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Missourinet

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Winter weather advisory for northern Missouri goes into effect Tuesday night (AUDIO)

October 29, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Pleasant Hill has issued a winter weather advisory for northern Missouri, primarily from Boonville and Moberly points north. The advisory includes Kansas City.

The National Weather Service is expecting snow to begin Tuesday night in northern Missouri (October 29, 2019 map courtesy of NWS St. Louis Twitter page)

NWS meteorologist Chris Bowman tells Missourinet the advisory takes effect Tuesday night at 10.

“The best chances for any kind of accumulating snow and any kind of light glaze from freezing drizzle is going to be north of the (Missouri) river, into that Maryville, Chillicothe, Kirksville area,” Bowman says.

He says the heaviest snowfall will be north of the Highway 36 corridor.

“Areas from Moberly to (northwest Missouri’s) Chillicothe could see about one to two inches,” says Bowman. “Kirksville, maybe upwards of four inches.”

Northeast Missouri’s Edina could also see three to four inches of snow by Thursday morning, while northwest Missouri’s Maryville and Albany are expected to receive two to three inches of snow.

The winter weather advisory issued by the NWS in Pleasant Hill does not include mid-Missouri, at this time. Mr. Bowman tells Missourinet that Jefferson City, Columbia, Mexico and Sedalia could see a glaze of ice, primarily on elevated surfaces, along with light snow.

“Looking at maybe a trace to an inch of snowfall, so you know, a dusting to maybe an inch,” Bowman says.

The NWS also says three-tenths of an inch of snow fell Monday night at Kansas City International Airport, making it only the 14th measurable October snowfall in 132 years of record-keeping. It’s also only the third time it’s happened in back-to-back years.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Chris Bowman, which was recorded on October 29, 2019:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/bh-NWSinterviewOctober20191.mp3

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, News, Transportation, Weather Tagged With: Boonville, Chillicothe, Columbia, Edina, Kansas City, Kansas City International Airport, Kirksville, Moberly, National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill

Parson: rebuilding collapsed railroad bridge in north Missouri is critical (AUDIO)

October 15, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Rebuilding the heavily-traveled Norfolk Southern railroad bridge in northern Missouri’s Brunswick is a priority for Governor Mike Parson, who toured the area last week.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center says backwater from flood debris caused a rail bridge to collapse in northern Missouri’s Brunswick (October 2, 2019 graphic courtesy of NWS Twitter page)

Parson says crews can’t even get to the area yet.

“We’re still just now now repairing levees from back earlier (this year), but the bridge is going to take a priority,” Parson says. “We’re going to try to get that bridge back up and running.”

The bridge washed out two weeks ago today on October 1, after a debris strike caused by heavy rainfall. Governor Parson tells Missourinet that Brunswick residents can’t catch a break.

“And we’ve been fighting this (flooding) since March 11 and still continue to fight it up there, and we’re just doing everything we can to try to help those people up there, but it’s tough right now,” says Parson.

There were no injuries in the bridge collapse.

Parson says his “heart goes out” to farmers in that area, noting that it’s been a difficult year with massive flooding. He says even when the waters recede, it will be a long way before things get back to normal.

The governor says state officials are doing everything they can to get needed resources to Brunswick, a small farming community between Carrollton and Moberly.

Governor Parson spoke to Missourinet on Friday, after a ceremony at the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) in Jefferson City. The governor reminded a Missourinet reporter that they had spoken about a drought in the Brunswick area, just one year ago.

Meantime, Norfolk Southern has suspended freight train service between Moberly and Kansas City along that route, because of the collapse.

Virginia-based Norfolk Southern operates in 22 states, including Missouri. Their website says they are “a major transporter of industrial products” like chemicals and agriculture.

Click here to listen to Governor Mike Parson speak to Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and Brownfield’s Julie Harker after an October 11, 2019 ceremony at the Missouri Department of Agriculture:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Brunswickbridgeaudio.mp3

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, News, Politics / Govt, Transportation, Weather Tagged With: Brunswick, levees, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, Moberly, Norfolk Southern

Train service across north Missouri suspended, after Brunswick railroad bridge collapse

October 3, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

(News director Bob Ehle at Missourinet Moberly affiliate KWIX contributed to this story)

Norfolk Southern has suspended freight train service between northern Missouri’s Moberly and Kansas City, because of the collapse of the heavily-traveled railroad bridge over the Grand River in Brunswick.

