BIG LAKE, Mo. (AP) – Missouri State Highway Patrol personnel have scaled back their search for a trooper who has been missing since Aug. 1 while working flood patrol in northwest Missouri.

Trooper Fred Guthrie Jr. disappeared near Big Lake, in Holt County, apparently after being swept away by rapidly moving floodwaters. The body of his service dog, Reed, was found the next day near where the patrol has been searching since late October.

The heavy machinery and pumping equipment near the lake stopped operating Monday afternoon.

Spokesman Sgt. Bill Lowe says searchers have run out of places to look. He says the patrol will try to figure out where else to be looking for signs of Guthrie, a 17-year veteran of the agency.

They plan foot patrols and cooperation with area farmers, who will be clearing their farm fields soon.

 

State Senator Brad Lager of Savannah will seek the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor.  Lager and Saint Louis businessman Chris McKee both declared their candidacies Monday. This followed Republican House Speaker Steven Tilley’s announcement that he was dropping out of the lieutenant governor’s race to spend more time with his teenage daughters.

The incumbent, Republican Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, is not seeking re-election and is expected to challenge Democratic Governor Jay Nixon in the 2012 elections. Two Democrats already are in the lieutenant governor’s race – state party chairwoman Susan Montee and state conservation commissioner Becky Plattner.

 

An interim legislative committee is hearing requests for millions of dollars in additional state support for Amtrak in Missouri. Michelle Teel of MODOT says Amtrak service has improved, and ridership has increased 16 percent. On-time performance is now 89 percent compared to 63 percent three years ago. Teel says customer satisfaction with Amtrak in Missouri is now 89 percent.

Teel says the current $7.9-million state subsidy to Amtrak is $900,000 short of what the rail service needs. MODOT is asking for full funding for Amtrak, plus an additional $3-million to expand and improve the service.

The deer harvest during opening weekend of this year’s firearms season is down in northwest Missouri and across the state.

By Sunday, hunters had taken 13,125 deer in the 19 counties of northwest Missouri, compared to 14,799 for the same period in 2010.

That’s a drop of more than eleven percent.

Saturday and Sunday’s total statewide was 89,717 compared to 97,833 deer in the first weekend.

In Northwest Missouri, Harrison County led the way, with 1,145 deer. Nodaway County hunters bagged 1,117 deer, while hunters in Linn County took 1,050. There were 329 deer shot in Buchanan County during the opening weekend.

The Missouri Department of Conservation updates its deer harvest map every several hours.  Click the link for the latest numbers.

The 2011 edition of Shop Saint Joseph begins Tuesday.  Participating businesses will give tickets to shoppers who save them for a December 19th drawing for $10,000.

No purchase is required to win.  Shoppers get a free ticket just for visiting a participating business, and an additional ticket for every $10 spent.  The Saint Joseph Metro Chamber of Commerce started Shop Saint Joseph to encourage Christmas shoppers to bring their business home.

A complete list of participating businesses is here.

 

 

The local foods movement is catching on. The US Department of Agriculture says sales of “local foods” are now worth billions of dollars to the nation’s economy. A USDA report found that locally produced foods sold directly to consumers at farmers markets or through grocers amounted to $4.8 billion in 2008. That number is several times greater than earlier estimates.

And the Agriculture Department predicts that locally grown foods will generate $7 billion in sales this year. The report also found that direct sales to consumers almost doubled in the past two decades, from about $650 million adjusted for inflation in the early 1990s to about $1.2 billion now. 

 

The new Public Works Director for the City of Saint Joseph is Jody Carlson. He is a licensed professional engineer and is currently overseeing 360 employees with the Missouri Department of Transportation in Saint Joseph.

As director of Public Works, Carlson will oversee the administration of aviation, engineering, landfill, street and sewer maintenance and repair, water protection, and transit services. Carlson will start work December 5 with a salary of $99,525. 

 

Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri is cosponsoring a bill to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases. Blunt says the Marketplace Fairness Act is all about being fair.

He says it’s not fair for local brick and mortar businesses to have to collect sales taxes while competing Internet businesses don’t. Blunt says it puts local businesses at a competitive disadvantage to make them charge six to eight percent more for their products. Blunt says a bill similar to his has been introduced in the House by Congressman Steve Womack of Arkansas.