The KWTO Price Cutter Holiday Food Drive for Ozarks Food Harvest was a success.
The food drive raised $1725 in monetary donations, which will provide approximately 7000 meals to families in the Ozarks.
Our listeners also donated 268 pounds of food.
Ozarks Food Harvest will use all of those donations to provide food for those in need in our area.
MoDOT has scheduled the replacement of a bridge on Sunshine to begin in spring 2024.
The 60-year-old bridge is on Sunshine near Scenic Avenue.
Sunshine will be closed from east Scenic Avenue to west Marion Avenue from April until August.
The cost of the project is about 6 million dollars.
Springfield’s Mercy Hospital is being recognized as one of the best in the U.S. for maternity care.
According to the U.S. News and World Report, Mercy was listed as high-performing, with low complication rates and high survival rates during childbirth.
The ranking puts the hospital in the top 10% in the country.
A woman from Dixon will spend years in prison for transporting meth in children’s toys.
Prosecutors say Connie Gonzales was part of a drug trafficking scheme from 2017 to 2021 from Arizona to Missouri.
Investigators found packages shipped to her house with children’s toys that had large amounts of meth inside them.
She was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Springfield Police have released the name of a motorcyclist killed in a crash Monday afternoon.
It happened at Kearney and National.
Police say that 51-year-old Carl Enlow of Ash Grove ran a red light and struck a minivan.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will be welcoming in a new Commissioner beginning next year.
The State Board of Education approved State Senator Karla Eslinger as the department’s new Commissioner of Education, effective June 1 of 2024.
She will be replacing current Commissioner Margie Vandeven, who is stepping down after seven years of service.
Eslinger got her start in statewide politics as a State Representative in 2018. She was then elected to the State Senate in 2020.
She is a graduate of Gainesville High School, received her bachelor’s degree from College of the Ozarks, a master’s degree from Missouri State University, and a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Missouri.
Her educational career began as an elementary school teacher before becoming a superintendent for both the Ava and West Plains school districts.
The department Eslinger will now lead supervises over 500 public school districts in the state, and some 900,000 students.
Following her appointment, Eslinger released the following statement:
“I am proud to accept the role of Commissioner of Education for Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. I will continue to serve as senator of the 33rd Senatorial District through the Second Regular Session of the 102nd General Assembly. While finishing my term, I plan to develop an action plan that addresses the immediate and long term challenges facing education in Missouri.
In my view, we must eliminate barriers to high quality education for all children. We must ensure full transparency and accountability is given to parents and the public. Under my leadership there will be accountability for our children at every level.
I support parental choice, public charter schools, rural and urban K-12 and early childhood learning. I have and will continue to advocate for early vocational and technical training, as well as traditional education. We must allow good schools to thrive and continue to succeed, while providing support to educators and addressing concerns we see in the classroom today. Every child deserves to receive the best education according to the expectation and hopes of their parents.”
With the Christmas season on the horizon, we here at Zimmer Communications want to give you the opportunity to help those in need.
Beginning at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, December 6; KWTO, ESPN the Jock, the Dove, and Real Country will be broadcasting live from the Price Cutter on East Battlefield in Springfield.
We’ll also be accepting food donations for Ozarks Food Harvest, and taking monetary donations on all of our websites, including:
For every dollar you donate, four meals will be provided to families in need this holiday season.
All four stations will be live from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Price Cutter, accepting food and monetary donations throughout the day.
The Ozark School Board is getting closer to hiring a new superintendent for the district.
The board meets Tuesday to review applications.
Board president Sarah Adams Orr says 23 people applied for the job, and six semi-finalists have been chosen.
The board will interview finalists on December 13th.
The Barry County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a suspect who stole guns from a store in Washburn.
Sheriff’s officials say several handguns and AR-15 style rifles were stolen from Three Corners Firearms on November 24th.
The suspect then tried to sell some of the guns at a convenience store in McDonald County.
Springfield Police are holding two juveniles in custody for allegedly trying to rob a person at the Battlefield Mall and opening fire.
Officers say the incident happened in the parking lot of the mall Sunday afternoon, when the two suspects approached the victim.
They demanded money and other property. The victim refused and attempted to flee the scene.
At that point, the suspects opened fire, shooting at the victim’s vehicle.
When police arrived, the juveniles attempted to flee on foot, but were eventually arrested.
They are being held at the Greene County Juvenile Office.
The official charges and identities of the two juveniles have not been released.