News Staff

The average price of gas around Kirksville is $3.09 a gallon. President Biden is releasing oil from America’s emergency stockpile — hoping that will bring down gas prices — which are at least $1.30 a gallon higher than this time last year. The president’s popularity has gone down…as gas prices…and other prices have gone up.

A new city engineer for Kirksville.

Adam Dorrell gets the job, replacing Len Kollars who retired. Dorrell has been with a local engineering firm, and he has 20 years of experience. The city engineer manages a wide range of projects from roads to wastewater and other aspects of the city’s infrastructure.

The Missouri Police Chiefs Association is asking for changes to a law that says Missouri cops cannot enforce federal gun laws. A letter from the chiefs said that the state law makes it harder to fight crime. The law was enacted in case the Biden Adminstration put restrictions on private citizes owning guns. The police group says lawmakers need to make clear that police can be involved enforcing some federal gun laws…but doesn’t seem likely lawmakers will make any changes anytime soon.

An audit of Sullivan county government is concluded. State Auditor Nicole Galloway gives the county a grade of “fair”. That’s a step up from the last audit of Sullivan county which was rated as “poor” back in 2017. The auditor says improvement is still needed in several county offices. For example, keeping track of funds in the prosecutor’s office. The report says the prosecutor has also been slow sending out restitution payments to crime victims. Other deficiencies in county spending were also found that the auditor says needs to be corrected

Most employees of the University of Missouri System will have to be fully vaccinated against covid by Jan 4th. The system is obeying President Biden’s order that says all federal contractors have to be vaccinated. The university system has about 76 million dollars worth of federal contracts. Students are not affect by the order — unless they also work for the university.

Stealing from Walmart in Kirksville.

20 year old Nathaniel Evans is accused of stealing more than $700 in merchandise from Walmart. Police got a description of the car he left in and recognized it from a prior encounter. Evans was arrested at a home on West Elizabeth where police recovered the stolen items. Evans a criminal background with prior theft and shoplifting charges.

The license office in Kirksville may open again. The state says four bidders have filed to run the business. The state will look over all of the proposals though it’s not clear how long that will take. Meantime…you’ll have to go to other towns to do business with the DMV

Covid count: The Adair County Health Department reorts 13 new cases of covid since Tuesday. So, that means f7 active cases at the moment. The new cases include a five year old girl and a 94 year old woman. A 13 year old boy also with the virus. As you plan your holiday travel, the health department recommends not going to areas that have high infection rates.

Kids ages 5-to-11 can get the covid vaccine today from 3 to 5:30 at the Adair county health department. Call to reserve a spot. All participants will get a $50 gift card for both the first dose and second dose

An uptick in covid-cases in Adair county. 43 active cases reported last Friday and about 63% of new cases in the past week are people 30 and younger. Yesterday, another 16 cases added — the youngest, a 17 year old girl. Five of the 16 cases — or 30% — are in people who have taken the vaccine.

St. Louis County has also seen an increase in covid cases — with a jump of more than 40% in a week. So the county is back above the federal government’s “high” threshold for cases of the virus. The county administrator says the increase in cases there may have come from Halloween parties.

Boil the water. That’s the word for some residents in Novinger who live west of Highway 149 and who use city water. The order in effect until 6 o’clock Wednesday evening.

And Moberly also has a boil advisory in effect until 6 o’clock Wednesday evening. The area impacted is Riley Trailer Park – Highway JJ. Before using water…it should be boiled 3 minutes.