Author: News-Press NOW

Cameron Montemayor

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Downtown pedestrians will see heavy construction now underway in front of City Hall as part of a transformation for a well-known civic structure.

The large stone fountain and retaining wall located north of City Hall is being entirely removed and reconstructed as part of a $190,655 Parks Tax-funded project.

Drivers and pedestrians passing Downtown will see much of the previous fountain now demolished as crews begin regrading the site for improved visibility and pedestrian safety. The new fountain structure will be lowered to improve line-of-sight issues for drivers on Frederick and Faraon streets.

A sign informs pedestrians and residents about the ongoing $190,000 project to replace and remodel the fountain by City Hall.

Demolition included all of the brick, stone and concrete materials by the fountain, including the large concrete retaining wall. Once the site is regraded, a new fountain and circular patio area will be installed with benches. The well-known wheel and wagon statue will be reinstalled as part of the new layout.

The project also includes the construction of a new sidewalk and installation of decorative landscape rocks, in addition to grass being replanted around the concrete fountain structure.

The entire project is in line to be complete by spring of 2026.

City Hall is shown on Monday as construction continues out front to replace the fountain structure.

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Carter Ostermiller

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — Looking up in the sky on Saturday, St. Joseph residents may have noticed a special piece of aircraft.

Piloting an F-18 Hornet fighter jet, Lieutenant Commander Kory Hughs, a St. Joseph native, has now retired from the Navy.

Hughs planned to do a special fly-in before the weekend, but was delayed by the government shutdown.

Now, Hughs was able to fly the F-18 one final time into Rosencrans Memorial Airport and receive a warm welcome from his family and local supporters. 

Hughs landed first on Friday and showed off the F-18 while giving a jet tour to locals with his co-pilot, Gary.

“It means a lot, right, growing up in St. Joe, Savannah, all the teachers, all that in a small town having somebody be able to fly one of these aircraft and then bring it back to a town that usually you only see up during airshows,” said Hughs.

Hughs, now 41 years old, says he’ll miss being able to fly his fighter jet, but is looking forward to what retirement has to offer with his family.

“It’s a high-demand environment to be on all that finally not have to get stationed somewhere else. To be able to give back to my family and work with them and see the kids is really the number one goal,” he said.

Hughs’ planned flight for Saturday was personal.

“We’re going to do a pass over Meierhoffer, which is where a lot of my family to include my mom, my dad, my grandparents, have been buried….So we’ll do a flight over that,” said Hughs.

The flight also has a waypoint to visit a friend who had a heart surgery, as well as a fly-by pre-game for Hughs’ Alma Mater, Missouri Western State University.

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News-Press NOW

By: Zac Scott

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — The City of St. Joseph wants to bring holiday festivities to every corner of Downtown St. Joseph to get the community in the holiday spirit.

Starting Saturday, Nov. 29, Downtown St. Joseph will feature free carriage rides, festive window displays, a pop-up village and the Downtown Lighting Ceremony. 

On Saturday, Dec. 6, kids will receive free fire truck rides and pictures with Buddy the Elf, along with participating in a hunt to find a Roaming Snowman. 

On Saturday, Dec. 13, the Grinch comes to St. Joseph and will be available for pictures. Kids will get free train rides along with holiday hayrides and Krampusnacht.

Ending Saturday, Dec. 20, Santa’s Petting Zoo will be offering free picture opportunities, and the Pony Express will be taking holiday letters to the North Pole.

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News-Press NOW

By: Zac Scott

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce announced a new Economic Development Summit for St. Joseph businesses.

The summit will feature the Co-Founder of Armada Corporate Intelligence, Dr. Chris Kuehl, as a keynote speaker.

Chamber members can attend the summit for $40, while members of the public can attend for $60, which will include lunch.

The Summit will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at Missouri Western State University’s Fulkerson Center.

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TaMya Bracy

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — The City of St. Joseph hosted “Student in Government Day” at EmPowerU.

The event included St. Joseph students from five high schools and nine middle schools who participated in their own student councils.

Students were split into several large groups to talk about community concerns and brainstorm ways the city could be improved, even preparing presentations to share their ideas with city leaders.

Some of the topics the students showcased were: homelessness, reviving East Hills Mall and cleaning up the city.

Mike Schumacher, St. Joseph’s city manager, said the event helps the city hear from the youth in the area.

“So we want to hear from these students and we want to hear what they want to see in St. Joe and what direction they feel this community and the city and where the organization needs to go,” he said.

Schumacher said it feels fantastic to hear all the students’ concerns about the city.

“You know, it’s important that we engage every age bracket in the entire community for input and guidance on what they want to see from city government,” Schumacher said.

Anopa Chikunya, a freshman at Central High School, said seeking opinions from the youth demographic could increase the population.

