St Joseph Schools are offering a new parent alert program for the new school year.

The program, announced Thursday, allows families to select how they want to receive information from the school district.

It’s called the Parent Alert System. You can chose to be contacted by phone, text, email, or all three.

“We think that phone, text or email should cover just about everyone in terms of meeting their needs,” said Beery Johnson, Director of Student Services, Safety and Transportation for the District.

School officials say the information sent through the system will include school closings and safety-related updates.

“If we have to close school district-wide, or if an individual school is placed on ‘lock-
down,’ we’ll be able to get them that information in the way that parents want to receive it,” said Johnson. “We believe that parents will appreciate the choice.”

The new system will eventually replace AlertNow, the current system that uses automated phone calls only.

You can sign  up here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The U.S. Drought Monitor survey is showing worsening drought conditions in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma, but slight improvements elsewhere.

The latest posted Thursday on the monitor’s website shows that nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states is experiencing some drought. Recent rainfall pushed the percentage down to 62.91, from last week’s 63.86.

The area of the lower 48 states classified as facing exceptional drought, the most serious classification, rose from 2.38 percent last week to roughly 3 percent.

A St Joe man was ordered to serve 30 years in prison for a pair of shootings in 2010.

Calvin Ford pleaded guilty to second degree murder and armed criminal action charges stemming from the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Jordan Bartram.

She was killed as she sat in a car in the 2900 block of Lafayette Street on Nov. 30, 2010.

He was also sentenced for the shooting of Genea Weston a month earlier. Weston was seriously injured.

Buchanan County Court Judge Daniel Kellogg imposed a 20 year sentence for the murder, and tacked on ten years after that for the Weston shooting.

A second man, Armon A. Thompson, 21, of Kansas City, is also charged in the case.

A lot of you in Doniphan County woke up to a power outage Thursday.

A storm system packing high winds moved through the area during the five o’clock hour.

By about 6:15 am, voltage dropped dramatically across the Doniphan County Electric Coop service area.

Power was restored in some areas by 8am.

Coop manager Arlen Mitchell says the problem originated with Westar’s transmission feed into the coop area. Mitchell says they have redundant power feeds from Westar, and when the problem was figured out, Westar switched to the other feed.

The outages were spotty. A dispatcher for the Doniphan County Sheriff’s Office said their facilities in Troy never lost power.

There were outages northwest and southeast of Troy. Some apparently unrelated outages were reported in Wathena.

Westar Energy crews also had to restore power to about 1,300 customers in the Topeka area.

St Joseph Police are investigating a child abduction attempt from Tuesday morning.

Police say the target was a 12-year-old boy around 10th and Olive Streets just after 8:00 a.m.

The vehicle was a white van, possibly with out-of-state license plates and all rear windows spray painted black. The van was allegedly driven by a black male with a short Afro and a patch of facial hair below his lower lip.

At least one other occupant was in the van, according to police.

The police department made the announcement Wednesday afternoon that they are seeking information from the public.
If any one has any information, they are asked to call the Tips Hotline, 238-TIPS.

 

 

 

Governor Jay Nixon announced $9 million dollars in Innovation Campus Grants while making stops across the state Wednesday

The Governor’s stops included St Joseph as Missouri Western and the Chamber of Commerce received $1 million.

Beginning this fall, the MWSU Innovation Campus program will enroll adults and high school students in relevant educational tracks, with financial aid of up to $7,500 for these students to pursue college degrees.

Through the Innovation Campus, high school students will be directed toward courses and programs specifically designed to prepare them for careers in science and technology and to reduce the time needed to earn their degrees.

The Governor says the program will help build Missouri’s Economy.

“This is exactly the type of strong public-private partnership we need to grow our economy and keep our state moving forward,” Nixon said.”  It’s the type of cutting edge approach to higher education that we want to replicate across the state.”

The Partnership with the St Joseph Metro Chamber of Commerce includes Missouri Western and Metropolitan Community College.

“The Innovation Campus project reflects Missouri Western’s commitment to increasing the number of college graduates in the region and to providing students with real-world applied learning opportunities,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president. “We will work closely with our partners to help participants obtain college degrees in disciplines that align with job openings and career opportunities in high-demand fields, including the human health and animal health industries.”

 

 

 

 

 

Shawn Ratigan, the former St Joseph priest indicted for producing child pornography, may not go to trial. Federal officials now say a change-of-plea hearing is set for Thursday afternoon.

The hearing is scheduled at 2 p.m. in Courtroom 8A of the Charles Evans Whittaker U.S. Courthouse in Kansas City, Missouri. Ratigan, 46, was named last year in a 13-count federal indictment, charged with six counts of producing child pornography, five counts of attempted production of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography.

A priest and former pastor from St Joe and Kansas City, Ratigan is accused of taking lewd photographs of five young girls, ages two to twelve.

Ratigan faces state charges in Clay County and several lawsuits as well.