The chances are very good for severe weather tonight and early Saturday morning.
The National Weather Service in Springfield says most of these storms will be north of I-44.
These storms are expected to move into the area around midnight.
These storms may produce quarter-sized hail and 60 mile per hour winds.
Listen to KTWO for any severe weather coverage.
Just days after four people were charged in a sex trafficking sting, four more are now in jail.
Prosecutors have charged 28-year-old Devon Stetts, 41-year-old Jahmar Graham, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, and 25-year-old Roy Reyes with sex crimes.
Stetts is accused of responding to an online ad put together by law enforcement in which he agreed to pay $120 to have sex with a woman. He was arrested when he arrived at the meeting place, and charged with prostitution.
Authorities say Graham and Reyes responded to an ad, again created by law enforcement, in which they offered money for sexual favors from girls under the age of 17. Both men are charged with second-degree attempted sex trafficking of a child under 18.
Robinson, according to prosecutors, forced a woman to become a prostitute and frequently arranged meetings to have sex in exchange for cash.
The victim told authorities she was in fear for her life, and had been abused by Robinson for several days leading up to her statement. He was charged with first-degree promoting prostitution and promoting travel for prostitution.
All four men are being held in the Taney County Jail.
A Taney County man has been charged with in a fatal shooting near Branson Wednesday.
Court documents say Mitchell Hale is accused of shooting a man after an argument at an apartment complex on Cannonball Loop.
Witnesses say they saw the victim follow Hale into his residence, then heard a gunshot.
Police had been called to the scene earlier in the day because of an altercation between the two men.
Hale is being held without bond.
A teacher’s aide in the Cassville district has been indicted by a federal grand jury for possessing child pornography.
Barry County authorities began an investigation after it was learned that Makensie Koehler had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male.
A search warrant was obtained for Koehler’s snapchat account and reportedly found multiple images of child pornography.
Two women from Strafford are now awaiting trial for their role in allegedly helping to produce child pornography for nearly a decade.
Prosecutors say 40-year-old Mallory Bunch and 34-year-old Jessica Pickett were involved in a conspiracy to produce child pornography by sexually abusing children, alongside Mallory’s husband Thomas Bunch.
The report alleges the conspiracy took place between September of 2016 and May of 2024.
According to investigators, Bunch was in a polyamorous relationship with both women, prior to his passing earlier this year.
The five-count indictment accused Bunch and Pickett of sexually abusing two children for the purpose of producing child pornography, which included hundreds of photos and videos of the two children being abused.
The two women are also accused of distributing child pornography.
A man from Nixa will spend time in a lengthy drug treatment program, and possibly prison after that for threatening his own mother with a hatchet.
Investigators say 35-year-old Simon Scholz confronted his mother with the hatchet on New Year’s Eve last year, threatening to kill her.
Scholz admitted to being high, taking heroin, meth, and PCP prior to the incident. He also believed that his mother had been taken by aliens.
When authorities arrived, they found him on top of his mother in a bed, holding the hatchet to her head.
Prosecutors say Scholz pleaded guilty to the charges he was facing back in April.
He was sentenced this week to complete a 120-day drug treatment program, along with ten years in prison for kidnapping and seven years for unlawful use of a weapon.
Court documents show that if Scholz successfully completes the drug treatment program, he could become eligible for parole.
The Springfield Public School Board has voted to spend more than $500,000 to increase security on school busses.
The money will be used to put more security cameras on the busses, bringing to total number of cameras per bus from 5 to 8 plus more cameras on the outside of the busses.
The cameras are expected to be installed in July.
The vote on that issue was unanimous.
Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are set to clash in Atlanta Thursday night for the first Presidential debate between the presumptive GOP and Democratic nominees for our nation’s highest office.
It’s the first time Trump and Biden have met face to face since their final debate ahead of the 2020 Presidential election.
The debate begins at 8:00 p.m. CDT and will last approximately one and a half hours.
You can hear live coverage of the full debate on 93-3 and A-M 560 KWTO.
One lane of Kansas Expressway had to be closed between Nichols and Brower for a time Wednesday while Springfield Firefighters battled a housefire.
A Springfield Fire Department official says it is unknown if the house was occupied at the time.
The house will now have to be demolished by Springfield Building Services because it is unsafe.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
A jury trial has been scheduled for a man who caused a fatal crash in Taney County while he was intoxicated.
Online court records say a trial is set for February 2025 for 49-year-old Richard Rogers of Springfield in Taney County Circuit Court.
Rogers is charged with D-W-I and causing a crash on U-S 65 and MO 176 near Saddlebrook that claimed the life of 55-year-old Sandra Puckett of Walnut Shade in June of 2023.
Rogers is being held in the Taney County Jail without bond.