North Nodaway Alumni Reunion May 23rd

The North Nodaway R-VI Alumni Association will hold its annual Alumni Banquet on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. in the North Nodaway High School gymnasium. This year’s event will be especially meaningful as the Class of 1976 celebrates its 50-year reunion, and the North Nodaway community joins in recognizing the 250th anniversary of the United States.

All alumni and friends of North Nodaway and Hopkins High School are warmly invited to attend.

Tours of the school facilities will be available upon request.

Dinner tickets are $17 per person, with alumni paying an additional $2 in annual dues. Reservations and payments should be made payable to the NN R-VI Alumni Association.

Officers for the 2026 Alumni Association are: Carmen Larabee, President; Darla Thompson, Vice President; Joan Hemenway, Secretary; and Elaine Holste, Treasurer.

Reservations should be made by May 14, 2026. When reserving, please provide your graduation name (and current name), graduation year, mailing address, phone number, and email address.

To make reservations, contact one of the following:

Teresa DeMott – 660-582-1086

Sue Florea – 660-541-4108

Joyce Hennegin – 660-927-3682

Reservations and payments may also be mailed to:

Elaine Holste, Treasurer

PO Box 213

Hopkins, MO 64461

660-562-7867

 

Josh Allee Featured in Catholic Health World

Worth County grad Josh Allee was featured in Catholic Health World, a publication focusing on Catholic healthcare systems around the country. He is the SSM Health System Vice President of Formation and Spirituality.

Allee’s job is to help employees integrate what they have learned in school into the workplace, creating institutional knowledge of best practices.

SSM offers a wide range of formation programming, including training people with potential for leadership. Leadership training programming involves focusing on integrating spiritual practices into work life.

Allee also serves on the Catholic Health Association’s Ministry Formation Advisory Committee. The Catholic Health Association serves Catholic healthcare systems like SSM. He said in Catholic Health World that CHA resources have been important in his formation work at SSM.

SSM has around 55,000 employees and affiliated providers in 23 hospitals and at additional care sites across four states.

With the decline of vowed religious leaders throughout the church and the Catholic healthcare system, there has been a growing need for lay people like Allee to assume formation roles and transmit teachings to others with proper grounding.

He is the son of Ruby Allee and the late Doug Allee of Sheridan. He taught at Worth County and was an area basketball official at one point.

 

North Harrison Honor Roll for Third Quarter 2026

HIGH SCHOOL

High A Honor Roll — Lani Briggs, Addison Davis, Lane Graham, Jaxcynn Hansel, Lela Hartschen, Alonna Milligan, Andi Nail, Tate Richardson.

A Honor Roll — Morgan Chandler, Andrew Craig, Jensen Davis, Seth Davis, Gage Fortner, Henry Frank, Dustin Hamilton, Ethan Henson, Raegan Hogan, Kyler Kimbrough, Wyatt Maize, Addison Milligan, Annabelle Owens, Ava Rinehart, Stella Rinehart, Kayson Sims, Hali Smith, Rylee Valenti, Becca Welling, Gracie Young.

B Honor Roll — Quincy Akins, Emma Chandler, Kellan Craig, Ryker Fortner, Meric Hansel, Coulson Hartschen, Mason Hicks, Lance Jacobs, Zayne Kerr, Kadence Lambert, Kathryn Parkhurst, Cassoday Richardson.

JUNIOR HIGH

A Honor Roll — Anniston Dale, Draylee Davis, Hattie Hogan, Ana Ingsson, Eli Jacobs, Taryn Johnson, Tayley Johnson, Amelia Long, Quincy Norris, Carly Richardson, Matt Richardson, Kade Smith, Hayli Young.

B Honor Roll — Axel Barnhart, Scotty Briggs, Danny Casbeer, Sadie Edington, Charlie Frank, Myer Gibson, Fred Graham, Conner Hicks, McKenna Hill, Caleb Ingsson, Destinee Ochoa, Cotton Osborn, Coy Osborn, Sierra Renner, Karsyn Smith, Dayton Stevens, Hadley Williams.