“It’s important that the youth can say where they would want to live because if they didn’t like where they live when they graduate, what’s going to happen is that St. Joe, when everybody leaves,” she said.

Shae Davison, a junior at Lafayette High School, also shared the same sentiment.

“We want to make St. Joe a better place. Like when we have our kids and we’re like, later on in life, we want to come back and live here.

Schumacher said he wants to see more events like this in the future.

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Leah Rainwater

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — The City of St. Joseph announced Bluff View Drive between Southwest Lower Lake Road and Stockyards Expressway will be closed for Union Pacific railroad crossing work.

The announcement came in a Facebook post on Monday, where the City said the work would begin at 9 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 17.

A detour will be in place on Southwest Lower Lake Road to turn south on Industrial Road, then east on Alabama Street and back north to the Stockyards Expressway.

The closure is expected to last through the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 18 and is weather-permitting.

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Patrick Holleron

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — A wave of Benton High School supporters attended Monday’s school board meeting to show support amid the possibility of the school not being included in a two-high-school plan.

A decision on the future of St. Joseph’s high schools remains unclear after Monday’s crowded Board of Education meeting ended with officials scheduling a follow-up public hearing and special meeting for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. to allow for public discussion.

The decision to schedule a follow-up hearing — the latest development in a back-and-forth few weeks — comes after Benton students, family members and alumni packed the seats tonight.

In waves of red clothing and Cardinals attire, signs and dozens of Benton supporters — mostly students — made clear their thoughts on the plan. At one point, board members had to ask for interruptions to be minimized. The meeting did not allow for public comment.

The upcoming hearing on Wednesday will still consider Plan 2R — a modified Plan 2B for a two-high school model with Central and Lafayette, while also weighing the possibility of a modified version that includes Benton and Central as the two-high school model.

The intent of Wednesday’s special meeting is to make a decision on which long-range plan will be moving forward.

“It’s hard to make a decision. I’ve learned it’s even harder when you don’t,” Board President LaTonya Williams said. “I completely understand why other boards refused to make the tough decisions. If you look at the t-shirts of people (supporting their schools), you would understand.”

Prior to the meeting, Board President LaTonya Williams shared her thoughts on the many Benton supporters attending to advocate for their school.

“I expected them to come. I knew the gravity of what I was getting into when I was elected,” Williams said. “In all honesty, what I want for people to keep in mind is this has been an ongoing issue for decades. It’s a lot of years of other boards never making a decision. And it’s come to this. Things will not be corrected in one vote in one meeting or in one year.”

Wednesday’s meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m., with a location still to be determined.

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Cameron Montemayor

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The St. Joseph Housing Authority is focusing its efforts on a new housing project they hope will address key needs in affordable, workforce and senior housing.

With roughly 3.5 acres of land now ripe for housing development following the removal of more than a dozen blighted mobile homes across from their office at 2811 S. 36th St., SJHA is envisioning multiple possibilities as they put a team together to select a design firm and developer.

“We have the authority to build 30 new units within our budget allocation through HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development),” said Jeff Penland, executive director of SJHA. “We really want to partner with a developer that can come in and we feel we’ve got enough property and land available in this acquisition to maybe build 50 to 60 units.”

Roughly 3.5 acres of land is shown at 2811 S. 36th St. by the St. Joseph Housing Authority where a 30-unit housing project will be constructed. More than a dozen blighted mobile homes were previously located there.

He said while the immediate focus is developing 30 units for affordable housing, the larger vision is to do a combination of mixed housing development that provides options for other areas of need like workforce and senior housing.

A six-month timeline is expected for planning before SJHA establishes an official date for breaking ground. 

“We’ll design that keeping in mind all the additional phases down the road to develop additional housing sections,” Penland said. “Together we can also create some nice walkable green space between us and the surrounding community, like Walmart.”

SJHA hopes the project is the first of many as they expand their efforts to address growing needs for both housing availability and housing assistance. 

Troubling signs of housing needs in St. Joseph

The SJHA currently has a waiting list of around 400 people seeking housing assistance through their tenant voucher program, a HUD-funded program that offers critical housing assistance for hundreds of residents. 

Those who qualify are eligible to receive housing assistance based on 30% of their income, a fraction of overall housing costs, including rising prices for utilities.  

But the challenge SJHA often encounters now is even if someone qualifies for rental or housing assistance — for example just a one-bedroom property — a shortage of available housing means it could be months before they find a qualified place.

“We have an allocation of around 1000 tenant-based vouchers each year and we’re about 93% occupied. We have 40 approved vouchers on the street for people looking for housing,” Penland said. ”Sometimes that wait could be up to a year plus. We just don’t have enough to go around.”

An infill housing study commissioned last year by the City of St. Joseph and the Chamber of Commerce found significant gaps in properties for low, moderate and above moderate income homeowners, as well as a large number of properties in poor condition.

