A winning Powerball ticket with a $337-million jackpot was drawn last night. Someone in Michigan bought that ticket, and lottery official are now waiting to hear from the winner or winners.
Several ticketholders will get nice consolation prizes. Eight tickets matched five of the winning numbers to qualify for $1-million. Two of those were sold in Indiana, and one each in Kansas, Kentucky, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Someone in Nebraska added the power play to win $2-million.
Sedalia MO –The Missouri State Fair Foundation will host a ground breaking ceremony Thursday for the future MFA Youth Livestock Arena. Fair Director Mark Wolfe said that the Foundation has secured the funding for the project and that construction will begin in the near future.
“The new covered arena will serve the needs of a variety of livestock competitions,” said Missouri State Fair Director Wolfe. “It will be used during future Missouri State Fairs as well as off-season events.”
The plans call for a 17,600 square foot arena, located north of the Coliseum. The addition will convert the existing, uncovered warm-up ring into a more versatile livestock facility. Much of the funding for the project came from MFA Incorporated Foundation, MFA Oil Foundation and the joint MFA Foundation, to which the companies contribute. The arena project also is being made possible by state tax credits awarded by the Missouri Development Finance Board.
The ground breaking ceremony will be held at 1:45 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 16, just north of the Coliseum. All contributors and the public are encouraged to attend.
The recent burst of cool weather has helped the attendance at the Missouri State Fair this year. So says Agriculture Building Supervisor Steve Allison.
Listen as we talk with Steve during our State Fair Coverage about what all is in that building on the fairgrounds this year.
[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Steve.mp3|titles=Steve Allison]At the Missouri Beef Showcase, those attending the fair can learn important information on how to cook beef and some recipes.
Brenda Black is volunteering at the Missouri Beef Showcase this year. She is the president of the Missouri Cattlewomens Associaiton.
[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/brenda.mp3|titles=Brenda Black]The Missouri Cattlewomens Association is also looking for new members. Membership cost $10 and you don’t have to be a cattle producer to become a member.
Find more at http://mocattle.com/missouricattlewomen.aspx
USDA has now designated nearly 18-hundred counties as disaster areas. U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack designated another 172 counties in 15 states as primary natural disaster areas due to drought and heat Wednesday. Of the now 1,792 counties designated – 1,670 are due to drought. Secretary Vilsack also announced the availability of up to five-million dollars in grants to evaluate and demonstrate agricultural practices that help farmers and ranchers adapt to drought. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is accepting applications for Conservation Innovation Grants to help producers build additional resiliency into their production systems.
Also Wednesday – in response to a request from five National Organic Program certifying agents – USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service announced USDA will grant a temporary variance from pasture practice standards for organic ruminant livestock producers in 16 states. This temporary variance only applies to the 2012 calendar year and only covers counties that the Secretary of Agriculture has declared as primary natural disaster areas in 2012. Additional restrictions are that the temporary variance only applies to non-irrigated pasture and producers must supply at least 15-percent of their dry matter intake – on average – from certified organic pasture.
Vilsack says USDA is committed to using existing authorities wherever possible to help the farmers, ranchers, small businesses and communities being impacted by the drought. In the past month – he notes USDA has streamlined the disaster designation process, reduced interest rates on emergency loans, and provided flexibility within our conservation programs to support struggling producers.
Note: At 10am Thursday officers acting on a tip arrested Mr Poling at a residence at 2700 block of S. 24th St.
St Joseph police are hoping you can help them find a stalking suspect.
Authorities are looking for Brian Lee Poling Sr who has a felony warrant for aggravated stalking and resisting arrest.
In a news release, detectives said Poling has been involved in several different incidents over the last two weeks. The situation escalated last week after an incident Friday where he is accused of displaying a handgun. Police say they have seen Poling on the streets, but each time he fled and officers have been unable to take him into custody.Poling is a 41-year-old white male, 6’1″, 200 pounds, with blue eyes and brown thinning hair. He is balding at the top. He is known to driver a 2007 black Jeep Commander, an older model black Camaro, and an older white Camaro.
Police consider him to be dangerous. If you have information about his location you are urged to call the tips hotline at 238-TIPS. If you have direct information about cases involving Police, call Detective James Langston at 271-5338.
Feral hogs can damage crops and injure or kill livestock, are quickly becoming a nusience across the state of Missouri.
While the Conservation Department claims there is not a problem with feral hogs for now in northwestern Missouri, there is a problem in other parts of the state, especially in the southern portion where there is enough cover for the animals.
Listen as Rex Martinson of the Conservation Department talks about feral hogs at the Missouri State Fair.
[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rex.mp3|titles=Rex Martinson]
The department will trap the feral hogs for farmers and also on public lands. The trapping is making progress on public land in parts of southern Missouri and in West Central Missouri.
