A high-speed chase through Greene County ended in Dade County.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Department says deputies tried to pull over a possibly impaired driver in the Ash Grove area, when the driver fled reaching speeds of 100 miles per hour.
The driver, 71-year-old Danny Carnett of Springfield, was eventually stopped near Everton in Dade County when he drove through a barbed wire fence.
He was arrested on multiple charges. He is in the Greene County Jail.
CEO’s and owners representing a wide variety of businesses in the Ozarks gathered Thursday for Zimmer Midwest Communications’ quarterly CEO Roundtable.
The event was held at the KWTO studios at 3000 east Chestnut Expressway in Springfield.
The panel discussed a wide variety of topics relating to our local, regional and national economic outlooks with a theme of “Small Business Growth in a Challenging 2024.”
In addition to providing a sense of how optimistic they are looking ahead to the rest of this year and the beginning of 2025, our panelists talked about how the current state of the economy affects their client base.
Our CEO’s had a frank discussion on inflation and what concerns they have on the prospect of a recession in our country, as well as what makes them optimistic about living and doing business in the Ozarks.
Business leaders gave each other ideas and feedback on what their company is doing to re-invent and adapt in a changing economic climate.
And the panel expressed concerns about affordable housing, the costs their clients face with groceries, insurance and overall household spending.
And the group talked about attracting and retaining qualified workers and finding ways to keep those employees in our community for years to come.
Special thanks to the following CEO’s and business owners who participated in our quarterly panel:
Nancy Bogart—CEO and Founder of Jordan Essentials in Nixa
Vanessa Howe—Owner of BelowZero Cryo Spa
Jill Phillips—Founder of Strategic Solutions
Scott Futrell—General Manager and Owner of Log Masters Restoration
Dr. Luke Van Kirk—Founder of Command Family Medicine in Springfield
Robert Mitchell—Owner of Kwik Dry LLC
Zimmer’s next CEO Roundtable in Springfield is nscheduled for August, 2024.
A report from the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis put several Springfield-based Universities on a list of Universities “in danger” of closing.
Drury, Evangel, and Southwest Baptist Universities are a step below the Foundations list of “special concern”.
Officials from all three Universities responded saying the schools are experiencing growth, and blamed their appearance in the list on “faulty methodology”
Republic Police are holding a man in custody who allegedly sexually assaulted his neighbor after a brief meeting while walking dogs.
Officers say 41-year-old Christopher Harrison met the woman outside of the apartment complex the two both live at.
They had a short conversation in which the victim told him, “my door is always open.”
Harrison asked which apartment she lived in, and showed up at her door within an hour.
She allowed him into the unit, at which point investigators say he began asking intimate questions and then kissed her.
It was at this point the victim told Harrison she was in a relationship and began distancing herself. She then said he began forcing himself on her, groping her and sexually exposing himself.
He was arrested on May 8th, and admitted to hugging and kissing the victim, but said nothing else occurred.
During the investigation, officers discovered Harrison had previously been convicted of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, and was released on parole in April of this year.
Authorities also got a statement from another woman at the apartment complex that he had made inappropriate and unwanted advances towards her as well.
A man from Joplin is dead after losing control of his vehicle and crashing earlier this week.
Highway Patrol troopers say 33-year-old Darren Shockley was driving southbound on Blackcat Road Wednesday night near Joplin when his Chevy Avalanche went off the side of the road and flipped into a creek.
He was thrown from the vehicle during the crash, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Shockley was the only person inside the vehicle at the time of the crash.
It is the 36th fatality in MSHP Troop D’s area so far in 2024.
The Missouri Department of Transportation has plans to get rid of the two stoplights on Highway 60 in Seymour.
Project manager Bud Sherman says a “dog bone” roundabout will be built at Route C, with highway 60 going over said roundabout.
Sherman also says a J-Turn will be built at West Clinton Avenue. This news comes after several crashes involving serious injuries at the two stoplights.
Construction will begin in four years.
The Nixa School District is taking the next steps by firing a teacher at the school who is accused of inappropriate conduct.
Allegations against 34-year-old Chelsea Harper say she participated in a sexual relationship with a student under the age of 17 from March to August of 2022.
She was placed on administrative leave earlier this year, and was fired by the Nixa School Board during the May 6 meeting following an investigation that found “sufficient facts” of the relationship.
Both the student and Harper admitted to sexual acts, as well as exchanged nude photographs via Snapchat.
The now-former teacher, who was anticipating a move to the Willard School District, has now been criminally charged in the case.
Harper is facing four counts of second-degree statutory rape, three counts of sexual contact with a student, and two counts of second-degree statutory sodomy.
School leaders at Nixa were made aware of the allegations in April, and promptly placed her on administrative leave and began an investigation.
Two men from Springfield, and another from Willard, are facing charges as part of a group accused of trafficking cocaine.
55-year-old Mario Castillo and 22-year-old Christhian Cruz-Pineda, both living in Springfield, and 47-year-old Willard resident Johnathan Emerson allegedly helped distribute cocaine between December of 2021 through April of this year.
Castillo is charged with:
Cruz-Pineda is facing charges of:
Finally, Emerson is indicted on charges of:
Two other individuals were also arrested in connection with the conspiracy, Bryan Ramirez-Aguero and Erika Hernandez, both of whom reside in Grain Prairie, Texas.
The National Weather Service has rated the tornado that touched down at a golf course near Hollister Monday.
The Weather Service says that an EF-1 tornado touched down at Payne’s Valley Golf Course at 4 PM.
It traveled for two miles with winds of 70 miles per hour turning over golf carts and damaging trees.
A registered sex offender has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for possession of child abuse pornography.
A Department of Justice news release says 46-year-old Joshua Wood of Springfield pleaded guilty in December to possessing child pornography.
Wood’s cell phone contained more than 100 images of child sexual abuse when he was arrested in 2022.
Wood was a registered sex offender from a previous conviction for possessing child pornography in 2018.