Sounds of Summer returns to St. Joseph tonight with a slight change. 

 The concert series will be held every third Friday of the month May through October, rather than every Friday night. 

 Organizer David Peppard says the previous format put a lot of stress on the volunteers who put the concerts together. 

 "In the old format we pretty much did, oh probably, three shows before the Fourth of July weekend we'd take the Fourth of July off and then we'd do maybe four shows or even five shows after," Peppard tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. 

 Peppard says organizers found the unrelenting schedule made it difficult for the volunteers during the hottest months of summer. 

 "It was week after week after week after week after week and the same volunteers doing the same hard work week after week after week and sometimes in 90- and 95-degree weather, it really took a toll," Peppard says. 

 Organizer Christie George points out Sounds of Summer continued throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but it wasn’t easy. 

 "But we felt like we could still, it would be a good thing to support downtown and bring people downtown outside safely, there was still plenty of room to social distance," George explains. "But we're hoping this year that we'll be better and bigger than ever and a lot of that stress from COVID is easing down." 

 The Downtown Association helps put on Sounds of Summer at Felix Street Square and all money raised goes towards improvements to the park. 

 George with the Downtown Association, says concert-goers will see a new tent in Felix Street Square. 

 “So now there's a new structure that's beautiful and fun to be under," George says. 

 David Peppard adds the tent is aesthetically much nicer and also more functional 

 "Kind of a cover that helps provide some shade, it's more permanent than what we had with the old frame and tent that was kind of deteriorating over time," Peppard says.&nbsp; "We dedicated it to a couple of downtown business folks that we unfortunately lost during COVID,"&nbsp;

 Sounds of Summer kicks off at 6:30 tonight at Coleman Hawkins Park in Felix Street Square in downtown St. Joseph. 

Downtown summer concert series returns to St. Joseph tonight

The United Nations is talking with Russia about the possibility of opening up Ukraine’s Black Sea ports for grain shipments to get exported. 

Ukraine is one of the largest grain producers in the world and usually exports goods through its seaports. 

However, Russia controls the Black Sea ports, which has forced Ukraine to export by train or through its smaller ports along the Danube River. 

Reuters says that Russia responded to the U.N. appeal by saying that sanctions on Russia would have to get reviewed if it were to allow the ports to reopen. U.N. Food Chief David Beasley appealed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “If you have any heart at all, please open these ports.” 

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister says the sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and EU are interfering with normal free trade, including food products like wheat, fertilizers, and many other goods.

U.N. wants Ukraine’s ports opened for grain shipments

Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow and Ranking Member John Boozman led a bipartisan group of senators who introduced legislation to address baby formula shortages. 

The bill is aimed at helping families who rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). 

The Access to Baby Formula Act has a companion bill in the House. 

It would give USDA more flexibility during a crisis like the shortages currently facing the country. The flexibility would ensure that the brand or type of formula families can buy isn’t restricted by program rules, allowing families to purchase whatever is available in the store. 

Formula manufacturers would be required to have a plan in place to respond to shortages. “This is an extremely stressful time for parents who are looking high and low for baby formula,” Stabenow says. “Almost half of all babies born in the U.S. rely on the WIC program.”

Senate legislation to address baby formula shortage    

Nutrien says it is evaluating a site in Louisiana as the place to build the world’s biggest clean ammonia facility. 

The new plant would leverage low-cost natural gas, tidewater access to world markets, and high-quality carbon capture and sequestration infrastructure at its existing facility in Geismar, Louisiana. 

The goal would be to serve the growing demand in agriculture, industrial, and emerging energy markets. 

“Our commitment to developing and using both low-carbon and clean ammonia is prominent in our strategy to provide solutions that will help meet the world’s decarbonization goals while sustainably addressing global food insecurity,” says Ken Seitz, Nutrien’s Interim President and CEO. 

The plant will have an annual production capacity of 1.2 million metric tons of clean ammonia and capture at least 90 percent of its carbon emissions. That means the new facility will be able to permanently sequester more than 1.8 million metric tons of carbon in dedicated geological storage every year.

