Missouri Western State University will celebrate Homecoming Week with a Halloween theme.

Missouri Western’s Homecoming Week 2017 is Oct. 22-28 and culminates with the Griffon football game against Washburn at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 on Craig Field at Spratt Memorial Stadium.

The theme this year is a nod to the Halloween season with “The Legend of Griffon Hollow.”

Homecoming this year features some new events, and some changes to old favorites, including a new route for the annual Homecoming Parade at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28. All parade entries, including the bands, dignitaries and student organization floats, will step off from 22nd and Frederick, traveling down Frederick to Francis, and on Francis to 4th Street.

The Homecoming Committee invites the community to help save a life by participating in the Griffula Blood Drive Challenge vs. Northwest Missouri State University on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 24-26. The Community Blood Center will be collecting blood from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day in the Hoff Conference Rooms, Blum Student Union rooms 218-219.

Information on student Homecoming activities is available at www.missouriwestern.edu/homecoming. Information and registration for alumni activities is available at www.missouriwestern.edu/alumni/homecoming.

An annual holiday event featuring local and regional vendors is coming up in November. 

The Sugarplum Festival at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art will be held November 9-11. 

Museum Executive Director Brett Knappe said the event is a holiday themed bazaar and has new vendors every year. 

“We have upscale sales of all kinds of Christmas gifts, potential gifts for the holidays and other things as well. There will be food, there’s a wine tasting, we have our patrons night which has special food as well,” Knappe said. “There’s really a lot going on over the course of two and a half days. It’s a good time to enjoy some Christmas music, it’s a good time to just enjoy yourself.” 

For more information about the Sugarplum Festival, contact the museum at (816) 233-7003 or click here.

The United Way of Greater St. Joseph is recruiting volunteers for a school-based versions of its Reading Adventures program.

Jodi Bloemker, Dir. of Community Investment with United Way said United Way Reading Adventure will be held this fall with second grade classes at Lake Contrary and Humboldt elementary schools. The agency also plans to hold United Way Reading Adventure at several other schools in the spring.

Each second grade class has 30 minutes for the program. There are two sections of students at both Lake Contrary and Humboldt, so Bloemker said volunteers are needed for 60 minutes.

“Volunteers will read with small groups of children,” she said. “The books you will be reading will be provided by the teachers and students grouped by reading level.”

Volunteers can register online here: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07eeqn6e92j8yi89nj/start

“Simply fill out the form with your contact information and select the dates you are available to read. I will send out further details as well as reminders and directions prior to the start of the program. I have some volunteers who are able to read all five weeks at a school and some that can only do a week or two. It is whatever works best for the volunteer,” Bloemker said.

(news release) MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University’s Board of Regents during its regular meeting Friday approved a proposal to create a Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity and begin offering it to students next fall.

Interim Provost Dr. Jamie Hooyman presented the proposal to the Board and said the program will require no new resources. The University’s current computer science faculty will teach the coursework at Northwest’s Maryville campus.

Northwest will create five courses, as requirements or electives, for degree completion.
“Cybersecurity knowledge is essential to the protection of our national electronic systems and data,” Dr. Carol Spradling, the director of Northwest’s School of Computer Science and Information Systems. “Our cybersecurity program will provide students with cutting-edge skills to meet national security challenges and will contribute talent to meet the long-term economic cybersecurity industry needs.”

The program will help students develop skills and expertise related to cybersecurity, including the prevention and detection of cyberattacks on computer-related infrastructures within an organization. Students will gain a broad understanding of computer systems, including software, hardware, networks, information assurance and programming. Students also will develop skills related to computer security policies and implementation as well as a relevant understanding of social engineering as a means of computer vulnerability.

Hooyman also noted graduates in the cybersecurity field are in high demand. The Department of Labor Statistics projects 18 percent job growth for information security analysts, which include cybersecurity professionals, while Forbes magazine has reported that the cybersecurity market is expected to grow from $75 billion in 2015 to $170 billion by 2020.

A one vehicle crash in Andrew County sent two to the hospital Friday morning after the driver tried to avoid hitting a deer.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report, Jon Edwards, 27 of Kansas City, Mo. was driving a 2006 Jeep Cherokee northbound on I-29 just three miles north of St. Joseph around 2: 15 a.m. The patrol said Edwards attempted to avoid a deer in the roadway, and went off the west side crossing both southbound lanes and then off the east side of the road.  The patrol said the vehicle then went over the median, crossing both northbound lanes and hit a guardrail. Edwards was transported to Mosaic for treatment of what was described as minor injuries. His passenger, Eric Jones, 32 of Kansas City, Mo. was transported for treatment of a moderate injury. Neither were reported to be wearing a seat belt.

A group has formed to oppose the passage of a tax levy for the St. Joseph School District up for vote on the November ballot.

Two former St. Joseph School District Board of Education members are taking a stance against Proposition 1 as part of Support A Better SJSD . Chris Danford and Eric Bruder said the $1.15 tax increase is excessive.

“It’s nearly a 40-percent property tax increase,” Danford said. “We’re not anti-education. We’re supporters for a better school district. We want to also do what’s right for the kids and right for the community.”

Bruder said he’s simply against this levy.

“I would fully support a levy of .40 to .50 cents where all of that money is going directly to the teachers,” Bruder said. “If they would come forward with a plan…with the math that says here is the number of classrooms we need. We don’t have them in these areas, we’re going to put temporary classroom spaces in place. We’re going to hire the right number of teachers, we’re going to pay our teachers properly the public’s going to support that. But along with that they have to cover the other side and cut the administrative spending.”

As we reported, the Committee to Move St. Joseph Forward, a campaign in support of the levy launched its efforts last week to urge voters to pass the Proposition 1.

The St. Joseph School District said the tax proposal was developed by the SJSD 1 Vision community engagement program that involved hundreds of St. Joseph residents. The district said, “While the SJSD 1 Vision Task Force considered an option with a larger increase to address identified goals, a decision was reached to take a conservative first step to achieve these goals by restoring the tax rate to the pre-2015 level.”

The proposition is up for vote on the Nov. 7 ballot.

To listen to Danford and Bruder’s interview with 680 KFEQ’s Barry Birr on the Hotline see the audio files below: