With 15 days remaining in the Carthage Salvation Army’s annual holiday Bell Ringing Campaign, the group is more than halfway to its $98,000 goal.

Two fires, one accidental and one suspicious, damaged two homes in Carthage on Sunday.

A few days ago, Denny Ritchhart was driving to Lamar to take care of some business, when he thought of something.

He says it’s been about the relationships.

Joplin will continue to negotiate to bring a professional baseball team to Joe Becker Stadium as the result of City Council action Monday night. The council voted 7-1-1 to authorize a memorandum of understanding to continue to work with WLD Suarez Baseball LLC toward bringing the El Paso Diablos independent team to Joplin.

After looking at 19 requests for funding on Monday, the board of the Joplin Tornado First Response Fund decided to deny some of the requests and seek additional information from some of the applicants. The group indicated support for requests from a handful of applicants who want assistance with the moving and setting up of FEMA storm shelters. The board estimated the cost of doing that at $9,000 to $10,000 per shelter.

A Kansas City man pleaded guilty Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court in Joplin to attempted sexual misconduct with a child in an Internet predator sting case. Dwight D. Edwards, 66, pleaded guilty to a single count of the offense in a plea deal dismissing two additional counts that he was facing.

The Joplin Board of Education will review its annual audit of the school district at its monthly meeting tonight. The audit for the 2012-13 academic year, conducted by the Joplin accounting firm Mense, Churchwell and Mense, will also be presented in greater detail during a work session preceding the meeting, Superintendent C.J. Huff said.

A once-popular Christmas tradition of killing birds for sport has evolved into a Christmas tradition in which tens of thousands of birders document bird sightings in an attempt to help conservation efforts.

Students at East Middle School said they are counting the days until they can move out of the renovated warehouse where they currently attend classes to their new school on East 20th Street. “I am so glad that we’re not in a warehouse anymore,” eighth-grader Cydney Vickers said. Of the new school, she said: “I’m really excited, actually.”