Month: August 2021

The Willard School district says masks will be “strongly encouraged” for students in Grades Pre-K through 12 when they return to class August 23rd.

The district plans to start at “Level One” learning, which entails:

• School operations will be as normal as possible (face-to-face)
• Social distancing will be required and enforced when possible
• Masks will be strongly encouraged for students grades PreK-12
• Visitors will be strongly encouraged to wear masks in to the building and will be limited and require pre-approval
• Hand washing/hand sanitizer will be available and frequently encouraged 

School leaders say a mask will be required and provided to any student or staff member presenting to the health services office with COVID-19 type symptoms, as determined by the school nurse.

The district says when a building reaches 8% or more of students/staff absent due to COVID-19 reasons, leaders could re-issue a mask requirement for a minimum of two weeks or until those absences drop to fewer than 4% in that building for two consecutive weeks.

All students will be required to wear a mask when riding on the school bus per the CDC order that school busses are considered public transportation.

You can read the Willard school district’s full COVID-19 policies here.

The high heat and humidity have returned to southwest Missouri for much of this week.

The National Weather Service says all of the Ozarks is under a heat advisory through Thursday evening.

Forecasters say afternoon heat indices of around 105 will be common each day through at least Thursday.

Prolonged exposure to the heat and humidity can cause heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Take proper precautions to protect yourself from heat exhaustion, heat stroke, or dehydration, including drinking plenty of water and limiting the amount of time you spend outdoors in the hottest part of the day.

A car crash in northern Springfield caused many residents to lose power Sunday morning.

A driver hit a utility pole on Kearney, across the street from Baptist Bible College, just before 7 a.m.

City Utilities says more than 400 people lost power, but they began getting power restored at around 9 a.m.

Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms will move through the Ozarks Sunday.

The National Weather Service says the first round produced some wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour as the storms moved over Mt. Vernon, Miller, Ash Grove, Walnut Grove and Bois D’ Arc between 8:30 and 9 a.m.

Those storms have weakened, but more development is expected across the area by Sunday afternoon.

The afternoon/evening storms have the potential to produce up to quarter size hail, damaging winds up to 60 miles per hour, frequent lightning, heavy rainfall and potential flooding. The highest potential for localized flooding is east of Springfield.

Forecasters say there’s a low threat for an isolated tornado.

Emilee Kuschel, Bailey Strohl, Sydney Moran, KOLR

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri’s seventh district representative to the U.S. House, Billy Long, says that he is running for the U.S. Senate in 2022 because he wants to make sure his party takes it back.

“This is a winnable race, it’s a wide-open race, and I have a different brand, I was 55 years old when I was sworn into congress so if anyone wants to cast me as a career politician I got news for them, and I’m not a politician, I’m a congressman. — I think that we need to hold the Senate and I think I’m the guy that can hold the Senate, ” says Long.

As KOLR-10 reports, Long says he plans to visit every county in Missouri during his campaign.

Emilee Kuschel, KOLR

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – 67 students and their families received a COVID-19 vaccine at the “Knock COVID Out of the Park” events hosted at Hammons Field on August 3rd and 5th.

Springfield Public Schools says the events were a hit.

As KOLR-10 reports, every student who was vaccinated at the events received two free tickets to that night’s Cardinals game.

Emilee Kuschel, KOLR

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Springfield city and business leaders are celebrating eight decades of community involvement by honoring the Paul Mueller Company.

As KOLR-10 reports, Springfield Mayor Ken McClure declared August 7th, 2021, “Paul Mueller Day.”

Paul Mueller began his heating and sheet metal company in 1940, and it has grown to serve industries around the globe.

The upcoming Honor Flight of the Ozarks have been canceled due to COVID-19.

About 180 people, including veterans, guardians, and volunteers, were scheduled to fly in August, but all flights will be postponed until 2022.