Author: News-Press NOW

Carter Ostermiller

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — A St. Joseph resident was able to bring home $10K shortly after the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce announced its winning Shop St. Joe numbers.

The shopping program began on Nov. 12 and had a grand prize worth of $10,000 as well as a $2,500 prize, with other small business prizes given out from select merchants.

Almost immediately after the numbers were announced, participants called to claim their prizes.

Grand Prize Winner Jackie Miller got the winning ticket from Narrative Home & Boutique while shopping on a Sunday. 

Miller found out in her living room that she had the winning ticket number: 1956933, and couldn’t believe she won.

“Oh, all-out happy dance in my living room. And just very excited. I couldn’t believe it,” said Miller.

Miller felt really sentimental about the program due to her parents owning a small business.

The longtime resident plans to give back to a local charity and to her kids for Christmas with the money she won.

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Prajukta Ghosh

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV)– The St. Joseph School District recently came together with committee members to review the mid-year data report, using the opportunity not only to examine student progress but also to celebrate the dedication and hard work of educators. 

Assistant Superintendent of Academics and Education Services, Stacia Studer, said, while the data reflects positive progress, it also highlights several areas where growth opportunities remain.

“It is important to have coaching conversations at the next level for both our students and teachers here in the district,” Studer added.  

Studer said having meaningful coaching conversations at the next level is essential for supporting both students and teachers across the district. 

“I am so proud of the work they are doing in their classes. The student agency piece is such an important key piece, including student conversations so they know how they are doing in these assessments,” Studer said.  

The committee met on Thursday, Dec. 18, to take a deeper and more comprehensive look at student outcome data, particularly from predictive assessments from across the district.

These assessments play a critical role in helping educators gauge progress and determine whether classroom proficiency goals are being met. 

Studer said empowering students to take ownership of their learning allows them to set personal academic goals and hold themselves to high standards.  

She emphasized the district’s commitment to reaching the 45% goal and said the team is prepared to work harder than ever to achieve it. 

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Patrick Holleron

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — A local robotics program is giving kids the chance to explore their creativity and develop valuable skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The St. Joe Circuit Breakers are bringing robotics and engineering to the forefront with hands-on experience designing, building and programming advanced technology.

The club is made up of kids who are both homeschooled and those attending public schools in the St. Joseph area. Younger students up to 6th grade can participate in Lego-based challenges while older participants in grades 7 through 12 participate in FIRST Robotics Competitions.

Robotics club member Kendrick Conrad takes a wheel off the robot during a class on Tuesday in St. Joseph.

“With competitions, they’re a bit stressful because we have to make sure our robot is working properly,” club member Kendrick Conard said. “During competitions, if something breaks we usually have a back part ready and if we don’t, we find a way to get around it.”

Students are often tasked with building highly-sophisticated robots capable of autonomously carrying out tasks like launching a ball, picking up an object or moving an item to another location.

The tasks require students to develop unique and valuable roles as they strengthen teamwork and learn how to problem solve in real-time, particularly if something on the robot must be changed or altered. The St. Joe Circuit Breakers first got their start in 2017, back when few if any robotics clubs existed in the city.

Jeff Cox, a local parent and systems architect, opted to start the club after noticing a growing interest in robotics from his son and other kids in the area.

Over time, Cox discovered how rewarding it was to help younger generations find their passion in robotics and engineering-based activities, highly-coveted skills that can help them in their long-term futures.

A high-tech robot created by members of the St. Joseph Circuit Breakers is shown on Tuesday in St. Joseph.

“The club started out as an activity. I was doing it for my kids. I’ve discovered it’s a lot of fun to watch the moments when kids maybe have an interest, but they don’t really understand it,” Cox said. “One of the things FIRST Robotics works hard at is helping kids take basic engineering principles, design principles, electrical principles and understand them. Not just in an academic sense, but how it plays out in a real world scenario. These kids are going to go on to college someday with a step up on their peers because they will have not only learned about this in the classroom, but in real life.”

The club has grown considerably since its founding, with the program now seeing its second iteration of kids coming through successfully.

One of the current members of the club is Jeff’s daughter Naomi, a junior in high school. She credits her interest in robotics to watching her dad and brother compete in competitions in her youth.