The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center says backwater from flood debris caused a rail bridge to collapse in northern Missouri’s Brunswick (October 2, 2019 graphic courtesy of NWS Twitter page)

Brunswick is a farming community, between Carrollton and Moberly.

The bridge washed out Tuesday evening, after a debris strike caused by heavy rain. Brunswick emergency management director Brent Dickerson tells our Moberly affiliate KWIX (AM 1230) that trains could be re-routed.

“I did talk to one of the (train) engineers and I believe that they’re trying to run the railroad tracks from like Mexico, Missouri around to a different rail just north of Marshall, between here and Marshall,” Dickerson says.

There were no injuries in the collapse. Chariton County authorities have set up barricades, to keep boaters away from the area.

“A lot of decisions to be made with the bridge, do they go up (or) down, do they move it a little bit or what,” says Dickerson. “The city is trying to work the best they can trying to keep everything open for them or if we need to close streets or whatever we need to do.”

Brunswick marine access remains closed for safety reasons. The National Weather Service (NWS) Missouri Basin River forecast center says backwater from flood debris helped cause the bridge to collapse. The logjam collapsed the train tracks.

Virginia-based Norfolk Southern operates in 22 states, including Missouri. Their website says they are “a major transporter of industrial products” like chemicals and agriculture.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, News, Politics / Govt, Transportation, Weather Tagged With: Brunswick, Grand River, Kansas City, KWIX, Marshall, Mexico, Moberly, National Weather Service, Norfolk Southern

St. Louis Congressman Clay: gun violence is a public health emergency

June 28, 2019 By Missourinet Contributor

(This story is written by Missourinet St. Louis contributor Jill Enders)

A dean of Missouri’s congressional delegation has filed legislation that would allow high crime cities to have stricter gun laws.

U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, briefs reporters at St. Louis Children’s Hospital on June 28, 2019 (Jill Enders photo)

U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, unveiled the proposed legislation during a Friday morning press conference at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

“In St. Louis and across this nation…we are faced with an ugly, obscene, inescapable truth…gun violence is a public health emergency. I’ve introduced H.R. 3435, the Local Public Health and Safety Protection Act, because like you, I’m tired of the violence. I’m tired of the excuses. And I’m tired of our state legislature being either unable, or just too frightened, to do something about gun violence – because they’re being held hostage by the NRA.” Clay adds.

State gun laws are often the same for low crime rural areas as they are for higher crime urban areas.  Clay’s legislation is an effort for cities such as St. Louis to tighten gun laws without the approval of state lawmakers.

State Rep. Jim Murphy, R-St. Louis County, is blasting the bill, tweeting that Democrats are using gun control laws “to cover up the fact that they fail to support police and fail to control crime.”

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson joined Clay at the press conference, noting she grew up in northern Missouri’s Moberly.

“I understand the relationship that folks all over the state have with guns, but what is best for Moberly, Missouri isn’t necessarily what’s best for St. Louis,” says Krewson.

St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden took to social media on Wednesday, saying 18 people have been shot in four days in the Gateway City. Chief Hayden says 89 people have been murdered in St. Louis this year, up from 83 during the same period in 2018.

Under Congressman Clay’s proposed legislation, which he coauthored with U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Illinois), states could not prohibit or restrict a local government from:

· Requiring background checks for firearms purchases;
· Restricting the ability to carry a firearm in public places. Restricting the quantity and type of ammunition that an individual is allowed to purchase;
· Requiring gun owners to safely store their firearms, especially in households with children;
· And prohibiting the sale and transfer of certain types of especially deadly firearms and accessories, including semi-automatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines.

