Maryville, Mo. – An assistant professor at Northwest Missouri State University has received the 2018 Governor’s Award for Excellence.

Dr. Katy Strickland, an assistant professor of music in Northwest’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts, received the 2018 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education Thursday during a ceremony with Lt. Gov. Mike Parson in Jefferson City.

The Governor’s Award is sponsored by the Missouri Council on Public Higher Education and presented annually to an outstanding faculty member from each of Missouri’s four-year higher education institutions. Northwest’s recipient is chosen from faculty members who receive the University’s Faculty Excellence Award for teaching. Northwest announced Strickland as its recipient of the Governor’s Award last August.

Strickland, who joined the Northwest faculty in fall 2013, also is the director of athletics bands at Northwest and began service last fall as chair of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts.

 

The Wyeth Tootle Mansion opens for the 2018 season on Friday and several events are already planned.

The mansion, located at 1100 Charles St. in St. Joseph, will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through October.

St. Joseph Museums Public Relations Officer Kathy Reno said the first event of the season will be Music at the Mansion on April 14th.

“There will be five different acts, tons of great food… and it’s just $5 at the door, children eight and under are free,” Reno said. “So if you want to hear local talent throughout the afternoon, 12:30 to 5:30, have lunch, have a drink, that’s the time to do it.”

An ongoing event throughout the season at the mansion will be Coffee and Gingerbread at 10 a.m. every third Saturday of the month.

“Stop by, have some coffee and then we’ll talk about different aspects of your older home and restoring and fixing,” Reno said. “The very first one is going to focus on stained glass windows, how to repair them, how to care for them because, obviously, there’s a lot of that in St Joseph, there’s a lot inside the mansion.”

The first Coffee and Gingerbread program will be held at 10 a.m. on April 21st.

An opportunity to learn and practice photography skills will be coming up in May at the mansion. According to Reno, a photography workshop will be offered by Megan Wyeth on May 16th.

“Megan is a professional photographer who has studied with some of the greatest photographers in the country. She will teach you how to see, how to experiment, how to work with lighting, how to frame your shots. The mansion is a great place to do that because sometimes the mansion inside and outside the museum can be tricky,” Reno said.  “You can bring any type of camera that you want to. Megan says that she realizes a lot of people even today have gone to the very sophisticated camera phones that are out there now, so if you want to use that, you certainly can.”

Registration for the photography workshop is required in advance as there is limited space. Find information on these events and more, at stjosephmuseum.org.

JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Department of Transportation has launched a 30-day public comment period on an update of the state’s Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP).

According to a press release, the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) is a federally required process that sets the state’s 25-year vision for transportation.

“Our long range planning process is a critical time for our department to assess the needs of our system and hear directly from our customers – the citizens of Missouri – to ensure our priorities match the needs of our people,” said MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna.

Missouri’s current plan was approved in February 2014, but new federal laws and regulations require additional content, including safety performance measures and targets.

In the previous effort, four goal areas were established:

• Take care of the transportation system and services we enjoy today;
• Keep all travelers safe, no matter the mode of transportation;
• Invest in projects that spur economic growth and create jobs; and
• Give Missourians better transportation choices.

MoDOT sought public input in the fall to determine if those goals were still valid, or if priorities had changed. Nearly 8,000 people participated in the online survey and submitted about 5,400 comments. Based on that feedback, the four goals above were validated and the updated plan adds a fifth goal:

• Improve reliability and reduce congestion on Missouri’s transportation system.

For the first time, the plan also examines how Missouri should prepare for autonomous and connected vehicles.

The draft Long-Range Transportation Plan can be viewed online or at any MoDOT District Office. Those interested in offering comments on the plan can contact MoDOT by emailing LRTPcomments@modot.mo.gov.

Additional questions about the survey and the long range planning process can be addressed by calling customer service centers at 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (275-6636), or by mail to Transportation Planning, P.O. Box 270, Jefferson City, MO 65102.

The formal comment period ends May 4, 2018.

The final plan will be presented to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for approval at its June 2018 meeting.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (News Release) – A St. Joseph woman was sentenced in federal court Wednesday for leading a $1.5 million tax fraud scheme.

Dinorah Lynn Stoll-Weaver, 50, of St. Joseph, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to two years in federal prison without parole. That’s according to a news release from the office of Timothy A. Garrison, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. The court also ordered Stoll-Weaver to pay $1,493,991 in restitution to the government for unpaid personal and business taxes.

On July 28, 2017, Stoll-Weaver pleaded guilty to failing to pay over employee payroll taxes to the IRS.

Beginning in 2001, Stoll-Weaver owned and operated Homeward Bound Health Services, Inc., a home health provider located in St. Joseph. Her sister and co-defendant, Dawn Langlais (formerly Ankrom-Brown), 60, of St. Joseph, was vice president and helped to operate the business. Between 2001 and 2010, Homeward Bound collected employment taxes from employees but did not pay them over to the IRS. The IRS notified Homeward Bound as early as 2004 that employment taxes were not paid. Revenue investigators had regular contact with Stoll-Weaver. From 2004 to 2009, Homeward Bound failed to pay $326,209 in employment taxes it had withheld from employees.

To avoid responsibility for their debts and theft of tax money, Stoll-Weaver and Langlais converted Homeward Bound into Silver Linings in 2010, using their parents as straw owners and operators.

From 2002 to 2012, Homeward Bound/Silver Linings withheld and failed to pay a total of $1,459,727 in Social Security, Medicare, and federal income tax.

