A more than 2,000 mile journey home for a Nevada artist walks a path through northwest Missouri.
Laura Milkins is an artist walking home this summer with a web-cam strapped to her head.
She’s walking to hear stories of those who may walk along with her. She walked through St Joseph Monday, She’s walking to Union Star Tuesday on her way home, to Grand Rapids Michigan.
You can follow along at www.walkinghomestories.com or watch below.
Watch live video from lmilkins on www.justin.tv
Missouri’s agriculture director says flooded farmers in Holt and Atchison counties are understandably worried about happens next. John Hagler says meetings in the two counties showed a number of concerns about persistent rumors, such as will flood insurance cover them. Hagler says the answer is “absolutely.”
Also, if water damage keeps them out of the fields next year will they be eligible for Prevented Planted Acres? Again, Hagler says the answer is yes.
Hagler says flood farmers will face some very tight deadlines. High water is expected to continue through September, so farmers won’t have much time to deal with flood damage and get fields ready for spring planting.
Recovery efforts continue, weeks after a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper turned up missing on flood duty in Holt County. Water Patrol Officer Fred Guthrie Jr. was apparently swept up in fast moving currents along Missouri Highway 118 near Route 111. Hundreds turned out for a candlelight vigil in Weston to remember Guthrie.
The body of his canine officer Reed turned up the next day. Troopers from across the state have been joined by local law officers from throughout the area as they search north of Big Lake for the remains of their brother in blue.
Sgt Sheldon Lyon of Troop H says they are placing highway Jersey barriers in the water to extend a dam they’ve built. They hope to move the current west to make it easier for divers to search an area on the south side of the highway.
A support fund has been set up at the Bank of Weston, P.O. Box 8, Weston, MO 64098. Donations should be sent to the bank in care of the Guthrie Family Fund.
Services are scheduled Saturday in Holton for a local soldier who was killed last week in Afghanistan. Pfc. Cody G. Baker will be buried Saturday with full military honors in his hometown cemetery.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Evangel United Methodist Church in Holton, a ccording to an obituary notice issued Tuesday by the Mercer Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Holton Cemetery.
The Defense Department says Baker and another GI were killed when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device.
Baker was an infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division based in Fort Polk, Louisiana.
Baker joined the Army in June 2010. After training at Fort Benning, Georgia, he arrived at Fort Polk in October 2010. Baker deployed with his unit in November 2010 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Baker’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the NATO Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
Baker is survived by his mother and stepfather.
Also killed in the attack was 21-year-old Private First Class Gil I. Morales Del Valle of Jacksonville, Florida.
No one was inside, and no one was injured, after a fire ripped through a fraternity house at Northwest Missouri State in Maryville early Friday morning.
Some people leaving the Nortwest campus spotted sparks from the roof just after 4:00 a.m. at the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house on the eastern side of the campus.
University Police responded, then called in Maryville Public Safety for police and fire crews. The fire burned a significant part of the backside of the house.
“There were not any occupants,”University Police director Clearance Greene said. “From the exterior you could see a significant ammount of fire damage.”
An investigator from the State Fire Marshall’s office is on the way to the scene to investigate. There is a possibility the fire started from two ignition points.
The 8th annual sales tax holiday starts Friday. Saint Joseph shoppers will save 7.7 percent on eligible items. City Councilmember Jeff Penland says the Council chose to participate in the program this year because these are tough times.
Shoppers in Saint Joseph will save three ways: they’ll save the 4.225 percent state sales tax, the 2.375 city sales tax, and the 1.1 percent county sales tax. The exemptions apply to qualifying school supplies, clothing, computers, computer peripherals, and software. For a detailed description of what’s covered, check out our list on this page.
The Back to School Sales Tax Holiday ends Sunday night.
To find out what items are eligible, click here.
The 3rd annual Stuff the Bus effort to fill a schoolbus with supplies for needy children starts Friday in Saint Joseph. Linda Burns of United Way says Stuff the Bus provides basic school supplies to about 900 children.
Burns says shoppers entering the two Walmart stores will receive flyers describing the program and the school supplies that are needed. Those who want to help can donate supplies after they check out.
The Salvation Army will distribute backpacks filled with supplies on August 11th. To register for school supplies call the Salvation Army at 232.5824. To volunteer to help gather, sort, or distribute supplies call the United Way at 364.2381.
Police are investigating the death of a baby boy in Saint Joseph this morning. The mother told police that she, a four year old, and the two-month old baby had been sleeping together. She woke up to find the baby cold and limp. Paramedics tried to revive the victim at the home in the 11-hundred block of South 33rd Street. The baby died later at Heartland. Detectives are investigating. An autopsy is scheduled this afternoon to assist in determining the cause of death.
Parents of students at six St Joseph schools that meet federal Title One guidelines have some choices to make in the next week or so. The St Joseph School District must offer those parents the choice of another school, because for the second year in a row their current school failed to make “Adequate Yearly Progress” under the federal No Child Left Behind mandate.
Although test scores improved generally this year, no school in the St Joseph School District made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the terms of No Child Left Behind mandate.
District officials say the targets of No Child Left Behind are “unrealistic and essentially unattainable.”
Eventually ALL schools, sub-groups and students must receive “advanced” or “proficient” ratings based on statewide tests. That’s roughly equivalent to every student earning A’s and B’s.
Many of the schools in the district made progress as a whole, but were held back by the performance of certain sub-groups addressed by the federal law. These include categories based on race, language proficiency and income level.
The school district released documentation that shows how each school in the district fared (click here), as well as how those sub-groups performed (click here).
Assistant Director of Elementary Education Brian Schindorf tells us parents need to look closely at the numbers, and then look closely at their school. Schindorf says many of the schools that are required to offer school choice are actually outperforming the schools being offered as alternatives.
Here’s Schindorf from Thursday’s news conference.
Superintendent Melody Smith says she is both pleased and disappointed with results from the recent Missouri Assessment Program tests. She says the district continues to make progress, although not as defined by the federal and state governments. She credits that to parents and teachers being committed to increased performance.
District officials say 1,677 families were mailed letters last week, alerting them that their Title One schools had failed to make AYP for the second year in a row. That triggers federal requirements that the family be offered a choice to attend school elsewhere. But not just anywhere. If they want children to ride to school on a bus they must select a qualifying school within their geographic area We asked Schindorf what parents should do if they’ve received one of the letters.
[audio:http://www.stjosephpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/AYP-longform1.mp3|titles=AYP longform]District officials pointed out another problem arising from No Child Left Behind. Pershing (which scored above the state average) and Hyde (which scored above the district average) did not make AYP this year. Thus, under the rules of No Child Left Behind, they cannot accept transfer students from Title One schools that did not meet AYP.
Officials say 44 families were mailed letters informing them that the school choice offered last year was no longer available and they would have to choose again.
Saint Joseph dealt with another power outage today. This one struck at about 11 am and covered some of the same area blacked out yesterday. KCP&L’s coverage map indicates that 1463 customers were affected, compared to the 15,000 left without service for several hours yesterday. Service today was restored after about one hour.
