Month: May 2021

The city of Springfield announced they will be installing a median at an intersection that has caused a high number of accidents in recent years.

City officials say the intersection at National and Kingsley has totaled 22 accidents in a 30 month period, with 21 of those accidents connected to someone attempting to make a left turn from Kingsley onto National. City staff noted this total didn’t include accidents that were not reported to police and a number of observed “close calls.”

A median will be installed at the intersection that will make it impossible for drivers to turn left onto National. Drivers will also not be able to completely cross over National.

“This is what we call a three-quarter access or “left-in, right-in, right-out’ only,” Traffic Engineer Brett Foster said in a statement. “It still allows traffic to flow in and out but restricts the risky and often impractical left-turns out attempted there. These improvements will help reduce loss of property, personal injury and make this area much safer for all who use it.”

The cost is estimated at under $10,000. The funds come from the 1/4 cent Capital Improvement Sales Tax Traffic Calming Program.

Ozarks Technical Community College has announced they will be offering an accelerated, four-week construction course this summer because of the demands of the construction companies of the area.

The first class is June 7 and will meet from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday at the Springfield campus. Anyone can enroll as long as you are at least 18 years old.

“I have heard from many construction companies and contractors recently, and they are in desperate need of workers,” OTC Chancellor Hal Higdon said in a statement. “We have the capacity and facilities to offer this class, and it’s a win-win. The employers benefit with more skilled workers, and the students pay nothing to acquire construction skills while they’re getting paid to learn.”

Basic construction skills will be taught including:

• Basic carpentry.
• Use of hand tools.
• Installation of interior finishes, such as flooring, drywall, cabinetry and doors.
• Installation of exterior finishes, such as siding and trim, roofing, and exterior doors and windows.
• The construction and placement of concrete forms.
• How to read and interpret blueprints and construction drawings.
• Safety rules.

The students who complete the program will receive OSHA’s 10-hour Construction Certificate.

More information is available on the OTC Website.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol named the woman killed in a three-vehicle accident Monday morning.

MSHP investigators say that 36-year-old Jessica Landis of Everton died at the scene.

Landis rear-ended a trailer on a truck that had stopped to make a left turn. The impact of the collision sent Landis’s vehicle into the path of another vehicle.

Landis was wearing her seat belt. Her passenger was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Mike Landis, anchor for KOLR-10, posted on social media that the victim was his sister.

“Life is short,” Landis wrote. “Make sure to hug your loved ones. It has been a hard 24 hours since my sister passed away in a car accident. Our family certainly appreciates all the thoughts, prayers, and support from everyone.”

You can add Hy-Vee to the list of stores no longer requiring fully vaccinated customers and workers to wear a face covering inside its stores.

The exception is when masking is required by local ordinances.

Masking will still be required by employees who are not fully vaccinated and strongly recommended for customers who don’t have their shots.

Here’s the full press release from Hy-Vee:

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (May 18, 2021) — The health and safety of Hy-Vee’s customers and employees have been the company’s top priority since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the grocer has consistently followed the CDC’s recommendations as guidance is provided. Given the CDC’s mask announcement on Friday, starting today Hy-Vee no longer requires fully vaccinated customers and employees to wear face coverings in its stores, except where it’s required by local ordinances. Face coverings, however, continue to be strongly recommended for Hy-Vee customers who are not fully vaccinated and are still required by the company for employees who are not fully vaccinated.

Hy-Vee will continue to implement its extra safety and sanitization procedures that have been in place since COVID-19 first began. Hy-Vee will also maintain its Plexiglas barriers all manned check stands, self-checkout stations, pharmacy counters, customer service counters and convenience store checkouts. In addition, social distancing signage will remain in place where lines tend to form (checkout lanes, deli/meat/bakery counters, etc.) and extra hand sanitizer/cart wipes will remain stationed throughout stores.

Several weeks ago, Hy-Vee announced that appointments are no longer required to receive a free COVID-19 vaccine at Hy-Vee Pharmacy locations. This enables people to walk in and receive their vaccine when it is most convenient for them. Hy-Vee is also hosting pop-up vaccination clinics at community events to provide even greater vaccine access by meeting people where they plan to be. Hy-Vee will also continue its efforts to reach underserved populations, working with local organizations to plan more community COVID-19 vaccination clinics throughout its eight-state region.

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Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating more than 275 retail stores across eight Midwestern states with sales of $11 billion annually. The supermarket chain is synonymous with quality, variety, convenience, healthy lifestyles, culinary expertise and superior customer service. Hy-Vee ranks in the Top 10 Most Trusted Brands and has been named one of America’s Top 5 favorite grocery stores. The company’s more than 88,000 employees provide “A Helpful Smile in Every Aisle” to customers every day. For additional information, visit www.hy-vee.com.

Police are looking for a suspect after a deadly shooting at an apartment in Springfield.

Officers say they went to the apartment in the 3200 block of west Page to check on the well being of someone and found James Kenney, 41, dead from multiple gunshot wounds.

