News

National Guard responding to flooding in St. Joseph

Gov. Jay Nixon says Missouri faces several more weeks of potential flooding along the Missouri River as high water pushes its way south and eastward across the state.

Nixon met with officials from the Missouri National Guard outside St. Joseph for a briefing Monday on the guard's response to the flooding. He said the floods were made worse by heavy overnight storms that dumped up to 4 inches of rain in some sections, swelling the river past major flood stage near St. Joseph.

Updated 11:39 a.m. with information that George Ryan was at his wife's side when she died.

The wife of imprisoned former Illinois Gov. George Ryan has died.

An attorney for the governor, Andrea Lyon, confirmed that Lura Lynn Ryan died Monday at a Kankakee hospital. She was 76, and had been diagnosed last year with incurable lung cancer. She'd been hospitalized since Friday and had been on a respirator.

The massive amount of water flowing south and east along the Missouri River will begin to flood portions of central Missouri this Independence Day holiday weekend.

The Missouri River at Jefferson City is forecast to rise by six feet and reach 29 feet as early as Thursday, just a foot shy of the top of the city's north levee.  Jim Kramper with the National Weather Service office in St. Louis expects the capital city's flood threat to remain at moderate.

The city of St. Louis says Lambert Airport and the municipal water division are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases.

The city's so-called greenhouse gas emissions inventory looks at 2005 data and will serve as the benchmark for improvements that are being made in the city of St. Louis. Catherine Werner, the city’s sustainability director, says this is the first time that they’ll measure the effects of their reduction efforts.

The Missouri Department of Transportation is again urging motorists to avoid eastbound Interstate 70 just north of downtown as crews continue emergency repair work on the highway.