Nutrien to build world’s largest clean ammonia plant in Louisiana

House lawmakers Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat, and Anthony Gonzalez, An Ohio Republican, introduced the American Food Supply Chain Resiliency Act this week. 

The bipartisan legislation seeks to strengthen supply chains across the agriculture industry and lower food costs for consumers. 

The bill would establish Supply Chain Regional Resource Centers through cooperative agreements with the Department of Agriculture. 

The centers would offer locally tailored coordination, technical assistance, and grants — leading to more resilient, diverse, and connected supply chains. USDA recently announced its intention through the Agricultural Marketing Service to create Regional Food Business Centers. 

The Spanberger-Gonzalez legislation would codify the centers, renaming them Supply Chain Regional Resource Centers. Under their legislation, these Centers would support supply chain coordination in their region, fund technical assistance providers to offer guidance to food businesses and farms, and provide small grants to entities looking to expand or start their operations in a certain region.

Spanberger, Gonzalez, introduce American Food Supply Chain Resiliency Act

A new University of Illinois study explores potential policy solutions to reduce nitrogen loss while still protecting farmers’ bottom lines. 

Federal and state governments have shied away from regulating nitrogen fertilizer use, but voluntary and incentives-based programs have not been particularly successful, according to the researchers. 

University of Illinois assistant professor Nicolas Martin says, “We want to generate discussions on such policies, rather than provide definitive answers on which policy will be the best.” 

The first policy would modify price ratios, imposing a tax on nitrogen at a set ratio relative to the corn price. The second policy would charge farmers a fee for excess nitrogen leaching from fields above baseline levels. 

The third would subtract nitrogen removed in grain at harvest from nitrogen applied as fertilizer and would charge a fee for the balance. The final policy reflected a voluntary nitrogen reduction program like current programs in the Midwest. Among the four policies, the nitrogen leaching fee showed the best outcome.

Proposed fertilizer policies could protect farmer profits, environment

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Wednesday condemned the Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022, approved by the House Agriculture Committee. 

NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane says the legislation was rushed through the legislative process “without consideration of the confusing bureaucratic mess it would create.” 

The special investigator bill would create a new position in the Department of Agriculture with prosecutorial and subpoena power. 

The North American Meat Institute agrees in a statement, adding, “USDA and the Department of Justice already have the authorities this bill would grant making this expansion of government bureaucracy.” 

However, National Farmers Union says the bill would increase enforcement of competition laws and boost USDA’s resources to investigate abusive market practices. 

NFU President Rob Larew says, “Greater enforcement of competition laws by USDA will better ensure America’s independent family farmers and ranchers have a chance to succeed in today's marketplace, now dominated by monopolies.”

NCBA condemns meat and poultry Special Investigator Act

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds Tuesday signed into law some of the most comprehensive state biofuels legislation in the nation. 

The legislation is expected to boost the sale of higher blends of biodiesel through an incentive-based approach. 

Among other things, the bill increases a Biodiesel Production Tax Credit from two to four cents per gallon while updating the state’s Renewable Fuel Infrastructure Program to increase access to higher blends of biofuels. 

Clean Fuels CEO Donnell Rehagen says, “Iowa joins the ranks of Illinois, Minnesota and others with some of the most forwarding-thinking legislation that values the production and use of biodiesel.” 

The legislation also would provide access to E15 statewide by 2026 and update the E15 promotion tax credit to $0.09 per gallon year-round through 2025. Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor applauded the bill’s passage, saying the bill “offers drivers across Iowa the opportunity to not only save money at the pump but to make a simple change for the environment.”

Iowa Governor signs biofuels legislation into law

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow called on the Department of Agriculture Tuesday to address the infant formula shortage for those relying on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children program. 

The Michigan Democrat says, "Millions of Americans rely on the WIC program to get baby formula for their children, so the current shortages are extremely concerning for parents across our country." 

USDA is providing WIC families with the flexibility to use their benefits to buy different types of formula products. Senator Stabenow requested more information from USDA on its use of these and other flexibilities and opportunities for additional action to support WIC families. 

