Categories
Ozark News

Student Fight At Football Game

A fight involving several students broke out in the stands during a football game at J-F-K Stadium Thursday night.

Springfield Police and ambulance crews responded to the stadium around 8 p.m.

Administrative staff and some adults tried to break up the fight before police arrived.

Paramedics checked on those involved, but nobody was sent to the hospital.

A Springfield Public Schools spokesperson says disciplinary action will be taken.

Categories
Missouri News

St. Louis Cardinals Fire Manager Mike Shildt

The St. Louis Cardinals have fired Manager Mike Shildt.

In a news release Thursday afternoon, the Cardinals made official what multiple media outlets had been reporting.

Here’s the release from the team:

ST. LOUIS, MO. – October 14, 2021 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced this afternoon that they have agreed to part ways with Manager Mike Shildt.

“While these decisions are difficult, both parties agreed that philosophical differences related to the direction of the organization brought us to this conclusion,” stated Cardinals’ President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak. ”With just one year remaining on Mike’s contract, it was in everyone’s best interests that we address this now.”

Shildt, 53, was named the Cardinals interim manager on July 15, 2018 and had his interim title removed on August 28, 2018.  He spent 13 years (2004-16) in player development as a scout, coach and manager before joining the Cardinals Major League coaching staff in 2017.

In his three-plus seasons as the Cardinals Manager, Shildt posted a 252-199 won-loss record and was voted National League Manager of the Year in 2019 by the BBWAA.

Today’s announcement marks just the third managerial change for the Cardinals dating to 1996, when the team hired Hall of Fame Manager Tony La Russa.  Mike Matheny (2012-18) and Shildt (2018-21) have followed La Russa’s 16-year tenure in St. Louis that was capped off with a World Series title in 2011.

Original Story:

Long time St. Louis sports writer Rob Rains and ESPN’s Jeff Passan are among multiple media outlets reporting St. Louis Cardinals Manager Mike Shildt has been fired.

Rains quotes sources as saying Shildt was informed in a phone call from John Mozeliak, the team’s president of baseball operations, that he was being let go after three and a half years as the team’s manager.

Shildt led the Cardinals to the playoff in each of his three full seasons as manager, including an appearance in the National League Wildcard Game this year.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Beat Writer Derrick Goold reports Shildt was fired due to “philosophical differences” with the organization.

Categories
Missouri News

Governor Parson Launches Investigation Into St. Louis Post Dispatch After Newspaper Discovers a Vulnerability on State Education Website

Missouri’s governor says he’s asking state investigators to look into the actions of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, who revealed a flaw in the state education department’s website that allowed the public to access social security numbers of teachers.

The newspaper notified the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that nearly 100,000 teachers’ social security numbers were vulnerable to public exposure.

The Post-Dispatch says it found the vulnerability when it viewed the source code of DESE’s website and discovered that within the source code, nine digit numbers were present, which later was confirmed to be social security numbers.

When DESE sent out a news release on the matter Wednesday night, it represented the Post Dispatch’s actions as those of a hacker.

Governor Parson continued that theme when meeting with the media Thursday at the Capitol in Jefferson City.

Parson called the newspaper’s actions “pathetic.”

An attorney representing the newspaper says the Post-Dispatch did the responsible thing by notifying DESE of the vulnerabilities of its website, adding the reporter is not a hacker because there was no breach of any firewall or security and no malicious intent.

Parson says his administration has reached out to the Cole County Prosecutor’s Office and investigators with the Missouri State Highway Patrol to investigate an attempt to “steal” information.

The governor says the newspaper’s report is an “attempt to embarrass the state and sell headlines for their news outlet.”

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade issued a statement saying “the governor should direct his anger towards the failure of state government to keep its technology secure and up to date and to work to fix the problem, not threaten journalists with prosecution for uncovering those failures.”

DESE says at least three teachers’ personal information was compromised.

The Post-Dispatch says the education department removed the affected pages after it notified them of the breach.

Categories
Ozark News

Kimberling City Close To Hiring New Police Chief

The mayor of Kimberling City says he is close to hiring a new police chief after the city’s entire police force resigned in September.

Mayor Bob Fritz says the city has received 74 applications and they have narrowed the search down to three people.

He hopes to have a decision made by the end of next week.

He says the new chief’s first duty is to hire new officers.

Categories
Ozark News

Springfield P-D Teaming With U-S Postal Inspection Task Force

Springfield Police will be teaming up with the U-S. Postal Inspection Task Force.

The partnership is to combat a rising trend of illegal drugs and goods being shipped through the postal system by criminals selling them on “dark web” sites.

A Springfield Police officer will be assigned to the U-S Postal Task Force.

Categories
Ozark News

Springfield Fugitive Arrested In Mexico

A wanted Springfield sex offender has been arrested in Mexico by U-S Marshals and Greene County Deputies.

David King skipped out on a scheduled sentencing hearing on numerous sex offense charges in mid-September.

Investigators say King assaulted a 15-year-old girl in February of 2018.

The U.S. Marshals tracked King to Reynosa, Mexico. 
Categories
Ozark News

Isolated Strong to Severe Thunderstorms Possible in the Ozarks Wednesday

The National Weather Service says in addition to heavy rain, some of the storms that are sweeping across southwest Missouri on this Wednesday could contain some wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour.

While the overall severe weather threat is low, an isolated strong to severe storm is possible into the early afternoon hours.

Forecasters say frequent lightning will also be possible with these storms.

The risk for flooding is low on Wednesday, but periods of showers and storms can be expected through Friday, which could lead to some isolated flooding.

Categories
Ozark News

WATCH LIVE: Springfield Greene County Health Department Updates Community at 1:30 P.M. Wednesday From Mass Vaccination Clinic

With its new mass vaccination clinic on east Battlefield as a backdrop, the Springfield-Greene County Health Department will hold a media availability Wednesday afternoon at 1:30.

Health leaders will update the community on COVID-19 cases, the vaccination clinic, and COVID-19 booster shots.

The vaccination clinic located at 1425 east Battlefield Road in Springfield at the old Gordmans building.

Click here to watch live streaming video of the update at 1:30 p.m.

Categories
Ozark News

Bomb Squad Found Two Devices At Dallas County House

K-W-T-O has obtained an incident report from the Springfield Fire Department shows that two incendiary devices were found at the house fire in Dallas County that’s part of the investigation into the disappearance of Cassidy Rainwater.

The report says the devices were made with mortar tubes, balloons and coiled fuses with a tripwire attached.

The Springfield Bomb Squad was called in when a Dallas County deputy found an explosive device.

Below is a PDF of the report.

James-Phelps-SGF-Fire-prelim-report

Categories
Ozark News

Saturday Night Crash Victim Identified

Springfield Police have identified a man who died after striking a traffic signal pole late Saturday night.

21 year old Toby Holland of Buffalo crashed into the pole at Sunshine and Marion.

He was taken to a Springfield hospital where he died from his injuries.

His family has been notified of his death.