Month: August 2025

Rebecca Evans

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — St. Joseph’s landfill is filling up fast, and the clock is ticking, with its projected lifespan being May 2047 according to landfill superintendent Darkota Cloud.

In the last decade, the St. Joseph Landfill has seen an increase in its usage, with the amount of trash received there doubling from almost 105,000 tons in 2015 to more than 215,000 tons in 2024.

According to landfill officials, the dump has received about the same amount of trash this year, compared to last.

The May 2047 deadline gives St. Joseph 22 years to determine where all the city’s trash will be disposed of once the current landfill reaches capacity. The overall goal of city officials is to extend the landfill’s lifespan as long as possible. 

The city just completed the construction of its Cell 8 infrastructure and began using it on Tuesday, July 29.

Now, the city said landfill staff have already begun construction on Cell 9 at the facility.

Opening a new landfill could take more than a decade and has proven politically difficult, as seen in the recent collapse of a proposed landfill in South Kansas City, Missouri.

Overflowing landfills don’t prove to be just a space problem. They produce methane gas, a powerful greenhouse contributor that lowers oxygen in the atmosphere.

“St. Joseph’s landfill produces methane from over three million tons of waste, which our plant converts into enough electricity to power up to 1,000 homes each year,” Evergy’s 2024 sustainability report states. “Landfill gas is a renewable energy source that helps generate base load power.”

With space for trash being slim, officials are turning to solutions like waste management, ultimately leading to more recycling opportunities.

Recycling could significantly reduce how fast the landfill fills up, but participation needs to improve. 

Advantage Metals, one of the few waste management services in St. Joseph, provides a place for residents to bring metal items for recycling and repurposing to get some extra money in their pockets.

Each year, the St. Joseph Recycling Center receives 600 tons of material, in stark contrast to the three million tons that are dumped into the landfill annually.

Materials are brought to the recycling center at no charge and are sorted and gathered, giving what some consider trash a second chance.

“I do think that it is important to change how big our footprint is, and if recycling can get that done, then that would be awesome,” said Darkota Cloud, superintendent of solid waste and recycling, “And it really starts with the people at home.”

What is Accepted at the Recycle Center:

Tin/aluminum- rinsed lid-free food and drink containers

Glass- (brown, green, clear) rinsed lid-free food and drink containers

Corrugated cardboard (ripple board) – Flattened

Magazines- Includes slick coated and ad inserts

Newspaper- separated from office paper and magazines, dry, unbundled

Mixed Paper -Copy paper or junk mail

Free paper shredding of personal documents, limit 5 boxes/ bags please

Plastics – (PET #1 & HDPE #2)- rinsed and separated milk, water, juice bottles, detergent and bleach bottles. Recycle number located on the bottom of the container, screw on containers ONLY.

Oil/ Antifreeze Depository – vegetable, motor, lubricant, etc.

What Is Not Accepted:

No Styrofoam or plastic bags are accepted

No wax-coated cardboard, no chip board accepted (i.e, cereal or soda boxes)

All recyclables SHOULD be:

Rinsed clean

Have no lids

No labels on Cans

No Paper clips, rubber bands, staples, tape, adhesive labels, plastic tabs and plastic or wire spirals

Keeping recyclables clean and in good condition gives them a better chance of being reused.

“It helps divert recyclables from the landfill, and it encourages the lifespan of the landfill. It also promotes community wellbeing and it protects public health in general by keeping trash off the streets and doing the recycling, turning it into new things,” said Andrea Miester, the supervisor at the Recycling Center.

After making a trip to the St. Joseph Recycling Center, most of the recyclables are then transported to the local regional processor, Birch Recycling, where they are densified or compressed.

From there, it is sold to major manufacturers who turn the recyclables into new products.

Glass is crushed and recycled into insulation.

Cardboard is turned into new cardboard.

Newsprint is used to make insulation or egg cartons.

Magazines are also repurposed into insulation.

Mixed paper is recycled into tissue products.

PET plastics, such as soda and water bottles, are transformed into carpet.

Polyethylene containers, like milk jugs and detergent bottles, are made into plastic buckets and pails.

Steel (tin) cans are recycled back into new steel products.

Aluminum cans are reused to make new aluminum cans.

In a statement from Mike Birchmier, manager at Birch Recycling, under 2% of the recyclables brought in are lost in the production process.

A high percentage of the raw materials is repurposed into usable products. This process only works if materials are clean, properly sorted and free from contamination.

Currently, around 70% of plastic waste ends up in landfills or the natural environment.

Plastic can take hundreds or even thousands of years to break down, and glass could last millions of years. Eventually, our landfills will run out of space for both.

The St. Joseph Recycling Center sees 100,000 drive-through cars drop off recyclables annually, but this could still improve, according to the recycling supervisor.

Recycling reduces landfill space and conserves natural resources. 

The recycling center also offers ways for members of the community to support and volunteer to help with recycling efforts. Visit their website here.

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By: Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Senator Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove), State Representative Bryant Wolfin (R-Ste. Genevieve) and a Maries County man have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 3.

The lawsuit, filed in Cole County, is asking a judge to declare Senate Bill 3 unconstitutional, specifically regarding the stadium subsidies for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals.

The suit claims the bill is unconstitutional because it violates Missouri constitutional provisions of the grant of public money to a private person, special law, multiple subjects, the title is not clear and a change of original purpose.

“The appropriations described in the bill are a direct gift or bribe to the owners of the Chiefs and the Royals to stay in Missouri,” the lawsuit states.

“The stadium subsidies are a bribe paid to sports team owners to meet their extortion demand to stop them from leaving Missouri for Kansas,” W. Bevis Schock said in a news release. “The way the numbers workit appears the legislature and the governor are sticking taxpayers with most of the salary of Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes.”