Feral hogs create problems because they root in the ground with their snouts for food such as roots and insects. They tear deep furrows over broad areas including farmland.
Feral hogs will also destroy eggs and nests for ground-nesting birds such as bobwhite quail and wild turkeys.
Water quality problems occur when feral hogs wallow in farm ponds and streams. In the current drought with low water conditions, problems are magnified as the hogs add additional nutrients and disease agents to the water.
Feral hogs reproduce quickly. They are wary, mean and able in the wild to quickly expand populations. Family groups of feral hogs can cause thousands of dollars in damage to crop fields. They can be aggressive and dangerous towards people.
Feral hogs can also carry diseases transferrable to humans, wildlife and livestock. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has reported several hunters in the Eastern United States contracting a form of swine brucellosis from field dressing feral hogs. Diseases carried by wild pigs that are threats to farm herds include swine brucellosis, pseudorabies, trichinosis and leptospirosis.
Two Guatemalan nationals face federal charges in what prosecutors call a conspiracy to provide false identify documents through the license office in St Joseph.
Acting U.S. Attorney David Ketchmark on Wednesday announced a federal indictment charging Domingo Ajanel-Castro, 33, and Pedro Pablo-Solis, 28, with conspiracy and other crimes.
The superseding indictment announced Wednesday replaces an earlier indictment that charged only Ajanel-Castro.
In addition to the conspiracy, Ajanel-Castro and Pablo-Solis are charged together in three counts of aggravated identity theft, three counts of Social Security fraud and two counts of illegally transferring a person’s identity documents to another person.
Ajanel-Castro resides in St Joseph. Pablo-Solis lives in Liberal, Kansas. Ketchmark says both are in the country illegally.
Ajanel-Castro is also charged with four more counts of aggravated identity theft, two counts of illegally producing identification documents, one count of possessing false documents, one count of making a false statement on a federal document and one count of illegally reentering the United States after having been deported.
According to the indictment, the pair conspired to provide false identity documents so that more than 100 illegal immigrants could fraudulently obtain driver’s and non-driver’s licenses.
The indictment says they participated in a conspiracy from July 1, 2010, to Jan. 10, 2012, to sell fraudulent birth certificates and Social Security cards in the names of others. Then, their customers would travel from across the United States to obtain licenses at the St. Joseph license office by using the unlawfully obtained birth certificates and Social Security cards. It is estimated that well over 100 Missouri licenses have been unlawfully issued to illegal aliens as part of this conspiracy.
In a news release, Ketchmark says Ajanel-Castro allegedly received identification document sets from Pablo-Solis, who obtained and sold state-issued birth certificates and corresponding Social Security cards in matching document sets. Ajanel-Castro then sold the document sets to the illegal aliens, the indictment says, for between $500 and $950 for the document sets and the licenses.
The illegal aliens were then charged an additional fee of approximately $100 to be escorted to the license office in St. Joseph. Individuals accompanied illegal aliens into the St. Joseph license office under the guise of being translators, the indictment says, in order to assist them with obtaining a Missouri license that was in the name of another person who was listed on unlawfully obtained birth certificates and Social Security cards.
These individuals would assist illegal aliens in preparing for potential questions from the license office employees, such as learning the names on the birth certificates, the names of the parents on the birth certificates, the dates of birth and the Social Security numbers, as well as practicing signing the name similar to the signature that appeared on the Social Security card. Individuals also assist the illegal aliens who did not live in Missouri by providing them with a Missouri residential address to use in order to obtain the license, the indictment says.
Police are investigating several reports of phony $50 bills circulating in Saint Joseph. Officials say the notes are of poor quality. Police have also received some fake $10 bills made from separate copies of the front and back of the note which are glued together.
Detective Richard Shelton of the Financial Crime Unit encourages anyone taking money to check three security features: a security thread that should glow under UV light, a watermark of the figure in the portrait, and color-shifting ink on the front bottom right side of the bill.
For more information about currency click here.
The Community Blood Center is hoping you can help. They’re having a blood drive at the East Hills Mall Wednesday until 7pm.
Donor Recruitment Representative Betty Tinker says they were hit hard this summer, as the heat kept many of their regular donors away.
Tinker says accidents tend to increase when school starts, so they are desperate for blood donations.
She says they are looking for all blood types, but she is putting out a special call for donors of the universal blood type O-negative.
At the mall Wednesday, you can register to win prizes, including an overnight stay at the Ramada Inn with passes to the Monkey Cove water park, a pair of passes to the Omaha Zoo, and $50 gift certificates good at the East Hills Shopping Center.
If you can’t donate on Wednesday, feel free to drop by the Community Blood Center at 3122 Frederick Ave.