Detectives are asking anyone who has information about the incident to contact the Springfield Police Department at 417-864-1810 or make an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers at 417-869-TIPS (8477).

Thunderstorms have produced heavy rain in parts of the Ozarks Monday, with one to two inches of rain already falling in northwestern Greene County and southwestern Polk County.

The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Warning for those areas until 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Some of the locations that will experience flash flooding include Ash Grove, Walnut Grove, Morrisville, Aldrich, Eudora, Sacville, Cave Spring and Stockton Lake,

This includes the following low water crossings: Route W at Turkey Creek just west of Eudora, Farm Road 68 at the Sac River west of Ash Grove, and Farm Road 22 at Asher Creek east of Walnut Grove.

Turn around, don’t drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles.

The Springfield City Council voted Monday night to repeal the city’s COVID-19 related restrictions, including the requirements of indoor masking in public businesses and buildings, on May 27.

The May 27 date is the last scheduled day of classes for Springfield Public Schools.

The vote was 8-0, with Councilman Richard Ollis not in attendance.

In addition to the repeal of the COVID-19 restrictions on indoor locations, the vote Monday night removes COVID-19 restrictions for outdoor activities and any masking requirements outdoors.

Springfield-Greene County Health Department Acting Director Katie Towns noted that vaccination rates are lagging and encouraged residents to get vaccinations for COVID-19 to help protect themselves from the virus and its variants. Towns estimated the department’s goal of half the community being fully vaccinated will not happen until later this summer.

Currently 35 percent of the county population is fully vaccinated.

CouncilMaskMay27

Lawmakers from across southwest Missouri gathered at Sound of Freedom gun range in Ozark Monday to talk about the passage of the Second Amendment Preservation Act.

State Senator Eric Burlison (District 20) lead the gathering, having shepherded the measure through the State Senate. (The House sponsors pushing the measure were Rep. Jered Taylor and Rep. Bishop Davidson.) Burlison said that even though forms of this bill have been around for previous legislative sessions, now was the perfect time to pass the bill.

“There’s never been a better time to pass it than now, because we have an administration, we have a President, who is hostile to the values that we hold dear in southwest Missouri and to the value of the Second Amendment,” Burlison said. “And as you all know, if the Second Amendment isn’t there, we don’t have the First Amendment or any other Amendment.”

Rep. Bishop Davidson (R-130) said that the bill does more than just protect rights; it also provides those who are defending Constitutional rights with a path to stop federal overreach in other ways.

“State’s rights, state’s authority being infringed, that’s not a new idea, that’s a centuries old idea,” Davidson said. “What the Second Amendment Preservation Right act does…is not only protect our Second Amendment from infringement by federal laws using our constitutional protections but it also lays out a road map for how we might push back against federal encroachment in the future.”

The event reached into issues beyond the actual bill, including comments about whether or not the educational system has been neglecting students when it comes to teaching on the Constitution.

“I would say across the board our nation has failed our children about teaching them what it is to be a republic,” Burlison said. “I was in Republic Middle School not too long ago and I asked the kids to raise their hands and tell me what form of government was the United States, and not one person thought it was a republic. They thought it was a democracy. To which I said ‘Help me do the pledge of allegiance to flag of the United States of America and to the democracy for which it stands.’”

“This is the great irony,” Burlison continued. “Every state has language within their state Constitution that explains why we are funding public education. We don’t fund public education so people can get a good job someday; we fund public education so we can keep the republic, as Benjamin Franklin once said. In fact, Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers knew that if you do not educate voters you will lose the republic.”

The measure is still pending Governor Mike Parson’s signature.

After many years of studying crash rates and safety concerns at the intersection of National and Kingsley, Springfield Public Works is ready to build a median that will limit left turns onto National and improve safety.

The city says work will be conducted overnight, beginning at 6 p.m. Sunday, May 23rd and going through 6 a.m. on May 24th.

During the overnight hours, both north and southbound traffic on National will be reduced to one lane in each direction.

A recent crash analysis shows 22 wrecks were reported at this intersection over a 30-month period, with 21 crashes being attributed to left turns in the intersection.

Although there were no fatalities recorded during the 30-month period, nine of the crashes resulted in injuries.

Drivers approaching from the west can use shared access driveways to make a left turn onto Republic Road, then head north on National.

You can also take a right turn at National, turn left at Republic Road, and use Fremont Avenue to head north.

From the east, folks wanting to go south on National can travel east on Kingsley to Fremont, where they can proceed south.

Today is Tax Day!

The normal tax day of April 15 was delayed just over a month because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taxes are due by 11:59:59 p.m. tonight for all residents in the KWTO coverage area for the 2020 tax year.

The IRS says because of a backlog of returns from 2019 and 2020 due to reduced staffing connected to the COVID-19 pandemic, refunds could take longer than usual.

The IRS also says that paper tax returns will take longer to process than electronic returns, so if taxpayers have a way to transmit their returns electronically it would be to their benefit.