Category: knpn-local-news

Chris Fortune

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — A local artist’s work is being featured in the St. Joseph Museums as part of the celebration leading up to Juneteenth. 

A gallery featuring the work of Afrocentric Artist T’Asia Coker can be found in the Black Archives section of the Museum. The 23-year-old law student at Missouri Western State University remembers when she started sketching at the age of 13. 

“I was at my house, and I was so bored I was like, ‘Okay, I’m just going to try to draw,’ and then I really got in to sketching,” Coker said.

Then she found what she truly loved. 

“I liked sketching, but I just really love being able to express myself through color with different skin tones, complexions and backgrounds,” Coker said.

The inspiration came from the hair salon her mom has owned for nearly 12 years. 

“I just watched her do the hair of the people in my community and I get a lot of inspiration from them,” she said.

T’Asia’s mother, Kristina Buchanan, owns Karamel Natural Hair Care at 1702 Olive St. in St. Joseph. T’Asia’s first color art piece is still hanging inside the shop.

“We just always thought that she was amazing,” Buchanan said. “Her progression speaks more, I think, to her work ethic, her determination to keep perfecting her craft to always be the best that she can be, and I’m in awe of my daughter.”

What starts as a concept in T’Asia’s head changes as she begins to work on a piece. She enjoys painting women in front of mystical backgrounds. 

“I’m a fantasy person to my core, so I like seeing art that depicts that,” Coker said.

The opportunity to showcase her art in the St. Joseph Museums came from a February event where her mother displayed her work. A Black Archives Committee member was in attendance and suggested her art be displayed in the museum. 

“My mom was buying picture frames and, you know, getting everything labeled,” Coker said. “It came together really nice.”

Coker’s work is on display now through Monday, June 30, to highlight Black artists and celebrate Juneteenth.

“I’ve been watching her just do great things anyway, so every painting is my favorite,” Buchanan said. “This is the beginning for her.”

A calendar featuring T’Asia’s work will be on sale in September, and it will feature perforated pages so the art can be detached and kept. Copies of the calendar can be purchased at Karamel Natural Hair Care.

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Kyle Schmidt

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Tennis players will soon have a fresh playing surface to enjoy at the Noyes Sports Complex courts.

Parks Director Jeff Atkins, with St. Joseph’s Parks and Recreation department, said this project will take roughly three to four weeks to finish.

“It’s a good rule of thumb, every five to seven years at the very best, you have to go in and repair small cracks in courts and resurface them,” Atkins said. “If you don’t, they will continue to disintegrate and then you’ve got bigger and more expensive problems.”

On top of resurfacing, new led lights will go up around the tennis and horseshoe courts. These will take longer to finish than the resurfacing project but the courts will be open while the lights are being worked on.

“We are going to reuse the posts on the tennis courts where they are so we won’t have to do any new trenching,” Atkins said. “They’ll run new wiring under the existing card or through the existing conduits but we don’t have to dig anything up.”

The new lighting will be cleaner and brighter, as well as cheaper. He said the new lighting burns a lot cheaper and will save money in the long haul.

The project is being funded by the parks tax fund and a $23,900 contribution from the St. Joseph School District.

When the courts are relined, no pickle ball lines will be added because of United States Tennis Association tournaments being played at the complex.

“We’re lucky enough to get to host USTA tournaments here, and part of their regulations are their courts have to be tennis court(s) only,” Atkins said. “You can’t have any other type of markings on the courts.”

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Crystal Olney

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Motorists will need to seek alternates routes as the Missouri Department of Transportation is set to close ramps on Route 36 as part of an ongoing project.

Multiple ramps along the eastbound and westbound lanes of Route 36 (U.S. Highway 36) in St. Joseph will close overnight starting on Monday, June 16, through Tuesday, June 17.

The following ramps in Buchanan County will be impacted:

Ramps to and from Riverside Road (Route AC) on June 16

Ramps to and from Interstate 29 on June 16

Ramps to and from the Belt Highway (U.S. Route 169) on June 17

Ramps to and from 28th Street and Hill Top Road on June 17

Ramps to and from 22nd Street on June 17

The closures will take place intermittently between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. All schedules are weather permitting and subject to change.

The work will be done by Vance Brothers Inc. working with MoDOT.

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Cameron Montemayor

MARYVILLE, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Maryville’s top administrator will officially remove the ‘interim’ from his title moving forward.

The city of Maryville announced Tuesday that City Councilmembers had unanimously approved the appointment of interim City Manager Ryan Heiland to the position fulltime, this coming after an executive session was held June 9.

Heiland has been with the city for the last 13 years and has served as interim city manager since March following the resignation of longtime city manager Greg McDanel, who accepted a city manager position in Seaside, California.

A graduate of Northwest Missouri State University with expertise in urban planning and municipal development, Heiland holds a Master of Public Administration with an emphasis in public policy from Drake University. He is also a certified planner.

Heiland began his career in local government in Phoenix, Arizona, before making the move to other communities in Arizona, Iowa and Missouri, acquiring a wealth of knowledge of municipal operations along the way.

“I’m honored to step into this role and thankful for the City Council’s support. Maryville is a great community, and I look forward to working with our team and residents to continue our momentum and enhance the quality of life for everyone,” Heiland said in a press release.

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Crystal Olney

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — There is still time to register for InterServ’s Miniature Golf Tournament happening this week.

The event starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 12, at Cool Crest Garden Golf, located at 1400 N. Belt Highway in St. Joseph.

Those interested in signing up will need to register in teams made up of four players. The cost per team is $120 and all age groups are welcome to participate, according to InterServ’s website.

