Author: News-Press NOW

Crystal Olney

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — St. Joseph residents may have noticed procedure changes when licensing their pets as the city recently moved to a new online program.

Animal Services aims to increase efficiency, when it comes to returning lost dogs and cats to their homes, through the DocuPet licensing system. The city soft-launched the new program back in March of this year.

Residents can sign up by visiting stjosephmo.docupet.com. When registering a pet initially, owners should check for an already existing profile before creating a new one. Most pet owners with existing pet licenses have already been added to the system.

Proof of vaccination and a spay/neuter certificate are needed to register — the documents can be photographed or scanned to be uploaded. Residents will also select a preferred tag design and be able to pay all in one place.

For those unable to sign up online, staff at the Animal Services shelter are available to help. Residents can call (816) 271-4877 or visit the shelter at 701 Lower Lake Road. DocuPet is also available for assistance by calling 1-877-239-6072.

All dogs and cats in the city are required to be licensed. The fee for animals that are spayed or neutered is $10 and $25 for those that aren’t.

St. Joseph’s Animal Services has also started a progressive field services program using a $30,000 grant from Petco Love.

The field program allows staff to scan loose animals for microchips and take those that have one or are wearing licenses directly back to their owners.

Animal Service officers carry microchips and free vouchers for microchips to offer to pet owners they come across while working. There is a future plan in place to make microchip scanners available at additional public locations for those who find a loose animal.

Animal Services has partnered with St. Joseph Area Lost and Found Pets on Facebook to feature animals that have been picked up to help return them home as soon as possible.

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News-Press NOW

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The Missouri State Highway Patrol released the results of its 2025 school bus inspections. Most the school districts received high ratings.

The patrol listed individual school districts by number of buses inspected, the percentage of those buses that were approved, the percentage that were defective, and those that were out of service.

St. Joseph School District, with the largest fleet of buses in northwest Missouri, had 83 buses inspected and 95.2 percent (79 buses) were approved by MHP inspectors. Four buses were found to have defects.

Savannah R-III district had 33 vehicles inspected and 90.9 percent were approved with 9.1 percent found defective.

Mid-Buchanan School District was the only district in our area to receive a perfect score. Inspectors looked at 14 buses and approved all 14.

Ratings for other districts included:

North Platte, 14 inspected, 78.6 percent approved.

East Buchanan, 11 inspected, 72.7 approved.

Buchanan Co. R-IV (Dekalb), five buses inspected, 80 percent approved.

Stewartsville, five buses inspected, 80 percent approved.

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News-Press NOW

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The St. Joseph Fire Department is still investigating the cause of a structure fire that engulfed one mobile home at a trailer park near South 36th Street and Pickett Road Friday morning.

No injuries were reported in the fire according to Battalion Chief Mike Wacker. The fire occurred at a mobile home next to the St. Joseph Housing Authority and reportedly was occupied at the time.

Wacker told News-Press NOW a trailer was ‘fully involved,’ meaning the fire was not contained to a small area. A News-Press NOW reporter noticed what appeared to be fire damage to at least three surrounding structures several hours after the fire was extinguished.

The area was closed for more than an hour after 4 a.m. Friday due to the fire, which took firefighters several hours to extinguish.

Firefighters were called back out to the scene around 10:30 a.m. Friday to extinguish another small fire that reignited.

Wacker said a small fire had reportedly broken out at the same mobile home just the day before.

News-Press NOW will provide updates as they become available.

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News-Press NOW

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — One local Downtown bar has announced “one last toast” as it prepares to close its doors.

The Rendezvous, located at 817 Francis St., will have its “Last Hurrah” starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 7.

The bar relocated to its new spot in 2024 from its original location at 619 Felix St.

Known for attracting live bands and karaoke nights, the Rendezvous will have “The December” play on its closing night, as well as a final karaoke session.

The bar will have rotating drink specials throughout the night and no cover charges.

