Joplin and Webb City work to improve Enterprise Ave

SOUTHWEST MISSOURI — Joplin and Webb City are teaming up to improve a road.

Tuesday the Webb City City Council approved a $62,000 re-pavement project for the industrial park. Joplin and Webb City are both paying to repave parts of Enterprise Avenue between Hall Street and Madison Street.

The road is shared by both cities and has been deteriorating. Nearly 100 semi-trucks use the road everyday.

Carl Francis, City Administrator, said, “That area is a large economic boon for this area. Many many jobs. I personally know many people that work there and are happy to see the work being performed.”

He says the re-pavement project is nearly completed. Webb City is asking anyone with potholes on their roads to contact the city.

Joplin schools guidance counselor wins award

JOPLIN, Mo. — A guidance counselor at Joplin Public Schools is being recognized for her hard work.

Johanna Sue Day, Lifechanger Award Recipient, said, “I’m so speechless I dont even know. It was honestly the farthest thing from my mind on a Wednesday afternoon.”

Johanna Sue Day was recognized as the 2021 lifechanger of the year from National Life Group. Joplin Public Schools surprised her at the high school with the award, cash prize, and a trip to a private island.

“I think thats just absolutely incredible. Its like a dream you still havent woke up from.”

She was nominated for the award by the Joplin Public Schools Superintendent and chosen from 750 teachers in the United States.

Dr. Melinda Moss, Superintendent, said, “She has worked tirelessly, consistently, and with love and care for our students for over 30 years and the most genuine and authentic servants heart wanting to do what’s best for kids the whole time.”

Miss Day was recognized for counseling students after the May 22, 2011 tornado.

“Everybody just pulled together everyone was just going through the same thing,” said Day.

Miss Day retired after thirty years serving the district — but decided to come back to start the innovation campus program and the associate degree program.

“It was something I just was really fired up because I wanted to help kids and I wanted to do as much as I could to get it off the ground.”

She is retiring at the end of May after 38 years of service with joplin public schools and wishes her students the best.

“We all have our strengths and deficits. And don’t let those deficits pull you down because you can pull those deficits up and continue to reach your goals as long as you work at it and really want it.”

Latest updated blog – Drying out & brightening up for Thursday – Nick

Good Wednesday evening, everyone. Sure enough, we had cloud cover in control as periods of rain and t-storms worked over many parts of the area today. This certainly had an impact on our temperatures compared to yesterday. After seeing highs in the upper 70s Tuesday afternoon, we dropped back into the middle 60s this morning before we topped out in the lower 70s this afternoon. This verified with Joplin Regional Airport recording a high of 71 degrees this afternoon.

In terms of rainfall, some areas saw some rain while others saw quite an accumulation within a span of 2 days in total. While we had a thin band of 1 to 3 inches across a portion of southeast Kansas, many areas north of I-44 could only see rain totals between a quarter of an inch and an inch. Once you hop south of I-44, our southern counties saw so much rainfall ranging between 3 and 9 inches. That resulted in quite a bit of flash flooding for Benton, McDonald and Barry counties late this morning and into the afternoon.

We are going to see things improve as we go through the rest of the work/school week and into the start of our weekend. Starting at the surface, we have our cold front working through. That helped to allow more rain and t-storms to develop and roll in today while it helped spark some severe weather across central parts of Oklahoma down into Texas.

At the jet stream level, the upper-level low we’ve been watching continues to crawl across southern New Mexico and into western parts of Texas. As we head into Thursday, the jet stream starts to head back in our direction. As it does, however, the upper-level low gets cut off from the main flow of the jet stream. That means we’ll see any unpleasant weather stay to our south over the next couple days.

With our cold front on the move and the upper-level low starting to break away from the jet, we’ll see that result in improving weather here as soon as Thursday morning. Once we see the vast majority of our rain and t-storm chances come to an end overnight, we’ll start Thursday morning off on a mostly cloudy and chilly note with lows back in the upper 50s.

While the day starts off mostly cloudy, returning sunshine will be the rule of thumb for the rest of the day. Under partly sunny skies (even mostly sunny skies for some), it will look a lot nicer as we work into the afternoon. With a north breeze behind the front, we’ll see highs a little below normal for this time of the year. Still, we’ll start the afternoon with temperatures in the middle 60s before we top out around 70 for our highs.

For Friday, we’ll enjoy mostly sunny skies as the upper-level low continues to wander across western Texas and even close to the Mexican border. While the jet stream continues to head back our way, we’ll see that result in highs in the middle 70s across the area. That sounds pretty good as our weekend gets started.

While we enjoy a quiet Saturday with partly sunny skies and warm temperatures with highs back in the middle 70s, we’ll have to keep an eye on changes that want to roll back in starting on Sunday. While it will be warm with highs in the upper 70s, the upper-level low to our southwest will head back our way and allow our partly sunny skies to lead to scattered t-storms for Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening. We’ll be watching those t-storms closely as some could be strong to severe.

While that system will move on as we work into Monday, it’ll stay active. With another upper-level wave working out of the Pacific Northwest and digging into the Rockies, that will allow for another chance for scattered t-storms that could be strong to severe. Even with those continued t-storm chances, we’ll stay warm for Monday with highs in the upper 70s across the region.

Behind Monday’s storm system, we’ll see temperatures drop back into mild territory with highs in the middle to upper 60s. While we’ll be expecting scattered t-storms for Tuesday and scattered showers for Wednesday, we’ll watch for the storm system slated to roll in for next Friday and Saturday. The system due in for May 7th and May 8th will not only bring t-storms back into the forecast, that system also wants to bring another severe threat our way. You can see the other systems and severe threats we’re keeping an eye on over the next 5 weeks down below.

If you’re curious about how we look for May and much of the month of June in terms of storm systems and temperatures, Doug has you covered with his long range forecast down below. Have a good night and a great Thursday!

Nick

May 6th-8th:  We’ll warm back up for Thursday and Friday before a slight cool down on Saturday. We’ll watch for severe weather chances on Friday before we see just regular t-storms on Saturday.

May 9th-May 15th:  We’ll stay mild for Sunday and Monday before a warm up kicks in for Tuesday and Wednesday. After a mild Thursday, we’ll be warm to start the weekend out. We’ll watch for t-storms on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. We’ll watch Wednesday the 12th and Saturday the 15th for severe weather chances.

May 16th-May 22nd:  Except for a warm Tuesday, we’ll stay mainly mild for this week. We’ll watch for slight t-storm chances on Sunday, a severe threat for Tuesday the 18th, a severe threat for Thursday the 20th, a severe threat for Friday the 21st and additional t-storms on Saturday.

May 23rd-May 29th: We’ll go from warm temperatures Sunday & Monday to a mild stretch for the middle of the week and back to warm temperatures by the weekend. We’ll watch for a severe threat for Sunday through Tuesday, showers on Wednesday and another chance for severe weather on Saturday the 29th.

May 30th-June 5th: We’ll bounce between mild and warm temperatures to start the week before a mild stretch kicks in for Wednesday and Thursday. We should be warm for Friday and mild for Saturday. T-storms are possible for Sunday, Tuesday and Friday followed by rain chances on Saturday.

June 6th-June 12th: Temperatures look mild for Sunday before we turn warmer for Monday & Tuesday. After a mild Wednesday, we’ll be warm for Thursday before we heat up for the weekend. We’ll watch for t-storms on Monday and Tuesday before a severe threat returns on Saturday.

June 13th-June 19th: With the exception of a mild Friday, we’ll mainly be warm for this week. We’ll watch for rain chances on Sunday, t-storms on Tuesday, strong to severe t-storms on Wednesday and another shot for t-storms on Thursday.

June 20th-June 26th: The week starts hot before we back down to warm temperatures for Wednesday through Friday. We should turn hot again for Saturday. We’ll watch for t-storm chances on Tuesday and Thursday.

