■ Juli Hand, Jefferson County’s new Municipal Court judge, took a winding path from growing up on a small farm in southern Minnesota to becoming an attorney and then a judge. Hand, 59, of the De Soto area assumed her duties as the county Municipal Court Judge on Feb. 1. She will be paid $50,000 a year as the Municipal Court judge, which is essentially a part-time job. The court hears traffic offenses, code violations, animal control issues, peace disturbance cases and some criminal matters, easing the caseload for the rest of the judges in the county’s 23rd Judicial Circuit. See Steve Taylor’s story.
■ The state Attorney General’s Office lawsuit against Jefferson County Councilwoman Renee Reuter alleging violations of the Sunshine Law, the open meetings and records law, has been settled, with the county admitting no wrongdoing. However, the matter of who will pay more than $92,000 in legal bills rolled up by Reuter and her fellow council members to defend them from the suit filed in January 2018 by former Attorney General (now U.S. Sen.) Josh Hawley is far from resolved. “There has been no action (to pay the bills),” County Executive Dennis Gannon said. “We’ve been in negotiations to try to resolve the situation. I know the County Council is working on it. They’re trying to work through the pieces.” See Steve Taylor’s story.
■ The Grandview R-2 School District will switch from a five-day to a four-day school week – Tuesdays through Fridays – for the 2019-2020 school year. Grandview will be the first district in Jefferson County to go to a four-day per week schedule, school officials said. They said the move is designed to keep Grandview teachers from leaving for better-paying jobs at other districts. The district informed parents about the switch in a letter published on the Grandview website. According to that letter, the district will add five minutes to each school day next year, moving the start time on Tuesdays through Fridays from 7:40 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. See Kevin Carbery’s story.
■ Laboratory-positive influenza cases spiked upward the week of Feb. 10-16 in Jefferson County, and two more flu-related deaths occurred. During that week, the county Health Department received reports of 315 new flu cases, bringing the total to 1,128 cases for the 2018-2019 flu season, which began in October and will end in May. Feb. 10-16 was the worst week so far this season, topping 195 cases in the prior week and 184 cases the week before that. There have now been four flu-related deaths reported for the season. See Katelyn Mary Skaggs’ story.
■ The congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, is looking at the possibility of selling off a part of its Liguori property, including Liguori Publications, said a spokesman for the Catholic religious order. Liguori Publications is headquartered on a 135-acre tract of land west of I-55 in the Barnhart area. The press has been operating there since 1947, publishing the Catholic magazine, “The Liguorian,” as well as books, pamphlets and parish bulletins. See Kevin Carbery’s story.
■ Buddy Russell has entered the race for Hillsboro mayor as a write-in candidate, the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office has confirmed. Election day is April 2. He joins former Hillsboro Mayor Dennis K. Bradley and Marcy D. Wokurka, whose names will appear on the ballot, in the race for a two-year term. Candidate filing to be included on the ballot for the April election ended Jan. 15. However, Missouri state statutes allow those who file a “declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate” to do so up to the second Friday immediately preceding an election. In this case, the last day to declare as a write-in candidate is March 22. See Kevin Carbery’s story.
■ Byrnes Mill Police Chief Frank T. Selvaggio, who took over the job late last year, said he quickly discovered a lot of problems in the department, including a lack of rules for the evidence room and police officers in general. Selvaggio took over as chief in October, and one of the first changes he made was to close and lock the evidence room, which contained drugs and weapons that were not packaged and labeled correctly, as well as a rape kit without a case number to identify it. Selvaggio said the old evidence room will open again once an audit is complete and a new procedure for handling evidence is put in place. See Katelyn Mary Skaggs’ story.
■ Peggy Bess’ column takes a position on abstaining. She votes “nay.” See letters from several Seckman High students on the Opinions page.
■ Sports editor Russell Korando recaps some big accomplishments and some big games in local hoops action.
*** Do we all realize we’re just a couple of weeks away from daylight saving time? Winter, begone.