to support their work,” he said.
The journey started August 10th at Chamberlain S. Dakota and should wrap-up when he and the group swims into St Louis, completing the 1,000 mile journey in early October.
This is the first adventure he’s taken on involving so much swimming.
“I think every journey has a few challenges but this one has been a huge physical challenge but absolutely delightful at the same time,” Cornthwaite said. “It’s amazing seeing the world from just six inches above the surface of a river.”
Follow along at www.swim1000.com
Funeral Arrangements are set for a Northwest Missouri State University student who died after an assault last week.
Services will be in St Louis for 21 year-old Tomarken Smith. Smith died after hitting his head during a fight outside a Maryville Bar.
The funeral starts at 11:00 a.m. Next Monday at the Oak Grove Baptist Church in St Louis. Smith was a senior at Northwest and a member of the Sigmi Phi Epsilon fraternity.
Cards and notes to be sent to Smiths family are being collected at the Campus Activities office in the Northwest Student Union from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm today and tomorrow.
Two men from Bethany face murder and assault in the death. 31-year-old Kevin Mooney and 23-year-old Tony Overlin were scheduled to appear in court for the first time Tuesday morning.
A criminal investigation is underway after an early morning house fire in Livingston County.
Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox released details this morning of the fire of a home west of Chillicothe on Old Highway 190 around 4:30 a.m.
The investigation stems from the house being in a court ordered lockout, according to the Sheriff. He says that means his department is required by the court to assist in changing possession of the property.
Deputies reported at that time, one occupant allegedly made comments that they would burn the house. The investigation by the Livingston County Sheriff’s office, along with the State Fire Marshall’s Office, is ongoing.
Kansas editorial writers weigh in on the Kansas State Objections Board’s consideration of a “birther” challenge to President Obama’s listing on the Kansas Election Ballot.
Read the columns, then take the poll!
The Garden City Telegram, Sept. 15
‘Birther’ bunk
At least Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is consistent.
The conservative Republican has doggedly pursued ways to interfere with the election process, such as pushing for a Voter ID requirement when there’s no proof of a voter fraud problem.
And this week, he was involved in the public airing of a complaint from a Kansas-based “birther” looking to prove President Obama isn’t a natural-born citizen and have his name removed from Kansas ballots in November.
But rather than simply dismissing the Manhattan resident’s claim, Kobach and other state officials acted as if there was something to investigate.
Reasonable people have moved past the “birther” nonsense regarding Obama. But Kobach, in particular, suggested there was some credence to the complaint.
“I don’t think it’s a frivolous objection,” he reportedly said. “I do think the factual record could be supplemented.”
Seriously? Apparently Kobach and others still aren’t satisfied with a factual record that includes a certificate of live birth authenticated by Hawaiian officials, and verified by the doctor who delivered Obama. Local newspaper birth announcements provide more proof.
Instead, the State Objections Board – Kobach, Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer – saw fit to request that Hawaii, Arizona and Mississippi officials submit copies of the president’s birth records.
If the “birther” conspiracy theory embraced by extremists wasn’t so disturbing, it would be downright laughable. It figures that Kansas officials would be willing to be front and center in such absurdity.
Interestingly, the Kansas “birther” withdrew his challenge Friday. The State Objections Board was scheduled to consider the complaint on Monday.
Regardless of the claim being dropped, there never was cause to question Obama’s eligibility. And the all-Republican board should have known there was nothing to gain politically in doing so (other than pandering to extremists), as Obama has practically zero chance of winning the Republican stronghold of Kansas.
The latest “birther” episode was a ridiculous waste of taxpayer time and money. By taking up the outlandish claim in such a way, state officials only gave the rest of the nation yet another reason to have a good laugh at Kansas’ expense.
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The Kansas City Star, Sept. 14
No conspiracy theory is too batty to examine
We hereby object to the Kansas State Objections Board.
This three-member panel of statewide officials invited ridicule by entertaining a question of whether President Barack Obama’s name can appear on the November ballot because – here we go again – maybe he isn’t really an American citizen.
Never mind that Obama has produced his original birth certificate on television, and officials in Hawaii, his birthplace, have confirmed its authenticity.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer seemed keen to pursue an objection brought by Joe Montgomery of Manhattan, who claimed to be privy to “substantial evidence” that parts of Obama’s birth certificate have been forged or doctored.
Members seemed to feel slighted that Obama’s campaign didn’t dignify their dog-and-pony show by providing them with extensive documentation. Kobach told reporters he thought the “factual record” could be “supplemented.”
Montgomery backed off on Friday, saying he faced harassment and animosity.
That is unfortunate. The problem isn’t that a citizen brought forth a ridiculous objection, but that elected officials pursued it so strenuously.
Without an objection, the objection board’s work would seem to be finished, though Kobach has scheduled a meeting for Monday.
Obama’s name will almost surely appear on the Kansas ballot. But Kobach, Schmidt and Colyer have dragged the state back into laughingstock territory with their venture into birther territory.
What do you think? Take the poll!