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Crime / Courts, Health / Medicine, Legislature, News Tagged With: Moberly, St. Louis Children's Hospital, St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden, State Rep. Jim Murphy, U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay

Severe storms expected across much of central and eastern Missouri this evening (AUDIO)

June 5, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

The National Weather Service (NWS) in St. Louis warns that severe storms are expected Wednesday afternoon and tonight across parts of northeast, central and eastern Missouri.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in St. Louis outlines the time frame for today’s anticipated severe weather (June 5, 2019 map courtesy of NWS St. Louis Twitter page)

NWS meteorologist Ben Herzog tells Missourinet storms are expected to develop in northeast Missouri and west-central Illinois, and are expected to push straight south.

“Primary thing we’re anticipating with these storms are strong, straight-line winds, damaging winds although these storms will also be capable of producing large hail,” Herzog says.

Herzog says 60 to 70 mile per hour winds are possible, along with lightning. He says the severe storms are expected to begin Wednesday afternoon in Columbia, Jefferson City and Moberly around the afternoon commute time.

“The most likely time for storms in those areas looks like it’s going to be around 5, 6 o’clock, something like that,” says Herzog. “Now I should say that’s going to be the time when storms are most likely.”

The NWS says severe storms are expected to impact the St. Louis region from about 4-7 p.m., and will impact the southern Missouri towns of Lebanon, Rolla and Farmington between 7 and 10 tonight.

The NWS says the St. Louis region and northeast Missouri’s Troy and Bowling Green are now at an enhanced risk of severe weather this afternoon, which means numerous severe storms are possible.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with NWS meteorologist Ben Herzog, which was recorded on June 5, 2019:

https://cdn.missourinet.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/bh-NWSStlouisJune2019.mp3

Copyright © 2019 · Missourinet

Filed Under: Business, News, Politics / Govt, Weather Tagged With: Columbia, Farmington, Jefferson City, Lebanon, Moberly, National Weather Service in St. Louis

Kansas City area highway shooting suspect identified, charged

April 18, 2014 By Mike Lear

The Jackson County Prosecutor has announced 18 felony charges stemming from 9 shooting incidents on highways in the Kansas City area against 27-year-old Mohammed Pedro Whitaker of Grandview.

Mohammed Pedro Whitaker (photo courtesy, KSSZ in Columbia)

Mohammed Pedro Whitaker (photo courtesy, KSSZ in Columbia)

Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has filed 9 counts of shooting into a vehicle and 9 counts of armed criminal action against Whitaker. Whitaker could face life in prison if convicted.

Peters Baker says more charges could be filed later.

Three people sustained non-life-threatening wounds in the shootings that began March 8. Authorities believe 12 shootings are related, mostly in Kansas City but other happened in Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs and Leawood.

Whitaker is a 2004 graduate of Moberly Senior High School and a former Columbia resident.

 

KWIX in Moberly and KSSZ in Columbia contributed to this report

See more: Law enforcement, elected officials & a former classmate react to arrest and charges of suspected KC-area highway shooter

 

Filed Under: Crime / Courts, News Tagged With: Columbia, Kansas City, Moberly

Attorney General’s Office: Solution for grant loss to domestic violence shelters could come next week

March 7, 2014 By Mike Lear

See the updated story from Friday afternoon

The Attorney General’s Office says it expects the Missouri Housing Development Commission staff to have a proposed solution next week for the domestic violence shelters it turned down for a grant last month.

A shelter for homeless veterans in Columbia revealed on Thursday it had also been denied for that grant.

At least 15 domestic violence shelters were told their applications for the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) had been rejected but were not told why. Missourinet has been told that the Commission has not voted on the final decisions on how the grants will be awarded this cycle.

The members of the commission include Governor Jay Nixon, Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, State Treasurer Clint Zweifel and Attorney General Chris Koster. When Missourinet reached out to their offices about the situation, Koster Press Secretary Nanci Gonder issued this statement:

“Funding is critical for our state’s domestic violence shelters. After learning of the cuts in emergency shelter grants, we discussed the issue with MHDC staff and expect they will present a proposal at next week’s meeting.”

The Commission will meet at the Stoney Creek Inn in Columbia Friday, March 14 at 9:00.

After learning about those domestic violence shelters, a shelter for homeless veterans in Columbia reached out to Missourinet to say it had also lost the ESG.