“I was actually too young to participate when the club initially started. For one year I would just watch everything they (brother and dad) did,” Naomi said. “There were even showcases where they would present on stage and I would stay behind to work the robot and tell people about it. Now being able to be in competitions with my dad is really cool because we’ll go home after practices and talk about the problems and what we can do to make the club better.”

Members of the St. Joe Circuit Breakers practicing with the robot built for FIRST Robotics Competitions.

With several club members set to graduate high school next year, many have great appreciation for the opportunities the St. Joe Circuit Breakers have provided as they prepare to embark on their college careers.

“A lot of the tasks involve identifying what the problem is, because nine times out of ten, it’s easy to look at a problem and think, ‘Oh we’re just missing X, Y, and Z,'” club member and 12th grade student Mary Rose said. “But a lot of the time it’s either we have it and we’re just misidentifying the problem or we have something very similar that we can adjust very slightly. These are skills I will carry with me as I had to college next Fall. I’m probably going into a related field where they will apply.”

The St. Joe Circuit Breakers meet every Tuesday and Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. More information on the club can be found by visiting their Facebook page.

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Carter Ostermiller

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — St. Joseph community members were able to shop for Christmas gifts for their families during the Salvation Army’s Toy Shop Distribution Days.

The distribution days took place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 17 and Dec. 18 at 602 Messanie St. The program gives back to the local St. Joseph community with unwrapped gifts for Christmas.

Inside the Salvation Army’s gymnasium was a room filled with toys and clothes.

Social Services Director Emily Bravo has been a part of the program for three years and said Distribution Day is one of her favorite programs to be involved in. 

“We love seeing, you know, families come in and get to choose what they want for their children, and get excited about seeing certain toys or, you know, different clothes or shoes they want to get,” said Bravo.

According to Bravo, around 200 to 250 toys have been given out through the program in 2025, which have helped 40 families this Christmas season.

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Danielle Bailey

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — United Way Success By 6 is inviting educators and early care providers to a training session focused on supporting and understanding autistic learners.

The program, “Seeing Strength, Shaping Supports: Autism-Informed Teaching for Every Learner,” held from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at Wyatt Park Christian Church Fellowship Hall, is intended for early care and education providers, but is open to any interested community members.

A United Way banner hangs on a wall inside the United Way of Greater St. Joseph’s office.

For more information and to register, visit stjosephunitedway.org/earlyeducators or call United Way of Greater St. Joseph at 816-364-2381. Community Action Partnership Head Start and Wyatt Park Christian Church helped make the event possible.

United Way Success By 6 is a community-based movement of public and private partners includingbusiness, government, labor, education, child care and parents working together to prepare childrento be successful learners when they begin kindergarten.

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TaMya Bracy

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — Second Harvest provided food to the community for the Holidays through its annual Holiday Express program Thursday morning.

The food provided chicken, squash, onions, eggs, potatoes and pork loin, and will serve approximately 400 people through the program.

Samantha Davis, a St. Joseph School District college and career readiness and family services coordinator, said the event is a great opportunity to give back to the community.

“So all families ensure that they have proper nutrition and all their services over break,” Davis said.

Davis said there’s a lot of uncertainty with families now about where their next meal will come from.

“Just a lot of people needing that extra assistance, especially during the holidays with lots of things going on,” she said. “It just feels really good that we could partner with Second Harvest to kinda help some of those people who are just uncertain where their next meal will come from.”

Davis said she looks forward to this event every year.

“Just an opportunity to give back to St. Joseph and just help those families who are maybe having those food insecurities, and to help them provide a happy holiday,” she said. “I’m just so thankful for Second Harvest, their continued partnership with the community.”

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Cameron Montemayor

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Evergy crews worked throughout the afternoon Thursday to restore power for thousands of residents impacted by outages, likely a result of strong wind gusts impacting the region.

At one point Thursday afternoon, a little more than 2,700 customers in the St. Joseph area were without power according to an outage map from Evergy.

Four outages were initially listed around 1:30 p.m. Thursday, cutting power for approximately 2,767 customers across large areas near Downtown, Frederick Avenue, U.S. 59 Highway and U.S. 36 Highway, among others areas.

