The Springfield Parks Department welcomed a new director on Tuesday.
Ron Schneider replaces Bob Belote who held the position for 20 years. Schneider holds a Bachelors in Recreation, Parks and Tourism from Wester Illinois University, and most recently was the Executive Director for the Freeport Parks Department in Illinois.
Schneider begins work on July 8th.
Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe, in his capacity as Missouri’s Acting Governor, will travel to southeast Missouri Tuesday to assess storm damage in the area and better learn what state resources may be needed to help impacted communities respond and recover.
Kehoe’s visit will be primarily focused in the Sikeston area, where at least one storm-related fatality has been reported, with numerous instances of damaged homes and businesses.
Highway 125 in Rogersville will be closed starting Tuesday as Phase 5 of the Highway 60/125 interchange project gets underway.
MoDOT says drivers could previously make right turns onto 60 or 125 in the fourth phase of the project, but will not be able to do that starting this week.
Highway 60 will remain open in both directions and shifted onto the new bridge over 125, and crossover medians will be temporarily closed for up to six months at Farm Roads 213, 219, 223 and 241.
The bodies of a missionary couple from Missouri who were attacked and fatally shot by gang members in Haiti last week are expected to be transported back home later this week.
Natalie Lloyd, the daughter of State Representative Ben Baker, and her husband, Davy, were leaving a youth group activity at a church in the community of Lizon in northern Port-au-Prince when they were attacked.
Missouri Senator John Hawley is asking the Biden Administration to take all available to ensure that adequate security measures are in place to return the bodies because heavily-armed gangs could possibly hijack the bodies and hold them hostage.
Severe thunderstorms and a tornado rolled across the Ozarks Sunday afternoon.
A series of thunderstorms with hail passed through Laclede, Dallas, Webster, Greene, Christian, Douglas, and Taney Counties.
There were reports of penny sized hail in Republic, nickel sized hail in Nixa and half-dollar sized hail in Battlefield.
The National Weather Service received several reports of 3- to 4-inch-thick hail in the Marshfield area.
A tornado touched down north of Mountain View near Birch Tree.
There were reports of several injuries and Liberty High School was opened as a temporary shelter.
Highway “y” was closed because of fallen trees.
Emergency crews were working to clean up the debris.
With a number of outdoor gatherings planned across the Ozarks Sunday afternoon and evening, be weather aware for more severe weather.
The National Weather Service says additional strong to severe thunderstorms will develop starting Sunday afternoon, with the severe weather risk between 3 and 9 p.m.
Supercells and supercell clusters will be capable of producing all hazards, with the primary risks being large hail and damaging winds. Localized heavy rainfall and flash flooding may occur.
The greatest severe weather risk will be south of I-44 and east of Highway 65 in the eastern Ozarks, with a Level 3 “enhanced risk” for severe weather.
Areas from Springfield and Branson and points west are under a Level 2 “slight risk” for severe storms.
We’ll have the latest forecast updates, along with any watches and warnings issued by the National Weather Service on 93-3 and A-M 560 KWTO.
(Graphic courtesy of National Weather Service Springfield, MO)
The Ozarks braces itself for yet another round of severe weather as supercell thunderstorms are expected to form in the central and southern Plains and progress eastward late Saturday evening.
The National Weather Service says those storms should eventually form a line, with an increasing threat for widespread damaging winds as the line moves east.
The tornado threat will be highest in the west with discrete storms, but will still exist with the line as it moves east.
Hail up to two inches in diameter will be possible.
Areas roughly along and west of a line from Joplin to Nevada are under a Level 4 out of 5 “moderate risk” for severe weather, while all but the far eastern Ozarks are under a Level 3 out of 5 “enhanced risk.”
After storms push through overnight, we’ll be watching for potential development of more severe storms on Sunday.
The weather service says the highest potential for severe weather Sunday and Sunday night will be north and east of Springfield.
The Springfield metro area and much of southwest Missouri are under a Level 2 out of 5 “slight risk” of severe storms on Sunday.
Forecasters say what’s not known is how Saturday night’s storms will impact the severe weather potential for Sunday, including storm mode and potential hazards.
Listen to 93-3 and A-M 560 KWTO for updates on the changing weather forecast, as well as all the severe weather watches and warnings, plus damage reports as they come in from local emergency managers and the National Weather Service.
A business owner has been indicted by a federal grand jury.
The U-S Department of Justice says 52-year-old Brian Scroggs of Springfield is charged with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of failure to pay employee taxes.
Scroggs owned several businesses where he made false claims about getting people out of their timeshare contracts.
He collected payments from clients without delivering on the promises he made.
He also employed several salespeople, who he didn’t pay taxes withheld from employees’ paychecks.
A man from McDonald County is dead after he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed along Highway 90.
Investigators say 73-year-old William Leach, of Anderson, was travelling along the state highway near Jane just after noon on Thursday when the motorcycle went off the side of the road.
The bike flipped, then hit a road sign. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Highway Patrol Troopers say Leach was wearing a helmet. It is the 37th fatality of 2024 for Troop D of the MSHP.
A local politician from Neosho, who represents the area in the Missouri House of Representatives, says his daughter and son-in-law were killed in Haiti.
State Rep. Ben Baker revealed on Facebook Friday morning that his daughter Natalie and son-in-law Davy were missionaries in the Caribbean country for Nonprofit Mission in Haiti Inc. and were attacked by a gang and killed.
In the social media post Friday, Baker said, “My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain.”
Attacks have increased recently in Haiti with Michel Patrick Boisvert being named as the country’s Prime Minister.
Baker has been a member of the Missouri House of Representatives since 2019, after being elected to office in 2018.