Executive Director of Welcome Home, Inc, Aneisa Sherrill-Mattox, says Welcome Home Inc. has been approved for about $18,000 each of the 8 years she has worked there. Last year the shelter was approved for $50,000.

Like the domestic violence shelters, she has not been told why Welcome Home’s ESG application was turned down and instead was told the shelter is on a list to receive its evaluations.

Sherrill-Mattox says the shelter has already cut two caseworker positions and is cutting programs. She says much of what Welcome Home used that grant for was to provide emergency motel stays for homeless female veterans and veterans with small children.

“Female veterans are one of the fastest-growing parts of the homeless population and there are virtually no services available to them,” says Sherrill-Mattox. “Our shelter, by virtue of how small we are, we couldn’t provide safe housing for them in the shelter so we had relied on the ESG for them to be placed into a motel until a more permanent housing solution could be identified.”

The Nixon Administration has also told Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) and other legislators it is looking for a funding source for those shelters, perhaps using money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

The Office of Administration told Missourinet Wednesday the Administration’s office of Budget & Planning and the Department of Social Services are looking at multiple possible solutions, but have not nailed down any mechanics.

Earlier stories:

Domestic Violence Shelters still waiting for replacement of lost grant

Nixon Administration moves swiftly to back domestic violence shelters after loss of grant

Filed Under: News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Bolivar, Cape Girardeau, Chris Koster, domestic violence shelters, Doniphan, Jay Nixon, Lebanon, Lexington, Missouri Housing Development Commission, Moberly, Nevada, Parkville, Portageville, Sedalia, Sikeston, Springfield

Domestic Violence Shelters still waiting for replacement of lost grant

March 5, 2014 By Mike Lear

Workers at 15 domestic violence shelters are anxiously awaiting word on whether funding will be available for those shelters after learning that they had been turned down for a grant.

The Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) is in its second year of being administered by the Missouri Housing Development Commission. The Commission’s staff rejected the applications of those 15 shelters, most of them in rural parts of the state, and has not yet released explanations of the rejections. The Commission has not yet voted on the awarding of those grants.

The shelters whose applications had been rejected are in Cape Girardeau, Clinton, Harrisonville, Lebanon, Moberly, Bolivar, Doniphan, Sedalia, Sikeston, Lexington, Nevada, Parkville, Portageville and one each in St. Louis and Kansas City.   A shelter in Springfield had an application for shelter funds rejected, but was approved for other ESG grant money.

When the administration of Governor Jay Nixon (D) was informed of the situation by state lawmakers whose districts included those shelters, it began looking for ways to make sure they would be funded. The Office of Administration says several options are being considered but a mechanism hasn’t been decided on.

That’s encouraging news to Kelly Pedigo, Co-Director at Safe Passage in Moberly, but it’s still a long way from a solution.

“This is far from over,” she tells Missourinet.

The ESG reimburses recipients for expenses already paid. The grant coverage cycle begins April 1. Pedigo says her shelter can’t go very long paying bills without confidence that money is coming for that reimbursement.

“Locating replacement funding is a have-to thing. There’s nowhere else in (our) budget to cut,” says Pedigo.

Safe Passage applied for more than $28,000 dollars, but like most shelters, didn’t anticipate receiving the full amount. Getting cut completely was a shock.

“When your entire annual budget is around $250,000 and you just took out $20,000 of your essential expenses, that hits pretty hard,” says Pedigo.

She says the loss of that funding at Safe Passage would cause employees to be laid off, but it could also result in the loss of matching federal funds.

“Once you start having to lay people off because you can’t afford the general revenue portion of their salary,” Pedigo says, “then you have to start turning down government funding as well, so it’s a really slippery slope.”

See our earlier story on these shelters’ loss of the ESG

Ann Gosnell with House of Hope, Inc. in Lexington says local fundraising efforts are an option, but can only go so far in rural areas.

“It becomes burdensome on our community, which is very supportive of House of Hope,” says Gosnell. “We have a lot of supporters, but … going to the same people over and over again to ask them for money to help run our program can sometimes put a barrier up between us and our community, and we absolutely don’t want that.”

She says it also puts the shelters at a disadvantage to not yet know why they lost the grant.

