A 31-year-old Springfield man has pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge.
Chandler Durham pleaded guilty to one count of receiving and distributing child pornography on Tuesday.
Durham is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole and could receive up to 20 years in federal prison without parole.
The Greene County Commission has released the results of a community survey on how the county should spend nearly $57 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds awarded by the U.S. Treasury Department for COVID-19 pandemic relief.
The following press release outlines the results of that survey.
The Greene County Commission is sharing the results of a recent community survey. It asked residents what issues should be considered high priority for the $56.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The money was awarded to the county by the U.S. Treasury Department for COVID-19 pandemic relief. After tabulating both digital and physical copy results, there was a total of 1,719 responses and 645 written comments.
Respondents could choose 5 out of 22 eligible categories. Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 choices:
#1: Mental Health Services (834 responses)
#2: Affordable Housing (531 responses)
#3: Service to Unhoused Persons (528 responses)
#4: Vaccination (485 responses)
#5: Small business economic assistance (485 responses)
#6: Assistance to Nonprofit Organizations (418 responses)
#7: Household Food Programs (390 responses)
#8: Broadband (370 responses)
#9: Child Care (364 responses)
#10: Service to Foster Youth (339 responses)
Respondents were also asked to provide what part of Greene County they live in. There were responses from all 10 municipalities and unincorporated sections of the county.
Respondents could also leave a written comment. They were grouped into different sections that referenced the seven expenditure categories for ARPA funds. Other comments were a wide variety of broad public or social issues including, but not limited to: Aid to tourism and travel industries, child education, rental assistance, job training, pay for essential workers, community violence interventions, substance abuse services, infrastructure and transportation, law enforcement services, parks and nature, animal shelter services, services to the elderly, and stimulus checks.
The Greene County Commissioners are using this survey to capture a snapshot of important issues. To gather further input, the Commissioners are meeting with local leaders and organizations to discuss solutions to problems they face. The first half of the $56.8 million has already been awarded to the county. Per federal guidelines, all ARPA funds must be allocated by December 31, 2024.
Non-profit listening sessions are also currently being conducted. A county team, lead by Dr. Lyle Foster, will use the ARPA community survey results, listening sessions, CFO community focus report, Forward SGF report, and Greene County census data to inform the Commission in the prioritization process. This will later guide the Commissioners to select their final priorities and allocate funds to assist Greene County in responding and recovering from the pandemic.
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Funeral arrangements have been set for longtime Springfield defense attorney Dee Wampler, who died last Friday at the age of 81.
Visitation will be held Thursday evening from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Second Baptist Church at 3111 east Battlefield Road in Springfield.
The funeral will be held Friday morning at 11 at Second Baptist Church.
Arrangements are under the direction of Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home.
Wampler served as a prosecuting attorney for Greene County back in the early 1970’s before beginning a long career as a criminal defense attorney.
Wampler was in St. Louis arguing a case on Thursday before passing away in his sleep early Friday morning in his hotel room.
The National Weather Service has confirmed that two tornadoes touched down during Monday morning’s storms.
The first storm hit around 1 a.m near Goodman in Newton County.
It produced an EF-1 tornado which tracked parallel to Interstate 49.
It up rooted trees and took a manufactured home off of it’s foundation.
The second tornado hit two miles from Dudenville in Jasper County at 4:45 a.m.
It was an EF-0 that damaged a barn roof, an irrigation system and several trees.
Dallas County prosecutors have charged a Buffalo man in connection with several investigations.
48 year old Wayne Bartee Junior is charged with first-degree harassment, first-degree trespassing, third-degree kidnapping and fourth-degree assault.
Buffalo Police responded to a report of someone trespassing in the 500 block of West Main Street on Thursday night.
Bartee was arrested and is being held in the Dallas County Jail.
The Springfield-Greene County Health Department officially opened its COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic Monday at 1425 east Battlefield Road at the old Gordmans building.
Vaccinations are being offered 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and appointments are encouraged.
The clinic is offering any dose, including third doses for those who are immunocompromised and who received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The booster shot is available at least six months after you received your second shot if you:
You can get more information and a list of vaccination opportunities at vaccine417.com or by calling the COVID-19 Call Center at 417-874-1211.
Winds have gusted at more than 40 miles per hour Monday morning across parts of southwest Missouri.