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News-Press NOW

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — News-Press NOW Anchor and Multimedia Journalist, Kirsten Stokes, will be competing in the Miss Kansas competition on Saturday, June 7.

The competition will take place at 7 p.m. at Pratt Community College.

If Stokes wins the competition, she will advance to the Miss America competition in September.

Stokes’ advocacy work during this mission consists of working with foster care organizations in Kansas and Missouri.

She used her community service initiative, “Generation Movement” to spread advocacy through storytelling.

Stokes is competing as contestant #8, with vocalism as her talent.

News-Press NOW is proud of her accomplishments as Miss Sunflower and hopes to see her on the Miss America stage in September.

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News-Press NOW

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — After a fire broke out and almost 10 months of renovations, one local business is holding its grand re-opening on Thursday.

In August of 2024, East Hills Cleaners’ main location had to temporarily move their business to a shop four doors down to be able to assist customers due to a fire.

It continued to provide laundry, dry-cleaning and alteration services during renovations.

The business also received assistance from the community and Pride Cleaners, a business in Kansas City.

The Chamber of Commerce will help East Hills Cleaners celebrate the grand re-opening ceremony at its main location at 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 5, at 3603 Faraon St.

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Cameron Montemayor

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Local tennis players will need to seek a new playing spot for the next month while the Noyes Tennis Courts undergo a large resurfacing and light replacement project.

The city announced Thursday that the Noyes Tennis Courts will be closed starting Monday, June 9, while the project kicks off. The project is estimated to take around a month to complete, weather permitting.

During construction, the restroom building will also be closed. The Noyes football field and track remains closed during an ongoing St. Joseph School District renovation project.

Additionally, the lights at the tennis and horseshoe courts will be upgraded. During this closure, residents are encouraged to use the Northside Complex or Hyde Park courts.

City Council members approved a contract in March with Pro Track and Tennis, Inc. to resurface the tennis courts for $123,900 and an amendment accepting a $23,900 contribution from the St. Joseph School District for the project. Approximately $275,000 in parks sales tax funds will be used to replace the current lights.

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Chris Fortune

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The Missouri Senate passed three bills overnight for disaster aid, economic development and stadium funding projects.

Senate Bill 3, which allows the state to invest in large stadium projects, passed by a vote of 19-13. SB 3 would allow the Chiefs and Royals to use tax revenue generated at their stadiums to pay off construction bonds.

Local Chiefs and Royals fans are feeling encouraged by Missouri’s efforts to retain the teams because of their ties to the community.

“I know the importance to the city and the community to have professional teams, and it would break my heart if they move to Kansas,” Kelly Kennedy said. “I’m just a Missouri guy, always have been, and very proud of my sports teams.”

St. Joseph resident Jaren Padgett grew up watching the Chiefs practice at Missouri Western State University for training camp, and that foundation is another reason he would like the team to stay in the state.

“Just kind of a family-oriented space that they have here in Missouri and in St. Joseph really matters to me,” he said. “And I’ve been to many of the games at the stadium there in Missouri.”

SB 3 does not name the Chiefs or Royals, but the terms of the bill apply to construction or rehabilitation projects that cost at least $500 million and serve professional baseball or football teams. 

The bill allows the state to invest in large stadium projects and cover up to 50% of the cost. It’s a plan that helps Missouri compete with the 70% offer the state of Kansas gave last year.

“I would support (the Chiefs) to renovate the stadium,” Padgett said. “It would bring a lot more fans, probably, so I would support it.”

Regardless of whether the Chiefs and Royals decide to stay or move, they have plenty of fans who will follow them wherever they go. 

“I’m an old-timer and have been associated with the teams for a long time,” Kennedy said. “Would it change my love for them? No. I’m partial to Missouri, and I would just like to see them stay here.”

House approval is still needed on the bill. The Senate will convene again on June 16. 

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Patrick Holleron

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — A recent study conducted by InGame found the Kansas City Chiefs rank second in the risk of fans purchasing counterfeit merchandise.

