Two of the mayor’s long-standing ideas will finally get their day in the sun. Mayor Ken Shearin for more than a year has wanted staggered elections for City Council members. He also wants to eliminate the automatic approval of the city manager’s annual budget proposal if the council can’t agree on a budget. After meeting with four members of the 1982 City Charter commission, Mr. Shearin plans to formally take his proposals to the rest of the council. If the council agrees, voters could approve the changes with a simple majority.

Gorilla politics just haven’t been the same since Richard Mastio left town in early 2001. In the previous eight years, Mr. Mastio stirred an irreverent and uproarious brew of activism from his downtown business, Mastio & Co. at 802 Francis St. He was an earlier version of Ken Shearin — then-business neighbors and still friends.

Local control of electricity moves another step away tomorrow, when Kansas City Power & Light officially takes over Aquila.
The city of St. Joseph was willing to spend $245 million in 2005 to grasp that local control of the electric utility, according to bid documents recently obtained by the News-Press through an open records request. It’s not known how the city’s bid compares to what KCP&L’s holding company, Great Plains Energy, will pay for the asset.

Only about six weeks remain before the former MeadWestvaco factory begins its new life as the Mitchell Park Plaza. The factory that formerly produced the Big Chief paper tablet shut down in late 2004. Developer Steve Foutch is close to completing the first of 258 loft apartments in the building, which he hopes also will include restaurants, a coffee shop and banquet hall. Mr. Foutch’s other notable St. Joseph project, Lofts@415, at Third and Jules streets Downtown, remains St. Joseph’s only large-scale, market-rate Downtown apartments.

It's down to 6 finalists in the search for St. Joseph Fire Chief

St. Joseph City Manager Vince Capell has announced the names of the six finalists to be the next fire chief, including three local candidates.

Here he is, in St. Joseph. A 20-year journey of street life and crack pipes delivered Billy Thomas here, looking for support, stability and, more than anything, a place to call home. Most times he walks the streets of Downtown and Midtown. To see him up close is to confront a rough black face with one eye off-track and deep scars on both arms from knife and bullet wounds. At 50, he said he’s been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. Yet his clothes, hats and jewelry are fresh and clean, and he’ll share a handshake and his life with a stranger who wants to listen.

Ellis Cross and “Friends” plan to try to repeal the city museum tax and sue the city if the City Council approves the proposed contract with St. Joseph Museums Inc.

Jack Brown’s face was bright red — a firefighter’s glow — during a massive Downtown fire in the hottest part of a late-June day. But he wore a full grin and watery eyes, knowing it would be his last big firefight. A medical technician checked his blood pressure as a precaution, and Mr. Brown was a cool 118-over-80. Mr. Brown retires Monday after 38 years as a St. Joseph firefighter, the past eight years as chief, and it’s no secret what he’ll miss most.

An old fight over St. Joseph plumbing licenses is being fought once again.