News Staff

Medical marijuana booming in the statet. $200 million dollars worth of medical pot has been sold in Missouri in 14 months.

And, more than 158-thousand patients are in the program. It can be used by people with cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma and a number of other conditions.

Missouri could have a law similar to the one in Texas that bans most abortions.

Republican state representative Mary Elizabeth Coleman has introduced legislation that would prohibit abortions once a heart-beat is detected. And, like the Texas law, it would allow private citizens to sue abortion clinics and doctors who violate the regulations.

The legislature goes into session next month, and right now, there are at least 17 bills that would restrict abortions that are already filed.

Good news for doing business with the DMV in Kirksville. The License Office will open here in a month or so. Doug Glaske and his wife Cheri selected by the state to run the office which closed back in November when the previous operator closed after years in business.

Kirksville city council wraps up business for the year at a meeting this evening. One big item on the agenda will be approval of the city budget for 2022. It’s a 41-million dollar spending plan.

Council will also recognize Cheryl McMann for her retirement after 14 and a half years with the city finance department.

The battle over wearing a mask in Missouri schools is heating up and the state treasurer is playing hard ball on the issue.

Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick says he will not help school districts refinance their bond debt if they force kids to wear masks. This move comes as state Attorney General Eric Schmitt has threatened to sue schools and local health departments that require masks. As of Friday, Schmitt’s office has sent 52 cease-and-desist letters to districts where parents have reported forced masking.

Add 20 more cases of Covid-19 to the current count in Adair county. 20 new cases reported Thursday. The youngest, a two year old boy. Eight of the newly reported cases are in the local schools. And four of the people diagnosed were vaccinated.

There is an adult-vaccination clinic next Tuesday at the health departmentt.

Meantime…a medical advisory group is recommending that you NOT get the Johnson & Johnson shot because of serious blood clots that have happened. They suggest that most Americans should get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, after nine deaths from the J&J shot.

The CDC will decide whether to go along with the recommendation

Armed and dangerous. That’s how Kirksville Police describe 25 year old Austin Triplet. He’s wanted on drug charges and for unlawful used of a weapon. You can see pictures of Triplet on the department’s Facebook page. He is white, 6′ 3″, weighs about 200 pounds. He has a tattoo on the outside corner of his right eye that looks like a semi-colon.

If you know his whereabouts…call police.

In Platte county, a man has been convicted of killing four of his family members – including an infant. The murders happened back in 2016.

30-year-old Grayden Denham was convicted by a jury for killing his elderly grandparents, his sister and her 3 month old son — then setting the house on fire after the murders. Denham was found two days after the bodies were discovered in Arizona. He was walking around naked when arrested.

He will get life without parole when sentenced early next year.

You can help tornado victims from this week’s devastating twisters in Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. The Kirksville Moose lodge is taking donations of bottled water, nonperishable food and personal hygiene items. You can drop off items at the Moose Lodge Thursday and Friday from 5-8 in the evening and on Saturday — all day — from 11am to 9pm.

A Marceline volunteer firefighter honored Tuesday for rescuing a woman from a car last year that was sinking in the river.

Last September, firefighter Levi Kelly saw a car run off the road and land in the Chariton river on U.S. 36. The driver, Stephanie Bressan, had fallen asleep . As her vehicle was sinking, Kelly swam and rescued her — just before the car went completely under.