Meanwhile, Abbott, the company whose infant formula plant is shut down, has agreed to enter a consent decree with the Food and Drug Administration. The decree is an agreement between FDA and Abbott on the steps necessary to resume production and maintain the facility.

Stabenow calls on USDA to address effects of baby formula shortage for WIC families

Cargill Tuesday announced plans to build a new soybean processing facility in Southeast Missouri. 

The facility will have an annual production capacity of 62 million bushels of soybeans. 

Cargill anticipates breaking ground on the project early next year with plans to be operational in 2026. 

The new facility will add approximately 45 full-time positions to the region when complete. With its location on the Mississippi River, the facility will operate year-round and provide farmers opportunity to take advantage of increased domestic demand versus relying solely on seasonal exports. 

Missouri Soybeans CEO and Executive Director Gary Wheeler says, “Missouri Soybeans is very pleased with the new build of a soybean crush facility in Pemiscot County and the direct impact it will bring to our farmers in Southeast Missouri.” 

Cargill has had a presence in Missouri since 1936 and currently operates across 11 locations in the state and employs nearly 1,200 people.

Cargill announces plans to build new soybean plant in Southeast Missouri

A group of Senators urges the Department of Agriculture to address "extremely high levels of corporate concentration" in the infant formula marketplace.&nbsp;&nbsp;The request comes as infant formula shortages are occurring nationwide. 

Senate Democrats Tammy Duckworth, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar say, “The infant formula industry has reached an alarming level of corporate concentration with four companies–Abbott Nutrition, Mead Johnson, Gerber, and Perrigo–controlling nearly 90 percent of the infant formula market.” 

The lawmakers say the concentration creates a serious risk to infant health if there is any disruption to a major manufacturer’s supply. Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged states to adopt flexibilities to support families. 

Vilsack says, “USDA will continue the work we started in February, working not only within our department, but across the federal government, suppliers and partners to end this infant formula crisis as quickly as possible.” The flexibilities are included in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

Lawmakers urge USDA to address infant formula shortages

On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times host Gary Shorman speaks with Symphony in the Flint Hills’ operations manager Kelly Tastove.

🎤Forward Ever: Symphony in the Flint Hills’ manager Kelly Tastove

Two men exchanged gunfire at the intersection of 16th
and Lafayette Streets, but no one was wounded in the shooting.

St. Joseph police report officers responded to the area shortly
before 11 o’clock Thursday night. Police say a driver fired a couple of shots
at a man walking on a sidewalk, who returned fire.

Gunfire exchange in St. Joseph, no one wounded

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced that 
interest rates will increase for the calendar quarter beginning July 1, 
2022. The rates will be:

Under the Internal Revenue Code, the rate of interest is 
determined on a quarterly basis. For taxpayers other than corporations, 
the overpayment and underpayment rate is the federal short-term rate 
plus three percentage points.

Generally, in the case of a corporation, the underpayment rate is the
 federal short-term rate plus three percentage points, and the 
overpayment rate is the federal short-term rate plus two percentage 
points. The rate for large corporate underpayments is the federal 
short-term rate plus five percentage points. The rate on the portion of a
 corporate overpayment of tax exceeding $10,000 for a taxable period is 
the federal short-term rate plus one-half (0.5) of a percentage point.

The interest rates announced today are computed from the federal 
short-term rate determined during April 2022 to take effect May 1, 2022,
 based on daily compounding.

<a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-22-11.pdf">Revenue Ruling 2022-11</a>&nbsp;announcing the rates of interest, is attached and will appear in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2022-23, dated June 6, 2022.

IRS interest rates increase for the third quarter of 2022

BUCHANAN COUNTY—A Missouri woman was injured in an accident just before 9:30p.m. Thursday in Buchanan County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2018 Nissan Rogue driven by Faith E. Thompson, 21, Smithville, was northbound on U.S. 169 at Southeast Delwood Drive three miles south of St. Joseph.

The vehicle struck a deer. A private vehicle transported Thompson to Mosaic Life Care. She was properly restrained, according to the MSHP.

