SJSD appoints two new administrators

News-Press NOW on June 11, 2025

Crystal Olney

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The appointments of two administrators for the 2025-26 academic year were approved by the St. Joseph School District Board of Education.

Shawna Gilliland will take on the role of principal of Benton High School for the upcoming school year.

Gilliland has 24 years of experience in education and most recently served as assistant principal at Central High School for the past two years. That position followed a year as an administrative intern and 21 years as a Central mathematics teacher.

Along with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Missouri Western State University, Gilliland has a Master’s in Mathematics Education and a Specialist in Education Administration from Northwest Missouri State University. She is National Board Certified in Mathematics and was named the 2024-25 Northwest Region Assistant Principal of the Year.

Brad Spinner was appointed to assistant principal at Central beginning in August.

Spinner brings 25 years of education experience to the role. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Mathematics from Oklahoma State University. He was a teacher in Texas for four years, before moving to St. Joseph in 2004, and has spent the last 21 years teaching and coaching at Lafayette High School. He also has served as the Lafayette activities director for three years.

The new administrators will assume their positions on Tuesday, July 1.

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21 Cadets Graduated Allan Hancock College’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy in Lompoc

KEYT on June 11, 2025

Jarrod Zinn

LOMPOC, Calif. – Our local police force has increased its ranks by twenty-one cadets.

The 129th graduating class of Allan Hancock College’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy crossed the stage at Hancock’s Public Safety Training complex in Lompoc Thursday morning.

“Yeah we worked very hard to get here and I’m very excited to get out there and start patrol and start working towards a career I’ve wanted forever,” says Michael Boggess, the 129th’s class sergeant.

They’ll be starting active duty next week in various Central Coast communities.

Grover Beach police chief Jim Munro served as the keynote speaker commending a strong and unified class.

“This is just the beginning of their training,” says chief Munro. “And then they go through all the other required training and eventually will be solo officers.”

Several cadets were distinguished by various awards recognizing leadership, noticeable growth through the program, as well as detail oriented awards such as safe vehicle operation.

“It’s interesting learning how to lead and help your class out and stuff,” says Class Sergeant Boggess. “It made me Class Sergeant. I was just grateful for the opportunity to come out here and be that guy for my department and really help them here as best I could.”

This year, the California Law Enforcement Historical Society’s Police Museum provided a unique and compelling display which kept families engaged after the ceremony, complete with an old-fashioned paddy wagon.

“These cadets will find themselves running towards danger and it doesn’t matter if that is everyday in their community or the events that are occurring, around our country right now,” says Chief Munro. “And that’s what’s so special about this group of people. They’re willing to take that sacrifice, are willing to stand up and protect their community.”

To learn more about Hancock’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy, or to find out how to sign up, be sure to visit the college’s website by clicking here.

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Missouri House passes Kansas City stadium bill

KMIZ on June 11, 2025

Marie Moyer

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri House on Wednesday passed a bill to entice the Royals and Chiefs to stay in Missouri.

Senate Bill 3 will now head to Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk after it passed 90-58. The bill gives financial incentives for stadium projects for Missouri’s professional sports teams.

The Show Me Sports Investment Act is aimed at keeping the two sports teams from moving to Kansas after lawmakers failed to pass a plan during their regular, annual session. The proposal would give the state’s professional sports teams access to state funding for stadium projects through new bonds, but only if certain requirements are met.

The project must cost at least $500 million and involve stadiums with more than 30,000 seats. The state could cover up to 50% of the total cost and eligible teams could also access a tax credit worth up to 10% of their investment.

Supporters of the act argue that it would give a major economic boost to the state economy.

“The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t just a football team, they’re Missouri’s front door to the national stage,” Rep. Tricia Byrnes (R-Wentzville) said. “Every game, every Super Bowl, every concert at Arrowhead tells the world who we are, and that even includes every post on social media, those are even often viewed internationally, and that keeps Missouri in the global conversation.”