[polldaddy poll=6543080]
Editorial writers in St Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City ridiculed the General Assembly’s override of a bill that would allow employers and insurance carriers to deny contraception, birth control and abortion funding based on moral objections.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 14
Boy’s club overrides veto, punishes Missouri women
Consistent in their disdain for women’s rights, Missouri legislators on Wednesday again decided that a narrow view of religious freedom was more important than women’s health.
The vote to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a bill allowing employers to exclude contraceptive coverage from health insurance policies was trumpeted by lawmakers as a move to protect religious rights. That is a trumped-up issue, since state law has allowed employers to opt out of such coverage since 2001.
In addition, the federal mandate regarding contraception insurance specifically allows religious institutions to opt out of the coverage, although it requires insurance companies for religiously affiliated institutions – such as universities and hospitals – to offer birth control coverage.
Notice that the law orders the coverage to be offered – it does not have to be accepted. Women are not being forced to take the birth control. It is just being offered to them and paid for through their employee health plans, for which the women are already paying a share.
The Legislature is a boys’ club. Of the 163 House seats, two are vacant and 120 are filled by men. In the Senate, 28 of the 34 members are men. In overriding Mr. Nixon’s veto, the lawmakers set up a situation that already has resulted in one lawsuit and is sure to encourage more.
Mr. Nixon had said the bill shifted too much power to insurance companies and pointed out that state law already allows employers and employees to opt out of policies that conflict with their religious or moral convictions.
The Missouri law was put on the books in 2001, and was supported by both Planned Parenthood and the Missouri Catholic Conference at a time when increasing women’s access to health care and supporting religious freedom could be seen as synonymous issues.
The political chasm that has opened up since is part of the problem. Missouri’s lawmakers on both sides of the aisle united with pro-choice and pro-life groups to get that law passed 11 years ago. Peter Kinder, the Republican lieutenant governor who was then the Senate president pro-tem, allied himself with then-Gov. Bob Holden, a Democrat, to get the bill through.
Now, instead of listening to constituents and reaching accord between parties, Missouri lawmakers take their cues from Republican strategists who are using women’s bodies as cannon fodder in their efforts to win elections.
Consider that about the same time Wednesday that Missouri legislators were overriding Mr. Nixon’s veto, Hobby Lobby, an Oklahoma City-based arts and crafts retailer, filed a court challenge against the federal health care reform law’s mandate to provide abortifacients, forms of contraception that can induce abortion.
Hobby Lobby’s founders are evangelical Christians. No doubt their beliefs are sincere but may not be shared by their employees. There is also no doubt that the timing of their lawsuit is political.
The GOP long ago figured out that if you get people worked up over the easy stuff – like who has an American flag pin in his lapel, or where someone’s parents were born, or who loves whom – they won’t have time to notice if their pockets are being picked and their safety nets sliced.
It’s time to put an end to the ugly partisan divisiveness and to unite for the good of the people of Missouri. And that includes the state’s 2.8 million women.
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The Columbia Tribune, Sept. 14
Veto pander
Earlier this week the Missouri General Assembly overrode Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of SB749, a foolish deed demonstrating the shallowness of thinking prevalent among the vast majority.
The bill claims to defend the right of anyone to avoid having to pay for contraception or abortions, but as Rep. Chris Kelly wisely noted in a courageous piece published in our Tuesday edition, the claim that the bill will protect religious freedom is false.
Kelly detailed provisions of existing Missouri law that already prevent “any employer, individual or self-insurer from having to pay for contraception when it is contrary to his or her religious or moral beliefs.” He cited other provisions giving similar conditions for abortion coverage.
The only exception is to save the life of the mother.
Kelly’s mark of courage came when he criticized “my own church, the Roman Catholic Church,” for making claims about SB749 it “knows or should know is false.”
This lucid argument meant nothing to the overwhelming majority of members who upheld a duplicative law simply to pander to the public on an issue they had purposefully misrepresented in their nearly unanimous passage of SB749 in the first place.
Kelly explains the bill does allow insurance companies to deny contraception coverage when employers object even though some employees might want it, shrouding another attempt to deny birth control in allegations of religious liberty. …
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The Kansas City Star, Sept. 14
Ridiculing birth control
Missouri legislators said they were standing up for religious freedom this week when they overrode Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of a bill that would allow employers and insurers to refuse to include birth control in women’s health insurance policies.
Actually, the lawmakers were exercising their freedom to pass insulting, repetitive legislation that conflicts with federal policy, is certain to be challenged in court and raises the question of why, in 2012, the Missouri General Assembly is worrying about birth control.
The House passed the override without a single vote to spare, 109-45, after Republican leaders leaned heavily on GOP Rep. Chris Molendorp of Belton, who didn’t support the bill during the session. Molendorp caved and voted for the override, thereby engendering the wrath of women’s groups which opposed the legislation.
But there is plenty of blame to spread around.
Seven Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the override and five didn’t vote. Among the absentees were two lawmakers from Kansas City, Michael Brown and Leonard Hughes IV.
What do you think? Take the poll!
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