The Willard Board of Alderman is considering allowing residents more days to shoot off fireworks within city limits.
City Administrator Wesley Young says the city is currently surveying residents to measure public opinion.
As of now, fireworks are allowed by the city to be shot off between noon on July 3rd, and Midnight on July 5th.
A man from Wright County is in custody for allegedly attacking two people with a hatchet, a crime the victims say was motivated by the fact they were black.
Investigators say Jason Bailey got into an altercation with the two on June 4.
Prosecutors attest that he was the aggressor in the attack. Both victims had multiple wounds from being hit by the hatchet, while Bailey had lacerations to the back of his head.
Bailey’s fiancee, Lesa Disney, says the attack was not motivated by race.
He was initially charged with a hate crime, as well as two counts of first-degree assault, but the hate crime charge appears to have been dropped from the case.
Bailey has been booked into the Wright County Jail, where he is still being held. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 24.
A Wright County man is charged with allegedly attacking his Black neighbors with a hatchet.
Court documents say 41-year-old Jason Bailey of Grovesprings is charged with first-degree assault for a fight that occurred on June 4.
The victims told law enforcement that Bailey allegedly came to their house with a hatchet and yelled profanities and racial slurs at the them.
He allegedly told them they were going to died.
The victims had to be transported to a Springfield hospital for treatment.
Bailey is being held in the Wright County Jail.
A man has been sentenced to prison for holding a woman at gunpoint during an argument and threatening to killer her and members of her family.
Court documents say Steven Tygart of Springfield has been sentenced to four years for unlawful use of a weapon, five years for rape or attempted rape, and ten years for kidnapping.
Tygart pointed a gun at a woman for 15 minutes at his house on Johnathan Avenue in 2021.
An employee at a Rolla pharmacy was shot during an attempted robbery Wednesday.
The Rolla Police Department responded to a report that a gunman had shot an employee of Sinks Pharmacy while trying to steal drugs.
The suspect left in a black car with some drugs.
Police stopped the car and arrested 41-year-old Justin Wonsewitz.
He is in the Phelps County Jail pending formal charges.
The pharmacy worker is hospitalized in serious condition.
Ozarks Food Harvest has launched their Summer Harvest campaign to raise awareness and fight childhood hunger in the Ozarks.
The food bank says the campaign is to help bring meals to children who lose access to free or reduced-price meals over the summer while school is out.
It is presented by Pinegar Honda.
The campaign runs through September 2.
A man from Sparta who is accused of murdering his own nephew during an attempted theft is having his court date moved once again.
59-year-old Nick Owens is accused of shooting and killing his nephew, Zachary Owens, in June of 2022 during an attempt to steal a flatbed trailer that was on Zachary’s property in Mansfield.
The elder Owens was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
Court dates for 2023 and 2024 were postponed or cancelled for court-ordered mental evaluations.
His new court date is tentatively scheduled to begin on March 10, 2025 in Phelps County, after he was granted a change of venue away from Wright County, where the alleged murder occurred.
A man from Bolivar will spend several years in prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a hit-and-run crash that killed another man back in 2022.
Investigators say 45-year-old John Hofstetter was driving along Kansas Expressway near the intersection of Division Street on April 26, 2022, when his SUV drove onto the median and struck 59-year-old Jerry Westmoreland.
After the crash, Westmoreland was transported to a Springfield hospital, where he later died.
Prosecutors say Hofstetter pleaded guilty last Friday, June 14, to involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. He was sentenced to four years in prison for each charge, but they will be served concurrently.
Two elections were held in Greene County on Tuesday.
A runoff election to determine the mayor’s race in Willard ended this time with Troy Smith beating Sam Snider with 57-percent of the vote.
They both received the same number of votes in the April election and in a recount a few days later.
In the Fair Grove Ward 2 alderman race, the outcome was almost the same as in the April election.
Kelly Petty beat Jeffrey O’Dell Danderson with 59 to 42.
In April, Petty won 51 to 43.
The special election for Fair Grove Ward 2 was held because of incorrect ballots.
The Springfield-Greene County Park Board says repairs have been completed on Fassnight Park’s pool.
The pool was closed Friday night after staff discovered a problem that would require draining the pool in order to repair it.
The Park Board says the pool will reopen Thursday, June 20 at 1 p.m.
The park board says the repairs were completed by the staff for less the $1000.