“We are on the map, we are no longer flyover country, we are the home of the Chiefs,” Rep. Keri Ingle (D-Lee’s Summit) said. “If you’re worried about the revenue lost by them doing this to rebuild the stadiums, wait till you see what happens to the revenue if we lose them because this is a zero-sum game.”

Opponents of the act argued that the bill favors a multi-million dollar organization and forces local taxpayers to foot the bill.

“It’s about taking care of people first, I’m not against the Chiefs, but we need to take care of people, working people, poor people, people who are working hard, doing their part, paying their taxes,” Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) said. “They come first, then football stadiums.”

“Most of the people in my district can’t afford a ticket to either sporting event, they are more concerned about putting food on the table,” Rep. Darin Chappel (R-Rogersville) said. “I cannot in good conscience suggest that tax dollars ought to be utilized for something like this.”

Aspects of the bill include a proposal to give up to a 50% tax credit to professional sports entertainment facility construction and the proposal to give 97 of Missouri’s counties the choice to vote on a property tax freeze.

Many representatives speculated on the legality of the tax freeze, with many claiming it is unconstitutional since it violates Missouri’s Uniformity Clause that requires property taxes to be taxed under the same rules. Others claimed that analyzing the legality of the bill is up to the courts.

“In order for it to be found unconstitutional, someone is going to have to challenge it, and that’s more money that our taxpayers have to pay because we’re not doing our jobs well here,” Rep. Kathy Steinhoff (D-Columbia) said, “I think we need to do a better job of not putting things into bills that we know are going to be found unconstitutional.”

The Missouri House of Representatives also passed two pieces of legislation during a special session that would assist those impacted by the St. Louis tornado.

Members of the chamber gathered on Wednesday to discuss several bills, including Senate Bill 1, which provides funding for the University of Missouri Research Reactor. It also appropriates money to the Department of Economic Development for the Missouri Housing Development Commission.

The bill passed with a vote of 143-2 and will now go to the governor. Senate Bill 4 was also passed by the House. This expedites the use of the Missouri Housing Trust Fund for emergency aid.

In an X post, Kehoe praised the general assembly for their work and said, “I look forward to seeing this legislation on my desk very soon.”

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The Living Desert introduces two bobcat kittens to ‘forever home’

KESQ on June 11, 2025

Kendall Flynn

PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ) – The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens introduced two bobcat kittens to their new habitat and what care professionals are calling their “forever home.”

David and JoAnn are brother and sister, and were brought to the zoo from Oregon. The siblings were found in a box on a driveway near Springfield and Eugene. Officials with The Living Desert are unsure who took them, where they were found originally or where their mother is.

Photo Courtesy: The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

“It’s really important that we know that when we see animals out in the wild that might be struggling or that we perceive need help, that we’re contacting authorities rather than taking things into our own hands,” Heather Downs said, one of the zoo’s animal care curators.

Down and Elizabeth Hiner were a part of the team caring for David and JoAnn, which required around-the-clock care to feed them and ensure they were gaining weight daily. Hines, the animal care lead keeper, said it was a special experience for her.

“It’s not every day that you get to raise little ones from kittenhood to adulthood,” Hiner said. “And it makes us feel good that we’ve kind of set them up for success.”

Photo Courtesy: The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

Photo Courtesy: The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

Because of the circumstances they were found under, with no mother present, the kittens will spend their lives under the care of the living zoo staff. They say without human intervention, the siblings would not have survived in the wild.

Stay with News Channel 3 to hear their story, more about their care and how important officials say it is to coexist with animals.

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Conservation Greenhouse open at Living Desert in effort to improve climate resilience

KESQ on June 11, 2025

Kendall Flynn

PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ) – The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens is announcing the opening of a brand new greenhouse – something they hope will improve climate resilience and community access to nature across the Coachella Valley.