The proceeds from the tournament will benefit the nonprofit’s programs for youth, families, seniors and individuals.

For more information about the event or to sign up with a team, visit faithfullyserving.org/events.

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Patrick Holleron

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — United Way of Greater St. Joseph and its donors are providing fans to people in need as the summer heat starts to take effect.

Residents will be able to start picking up fans at various locations across St. Joseph on Wednesday, June 11.

Anyone is able to get a fan from one of the local agencies. No proof of residency or form of identification is required in an effort to make the process as barrier free as possible, according to the United Way.

“We are limiting one fan per household, unless it’s a larger family, and then we can do one for every four family members,” said Social Services Director Emily Bravo at The Salvation Army.

For those in need, the following locations have fans available:

InterServ 5400 King Hill Ave.

The Salvation Army 602 Messanie St.

Northwest Missouri Community Services 1203 N. Sixth St.

United Way of Greater St. Joseph 118 S. Fifth St.

The fan giveaway is first come, first serve while supplies last.

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Jenna Wilson

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Juneteenth celebration events will kick off this weekend in St. Joseph, with a performance of ‘Our Town’ taking center stage.

The Juneteenth Celebration Committee is set to present a compelling production of Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town’ beginning Friday, June 13.

“This is the third play we’ve done for Juneteenth,” said Mike Wilson, a local director and playwright. “It’s a really interesting play because it uses a very minimalist stage — basically, a very bare stage.”

The play has been hailed as ‘the greatest American play ever written’ by renowned playwright Edward Albee. 

Set in a small town, the story follows a stage manager who guides the audience through the everyday lives of residents, traces a childhood friendship as it blossoms into marriage and reveals profound truths about the essence of life.

“The stage manager talks to the audience a lot and that’s not normal,” Wilson said. “Usually, actors don’t talk directly to the audience and she gives them a lot of facts and figures about the play.”

The production relies on pantomiming to tell the story through expressive bodily and facial movements rather than props.

“We don’t use any props, so when you see the women cooking breakfast, they’re doing it with no pots, no pans, nothing,” Wilson said. “It makes the audience use their imagination.”

Committee members prioritized assembling a mixed-race cast to mirror the Broadway revival of the play, which featured notable actors like Jim Parsons from ‘The Big Bang Theory’.

In honor of Juneteenth, community members are encouraged to attend the performance and reflect on this significant moment in history, commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people.

“This play has an interesting underlying message and that is, we don’t really appreciate life as we live it,” said Wilson. “It’s an important message and that’s one of the reasons it’s such an interesting play.”

The play will be performed at the Missouri Theater in Downtown St. Joseph at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 13, and Saturday, June 14, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 15. Tickets are $15.

To purchase tickets, visit https://www.stjosephmuseum.org/juneteenth and select the event.

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Crystal Olney

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — St. Joseph Transit switched to fixed routes only starting Tuesday, June 10.

With the implementation of fixed routes only, this means there will be no deviations and riders will have to walk to the nearest designated bus stop to be picked up.

While there will be no deviations from routes for pickups, arrangements can be made with drivers for drop-off deviations, according to a City of St. Joseph social media post.

Demand Response will still be available in the south end. Residents can call (816) 233-6700 for their ride.

This is a temporary change made by the city and officials hope to have point deviations pickups back in place soon.

For a list of bus routes, visit the city’s website at stjosephmo.gov.

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Crystal Olney

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Mosaic Life Care is now the official health care provider for the St. Joseph Goats Arena Football team.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Mosaic shared that it will provide physician coverage to all Goats players during home games at Civic Arena in St. Joseph.

“This partnership is a natural fit,†said Chief Administrative Officer Davin Turner, DO, in the social media post. “We’re excited to support the St. Joseph Goats as they bring high-energy sports entertainment to our community. Just as they’re dedicated to excellence on the field, we’re committed to providing exceptional care off the field.â€

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Chris Fortune

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — After a 24-hour delay, a Buchanan County contractor was able to take on the task of spraying weeds at Lake Contrary. 

A helicopter pilot sprayed Clearcast Aquatic Herbicide, an EPA-approved product, on more than 300 acres of land. High winds delayed the two-day project that was supposed to start on Monday and turned it into a one-day job on Tuesday. 

“I believe that he wanted a drone photo of it sometime last week just to kind of see where the green was and all that stuff because there are certain areas where certain types of vegetation need a little bit more (Clearcast),” Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Scott Nelson said.

A product overview on its website says the growth of sensitive plants will stop 24 hours after application. Nelson estimates that it will be six weeks before the aquatic herbicide kills the vegetation.

“I think this takes a little while for it just because it’s got to get absorbed, and then it’s got to move down the root stem to the root ball, and then it starts to work on the root ball,” he said. “I’m assuming that we’re going to see the color changes and that sort of thing.”

The Missouri Office of Administration told the Buchanan County commissioners last October that taking care of the lake was their responsibility once it dried up. Nelson said removing the weeds is primarily to remove fire hazards.

“This is the first step since we’ve been mandated by the state to maintain it,” Nelson said. “So this is what we’re doing to maintain it.”

Buchanan County received a permit from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources on Friday to allow weed spraying, but the county still has not received a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the lake.

“Other things have kind of crept up and overtaken it on the to-do list,” Nelson said. “The big one being the (juvenile) detention center.”

Nelson said the weed spraying on Tuesday is the largest effort to remove vegetation at Lake Contrary that he can think of. Now, the county commission will observe the results over the next couple of months.

“This is 300 acres that we want to get beat down and basically see how it does and then how long it lasts,” Nelson said.

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