 

 

Northwest to Create Center for Rural Health

Northwest Missouri State University President Dr. Lance Tatum on Thursday announced the institution is taking aim at filling a gap and helping to train Missouri’s next generation of healthcare workforce by establishing a Center for Rural Health.

Tatum presented tentative plans for the center to Northwest’s Board of Regents during a Thursday morning work session, speaking to a vision he has held since arriving at the University in 2023.

“The University recognizes a critical opportunity to address growing healthcare workforce needs across rural Missouri and the surrounding region,” Tatum said. “With strong student interest and increasing community demand, Northwest is advancing plans to expand our allied health programs and strengthen our industry partnerships, helping us to ensure that rural communities have the healthcare professionals and leadership necessary for a healthier future.”

The Center for Rural Health at Northwest will serve as an interdisciplinary hub dedicated to training healthcare professionals and improving health in rural and underserved communities through academic innovation and program delivery. It also will serve as a resource to foster collaboration across disciplines and champion avenues for research.

“Part of our mission is to be good partners to the communities we serve in northwest Missouri,” Tatum said. “There are countless opportunities how this institution – through its facilities, through its level of talent and expertise, and just through its involvement – can serve Nodaway County, Maryville, and the broader region and state.”

Emphasizing the high need for nurses, Tatum pointed to data collected by the Missouri Hospital Association that shows the northwest Missouri region possesses a nursing vacancy rate of 12.1 percent while the state average is 10.1 percent. The University’s geographic location positions it well to be a nursing provider, not just in Missouri but to neighboring states also. 

Further, Northwest has admitted more than 2,100 pre-nursing students since 2019. Those students, however, can only complete general education and prerequisite nursing courses at the University before they must transfer to another institution to complete a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

That convergence of interest and need creates the opportunity for Northwest to be a leader in healthcare fields while developing a strong workforce pipeline, innovative academic pathways and strengthened industry partnerships. A new four-year nursing program at Northwest will anchor the center, Tatum said, utilizing the expert faculty and resources it already possesses with its accredited RN-BSN and MSN program offerings.

Northwest could launch the center as soon as 2027.

“The workforce needs of northwest Missouri related to healthcare are real, and they are staring us directly in the face,” Tatum said. “Our vision is based on an opportunity we see through increased demand in existing programs that we already offer at Northwest.”

 

Opinion -- Sen. Hawley Accuses Fertilizer Companies of Price Gouging

Christopher Bohn, President and Chief Executive Officer, CF Industries Holdings Inc., 2375 Waterview Drive Northbrook, IL 60062

Dear Mr. Bohn: I write regarding the sudden increase in fertilizer prices for American farmers over the last two weeks. The timing and extent of these increases are striking. I trust your company is not engaged in price gouging or otherwise manipulating market conditions for profit. There have, of course, been recent disruptions to the global fertilizer market due to the Iranian conflict overseas, including bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz. But the price run-ups American farmers are facing far outpace any disruption from recent events.

To be more specific, the percentage of U.S. fertilizer supply affected by issues in the Hormuz Strait appears to be minimal compared to the sudden change in prices.

Urea fertilizer prices in the U.S. surged from roughly $516 per metric ton to as high as $683 over the last twelve days. That is a 32 percent increase. Trade reporting likewise indicates that ammonia and other nitrogen fertilizers have risen sharply in recent days.

American farmers cannot absorb another price shock. The current record retail nitrogen pricing, for example, could cripple American corn production. And farmers have already endured historic run-ups in fertilizer prices in 2021 and 2022. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that fertilizer prices rose more than 60% in 2021 alone, including a 95% increase for nitrogen and an increase of more than 70% for potash.

These latest price hikes are especially troubling because the fertilizer industry is highly concentrated. Public reporting indicates that a small group of firms dominates the domestic market for nitrogen, phosphate, and potash. There are now also public reports that the Department of Justice has been investigating whether leading fertilizer producers coordinated to raise prices.

American farmers should not be forced to bankroll opportunistic pricing under cover of an overseas crisis. If your company is using this conflict as a pretext to raise prices beyond what market conditions justify, Congress will not ignore it. Accordingly, please answer the following questions no later than March 27, 2026:

1. Since February 28, 2026, how has your company changed prices for urea, ammonia, phosphate, and any other fertilizer products sold in the United States for spring application? Identify each price change by date, product, geography, and percentage increase.