Officials with the zoo aid Southern California as regional leaders growing native California plants for outplanting in urban areas. This new greenhouse will aid in this effort by helping grow plants to make native habitat for the benefit of people and the wildlife.

The Living Desert’s team, says having the greenhouse will allow them to restore degraded natural areas by outplanting more native and drastically increasing the number of seeds available to restore those areas.

Stay with News Channel 3 to hear from officials on the importance of the greenhouse and how impactful it will be on the Coachella Valley.

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UCSB Student-Led Shoe Drive is a Step in the Right Direction for Zero Waste

KEYT on June 11, 2025

John Palminteri

UC SANTA BARBARA, Ca. – To end the UCSB school year off right, the student-led Zero Waste Committee (ZWC) is gathering all the shoes they can as part of a reuse and recycling effort.

The message is to avoid tossing shoes in the regular trash bins and eventually ending up in the landfills. That’s where there are problems with the shoes breaking down and also the environmental impacts from the materials.

The co-chair of the drive, Matthew Schoen, hopes at least 750 pairs of shoes come in. He is an environmental studies major who is routinely gathering the shoes from drop off spots. Schoen has a team of supporters and they are working with the Associated Students on the plan.

“A.S. recycling kind of does all the lifting for us, which we’re very grateful for them. My committee does the outreach, and so we’ve created something, where when I’m gone, people who ever replace my position can continue doing this,” he said. ” I’m grateful for all the people who are supporting me in this process.”

The drop off spots include, the UCSB Recreation Center, the Intercollegiate Athletics Building, and all residence halls.

Only walking, running (sneakers), casual street shoes and hiking shoes will be accepted. No sandals, flip flops or shoes with metal. The laces need to be tied together so they arrive as a pair.

The shoes will be sent to a company called Got Sneakers. The lightly used shoes that can be repurposed are resold, and the others are sent to a company that will grind them up and that material will be used in another way.

This drive started in April of last year. It was through the Environmental Leadership Incubator (ELI), a nine-month mentorship that helps undergraduates develop hands-on leadership skills to pinpoint an environmental concern and implement a solution.

The goal is to keep the shoes out of the Tajiguas landfill, where they could produce nearly 16,000 pounds of carbon dioxide.  “They’ll sit in the landfill for years and years and years until, you know, all these polymers and all these composite materials can break down. And as they’re breaking down, they’re so leaching all those lovely glues and toxic chemicals into the soils, which end up getting into our waterways, ” said Schoen .

He would like to keep the shoes in good condition and repurpose them to those in need in the local area. “If I can keep the shoes in the area, not have to spend spend those emissions shipping them across the country,” there is a benefit.

The shoe drive this year began June 2 and will end this Friday June 13.

While this is mainly a campus-wide program, off campus donations are taken too from the general public. The easiest spot is by going to the student Recreation Center. It has easy parking and is not far from the bus loop.

“I would love to expand, that’s been my dream mountaintop goal is to get expansion throughout Santa Barbara. I want to get people recycling their shoes,” said Schoen. He’s ready, “if anyone in the community wants to reach out and help me get this started.”

He knows the potential when he talks to people about the program. They says, ” I got five pairs sitting in my garage. Let me go bring some in. So it’s really cool just seeing people’s reactions to learning that it is possible and it is accessible too.”

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‘Hardening the community’: National nonprofit helps neighborhood south of La Pine stay wildfire-ready

KTVZ on June 11, 2025

Isabella Warren

Update: Adding video, comments from incident commander)

LA PINE, Ore. (KTVZ) — A small community south of La Pine is getting some help this wildfire season. 

“We call it hardening the community. If we can do things before a fire that make the community more resilient to it, that’s what we’re in the name to do, ” said Bill Terrill, Incident Commander for Team Rubicon.

Team Rubicon is a veteran-led nonprofit organization that helps with emergency humanitarian efforts.  Residents of Wagon Trail Ranch, south of La Pine, reached out to the team earlier this year to ask for help in hardening their neighborhood.