The study documented roughly half a million conversations from the last 12 months regarding fake NFL and knockoff products being sold.

“At the end of the day, we’re all part of Chiefs Kingdom,” Cheifs fan Colt Skouby said. “We all want to be fans. Not everyone can go afford that $30, $40 or $50 shirt or clothing. They see that mom and pop (stores) are making their t-shirts, they can go get for cheap and still support their fandom.”

Of the 28,442 conversations from Chiefs fans, 15% of them were found to be negative.

The only team with a higher risk based on the study was the Philadelphia Eagles, who had 41,660 conversations and 38% being negative.

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Associated Press

By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri senators on Thursday approved a plan to provide over $100 million in aid for tornado-ravaged St. Louis and authorized hundreds of millions of dollars worth of incentives to try to persuade the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to continue playing in Missouri in new or improved stadiums.

Lawmakers are acting with urgency in a special session because the professional sports teams face an end of June deadline to accept a competing offer from Kansas while residents in St. Louis are struggling to recover from May storms that caused an estimated $1.6 billion of damage.

The aid measures advanced in a series of early morning votes only after Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe struck a deal with some holdouts that included more disaster relief money and the potential for property tax breaks for some homeowners facing rising tax bills. The package also contains funding for building projects around the state, including $50 million for a nuclear research reactor used for cancer treatments at the University of Missouri.

Though House approval is still needed, the Senate vote marked a major hurdle, because the stadium incentives stalled there last month. Tornadoes struck St. Louis and other parts of Missouri on May 16, a day after lawmakers wrapped up work in their regular session.

In addition to the $100 million for St. Louis disaster relief, the package authorizes $25 million for emergency housing assistance and a $5,000 income tax deduction to offset insurance policy deductibles for people in any area included in a request for a presidential disaster declaration.

Kehoe said the plan would “help those in crisis, while also making smart decisions that secure opportunity for the future.â€

The future of the Chiefs and Royals has been up in the air for a while.

The teams currently play professional football and baseball in side-by-side stadiums in eastern Kansas City in Jackson County, Missouri, under leases that run until January 2031.

Jackson County voters last year turned down a sales tax extension that would have helped finance a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City and an $800 million renovation of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium.

That prompted Kansas lawmakers last year to authorize bonds for up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums in their state.

Missouri’s counterproposal would authorize bonds for up to 50% of the cost of stadium projects while also providing up to $50 million of tax credits to go with unspecified support from local governments.

While testifying Tuesday to a Senate committee, Chiefs lobbyist Rich AuBuchon described the Missouri offer as “legitimate†and “competitive.†If the Chiefs stay in Missouri, he said they likely would begin a $1.15 billion plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and upgrade the team’s practice facilities in either 2027 or 2028. It would take three years to complete.

AuBuchon pointed to other recent publicly financed stadium projects in Baltimore, New Orleans, Nashville and Buffalo, New York.

“Throughout the country states are funding stadiums. They are a big economic development. They are a big business,” AuBuchon said.

However, many economists contend public funding for stadiums isn’t worth it, because sports tend to divert discretionary spending away from other forms of entertainment rather than generate new income.

“What the teams are doing is playing Kansas and Missouri against each other,†said Patrick Tuohey, senior fellow at the Show-Me Institute, a free-market think tank whose St. Louis headquarters got hit by the tornado.

“When cities and states do this, they hollow out their tax base for the benefit of wealthy billionaire team owners … they lose the ability to provide public safety, basic services,†Tuohey said.

Royals lobbyist Jewell Patek said that even with the state incentives, a planned stadium district likely would need voter approval for local tax incentives in either Jackson or Clay counties, which couldn’t happen until later this year.

He made no guarantee the Royals would pick Missouri over Kansas, but Patek added: “We love the community, we love the state … we think this is a step in the right direction for the state of Missouri.â€

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