Missouri woman injured after SUV strikes a deer

KANSAS CITY (AP) —In the five months that Jennifer Anne Hall was a respiratory therapist at Hedrick Medical Center, the rural Missouri hospital experienced 18 “code blue” incidents — an alarming increase in sudden cardiac arrest events for a hospital that historically averaged one of them a year, according to a police investigator.

Nine of those patients died, and nine recovered. Twenty years later, Hall was charged this month with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-franco-missouri-e1b5b5d9b9341349bc921776c169c1ab">first-degree murder</a>&nbsp;in one of the deaths — that of 75-year-old Fern Franco.

Livingston County Prosecuting Attorney Adam Warren, who launched an investigation 10 years ago, said Franco died of lethal doses of succinylcholine — a relaxant that paralyzes the respiratory muscles — and the pain reliever morphine. The prosecutor did not disclose a possible motive or say why the investigation took a decade.

Hall's attorney, Matt O’Connor, said she is innocent and that as a respiratory therapist, she didn’t have access to succinylcholine, morphine or any other drugs. He said Hall became a scapegoat for the deaths at Hedrick because of an arson conviction that she was cleared of in 2005.

It’s unclear if Hall will face additional murder charges in the 2002 deaths at Hedrick. Warren declined interview requests, and Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox did not respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.

Franco's granddaughter, Aprille Franco hopes investigators get to the bottom of the other deaths.

“Just for the other families’ sake," Franco, 44, of Kansas City, Missouri, said. "They’ve been waiting 20 years for answers. It’s up to my grandma’s case to find answers for them."

Hall, 41, is jailed without bond. O'Connor said he will seek bond so Hall can get chemotherapy treatment for leukemia.

She began working at Hedrick in December 2001. The small hospital is in Chillicothe, a town of 9,100 residents 90 miles northeast of Kansas City.

A probable cause statement from Chillicothe Officer Brian Schmidt said that during Hall’s brief time at Hedrick, sudden cardiac collapse incidents — code blues — “rose alarmingly.”

Hospital officials were alerted to the concerns about Hall but “did everything in the world to cover it up” to avoid bad publicity, said Scott Lindley, the county coroner. No criminal investigation was launched at the time.

A wrongful-death lawsuit naming the hospital and the company that now operates it, St. Luke's Health System, was filed in 2010 on behalf of relatives of five patients who died. The Missouri Supreme Court tossed the lawsuit in 2019, ruling it was filed after the statute of limitations had run out.

St. Luke's Health System noted in a statement that it took over operation of Hedrick more than a year after the deaths.

“We, too, are only interested in the truth, and look forward to a final resolution of the investigation,” the statement read.

Warren, who was elected prosecutor in 2010,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lawsuits-missouri-eb1f83b41c6749218dc02ecad99a295a">opened the investigation in 2012</a>, saying he didn’t believe that a “thorough investigation has ever been completed.”

The deaths involved people of varying ages and levels of health.

World War II veteran Charles O'Hara, 88, was admitted for evaluation of a high temperatures, vomiting and agitation on Feb. 2, 2002, and died two days later. Retired conservation agent Coval Gann was 82.

But David Harper was just 37. He had been hospitalized with pneumonia, but the lawsuit said he was so much better that he was about to be discharged. He died on March 20, 2002.

Similarly, 49-year-old Shirley Eller was a day away from going home after being treated for pneumonia when she collapsed and died on March 9, 2002.

The lawsuit said Eller's death was attributed to “natural causes,” the same as the others who died. Eller's sister, Helen Pittman, found that puzzling. Eller smoked but was otherwise healthy and active.

“It was a shock,” Pittman said. “It just seems really suspicious. Shirley was doing good.”

Franco also had been hospitalized with pneumonia. Hall and another staff member identified only as “J.A.” in the probable cause statement found her dead on May 18, 2002.

“Hall’s vicim was a sick, defenseless, elderly woman who was depending on Hall to care for physical ailment within a medical facility,” Schmidt wrote. He said the succinylcholine caused a “ghastly death from suffocation” while Franco was fully conscious.

Hall was placed on administrative leave three days after Franco's death and the code blue incidents “returned to historical frequency,” Schmidt's report stated.