The bill passed in the Missouri Senate by a vote of 19-13 during a special session. It was then passed by the Missouri House with a vote of 90-58.

Governor Mike Kehoe signed the bill into law on June 14.

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.

Chiefs owner and CEO Clark Hunt said on Monday a final decision has not been made, but said there is some urgency to make one.

This is a developing story.

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News-Press NOW

By: Gabrielle Teiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

In less than a month, students across Missouri will be preparing to head back to the classroom for the 2025-2026 school year.

As the new school year approaches in Missouri, state health officials are urging parents and guardians to check their child’s vaccination status, warning that falling immunization rates could lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases.

Immunization rates in both private and public schools continue to fall across Missouri, following a national trend. Data from Johns Hopkins University in June shows that in 78% of counties across the country, vaccination rates for the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, have fallen more than 2% since before the pandemic.

Health officials say that drop, combined with a rise in exemption requests, has weakened herd immunity protection from vaccine-preventable illnesses, a concern highlighted by a recent measles outbreak in Cedar County and Taney County in Southwest Missouri.

“We’ve seen a lot of infectious diseases that previously have been prevented and even thought to be eliminated have started to come back,” said Dr. Laura Morris, who is a chief medical officer for ambulatory care at MU Health Care and serves as an American Academy of Family Physicians liaison to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. “It’s really important to keep students up to date because that’s really what helps to protect our schools and to keep kids safe and healthy.”

A total of seven cases of measles have been confirmed in Missouri in 2025, though measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, which was achieved through high vaccination rates. As of July 22, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a total of 1,319 confirmed measles cases across the country, with 29 outbreaks reported, making it the worst measles outbreak in more than 30 years. Those outbreaks resulted in 87% of cases reported.

“We have seen cases of measles pop up in Missouri, and in surrounding states,” Morris said. “In fact, the United States has already had more measles cases this year in only half of the year than in decades.”

Measles is a highly contagious, airborne disease that can spread through coughing, talking, sneezing or touching contaminated surfaces, where it can live for up to two hours. Measles can be very dangerous to babies and immunocompromised people, with one in five people developing pneumonia. In some cases, brain infection, brain swelling or death can occur.

“Measles can make your immune system forget the protection that you have against other infections, so it causes immune system amnesia, is what we’ll call it,” Morris said. And that’s really important because now you’re at a higher risk after recovering from measles for other infections. Measles can have long-term complications for decades after that.”

“When vaccination rates drop, measles is the first one that pops up and pertussis is also on the rise for the same reason; it is the next-most infectious disease, among vaccine-preventable infections,” said Dr. George Turabelidze, who is a pediatrician and state epidemiologist. “If we continue that decline, we will start seeing mumps, we will see chicken pox and all those things.”

According to data from the Department of Health and Senior Services, there is no specific school-required vaccination rate falling. It’s all of them.

“It’s a trend nationwide, so not here alone in Missouri, but there is definitely a trend for families to want to opt out or to exempt their students from the vaccine requirements,” Morris said.

Kindergarten public school vaccination rates for required immunizations:

School Year
DTaP
Hep B
IPV/Polio
MMR
Var

19-20
94.7%
96.1%
95%
94.9%
94.4%

20-21
92.5%
95.5%
93%
92.7%
92.4%

21-22
91.5%
94.2%
92%
91.9%
91.3%

22-23
91.2%
93.9%
91.6%
91.7%
91.1%

23-24
90.7%
93.6%
91.2%
90.9%
90.4%

Data obtained from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

Kindergarten private school vaccination rates for required immunizations:

School Year
DTaP
Hep B
IPV/Polio
MMR
Var

19-20
93.4%
94.4%
93.9%
91.5%
91.1%

20-21
92.9%
93.5%
92.6%
90.8%
88.9%

21-22
90.6%
92.1%
90.9%
88.9%
88.4%

22-23
89.9%
91.4%
90.2%
87%
86.7%

23-24
88.9%
90.7%
89.1%
85.4%
85.1%

Data obtained from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

A key percentage to note is the falling MMR vaccination rates. Turabelidze said while Missouri’s overall protection rate is tolerable for measles, it’s barely above the threshold for herd immunity in most counties. That can be achieved when 95% of a community is fully vaccinated by two doses of the MMR vaccine, according to DHSS. Two doses of MMR provide 97% lifetime protection against measles.

Morris said cases of pertussis — a vaccine-preventable disease also known as whooping cough — are also on the rise. In 2024, there were six times as many cases reported compared to 2023, according to the CDC. In 2025, the number of cases is trending downward, but remains high.

“The 90% range, that’s not enough to provide herd immunity and unfortunately, I think because of that, we will likely see outbreaks in Missouri and potentially, schools are going to be one of those sources,” Morris said.

Health officials say multiple factors are contributing to the decline, which Morris said has been going on since the mid-2010s. Those include more families choosing to exempt their child from immunizations, vaccine hesitancy and the spread of vaccine misinformation.

By law in Missouri, any child attending school, either private or public, must have their vaccinations to attend school; however, the state does allow medical and religious exemptions.

A medical exemption is granted when a child’s physician determines the child is allergic to a component of the immunization, has an immune deficiency or has an illness (such as cancer). A student would need a signed certification from a licensed medical doctor indicating the immunization would seriously endanger the student’s health or life, or the student has documentation of previously having the disease and there is laboratory evidence of immunity.

“In the state of Missouri, we have about a 0.2% rate across kindergarten specifically, of medical exemptions,” said Lynelle Paro, who is the chief of the Missouri Bureau of Immunizations. “Vaccine exemptions in Missouri are calculated by antigen or vaccine, rather than by children.”

Paro said medical exemptions are not as common, and Turabelidze agreed, saying the exemption typically only is for one vaccination, not the whole lot.

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