“It starts with a request from a group. And it can be a homeowner’s association, or it can be an emergency manager. It can be somebody who contacts us, who has a need that they can fulfill, either monetarily, or it’s just too much for them,” said Terrill.

The team of over 20 volunteers comes from all parts of the West, some coming as far as Colorado and Texas. “Our makeup is approximately 50% veterans. A lot of them have been around team rubicon since the start of 20, 2001, i think, the rest are what we call our kick butt civilians.”

Last year, nearly two million acres were burned by destructive wildfires. Before and after videos of the area being thinned show just how big a difference their help can make. 

“If you look at it, every dollar spent in mitigation equates to about $6 in savings,” Terrill added.

Here’s the info the organization shared with us.

Team Rubicon’s volunteers, known as Greyshirts, have traveled from all around the country to help the community, located in northern Klamath County, be more resilient against future fires by removing trees and thinning existing woodlands to slow the advancement of wildland fire.

Nearly 40 Greyshirts are holistically altering the woodlands to create a healthier woodland buffer zone that is both resilient to fire and beneficial to wildlife and people.

Last year was one of the most destructive wildfire years in Oregon history, as 1.9 million acres burned. It changed lives. It changed communities. Some neighborhoods were tested, and many survived the test. They had created defensible space. They had prepared their homes for flames and embers. When the hot embers blew in, the homes that were prepared had the best chance of survival.

Team Rubicon dispatched volunteers from across the country to help the Wagon Trail Ranch community prepare for fire by thinning the forests to help keep the fire on the ground and prevent a crown fire where the fire travels from tree top to tree top. The Wagon Wheel Ranch, after much hard work, has already been certified as a Firewise community, but with only one road into the neighborhood, they need additional help creating an extensive fuel break along the perimeter of the community.

This year to date, Team Rubicon has already conducted 43 operations across the country and currently is deployed in:

Kern County, California (Wildfire Recovery)

Cheboygan County, Michigan (Severe Storm Recovery)

Los Angeles County, California (Wildfire Recovery)

Klamath County, Oregon (Wildfire Mitigation)

From fire mitigation to natural disasters and crisis response, Team Rubicon responded to 98 disasters across North America last year.  As we enter hurricane and tornado season, Team Rubicon is ever reliant on our 200,000 volunteers to respond to where they are most desperately needed. To support our Greyshirts and Team Rubicon’s humanitarian mission, visit www.teamrubiconusa.org to donate, volunteer, and find more information.

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About Team Rubicon  

Team Rubicon is a veteran-led humanitarian organization that serves global communities before, during, and after disasters and crises. Founded following the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the organization has grown to more than 200,000 volunteers across the United States and has launched over 1,200 operations domestically and internationally. To drive equity across disaster and humanitarian services, Team Rubicon focuses on three areas of impact: disaster response- from mitigation to immediate response to recovery; long term recovery & workforce development — maintaining the fabric of communities through resilient building methods; and medical services- providing emergent and surge health care, WASH, and disaster risk reduction. The organization is featured in the Emmy-nominated Roku original series titled Team Rubicon, which highlights the work of Greyshirt volunteers assisting communities across the country. Visit www.teamrubiconusa.org for more information. 

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Water bill increase now in effect for St. Joseph customers

News-Press NOW on June 11, 2025

Cameron Montemayor

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Customers in St. Joseph and surrounding communities will now see increased water rates reflected on their monthly bills following approval by state regulators in May.

Effective May 28, a customer in St. Joe using 4,600 gallons a month will now pay $62.53 a month on average, an increase of approximately $9 a month, or $108 annually. This amount will vary based on how much a customer uses.

The increase comes after the Missouri Public Service Commission approved an agreement with Missouri American Water on May 7 to increase annual water and sewer revenues by $143 million. The company initially requested a 34% increase that would have raised rates by roughly $18 a month.