“It’s frustrating, then, to go into our community and say, ‘We need your help, but I can’t tell you why our funding was cut. I can’t tell you why other shelters are funded at 100-percent and we’re funded at zero.'”

Both Gosnell and Pedigo hope members of their communities will work to raise attention about the issue.

“Please go to your legislators and ask them what their plan is,” says Gosnell. “Ask what’s going on and ask what the solution is.”

Filed Under: News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Cape Girardeau, Clinton, Domestic Violence, Doniphan, Lebanon, Lexington, Moberly, Nevada, Parkville, Portageville, Sedalia, Sikeston

Sale of Mamtek property at Moberly approved

December 3, 2013 By Mike Lear

The sale of what was to be the site of a sugar refinery in Moberly has been approved by a federal bankruptcy judge.

The Mamtek facility sits empty at the north end of Moberly.

The Mamtek facility sits empty at the north end of Moberly.

The former Mamtek, International property has been bought by Columbia-based MFA Oil, a farmer-owned cooperative with more than 40-thousand members. It includes 33 acres of land and the uncompleted shell of what was to have been an artificial sweetener plant.

The former president and CEO of Mamtek is charged with multiple counts of fraud and theft for stealing money from the 39-million dollars in bond funds borrowed by the City of Moberly to back the plant. Cole remains on house arrest in his home in the State of California.

The investment banker that backed the bonds, Morgan Keegan, and 10 of its employees, have been sued by the state Securities Commissioner for $30-million in restitution, fines and penalties.

Monte Schisler, KWIX, contributed to this report

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Mamtek, Moberly

Former Mamtek CEO arrested and charged with stealing, fraud (COURT DOCUMENTS)

September 18, 2012 By Mike Lear

The former chairman and CEO of the failed Mamtek sugar refining plant at Moberly, Bruce Cole, is in custody in Orange County, California. This morning, the Attorney General’s Office along with Randolph County Prosecutor Mike Fussellman, filed five charges in Randolph County against him related to the $39 million dollar deal.

Former chairman and CEO of Mamtek, Bruce Cole, was arrested at his home in Dana Point, California this morning.

Those felony charges are: one count of stealing with a punishment of 5 to 15 years in prison and four counts of criminal securities fraud, that each carry up to 10 years imprisonment and up to a $1 million dollar fine. Attorney General Chris Koster would not comment on whether prosecutors would seek the maximum penalties.

See the complaint and the probable cause statement.

The charges allege Cole took at least $700,000 from the $39 million in bond money for personal use. According to the probable cause statement, Cole had an invoice created that appeared to come from “Ramwell Industrial, Inc,” requesting payment of over $4 million for Ramwell’s services, though that company never existed.

The next day, Cole had a Mamtek bookkeeper wire $700,000 to Cole’s wife, Nanette. She then made a mortgage payment of over $243,000 to stop foreclosure proceedings on the Cole’s home in Beverly Hills, California.

Koster says Cole “misrepresented or failed to disclose important facts related to the construction project.” That includes claiming that the sucralose manufacturing process to have been conducted at the Moberly plant would have created no hazardous materials, when in fact it would have.

Attorney General Chris Koster (at the podium) announces the charges against Cole, along with Moberly Mayor Bob Riley (left) and Randolph County Economic Development Director Corey Mehaffey.

The charges filed today also allege that Cole told Moberly that Mamtek had a fully operational sucralose plant in China when it did not, and only four to six months would be needed to build the Moberly facility when Cole believed it would take longer.

Koster says the process begins today to extradite Cole to Missouri to face the charges. Cole is being held on $500,000 bond in Orange County, California.  Koster would not comment on whether additional charges might be filed or whether more people could face charges, but says the investigation is continuing.

Koster says these criminal charges have little to do with any money being recouped from the Mamtek deal, but adds, “I think that the likelihood of financial recuperation coming out of this still remains less than likely. The bankruptcy proceeding will determine that.”

The site of the Mamtek plant and all equipment there is scheduled to be auctioned off at 10:00, October 24.

Filed Under: Crime / Courts, News Tagged With: Attorney General Chris Koster, Mamtek, Moberly

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