2. For each such price change, identify with specificity the cost increases that allegedly justified it, including feedstock, freight, insurance, storage, financing, and other inputs.

3. Since February 28, 2022, has your company reduced output, delayed shipments, limited allocations, withdrawn quotes, or otherwise restricted supply to U.S. wholesalers, retailers, or farmers? If so, explain why.

4. What inventories of finished fertilizer products did your company hold on February 28, 2026, and what inventories does it hold today, broken down by product and location?

5. What portion of your company’s current U.S. sales is supplied from inventory or production that was already in place before the outbreak of the Iran conflict?

6. Since February 28, 2026, has your company communicated with any competitor regarding prices, production, inventory, allocations, capacity, market conditions, customer terms, or timing of announcements? If so, identify all such communications, the participants, and the subjects discussed.

7. Since January 1, 2025, has your company used any pricing formula, pricing committee, internal strategy document, or market-monitoring process that references competitor pricing, “price leadership,” parallel pricing, supply discipline, or similar concepts? If so, describe each.

8. Since January 1, 2025, has your company issued any litigation hold, document-preservation notice, or internal directive relating to fertilizer pricing, output, allocations, antitrust, or communications with competitors? If so, state when and why.

9. What were your company’s quarterly gross margins and operating margins for each principal fertilizer product in 2024, 2025, and year-to-date 2026? 10. Does your company commit that it will not use the present conflict as a pretext for unjustified price increases, coordinated conduct, or artificial supply constraints in the U.S. market? If not, why not?

Please also preserve all documents and communications, including texts, chats, and messaging applications, concerning fertilizer pricing, production, inventory, capacity, allocations, freight, and communications with competitors from January 1, 2025, to present. American farmers deserve fair dealing, not exploitation.

 

Sincerely,

Josh Hawley

US Senator

 

Donations Sought for Psalm 100 Ministries

Donations are sought for Psalm 100 Ministries, run by Josh and Chelsea Kollitz. Over the last three years, they have performed charitable work for Worth County, including:

—Providing help for school trips;

—Clearing over $1,000 in overdue lunch accounts;

—Providing meals for Summer School 2025; they are planning on doing it again in 2026;

—Home cooked meals for those in need;

—Thanksgiving and Christmas meals; they plan to add Easter as well;

—Built and donated props to the Worth County Theater Department;

—Purchased more than 100 books for Parents as Teachers;

—Helped sponsor the Worth County Musical;

—Collected instruments, cleaned them out, and repaired them and lent them out to students;

—Provided voice lessons and group work to students and choir programs free of charge.

They do not take government funding because most programs require 1:1 funding. Most private foundations won’t fund it because it is too far away.

All donated funds go straight into its programs. The administration does not get paid; all work is done by volunteers.

 

Troy Clapham 1966-2026

Troy Brian Clapham, age 59, Grant City, Missouri died Wednesday March 11, 2026 at his home in Grant City.

Troy was born July 29, 1966 in Chillicothe, Missouri.  His parents were Billy Conrad Clapham and Toni Claphan Pickering.

Troy attended high school in Kansas City, Missouri.

Troy was a true handyman and enjoyed working at many different things.  He spent many hours tearing down and rebuilding small engines.

He was preceded in death by his father Billy Clapham and a brother Ryan Clapham.

His survivors include one son Blaken (Amber) Clapham, Sedalia, Missouri, five grandchildren Jesse Greathouse, Mannae Campbell, Mattison, Blakelynn and Kylar Clapham, and a brother Tyler Clapham. Lee’s Summit, Missouri, two sisters Kerri (Todd) Gibson, Eagleville, Missouri and Courtney Clapham, Lee’s Summit, his mother Toni Pickering, Grant City. And a host of other friends and loved ones.

Troy’s body has been cremated under the care of the Hann Funeral Home, Grant City.  A private family memorial service will be held at a later date.  Inurnment will be in the Grant City Cemetery.

Memorials may be given to the American Cancer Society in Troy’s name.

Arrangements:  Hann Funeral Home, Grant City     andrewshannfuneralhome.com