St Joseph city workers are transporting sewage to the water treatment facility on a daily basis, after a plastic liner at the Rosecrans Lagoon failed, draining the basin.

 

In a news release issued late Tuesday night, Public Information Officer Mary Robertson said the liner failed July 2nd.  Robertson says emergency actions were taken to minimize the environmental impact.

A private contractor began removing sludge from the liner so they can inspect it.  The city has hired an engineering consultant to conduct field analysis and determine what they need to do to correct the problem.  Meanwhile, the lagoons are inactive.

Robertson says officials from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Kansas Department of Health & Environment have been contacted and are monitoring the situation.

There’s a lot of finger-pointing going on between Time Warner Cable and Hearst Television, owners of KMBC-TV and KCWE-TV in Kansas City. Time Warner is not currently carrying the two stations, in a dispute over carriage fees, the money paid by the cable distributor to carry the stations.

Time Warner spokesman Mike Pedelty says Hearst is asking for a 300% increase in the carriage fees.

“We just think that’s fundamentally unfair,” Pedelty said in an interview.

“It’s unreasonable, and at this point we’re in a stalemate in the negotiations. It’s their programming. They make the decision whether we can or cannot put in on our cable network, and they’ve made the decision that we cannot.”

In a new announcement on the stations’ Web sites, Hearst said Time Warner Cable “has terminated negotiations with our company for continued carriage of KMBC-TV and KCWE-TV.”

“Time Warner Cable refuses to pay our station a reasonable fee relative to what it pays for other significantly less popular channels,” according to the Hearst announcement.

 

Hearst says Time Warner’s characterization of the percentage increase in carriage fees is inaccurate.

“The fees we are asking from Time Warner are based on the fees we are being paid by other cable companies under our recent deals, which is the real measure — not Time Warner’s exaggerated and distorted claims of the fairness of our proposal.”

Hearst points out that viewers may continue to receive the stations for free, over the air, or by satellite from DirecTV or Dish, and where available, from other cable operators.

Missouri’s two Senators are on the same page, literally, when it comes to drought. Democrat Claire McCaskill and Republican Roy Blunt have sent a letter urging Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to approve declaring all 114 counties in Missouri drought disaster areas. The declaration would make low interest loans available to farmers and ranchers who incurred losses because of drought.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission has approved its new 2013-2017 construction program that has dropped to about $700 million per year from an average of $1.2 billion per year.

In a news release, state officials say MODOT must now deal with the stark reality of funding levels that will barely take care of the existing transportation system.

On July 11 the commission approved the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.  The program includes all transportation projects planned by state and regional planning agencies for fiscal years 2013 through 2017 (July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2017).

Officials say the $700 million program allows for some resurfacing projects and general maintenance of the existing transportation system, but cannot incorporate the types of construction projects that create jobs, increase safety, ease congestion or foster economic development.

Last year, MoDOT implemented the Bolder Five-Year Direction, which is reducing the number of employees, equipment and facilities in order to save the department $512 million by 2015. In fact, without the savings generated from the Bolder Five-Year Direction, this year’s transportation program would have been less than $600 million.

“We’ve been talking about diminishing revenue streams since 2006 and we’ve taken action,” said MoDOT Director Kevin Keith in a news release. “The Bolder Five-Year Direction implemented last year helps, but the reality is we can’t cut our way to an improved transportation system.”

The STIP is available at MODOT’s Web site here.

 

The drought will continue for awhile. That outlook from geology and earth sciences instructor Jeff Bradley of Northwest Missouri State University is based on several factors. Bradley says a dry May and June set the stage and there’s little moisture in the ground and vegetation to feed the formation of rain clouds.

He says the jet stream is farther north than normal, and that’s carrying Pacific storms that usually come our way into Minnesota and the Dakotas instead. It’s also keeping cooler air away from us. Bradley says at this point he doesn’t see any significant short-term relief from the drought.

There’s still no KMBC-TV on Time Warner Cable in Kansas City, or KWCE for that matter.

In fact that stations say Time Warner has terminated negotiations.

The “carriage agreement,” under which the stations are paid to carry their stations, expired at midnight Monday night, and Time Warner pulled the plug on both early Tuesday morning.

In an announcement on the stations’ web site, the stations’ owner Hearst Television says the cable outfit refuses to pay what Hearst calls a reasonable fee relative to what it pays for other less popular offerings.

The stations also accuse the cable company of inaccurately characterizing the percentage increase the stations are seeking.

“Contrary to Time Warner’s claim, we have not “blacked out” our station,” according to the announcement.

“You may continue to receive our stations for free, over the air, or by satellite from DIRECTV or DISH, and, where available, from other cable operators.”

 

 

 

 

The 139th Airlift Wing, Missouri Air National Guard will welcome home nearly 40 Airmen from the Civil Engineer Squadron here Thursday, July 12 from a six-month deployment to Guantanamo, Cuba.

Since their departure in January, the squadron built a long list of accomplishments as the Prime Base Engineering Emergency Force, (Prime BEEF), 474th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron.

The squadron’s primary mission included facilities maintenance, repair and construction related to Joint Task Force Guantanamo’s Expeditionary Legal Complex and Camp Justice.

There are more than 70 Prime BEEF squadrons in the Air National Guard, which deploy worldwide for overseas contingency operations. When not deployed, members are responsible for facility management on their home bases.

Prior to their deployment, the Wing’s civil engineers partnered with federal, state and local officials as part of the Wing’s response to the Missouri River flooding in St. Joseph, Mo.

MoDOT announces the beginning of its preparations for a big repaving project on I-29 in Buchanan County.

On Sunday, July 15, contractors will begin milling work on the shoulders of the southbound lanes from mile marker 40 (South of St Joe near the Pigeon Creek Bridge) to mile marker 36 north of Faucett.

Officials say you could face some delays at the ramps for Route DD.

On Monday, July 16, Shoulder milling and filling work will be done on the northbound lanes on I-29 from mile marker 37.4 to 39.6.

On Tuesday, July 17 – All the ramps connecting I-229 and I-29 will be closed periodically throughout the day for paving of the ramps.

This work is being done in preparation for a larger project this construction season. Herzog Contracting Corporation has been awarded the contract to do a milling operation followed by a 1-1/2 inch asphalt overlay on both northbound and southbound lanes of Interstate 29 from mile marker 40 to mile marker 31, which is near the Route 116 overpass.

 

Transportation officials announce another traffic delay on the Amelia Earhart Bridge over the Missouri River at Atchison, Kansas.

On Wednesday, July 11, between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., eastbound and westbound US-59 over the bridge will be reduced to one lane of traffic so crews can complete repair work on the bridge deck.

Drivers will be directed through the work zone via a flagman at each end of the bridge. Advance warning signs will be in place to alert drivers to the lane closure on the bridge. Traffic will be restricted to one 11-foot wide lane.

Drivers should expect delays and allow extra time for travel during the daytime lane closure.