Santa Fe Times News

The Missouri Department of Transportation will close eastbound and westbound Interstate 70 between Routes AA/ BB (Exit 24 in Grain Valley) and Routes F/H (Exit 28 in Oak Grove) on Saturday, Feb. 14 at approximately 9 p.m., for the demolition of the Lefholz Rd. bridge over I-70 at mile marker 26. Access to the bridge will also close on Saturday, Feb. 14 at approximately 9 p.m.

Sadie Limback of Alma, has been named to Sherman College of Chiropractic’s President’s List for the fall 2025 quarter. President’s List students have achieved a grade point average of 4.0 for the quarter.

Lafayette Regional Health Center has been recognized as one of America’s Best Hospitals for Emergency Care by the Women’s Choice Award.

To the Citizens of Lafayette County: As Presiding Commissioner, I would like to thank my fellow Commissioners, Monica Ritter (Northern District) and Michael Brown (Southern District) for their service to Lafayette County. We welcomed Michael Brown to the Commission in November 2025 when he replaced Brad MacLaughlin as Southern District Commissioner. Brad resigned on October 8, 2025. Michael Brown subsequently received Governor Mike Kehoe’s appointment to fill that vacancy. He was sworn in on November 26, 2025.

The Santa Fe Board of Education met in regular session on Thursday, January 22nd. Mr. Lark shared that school resource office, David Cobb, would be attending a safety workshop sponsored by Missouri School Board Association’s Center for Educational Safety. The training will provide best practices for SRO’s as well as account for mandated training for school districts as a result of legislation passed last session. Additionally, he shared that members of the districts Threat Assessment Team would be undergoing refresher training, which will focus on assessing the validity of threats in schools, such as general threats of violence towards the school as a whole, individual threats, self-harm, bullying, etcetera. The threat assessment process provides a platform that provides a concrete structure for trained individuals to make informed decisions. “Discerning the validity and seriousness of the various and numerous types of threats that are made in all venues of a school district can be very, very challenging. Having a standard process with trained individuals enables us to make decisions that are more informed and consistent,” stated Mr. Lark. He then focused on the Governor’s State of the State Address. Summarizing the educational issues discussed, Mr. Lark noted that Governor Kehoe emphasized his intent to support school choice through legislation involving open enrollment and school voucher systems (MO Scholars). Lark shared that in fiscal year 2026, the state approved $51 million for the MO Scholars funding. He went on to share that more importantly, the major shift is that this funding is

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is now accepting nominations for Regional Teacher of the Year. This is the first step for an educator to become the 2027 Missouri Teacher of the Year.