Hall was fired months later, but not because of the patient deaths. O'Connor said she was fired after hospital officials learned she had been convicted of an arson fire at another small Missouri hospital, Cass Regional Medical Center in Harrisonville, where she previously worked. She was free on appeal when she took the job in Chillicothe and later spent a year behind bars before being acquitted at a retrial.

O’Connor called it unfathomable that Hall would again be singled out for a crime she didn’t commit.

“To go through it once is terrible,” O’Connor said. “To go through it twice is a recurring nightmare.”

He said Hall’s proximity to the patients shouldn’t be unexpected since it’s a small hospital with a small staff.

Twenty years after the death of her younger sister, Pittman, 79, wasn't ready to pass judgment, but she does want investigators to keep looking into Shirley Eller's death.

“It’s hard for me to believe people can be that mean," Pittman said. "But I guess they can.”

20 years after hospital deaths, ex-worker accused

ATCHISON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a Kansas man wanted on multiple charges in Missouri.

On Wednesday, police arrested 25-year-old Alexzander S. Green of Atchison, on a Boone County Missouri warrant, according to Police Chief Mike Wilson.

He is being held without bond for alleged terroristic threat, felony harassment and endangering the welfare of a child.

Police arrested Green on May 4 for failure to appear, according to online jail records. Police released no additional details.

Kan. man accused of terroristic threat in Missouri

The St. Joseph School District's Vision Forward Committee held its final meeting of the 2021-22 school year Tuesday at Benton High School, and the discussion focused around the district's buildings and facilities.

Vision Forward co-chair Bob Miller says one of the main issues right now with the district's buildings is age.

"Over a third of our current buildings are over 80 years old," Miller told St. Joseph Post. "Nine of our 25 buildings were built before 1940."

One of the top priorities for the district is getting middle school curriculum aligned. Two of St. Joseph's middle schools educate sixth through eighth graders, while the other two educate only seventh and eighth graders.

"Getting (the middle schools) lined up really forces the facility question," he said. "We don't have a third middle school that can house sixth graders. So, we have to figure out what we're going to do. That's either building another middle school or repurposing one of the high schools if we go in a different direction with the high schools."

Miller says another priority is creating a better feeder system within the district.

"For instance, Carden Park (Elementary) gets divided up into three different middle schools," he explained. "There's only a handful of elementary schools that actually feed straight into a middle school, straight into a high school. Those kids who have relationships aren't able, currently, to track through their schooling experience with the same group of kids."

With middle school football now coming to the district this fall, Miller says that raises some facility questions, as none of the middle schools currently have football fields.

"Repurposing some of our current high schools to being middle schools that would have the athletic facilities needed to give middle school students the opportunity to participate," Miller said. "That was kind of one train of thought on feedback we got."

Voters rejected a $107 million bond issue last April which would have converted the American Family Insurance regional headquarters into a second high school and refurbished Central High School. Under that proposal, Benton and Lafayette would have been turned into middle schools.

Miller says there is consensus that some new school buildings are likely needed, but no plans on that have been finalized.

"It's not difficult to look at some of these things and see we need to make some changes," he said. "We just can't continue with this. I think there was a lot of consensus, and you heard a lot of the same top three priorities related to facilities moving forward. About 75-80 percent of people named the same three things."

Vision Forward plans to meet with the public at least once more this fall before putting action items before the board in December. District leadership is also meeting with a consulting firm this summer to look at data and input that's been gathered.

With five meetings this school year, and hundreds of people attending these meetings, Miller is hopeful that the district is getting an accurate picture of what St. Joseph School District families want from their schools.

"If we missed the public sentiment, it's not for a lack of trying," Miller stated. "Having five different sessions in different parts of town and also having the option for people to listen online."

You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Final SJSD Vision Forward meeting of the school year focuses on facilities, buildings

Missouri lawmakers approved a record $48 billion state budget
this legislative session, a budget swollen by a huge influx of federal
coronavirus relief and stimulus money.

Senate Appropriations Committee chair, Sen. Dan Hegeman of
Cosby, says while the budget contained money for big, capital improvement
projects and major programs, it also included $100 million to repair and
upgrade rural roads.