By 2 p.m., around 750 customers were without power. The number would eventually fall to less than 25 by 2:30 p.m. and fewer than five by 6 p.m. that evening.

Outages were likely the result of strong wind gusts impacting the area and large parts of the United States. In states like Colorado and Washington, hurricane force wind gusts around 120 mph were reported according to national media outlets.

A wind advisory was in effect until 9 p.m. Thursday for St. Joseph and portions of east central and northeast Kansas and north, central, northwest and west central Missouri, bringing wind gusts up to 50 mph.

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Danielle Bailey

OSBORN, Mo. — The Shatto family is bringing the North Pole to Missouri as part of an old-fashioned Holiday Bash this Saturday.

Guests can enjoy intimate farm tours, music and entertainment, ice cream drinks, egg nogs and holiday activities for all ages this weekend.

The event is free and open to the public. It will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Shatto Farm, 9406 North Highway 33 in Osborn, Missouri.

Photo opportunities with calves or a vintage truck will be available as well. Guests also have the chance to shop for unique gifts from local makers and farms.

Visitors can earn free gifts with qualifying purchases (while supplies last), as well as door prize entries. One day only pricing will also apply to products.

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Cameron Montemayor

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — A new storage facility for MoWest’s state-of-the-art Houlne Center will don the name of one family long known for its dedication to the community.

Missouri Western State University announced the completion of its new 10,000-square-foot storage building Thursday located next to its new Houlne Center for Convergent Technology opened last November, an advanced center designed to prepare students for careers in manufacturing, construction and engineering.

Now, the university is renaming the new building in honor of one St. Joseph family long known for entrepreneurship and philanthropy, renaming it the “Thevenot Family Building” in recognition of their support for the Houlne Center and promoting careers in manufacturing.

The family recently provided a generous contribution to the university in support of the effort. The new storage building will be used to house equipment not currently in use, as well as raw materials, and vehicles associated with the Center, helping free up space for more programming.

“The Thevenot Family Building makes the Houlne Center even more flexible, allowing our staff to have even more state-of-the-art equipment and materials on hand while keeping the main building free for education and training,” said Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy, MoWest president, in a news release.

The family is well known for its ownership of Perka Buildings, a manufacturer and distributor of steel frames and building structures for use in a variety of industries, from agriculture to other commercial activities.

The Thevenot family’s involvement in St. Joseph spans more than two decades, including volunteer work with South Side nonprofit organizations like the South Side Business Development Board and South Side Rotary Club to work with the United Way of Greater St. Joseph and Performing Arts Association.

“It means the world to our family to support a place dedicated to curiosity, learning, and hands-on innovation,” Martial Thevenot said in a news release.

Thevenot hopes the new building serves as a strong and steady home for equipment and resources to aid and support the next generation of builders. Thevenot is set to begin serving his first term on the Missouri Western State University Foundation Board of Directors.

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News-Press NOW

By: Darren Doyle

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — The Missouri Department of Transportation held a public meeting to discuss the expedited bridge replacement project for the Gene Field Road ridge over Interstate 29.  

The project was originally slated to begin in August 2026; however, an oversized load struck the girder underneath the bridge, which supports the concrete for the structure. The department decided to escalate the plan.

MoDOT officials said the bridge sees an estimated 6,000 cars per day, and were worried that the pressure of heavy vehicles would have caused more structural issues. 

Along with this being a busy bridge, Transportation Project Designer for MoDOT, Timothy Minor, shared that the bridge closure is causing traffic issues at other intersections near Frederick Avenue and Cook Road. 

The new bridge, once completed, will have decorative liners and feature sidewalks that connect to nearby walking pathways.

Drivers and walkers can also expect the bridge to be wider. The current bridge is 22 feet wide and is expected to be around 26 feet wide once the project is completed.

The project is in the letting process for contractor bidding. Once the project is awarded, construction can begin on Jan. 16.

MoDOT said the new bridge is expected to be completed by July 2026. 

Traffic on I-29 will be closed for a 24-hour-period over a weekend, which is expected to be determined at a later date. MoDOT said drivers should expect rolling closures beneath the bridge while new beams are being set. 

During closures, through traffic will be directed to I-229. 

MoDOT said updated information can be found on the project’s website.

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