According to the study, the city has just 400 rental units to accommodate more than 15,000 households in St. Joseph that cite affordable rents as being between $1,100 and $1,700 for middle income.

“The biggest statistic that stands out is the lack of clean quality rental properties. Our community has a lot of rental properties compared to homeowners,” Penland said. “We have a lot of out-of-town owners that might not take care of their property.”

In light of the study, city officials, housing groups and economic development partners have drastically heightened efforts to attract new housing projects with the use of tax abatements, reimbursements and other tools to help compete with other municipalities for developers.

The issue has become one of the city’s top priorities, particularly as the risk grows for continued population decline in St. Joseph because of it. 

Penland and other SJHA officials, many of whom sit on other groups like the Housing Task Force as well, have taken increased steps to approach the issue from a variety of angles.  

“We’re trying to help people improve their situation, to become more self-sufficient and maybe eventually get somebody off of housing assistance,” Penland said. 

The agency launched a new community health director position last October, led by Donna Wilson, to do exactly that. 

Wilson works directly with tenants to learn about their situations, providing support and connecting them with resources to improve their quality of life if needed, from transportation and health-related assistance to grocery shopping, education and other services.

Additionally, Penland said SJHA is actively working on a new initiative that would offer transportation for doctor’s visits and grocery shopping for those in their public housing units.

“A lot of our 300-plus population here in Pleasant Heights public housing, the majority of them don’t have transportation,” he said.

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NPG Content Share

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ) — Missouri recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds are now getting their full benefits after the end of the federal shutdown, a spokesperson for a state agency said Monday.

Full payments have been processed, and households will receive their benefits per their normal distribution schedule, which is based on last name and birthdate, the spokesperson for the Department of Social Services said.

“DSS continues to oversee timely distribution to support Missourians and encourages recipients to monitor their balance by logging into their online ebtEDGE account or calling the number on the back of their card,” DSS spokesperson Baylee Watts wrote in an emailed statement.

Missouri SNAP recipients only had access to partial benefits before the full payments were processed because of the shutdown that started Oct. 1 and the legal wrangling around it. President Donald Trump signed legislation to fund the government last week, and the state began processing full payments.

More than 320,000 Missouri households use SNAP benefits, according to the Missouri Budget Project.

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By: Darren Doyle

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) — A Wisconsin Police Officer is on a Mental Health journey, after recovering from a critical incident in 2016, helping first responders to everyday people stop the stigma around talking about their issues.

Capt. Adam Meyers has been in Wisconsin law enforcement for 23 years. After having to use deadly force to prevent a suspect from harming others, the act alone brought many personal and professional challenges for Meyers.

Eventually, he found recovery and set out on a journey to not only help officers like himself talk about mental health, but also to help different demographics of people.

Courage and exposure have helped Meyers continue his recovery and help found his foundation, “Stop the Threat, Stop the Stigma.”

“It’s great for me to be able to speak so transparently about what I went through, because by sharing my experience, I hope to help others…By sharing my experience, it’s therapeutic for me,” Meyers shared. “I learned more about myself (through these talks), or I remember something that I went through that I hadn’t thought about for years.”

On his journey with his foundation, “Stop the Threat, Stop the Stigma,” Meyers has been able to talk on numerous podcasts around the globe while still serving his community.

For Meyers, talking to content creators or large audiences not only helps others but also himself.

“I figured I’ll just start sharing my experience and hope to help somebody, hope to reach somebody who’s struggling, or to help somebody who wants to reach out to help somebody else,” said Meyers. “No matter what profession you’re in, no matter if they were first responder, working another profession, unemployed, or on disability, the conversations that we had were great, because we can all relate to (mental health).”

Adams recently established a connection with those from the Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph. Glore hosts online talks called “Psychology Social Hour,” during which they bring in someone to speak about helping others with their mental health.

The Zoom talk may not be in person; however, Meyers loves the opportunity to expand his reach to more individuals who may need help.

“Some people say I’m too transparent, but I think that’s important. I think it’s important to really put it out there, so people who may be struggling, or people who know somebody who is, they can kind of grasp just a little bit, you know, of a better understanding of what they might be going through,” said Meyers.

Meyers also keeps followers updated on recent talks and opportunities through his website. There, he even shares his personal cell phone number, which he hopes will be a lifeline for anyone who needs it.

“I started speaking in 2019, three years after my critical incident, and it was all about inspiring others to speak about their mental health, to reach out to support each other, because there’s not enough of that going on,” said Meyers. “I know, and others know that many people are struggling with mental health, and just a simple act of kindness, just reaching out, just sending a text message saying, “Hey, buddy, I’m thinking about you”, (can go a long way).”

Meyers’ talk with Glore is at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 20 via the Zoom web app, which can be accessed by clicking the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84869413584. The museum appreciates RSVP’s to this event; attendees can do so by visiting www.stjosephmuseum.org/events.

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