Customers will receive information about the new rates on their Missouri American Water bill. Information will also be available on the company’s website under Customer Service Billing, Water and Wastewater Rates.

Missouri American Water offers customers bill payment assistance programs including a payment installment plan and budget billing options available on the customer MyWater portal at missouriamwater.com. Income-eligible customers may also apply for assistance through the company’s Help to Others (H2O) Program.

The increase was made to help cover part of $1.5 billion in completed or planned system improvements across the state from January 2023 to May 2026. Overall investments include the replacement or installation of approximately 250 miles of aging water and wastewater pipes to help reduce main breaks and sewer overflows.

Additional projects include upgrading of treatment plants, fire hydrants, storage tanks, wells, pumping and lift stations across the state.

In March, the company began the process of replacing nearly 41,000 feet of aging water pipe, or roughly 7.5 miles, in St. Joseph. St. Joseph’s infrastructure project also includes enhancements to the Faraon and Randolph Water Boosters, a critical component of the water system that impacts water pressure and service reliability for residents and the effectiveness of 3,500 fire hydrants across St. Joseph.

Missouri American Water serves nearly 1.6 million Missourians and supplies drinking water to more than 31,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in St. Joseph.

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Budweiser Clydesdales gallop back into Eastern Idaho this July

KIFI on June 11, 2025

Seth Ratliff

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The iconic Budweiser Clydesdales make their grand return to Eastern Idaho this July.

Here’s where you can catch the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales:

Wednesday, July 3: Pre-Game Spectacle at Melaleuca Field (Idaho Falls)

Time: 4:45 PM – 6:45 PM

Location: Melaleuca Field, 900 Jim Garchow Way, Idaho Falls

Details: Get ready for the Chukars’ pre-game festivities with a special one-horse appearance by a Budweiser Clydesdale. This event will also feature a meaningful Folds of Honor check presentation, supporting military families.

Thursday, July 4: Independence Day Parade (Historic Downtown Pocatello)

Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Location: Historic Downtown Pocatello

Details: Celebrate Independence Day in style as the full, magnificent eight-horse hitch of Budweiser Clydesdales proudly parades through Historic Downtown Pocatello. This is a rare opportunity to see the entire team in action, pulling their iconic red wagon.

Friday, July 5: Afternoon Delight at Fireside Grill (Ammon)

Time: 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Location: Fireside Grill, 2891 S. 25th E., Ammon

Details: Enjoy a relaxed afternoon with a one-horse show featuring a Budweiser Clydesdale at the Fireside Grill in Ammon. This more intimate setting will allow for a closer look at one of these incredible animals.

You can follow their journey and see their upcoming stops across the nation on the official Budweiser Clydesdales tour schedule, HERE.

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‘No Kings’ rallies planned across Mid-Missouri

KMIZ on June 11, 2025

Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Protesters in Mid-Missouri are joining a national movement this weekend, rallying against what they call authoritarianism and unjust immigration practices.

The demonstration is part of a coordinated “No Kings” effort taking place in cities across the country, timed to coincide with President Donald Trump’s planned military parade in Washington, D.C., marking the Army’s 250th birthday.

More than 1,500 demonstrations are planned nationwide as part of the ongoing “No Kings” movement.

Locally, rallies will be held Saturday afternoon at the Boone County Courthouse Plaza in Columbia, the State Capitol in Jefferson City, and the Cooper County Courthouse in Boonville.

Mark Haim with Mid-Missouri Peace Works is the organizer of the rally being held at the Boone County Courthouse Plaza.

Boone County Sheriff’s Captain Brian Leer says they are aware of the planned events and have been in communication with the Columbia Police Department.

However, Leer says the sheriff’s office does not plan to assign uniformed deputies to the protest at this time.

“We will be monitoring up to and during the event for any intel to the contrary, but our hope is that the event will be peaceful,” Leer added in an email Wednesday morning.

Check back for updates.

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