The Missouri State Highway Patrol says two men died yesterday when a small plane crashed in a pasture near Obsorn. The 1967 single-engine Piper Cherokee went down around 4:30 yesterday afternoon about 200 yards from the Shatto Milk Company.
The Highway Patrol says people on the ground knew at least one person in the low-flying plane and waved as it flew by. It’s not clear where the plane took off. Federal investigators will begin examining the crash site today.
The Polar Bear Plunge is this weekend.
Each year, a couple of hundred folks in St Joseph do something crazy to benefit Special Olympics.
This year, Eagle Radio’s DJ Dan Michaels is taking it one step further, taking a stand, and sitting, and camping, on top of a building.
Dan tells us he’s going to remain atop the building for 24 straight hours in hopes of raising $1,000 through your sponsorship. Visit www.somo.org/djdan to donate.
Dan has moved the effort to the Apple Market store at Frederick and 36th Street in St Joseph. He hopes to endure the elements atop that building from 6am Wednesday until 6am Thursday.
Dan is a longtime supporter and coach for Special Olympics of Missouri, for whom he’s been a volunteer, fundraiser and coach.
Dan says the store is making it easy to donate as well, with options available at each checkout line.
In this video, Mike Decker of Apple Market says they’re offering deli specials with some of the proceeds going to special Olympics.
This year’s Polar Plunge is Saturday, February 18 at Lake Contrary. If you’d like to take the plunge, you’ll need to come up with at least $75. Call Melody Prawitz, NW Area Director at (816) 233-6232 or by email at prawitz@somo.org.
Senator Rob Schaaf of St Joseph will serve as the chairman on a special Senate committee.
Schaaf was announced Tuesday as the chair of the Special Senate Committee on Social Service Program Savings.
The committee will examine past and future changes in cost and participation of Missouri’s social services.
Other Senators appointed to the committee include Senator Brad Lager of Savannah, Kevin Engler of Farmington, Joe Keaveny of St Louis and Shalonn Curls of Kansas City.
The senators were appointed to the committee by Senate Leader Robert Mayer.
A new scholarship at Northwest Missouri State will honor a university student killed by a drunk driver.
The parents of Abby Cockrill have created the Abby Leigh Cockrill Memorial Foundation Scholarship through the Northwest Foundation.
She was killed by a drunk driver in August of 2010. Recipients must be a junior or senior with an elementary education major with a preference of students involved in Greek Life.
“Abby was a true leader who had the ability to inspire others to be better people and to give back to their community,” said her mother, Diana Cockrill. “Ever since she was a young girl, she wanted to teach and make a difference in the lives of children. She had a passion for working with children and youth and the enthusiasm to be a wonderful teacher. Abby truly loved to live and lived to love.”
For more information about the Abby Leigh Cockrill Memorial Foundation Scholarship or other giving opportunities through the Northwest Foundation, contact Teresa Gustafson at 660.562.1248 or teresa@nwmissouri.edu.
MF Global commodity customers, whose cash vanished when the firm collapsed last year, lost more than first thought. The New York Times reports that MF Global’s missing funds have grown to 1.6-billion dollars. MF Global’s British subsidiary is holding 700-thousand dollars. The trustee tasked with recovering the money did not include the 700-million when projecting the shortfall, hoping to avoid a battle with MF Global’s British arm.
The trustee, James Giddens, acknowledges that he is making little headway in recovering the money from KPMG, the court-appointed administrator for MF Global’s British subsidiary. That money, Giddens says, was held for American clients who traded on foreign exchanges.
The problem echoes a cross-border fight in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, when customer money was trapped overseas. More than three years later, that issue remains unresolved.
Courtesy: NAFB News
The National Pork Producers Council is offering assistance to McDonald’s as it assesses sow housing. NPPC believes the announcement reflects the best process for meeting evolving consumer demands – through the market, not through government mandates.
According to NPPC, farmers and animal care experts know that various types of housing systems can provide for the well-being of pigs. After an extensive review of scientific literature, the American Veterinary Medical Association determined that both individual sow housing and group housing can provide for the well-being of sows.
Pork industry customers have expressed a desire to see changes in how pigs are raised. Farmers are responding and modifying their practices accordingly. That process is effective, it is efficient, and doesn’t require an act of Congress. NPPC says producers will continue to meet the ever-changing needs of customers and provide consumers with safe, nutritious and affordable food produced responsibly.
Coutesy: NAFB News
Missouri is once again the target of HSUS attacks with funding of the Your Vote Counts campaign.
Financial documents show the campaign is nearly fully funded by out of state backers.
The campaign aims to make it more difficult for lawmakers to change voter-approved rules, like Proposition B which passed in the state but was modified by the legislature. Proposition B was heavily funded by out of state sources like the Humane Society of the United States.
The Your Voice Counts Act would require a three-fourths vote in both the House and the Senate to change or repeal voter-approved initiatives or it would take a vote by the people by referendum.
The Campaign is aimed at getting enough petition signatures to place the issue on the November ballot.
The graph below, provided by Missouri Farmers Care, details the campaigns contributions.
Jefferson City, Mo. – Attorney General Chris Koster has submitted two amicus briefs in the cases pending before the United States Supreme Court on the Affordable Care Act.
Missouri’s challenge targets requirements that individuals buy health insurance, but supports severing that provision and allowing the rest of the law to stand. Koster says Missouri is unique in that particular position.
Koster’s position reaffirms his stance taken before the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in the same case. While 37 states filed briefs before that court, only Missouri’s position was consistent with the 11th Circuit’s decision that the individual mandate is unconstitutional but the rest of the law should be allowed to stand.
“This has been a challenging decision, but ultimately one that must be decided on the law alone,” Koster said. “I do not believe the Commerce Clause can be used by Congress to force consumers into a market unwillingly.”
The cases are:
Department of Health and Human Services, et al., v. State of Florida, et al., No. 11-398;
National Federation of Independent Business, et al., v. Sebelius, et al., No. 11-393;
and State of Florida, et al., v. Department of Health and Human Services, et al., No. 11-400.
The state submitted the briefs last week.
The St Joseph School Board has opted for a new provider of student transportation. The board selected the Missouri-based Apple Bus Company from among six bidders to provide service beginning July 1.
First Student has been driving school buses here since 2007. About 5,200 students ride the bus to school each day.
The contract costs the school district approximately $3 million.
“Apple has a great reputation for customer service and for finding efficiencies in the system,” said Beery Johnson, Director of Transportation for SJSD.
Johnson pointed out that Apple is family owned and located in Cleveland, MO, some 87 miles south of St. Joseph.
“The owner and many support personnel are just a little over an hour away,” he said. “With Apple, we will get more support at a higher level than with any other company.”
The new provider has a first class maintenance program, and an outstanding safety record, Johnson said.
He pointed out that Apple will consider all First Student drivers for employment.
“They have an excellent reputation,” said Johnson. “We believe our patrons will be pleased with our choice.”
Nearly two dozen school districts in Northwest Missouri and northeastern Kansas cancelled classes Monday because of winter weather and dangerous driving conditions.
Schools reopened Tuesday.
In the meantime, school age children throughout the area got the day off. We spotted a few enjoying the “perfect snow for sledding,” near 11th and Maple Leaf Parkway.