Stoll-Weaver also withheld employees’ IRA contributions, medical and dental insurance payments and child support, and kept those withholdings as income for herself and other relatives. The theft of these payments had negative collateral consequences for their employees. Two employees filed lawsuits against Homeward Bound for money that Homeward Bound withheld from their paychecks, such as for child support, but did not pay as obligated. Stoll-Weaver retaliated against one of the employees by firing her; when the employee filed for unemployment benefits, her request was denied because Homeward Bound had not paid unemployment taxes.

Over the years, Stoll-Weaver represented to the IRS that the business was losing money, however, each of the principal employees, including Stoll-Weaver and her husband and co-defendant, Thad Weaver, 46, of St. Joseph, paid themselves well, in both reported and unreported income. From 2007 to 2012, Stoll-Weaver earned a total of $579,674 in unreported income.

During the course of the conspiracy, Stoll-Weaver filed false income and expense reports with IRS collections regarding her outstanding tax debts.

Langlais also pleaded guilty to failing to pay over employee payroll taxes to the IRS and was sentenced on Jan. 30, 2018, to 18 months in federal prison without parole.

Langlais and Stoll-Weaver admitted they received income from Homeward Bound and Silver Linings, which they failed to report on their individual federal income tax forms, and as a result, underpaid their federal income taxes. Langlais willfully failed to make an income tax return or pay personal income taxes from 2010 to 2012, for a total personal tax loss of $56,860.

Weaver and Stoll-Weaver were married and filed individual income tax returns for 2010 through 2012; Stoll-Weaver filed a separate return in 2009. Their combined unreported income was at least $257,827. Weaver’s total personal tax loss was at least $27,488. Stoll-Weaver’s personal tax loss was $34,264.

Langlais employed her daughter, co-defendant Jennifer Sturgis, 39, of St. Joseph, at Homeward Bound and Silver Linings. Weaver and Sturgis each pleaded guilty to making false statements on a tax return and were sentenced to five years of probation.

Weaver and Sturgis admitted they received income from Homeward Bound and Silver Linings, which they failed to report on their individual federal income tax forms, and as a result, underpaid their federal income taxes.

Sturgis willfully failed to make an income tax return or pay personal income taxes from 2007 to 2012, for a total personal tax loss of $148,347, including relevant conduct.

Additionally, from 2009 to 2012, Stoll-Weaver, Weaver and Sturgis each claimed personal federal income tax refunds, knowing that Homeward Bound and Silver Linings had not paid any income taxes to the IRS.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen D. Mahoney. It was investigated by IRS – Criminal Investigation.

St. Joseph’s coworking space will begin offering learning opportunities for businesses, entrepreneurs and more.

CoJoe, the coworking space for entrepreneurs, freelancers,  start-ups and remote workers will offer two educational meetings this month starting with one this week called “How to Take Your Business to the Next Level.”

Kristie Arthur is Director of Workforce Development with the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce.

Arthur said the event will feature local small business entrepreneurs Jason Chase, Sarah DeGarmo and Justin Copeland speaking on how they got started and when they decided it was time to scale their businesses.

“Oftentimes, you get going in your business and you get busy but you don’t know when is the right time to hire employees or contract with someone to help do some of the work, which could take your business to another level or deciding if you just need to stay in the same spot,” Arthur said. “So I think that they’ll just talk about when they decided to add staff to be able to bring on new business and what that looks like for a small business and how to get them started.”

That event will take place from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Thursday at CoJoe, located at 518 Felix.

Later this month, CoJoe will partner with Strategic Impact to offer a half day workshop called HIRE Impact. Arthur said the workshop will provide tips on hiring, engaging and retaining employees.

That workshop will take place from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, April 17.

For more information, contact CoJoe at (816) 364-4115 or visit their Facebook page.

Voters in Buchanan County went to the polls Tuesday to elect a St. Joseph mayor, St. Joseph School District Board Members, two at-large City Council seats and more.

Out of the 49,296 registered voters, 12,232 cast ballots for a 24.81% voter turnout.

In the race for St. Joseph Mayor, Bill McMurray received 5,520 votes for 51.60% of the votes. McMurray said the race was close throughout the night.

“Now I know how John Kennedy felt in 1960, it was pretty close,” McMurray said. “It looks like the numbers came through and I’m delighted that I was elected, I want to thank all the people who supported me and let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.”

The two St. Joseph Council member at-large seats were won by Brenda Blessing with 5,765 votes and Kent “Spanky” O’Dell with 4,363 votes.

Marty Novak won the St. Joseph Council Member District 2 seat with 656 votes. In district 3, PJ Kovac won with 925 votes. In district 4, Gary Roach won with 1, 718. In district 5, Russell Moore won with 1,188.

For the three St. Joseph School District Board Member seats, Seth C. Wright had 6,491 votes, Lute Atieh had 5,445 and Larry Koch had 4,684.

The St. Joseph Question regarding implementing a city seat belt ordinance received 6,529 “no” votes and 4,116 “yes” votes.

 

Other contested races in the area included the race for two seats on the Mid Buchanan R-V School Dist. Board. Shawn Pettegrew received 458 votes and Kim Smith received 442.

North Platte Co R-1 School Board Member seat winners were Kerry Brooke (Edlin) Hyde with 24 votes and Trace Stone with 14.

Click the link below for a full summary of the general election:

129_PALL_Election_Summary_201804032005532989