Month: November 2021

Sub-freezing temperatures as low as 29 to 31 degrees are possible in the Ozarks Wednesday night through Thursday morning.

The National Weather Service has issued a Freeze Watch for areas generally along and east of Highway 65, including the Springfield metro area.

Forecasters say frost and freeze conditions could kill crops and other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing.

The weather service says you should take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. To prevent freezing and possibly bursting of outdoor water pipes, they should be wrapped, drained or allowed to drip slowly.

Folks who have in-ground sprinkler systems should drain them and cover above-ground pipes to protect them from freezing.

Voters are casting ballots Tuesday in several counties in the Ozarks.

In Christian County, voters in Nixa are being asked whether to recall Mayor Brian Steele, with use taxes on the ballot in Highlandville and Saddlebrooke.

Christian County Clerk Kay Brown says she’s expecting a 10% or less voter turnout.

In Lawrence County, voters are deciding a 3/8 cent sales tax for building a new jail, and folks in Mt. Vernon are also voting on a 1/2 cent sales tax for local parks and renovating the city’s swimming pool.

In Laclede County, there’s an operating levy on the ballot for the library district.

The polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.

Authorities in Greene County are investigating a deadly house fire in Ash Grove.

Crews responded to the fire in the 600 block of west Woodbine around 8 a.m.Tuesday.

Investigators say they don’t know what started the flames, but fire crews say the age of the building made the fire more difficult to fight.

The Greene County Sheriff’s Office has an arson investigator at the scene.

A new judge has been assigned to the case of one of the men accused of kidnapping Cassidy Rainwater.

Judge John C. Porter will hear the case of James Phelps.

Both Phelps and Timothy Norton face charges in the kidnapping of Cassidy Rainwater, who was reported missing in July.

Attorneys for Phelps asked for a change of judge in October.

A preliminary hearing on November 5^th for Phelps has been cancelled because of the change.

A preliminary hearing for Timothy Norton will go on as scheduled with Judge Lisa Henderson in Dallas County on November 5^th.

The city of Ash Grove is looking for a new police chief and some more officers.

Mayor Les Gardner says the former police chief accepted a position with a larger police department in the St. Louis area and other officers have left for different careers.

He says he believes the positions will be filled soon, but right now they are getting backup from the Greene County Sheriff’s Department and the Walnut Grove Police Department.

A woman is dead and two other people are injured in a crash in west Springfield.

It happened Sunday morning around 8:30 on West Bypass near Sunshine Street.

Police say a husband was driving his wife in an SUV, which collided with a truck.

The wife was a passenger and died from her injuries.

Investigators say the SUV was heading southbound on West Bypass when the driver of the truck went past a median and hit the SUV heat-on.

The fatality marked the 27th on Springfield streets in 2021, tying the yearly record set last year.