The National Weather Service issued a Wind Advisory for areas along and north of I-44 until 11:00 a.m.
Forecasters say sustained winds out of the southwest have been at 30 to 40 miles per hour, with occasional gusts of 40 to 50 possible.
Motorists were advised to use caution while driving and tie down or bring in loose objects.
The weather service says the advisory is being allowed to expire at 11.
The Phelps County Sheriff’s Department is asking for help in finding a woman.
According to a Facebook post, April Werner, also known as April Saunders of St. Louis, was last seen in rural Phelps County on October 5 and may be driving a black 2011 Ford Escape with a Missouri plate: XA4-F4U.
Saunders is 5’8″, 135 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
The Phelps County Sheriff’s Department is attempting to find her and would like anyone with information to contact their tip line at 573-426-2936.
Springfield Police were busy downtown early Saturday morning.
An impaired driver is behind bars after striking a parked car, light pole and a stop sign at the northeast corner of Park Central Square.
Later, police responded to a man being attacked in a parking garage in the 200 block of North Campbell.
The man was not seriously injured.
Police do not have a motive.
The attackers ran away but police have security camera footage of the incident.
By: U.S. Rep. Billy Long
If you know who Jeff Foxworthy is… you might be a Redneck. You remember comedian Jeff Foxworthy’s old ‘You Might Be A Redneck’ bit don’t you? Well with apologies to Jeff, here goes: If you have censored a sitting President of the United States… you might be Big Tech. If you have prevented dissemination of a damning New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s antics… you might be Big Tech. If you have suppressed vital information regarding the origins of COVID-19… you might be Big Tech. If you have gained an outsized influence on everyday life in the United States… you are Big Tech. Big Tech has thus far been allowed to wield unbelievable power to influence our political discourse and shut down conservative viewpoints. As a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives, I am at the forefront of regulating Big Tech.
Let’s start by talking about how Big Tech censors opinions they don’t agree with. When a “once in a century” pandemic struck the world, many people wanted to know how it started. It’s a reasonable question, but one that Big Tech answered with ‘nothing to see here, move along.’ Big Tech instead joined the mainstream media in simply accepting the Chinese Communist Party’s assertion that the virus came from a wet market that just so happened to be located in close proximity to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They of course completely ignored ample circumstantial evidence that the virus somehow escaped a Chinese lab specifically studying rare coronaviruses. The math was simple for Big Tech, 1 + 1 = 0. Big Tech and their partners in the mainstream media blasted Republicans in Congress who dared to ask questions. Now, more evidence has emerged that the lab leak theory is very plausible. Will Big Tech continue to toe the Chinese Communist Party line?
Big Tech also used its power to influence the 2020 election. Around this time last year, the New York Post published a series of damning stories showing that Hunter Biden was a deeply corrupt individual, who, despite his father’s denials, had indeed been aided by the future President Biden, A.K.A. ‘The Big Guy.’ Big Tech wasted no time in preventing the articles from being shared on social media and even locked the New York Post out of their own Twitter account, all to the benefit of the Biden Campaign. Read that last sentence again, I’ll wait here until you’re back. It’s as plain as the nose on your face that Big Tech favors liberal opinions, but the actions of late last year left no doubt that they might as well be a messaging arm for the Democrat party.
So, what are we going to do about it? Republicans on both the Energy & Commerce and the Judiciary Committees have proposed a reform of Section 230, a law that grants these companies liability protections and gives free rein for them to remove content they deem to be “objectionable” in any way. Essentially, our plan would remove liability protections for Big Tech companies that violate constitutionally protected speech without proper transparency or appeals processes. There are also proposals to remove Section 230 protections from companies that partner with China, or knowingly facilitate illicit activities such as sex trafficking. Removing these protections from companies that have long abused them would go a long way to reforming Big Tech’s inordinate power over the American people. It’s essential that we have open platforms like Twitter and Facebook to promote freedom of speech, but we cannot allow them to trample on the first amendment rights of Americans. It’s time to stop the insanity.
For more information on my activities in our district and in Washington, I encourage you to follow my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Rep.Billy.Long and my Twitter page at https://twitter.com/USRepLong. You can also subscribe to my weekly newsletter, “Long’s Short Report,” by visiting https://longforms.house.gov/newsletter