“This is a bell I’ve been ringing for some time, the need to address
the deplorable shape of our rural roads, our lettered routes, our farm-to-market
roads, our low-volume roads, couch it however you want,” Hegeman tells KFEQ/St.
Joseph Post. “We have a great need of addressing the degradation of our roads.”

Hegeman says the budget contains a good number of high-profile
projects and programs, but it also funds what he says are the “not real
exciting” projects.

“Putting in a water system, putting in a sewer system, that’s
not real exciting, but it’s basic function of what government does,” Hegeman
says. “It’s what makes our lives better on an individual, daily basis.”

Maybe not as exciting as breaking ground on new buildings and
other ribbon-cutting, capital improvement projects, but just as important,
according to Hegeman.

“Those are pretty exciting things, but it is the
infrastructure needs, getting broadband out there, it’s things we take for granted,
but they’re so important to our daily lives.”

Hegeman says the budget process went better than he expected.
He credits the work of budget leaders in both the Senate and House as well as
the cooperation of Gov. Mike Parson. While more than a $1 billion in federal
funds helped a great deal, Hegeman says the state budget also benefitted from a
strong state economy. Hegeman says the big numbers in this budget could have
caused a big rift in the legislature.

“I had great worries that this would be an overwhelming
project or an overwhelming task this year, due to the large amount of dollars
and it was very trying along the way, but I was actually very surprised at how
smoothly it went,” according to Hegeman.

The budget bills await the signature of Gov. Parson, who can
cross out some spending through the power of line-item veto.

Missouri state budget contains big projects, but also needed, less exciting, investments

ATCHISON COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary at a home in Atchison.

Sometime between 5p.m. May 16 and 10a.m. May 18, a suspect took items from a storage building in the 1600 block Main Street in Atchison, according to Police Chief Mike Wilson.

Forced entry was made through a door and the suspect took a 2007 SunL Super Moto 250 dirt bike. It is blue and white and valued at $1,500,&nbsp; two Mercury 25 horsepower boat motors valued at $800 each and a wooden entertainment center value $400.

Police investigating burglary of storage building in Atchison

A Ukrainian agricultural education organizer is touring the
United States, raising money to rebuild rural villages ravaged by the war.

Roman Grynyshyn has worked with his partners throughout the
West to create the fundraising project:&nbsp;
World to Rebuild Rural Ukraine.

“We are trying to replace what was ruthlessly damaged or stolen
from the least protected stratum of rural society,” Grynyshyn tells host Barry
Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.

Grynyshyn says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been
devastating to rural Ukraine and its farms, cutting off agricultural production
and preventing grain shipments. While the war rages and ruins much of his home
country, Grynyshyn expresses confidence in the ultimate outcome.

“And there is not doubt that we will win,” Grynyshyn says. “The
only thing is how long will it take us to return to this beauty as it was
before.”

Grynyshyn says he has been impressed and encouraged by the
reception he has received while touring the United States, especially with the
reception he receives from cities with ties to agriculture such as St. Joseph.

Grynshyn spoke to the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce while in
town. He has been speaking to several groups in the United States, making
addresses to groups in Washington, D.C., Ohio State University, Michigan State
University, the University of Nebraska, among others. He is speaking to Missouri
and Kansas groups now before traveling to the state of Washington.

Grynyshyn has been coordinating tours and conferences for Ukrainian
farmers the past 13 years. He had a conference set up for Costa Rica in late
February, but as he prepared to leave the next day, the bombs started falling.
Over the next two days, February 23rd and 24th, he
gathered friends and family to flee the country. Grynyshyn says his large
contingent waited for 34 hours to cross over into Poland, eventually taking
refuge at a friend’s farm in Germany.

Then began the speaking tour in the United States.

Grynyshyn is also keeping those he speaks with abreast of the
latest news from the war front.

“My information that I’m getting is not coming from some sources
of media that can be biased or something like that,” Grynyshyn says. “I talk to
the actual farmers, to actual agricultural business representatives and they
say what they see, almost first hand.”