Local health experts encourage parents to keep up fight against COVID-19

CRAWFORD COUNTY, Ks. – Kelli Donaldson is a Southeast Kansas mother of six who takes the Coronavirus seriously, especially when it comes to her kids. She says she’s headed straight to the doctor if she sees potential COVID-19 symptoms in one of her children.

“My first reaction would be to get a hold of the doctor and take them out there and have a COVID test done, just so we can be on the safe side for everybody,” said Donaldson.

But not every Kansas parent thinks that way when it comes to their kids and the Coronavirus.

According to the Kansas City Star, Overland Park doctors are warning parents on social media because they keep encountering moms and dads who are backing off from testing their kids, simply to avoid the headache of a positive result. The paper reports that parents not wanting their kids to miss out on sporting events is a popular excuse, but that logic doesn’t sit well with local health experts.

“It’s always hard to keep your kids out of a competition whether it be soccer or baseball, tennis, whatever’s going on this summer. You really don’t want your children out and competing with others when they’re ill from anything, but especially COVID. It is important that they do stay home and quarantine for those 10 days while they’re sick,” said Crawford County Health Department Director Teddi Van Kam.

Van Kam says she’s not seeing the same trend among local parents that’s concerning doctors in Overland Park and she wants it to stay that way.

“I think parents here have worked very hard to keep on top of what’s going on with their kids, and know when to take them into the pediatrician and when they can treat them,” said Van Kam.

Kelli Donaldson is definitely one of those parents, and as for the moms and dads who think their kid testing positive for COVID-19 would be a hassle, Kelli’s got a message for them.

“I think it would definitely be a bigger hassle to have sick children running around, not knowing what they have, passing it on to their siblings and others,” said Donaldson.

Four sign at Joplin High School

Four Joplin High School student athletes sign to continue their athletic careers at the college level:

Kohl Cooper signs to play baseball at Crowder College, one of the best JUCO programs in the country.

“The type of players that come out of there are just miraculous,” Cooper says. “The discipline there… I mean that’s what I want to be around. A team like that.”

Josh Harryman will continue his baseball career at Three Rivers Community College.

“[Coach] had a plan for me right when we had our first conversation and that’s all I needed – a plan to do me,” Harryman says.

David Fiscus is also playing collegiate baseball. He’s headed to St. Louis Community College.

“It makes me feel that it was worth it and that I wasn’t just chasing a long dream,” Fiscus says. “It was actually something that was achievable with a lot of hard work.”

Bed Wardlow signs today to swim at William Jewel College in Liberty, Missouri.

“My decision became a no-brainer,” Wardlow says. “I always thought choosing a school between academic and athletic you had  to compromise something, but with William Jewell, I got the best of both worlds.”

 

More rain chances on the weekly planner

Once we get past our rain and t-storm chances for tonight, we’ll have some dry time to enjoy before we get active again early next week. We’ll see skies turning partly sunny for Thursday and mostly sunny for Friday as our weekend gets started. While we can enjoy a dry Saturday under partly sunny skies, we’ll watch for our next storm system that will bring in scattered strong to severe t-storms for Sunday and Monday. While t-storm chances will continue for Tuesday and scattered showers will be around for Wednesday, we’ll get a break in any severe weather chances until next Friday and Saturday. We’ll stay mild with highs in the lower to middle 70s for Thursday before we climb back into the middle to upper 70s for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Behind the system that wants to bring severe weather chances for Sunday and Monday, we’ll go back into the middle to upper 60s for the middle of next week.

Mowing forecast – April 29th-May 2nd

After we deal with another evening of rain and t-storms, we’ll see the rain chances clearing out as we turn drier as we head into the weekend. Even though the skies will be turning partly to mostly sunny on Thursday, many of us will still have wet soil and wet ground to contend with. That will lead to a poor day for any mowing or yard work. As we stay mostly sunny for Friday, that will continue to allow the moisture to either evaporate or run off into the area’s creeks, streams and rivers. With some drier soil as a result, we’ll give Friday a fair rating. Once we get past a partly sunny and dry Saturday with a good rating for any yard work, we’ll drop it back to a fair on Sunday as we’ll be watching for scattered strong to severe t-storms during the afternoon and evening.