A bicyclist was struck by a truck at a busy Springfield intersection.
Springfield Police say the accident happened around noon Tuesday at Glenstone and Division as traffic slowed down for a red light at Division.
The bicyclist attempted to cross Glenstone and was struck by the truck.
The bicyclist is hospitalized in stable condition.
Four people had to be rescued after their raft overturned while floating on the James River in Stone County.
Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader says his department and the Highlandville Fire Department rescued the three teenagers and one adult after their raft capsized near the “Y” Bridge in Galena.
He says the four were all wearing life jackets.
Sheriff Rader is warning people against boating in the rain swollen waterways.
The National Weather Service in Springfield has confirmed another tornado from the weekend’s severe weather.
The Weather Service says an EF-1 tornado touched down in Vernon County near Stotesbury, 20 miles northwest of Nevada, around 6 PM.
The tornado had winds of 90 miles per hour and was 95 yards wide.
It tracked just over 3 miles and destroyed 2 outbuildings and uprooted trees.
The Springfield-based charity is busy once again responding to several tornados that ripped through the midwest last weekend. Convoy of Hope’s trucks are taking essential supplies to Nebraska, Iowa, and Oklahoma.
Specifically, Convoy is assisting with the communities in Sulphur and Ardmore in Oklahoma, where there were three known fatalities.
The Missouri Department of Transportation is putting an end to the “Adopt a Highway” program that allowed people or groups to sponsor a highway and put up a sign next to the road.
This will be replaced by a new program called “Keeping Missouri Beautiful” which is a volunteer litter cleanup initiative.
A review of the Adopt a Highway program showed that costs and potential safety risks outweighed benefits.
The Springfield Police Department is searching for a missing teen, and has issued an Endangered Person Advisory.
17-year-old Reilly Williams, nicknamed “Bella”, was last seen Monday morning along South Golden Avenue in Springfield.
Investigators say Williams is described as a white male, standing 5’7″ and 190 pounds, with blonde hair.
Officers say he has a mental disability, and has the mental capacity of a child about 10-12 years old.
If you see Williams, or have any information on the case, contact SPD at (417) 862-7911, or dial 911.
A teenager is dead after a dirt bike crash near Pleasant Hope.
The Highway Patrol says the 15-year-old boy from Bolivar lost control of the bike on a rutted road.
The bike overturned and he fell off the bike.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
A couple, who were executives of a Springfield-based charity, have been sentenced for embezzlement and bribery.
Tommy and Bonita Goss were executives with Preferred Family Healthcare, a charity which operated in five states including Missouri and Arkansas.
Some elected officials in Arkansas provided favors for the charity in exchange for bribes and kickbacks.
Tommy Goss was sentenced to six-year sentence and Bonita was sentenced to three years, as well as being ordered to pay over 4-million dollars in restitution.
Here is more on this story from the U.S Department of Justice news release:
Two former executives of a Springfield, Missouri-based charity were sentenced for their roles in a multimillion-dollar public corruption scheme that involved embezzlement and bribes paid to multiple elected public officials in the State of Arkansas.
Bontiea Bernedette Goss, 65, was sentenced today to three years in prison, and her husband, Tommy “Tom” Ray Goss, 68, was sentenced on April 25 to six years in prison. They were also ordered to jointly pay $4.35 million in forfeiture and/or restitution.
According to court documents, Bontiea and Tom Goss were the former chief operating officer and chief financial officer, respectively, at Preferred Family Healthcare Inc., a charity that provided a variety of services to individuals in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois. Some of these services included mental and behavioral health treatment and counseling, substance abuse treatment and counseling, employment assistance, aid to individuals with developmental disabilities, and medical services. In exchange for the bribes and kickbacks offered and paid by the Gosses and their co-conspirators, elected state officials in Arkansas provided favorable legislative and official action for the charity, including, but not limited to, influencing legislation that would impact the charity and directing funds from the State’s General Improvement Fund.
In September 2022, both Bontiea and Tom Goss pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pay bribes and kickbacks to elected officials in Arkansas. Tom Goss also pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy by embezzling funds from the charity and to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false tax return.
In 2022, Preferred Family Healthcare also agreed to pay more than $8 million in forfeiture and restitution to the federal government and the State of Arkansas under the terms of a non-prosecution agreement, which acknowledged the criminal conduct of its former officers and employees.
As part of this long-running, multi-jurisdiction federal investigation, additional former executives from the charity, former members of the Arkansas state legislature, and others have pleaded guilty in federal court, including the following:
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Teresa A. Moore for the Western District of Missouri; U.S. Attorney Jonathan D. Ross for the Eastern District of Arkansas; U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes for the Western District of Arkansas; Special Agent in Charge Thomas F. Murdock of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) St. Louis Field Office; Assistant Director Michael Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz of the Justice Department Office of Inspector General; Special Agent in Charge William J. Hannah of the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General, Midwest Region; Inspector General Larry D. Turner of the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General; and Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Shimon R. Richmond of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Office of Inspector General made the announcement.
IRS-CI, FBI, and the Offices of the Inspectors General from the Departments of Justice, Labor, and FDIC investigated the cases.
Acting Deputy Chief Marco A. Palmieri and Trial Attorneys Jacob Steiner and Aaron Jennen of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section; Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall Eggert for the Western District of Missouri; Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Mazzanti for the Eastern District of Arkansas; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ben Wulff and Steven M. Mohlhenrich for the Western District of Arkansas are prosecuting the cases.
A man from Stockton is dead following a crash between a UTV and a truck.
Investigators say 50-year-old Joey Gray was driving the vehicle northbound on County Road 1801 Saturday afternoon as a 2011 GMC Sierra was driving south, crashing head-on into each other.
Authorities transported Gray to Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar, where he later died of his injuries.
The driver of the truck was not injured. Gray’s UTV was totaled, while the GMC Sierra suffered moderate damage.
It is the 26th traffic fatality of the year for Troop D of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
A man from Nixa is now awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to holding a hatchet to his own mother’s head.
Investigators say 34-year-old Simon Scholz was arrested on New Year’s Day in 2023 after officers found him on top of his mother in her bed with the hatchet in his hand.
He admitted to using meth, heroin, and PCP earlier that night on a separate call with authorities, and told police his mother had been taken by aliens and that he had to kill her.
Scholz pleaded guilty to charged of second-degree kidnapping and unlawful use of a weapon on Friday, April 26.
He has a sentencing hearing scheduled for June 26 of this year.