Grynyshyn charges that the Russian army has been ruthless in
devastating rural Ukraine, both to intimidate Ukrainians and destroy the
country’s agricultural industry.

Grynyshyn says many with ties to both Ukraine and Russia never
suspected Russia would follow through with its threats against Ukraine.

“I had a lot of clients, Russian speaking clients, who said
Roman, come on, they will never attack. They are our comrades,” Grynshyn says “And
when the war started, I called them. They were literally speechless.”

Grynyshyn says a saying by his father doesn’t seem as humorous
as it once did.

“My father always told me you need to learn as a priority two
subjects at school. First, is the military, to be able to shoot, to know how to
shoot and second is history, to know who to shoot.”

Despite the devastation of the war, Grynyshyn remains
optimistic Ukraine will prevail.

Click <a href="https://www.wrru.org/">here</a> for the World to Rebuild Rural Ukraine website.

Ukrainian farmer tours US, raising money to rebuild rural villages devastated by war

The first day of the MSHSAA State Track and Field meet from Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City was completed Friday with multiple area athletes medaling in field events and many more qualifying for finals in running events Saturday.

The top eight placers in each event receive medals, while the top eight placers in prelims qualify for finals.

Running event finals and a number of field events are set to take place Saturday. Field events start Saturday at 9:30, with running events starting at 11.

Girls' triple jump Jaci Jorgensen - St. Joseph Christian - 8th (33 feet-3 inches)

Girls' 100 meter dash prelims Mara Mitchell - Union Star - 7th (12.97 seconds)

Girls' 200 meter dash prelims Mara Mitchell - Union Star - 7th (26.65 seconds)

Girls' 400 meter dash prelims Gracie Henshaw - DeKalb - 5th (1:01.19)

Girls' 1600 meter run Jaclyn Riedinger - North Andrew - 2nd (5:34.24)

Girls' 4x100 meter relay prelims Victoria Swank, Clare Staley, Kaylee Roberts, Hailey Wright - King City - 4th (52 seconds)

Girls' 4x200 meter relay prelims Sadie Runde, Letah Angle, Marli Hilton, Amelia Wallace - Stanberry - 1st (1:48.20- school record) Victoria Swank, Clare Staley, Kaylee Roberts, Hailey Wright - King City - 4th (1:50.11)

Girls' 4x400 meter relay prelims Letah Angle, Lexi Craig, Marli Hilton, Sadie Runde - Stanberry - 6th (4:24.68)

Boys' long jump Landon Wells - King City - 7th (20 feet-4.25 inches)

Boys' high jump Levi Hittle - King City - 3rd (6 feet)

Boys' shot put Austin Colvin - Stanberry - 2nd (51 feet-11.25 inches) Hayden Elfritis - South Holt - 3rd (51 feet-8.5 inches)

Boys' 200 meter dash prelims Ben Messner - Stanberry - 6th (23.24 seconds)

Boys' 400 meter dash prelims Dawson Fast - West Nodaway - 4th (52.67 seconds)

Boys' 3200 meter run Riley Blay - West Nodaway - 1st (9:47.21)

Boys' 4x100 meter relay prelims Corbin Taylor, Ty Mooney, Landon Wells, Parker Muff - King City - 1st (43.93 seconds - a new meet record)

Boys' 4x200 meter relay prelims Corbin Taylor, Ty Mooney, Ron Pulliam, Parker Muff - King City - 2nd (1:32.29)

Boys' 4x400 meter relay prelims Colby McQuinn, Ben Messner, Brayden Hahn, Tyler Schwebach - Stanberry - 7th (3:38.39)

Boys' 4x800 relay Colby McQuinn, Decker Heyde, Brayden Hahn, Tyler Schwebach - Stanberry - 5th (8:43.86)

Boys' 100 meter dash prelims Ty Mooney - King City - 4th (11.24 seconds)

Girls' long jump Emma Klein - East Buchanan - 2nd (17 feet-3.5 inches) - She went from 5th to 2nd place in her final jump. It's her second time finishing second in the event and her fifth career state medal.

Girls' pole vault Mirabella Redman - Maysville - 4th (9 feet-10 inches)

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