Several injuries were reported in the wake of severe thunderstorms that rolled through northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas Thursday night, damaging homes, trees, and vehicles, and knocking out power to thousands of homes.

A storm that struck Saint Joseph at 10:45 felled the radio tower at the Missouri State Highway Patrol headquarters on the North Belt Highway. It missed the building and came down across the parking lot. There were no injuries.

Maryville was especially hard-hit. The roof was blown off Laclede Chain Factory. At least two tractor trailers were blown off the highway, injuring the drivers. KCP&L reported more than half the city’s 7,000 power customers were in the dark. Another 1100 outages were reported north of Maryville. KCP&L reports more than 5500 customers are out of service in Saint Joseph this morning..

Two people were injured in Winston when a gas station awning was blown onto their car. A spotter reported a 40 foot tower was blown over in Winston. The string of storms began shortly after 7 pm, rolling southeast out of Nebraska and into northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri. 

 

 

The falling Missouri River is nearing the level at which Saint Joseph can switch off high-powered pumps that have run for weeks. City Manager Bruce Woody says when it rose past 26 feet the city had to close the gates that drain treated wastewater into the river, and pump it over the levee. In addition to fuel costs, Woody says there’s a staff cost. Two maintenance personnel keep a 24-hour watch on the big pumps.

The pumps are huge – each the size of an automobile – and it takes 12 of them running constantly to hurl wastewater over the levee. They burn 1300 gallons of diesel fuel a day. Woody says at about the 4^th or 5^th week of pumping the Corps of Engineers agreed to pay for the fuel. The city owns one of the large pumps and is leasing the rest.

A ceremony at the Patee House Museum kicked off the annual “re-ride” of the Pony Express

Museum Director Gary Chilcote tells us the event was postponed earlier because of a herpes virus that can affect horses.

“We don’t know that any of the horses were actually affected,” Chilcote said.

“We’re talking about 550 riders, each in their own areas, across eight states,” he said.

“They were concerned that it could spread from one horse to another, and it can prove fatal to horses.”

The President of the National Pony Express Association Jim Swigart was on hand to introduce the first two riders, Richard King and his sister Kristin King of Stewartsville, Missouri.

Chilcote says the riders will cross eight states before arriving in Sacramento on August 27th.

The first rider for the Pony Express was a fellow named Johnny Fry. Chilcote offered this photograph of Fry, who later joined the Union Army and was killed in Baxter Springs, Kansas by Quantrill’s gang on Oct 7, 1863. (Photographs courtesy of the Patee House Museum)

As floodwater recedes it leaves a lot of debris behind.

Bob Younie of the Iowa Department of Transportation says the department is preparing to put two huge debris-removal projects along the Missouri River up for bids. 

These photographs were taken on August 5th on I-29 just north of the Iowa/Missouri border between mile markers 2 and 17.

Buchanan County’s Presiding Commissioner says voters will get another chance to renew the capital improvement sales tax. They turned it down by a 60 to 40 percent margin August 2^nd after the county removed a sunset clause that had been in place nearly 25 years. RT Turner says there’s not much chance they’d go again without a sunset clause.

The quarter-cent capital improvement sales tax is now set to expire at the end of 2012 unless voters renew it before then. Turner says the county will probably put it on the November ballot this year or the Presidential Primary ballot next year.

 

 

The Attorney General’s office has formally notified the board of trustees of Country Club Village of an investigation into possible violations of the state’s “Sunshine Law.”

Attorney General Chris Koster acknowledged receiving a complaint about meetings, meeting cancellations, and communications between members of the board.

Koster sent Village officials several copies of the Sunshine Law, and urged them to read it.

Koster has asked the board to provide a written response including meeting notices, agendas, and minutes.

The board has a special meeting scheduled Tuesday night at which observers expect the board to take up the matter.

A Navy Seal from Kearney was given a heroes welcome on Monday.

Matthew Mason was among 30 GIs killed when insurgents shot down a military helicopter in Afghanistan August 6.

The Patriot Guard and law enforcement escorted the hearse from the airport to a funeral home in Kearney Monday. Members of the community lining the route in the rain. Visitation is planned Aug. 16, at First United Methodist Church in Kearney.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17, at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood.

Burial will be at Arlington National Cemetery.

Chief Petty Officer Mason was a chief special warfare operator in the Navy and a native of Holt, Missouri.  He was a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University.

Northwest Missouri State University launches a pilot program this fall to test a new way of teaching developmental mathematics to freshmen who aren’t quite ready for college work.  Dr. Cheryl Malm, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, says the new course is built around modules that teach and test for ten skills covered in high school Algebra 1 and 2.  Instead of taking the two entire courses, remedial students will study only those sections where they’re weak.  The hope is that they’ll learn the material better and get through the process quicker.

 

 A “Conscious Discipline” seminar for parents, grandparents, and others who care for young children will be held this evening in Saint Joseph. Karen Hickman will describe how to create a positive, safe, and connected environment at home.

“Conscious Discipline” uses techniques that assume children want to do their best, but don’t necessarily have the skills to handle difficult situations. A simple dinner will be served at 5:30 followed by training from 6 to 8 at Brookdale Church, 31^st and Edmond. Admission is free.

Reservations are not required but they are requested. Call the United Way at 816.364.2381.  

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• 83.3 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in May

• More than 5.6 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month

• 176 million U.S. Internet users watching online video content in May

• Averages out to 15.9 hours of online video watching per person

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The new Show&Tell tool from the St. Joseph Post.

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