First Thursday Art Walk returns to Joplin

JOPLIN, Mo. — It’s been more than a year, but one Joplin tradition is making its return next week.

First Thursday Art Walk is coming back to the downtown area starting next week. The event will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. There will be six locations people can stop by to see art from local artists.

Including — Club 609, Beast and Barrel, Urban Art Gallery, Ron Erwin and Thao Nguyen Photography, Spiva Center For The Arts And Joplin Avenue Coffee Company. On top of the art, there will also be live music from Ozark Bards.

Linda Teeter – First Thursday Artwalk Coordinator, said, “We’re excited about it. We would really appreciate people coming down to see us. It’s been 14 years been doing this, and it’s not been an easy situation this last year. But we are so happy to be back downtown.”

Teeter adds that everyone is welcome, but masks will be required.

Pittsburg airport to receive help due to pandemic

KANSAS — The airline industry has been one of the many industries impacted by the pandemic. But, Pittsburg’s Atkinson Municipal Airport has somehow managed to keep things going.

Now — it’s about to receive some help.

Daron Hall, Pittsburg City Manager, said, “With the public side of things, people being out and about has obviously taken a huge hit with the shut down.”

Air travel took a huge hit more than a year ago as a result of the pandemic.

Bill Pyle, Atkinson Municipal Airport Manager, said, “Aircraft business, aircraft did slow way down, people weren’t wanting to fly into the major cities, so we did see some decrease in our fuel sales.”

But things didn’t stop at the Atkinson Municipal Airport. Thanks to most of its business coming from private enterprises, operations continued.

“We don’t really have a commercial traffic that you would expect in another airport, so as business has continued, those jets has continued to fly,” said Hall.

“We still had medical flights in and out. We have military and police, those types of flights still continued on,” said Pyle.

The airport kept an open runway, continuing to help the city of Pittsburg in its economic development.

“We’ve had over half a billion in the last six years, seven years, the Pittsburg airport is a big part of that. The ability for businesses to fly through here and do their business and fly out so easily and safely, is just a tremendous asset that we have that a lot of communities our size don’t,” said Hall.

It’s also receiving assistance from Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and the FAA to help keep operations running.

“It’s so huge, that there’s no way our local community could support the cost for that, so yeah it’s definitely a benefit and something we greatly appreciate,” said Hall.

To help build on more business as people continue to return to the sky.

“I would hope to see things start to get a little busier, but fortunately we are operating good,” said Pyle.

Joplin Tornado volunteer from STL opens business in Joplin

JOPLIN, Mo. — If you live in the Joplin area, there’s a good chance you know of at least one person who came to town 10-years ago to help in the aftermath of the tornado – and decided to stay.

A woman – who’s now embarking on a new journey. St. Louis native Danyale Wilson saw Joplin in its darkest hour, and never left it.

Danyale Wilson, Tornado Volunteer, said, “I was one of the original volunteers with Americorps, so I did 1,700 hours, 10 months with Rebuild Joplin.”

But her commitment to give or her own time in the community didn’t stop there, and it continued, even in the midst of the covid crisis.

“We did some work with the Salvation Army, we did a bunch of volunteer work with them during the holiday times, that was very important for me when I first came her to maintain the sense of community.”

And, for a change, she’s finally doing something for herself.

“Oh my God I’m so excited, I am so excited to be at this point here, this is a dream come true, something I’ve been working up on for quite some time now.”

This week, she opened her own business on East 7th Street.

“I started online with “Paparazzi Accessories” and then I grew into the Flea Market here in town where I had the opportunity to meet more of the people in the community, and then the opportunity came about for me to open up my own boutique and that’s where I am now.”

Wilson’s store specializes in jewelry items for $5 or less. She also sells apparel, sunglasses, and even candy. She already has her very own sales woman — her daughter — Wilson hopes she carries on the family tradition of serving others, just like her mom.

Neosho residents gain surgical options thanks to Freeman Health System

NEOSHO, Mo. — Patients in Neosho now have more options closer to home when they need surgery.

Dale Naden, Neosho Patient, said, “Didn’t know I had it until I had my last surgery, he pointed it out to me.”

Now, Neosho patient Dale Naden can get his hernia surgery close to home.

“We’re excited about having people here who can take care of you.”

Naden and others are benefiting from new surgical options offered at Freeman Neosho.

Renee Denton, Freeman Neosho Chief Operating Officer, said, “It’s very exciting for us to be able to have two surgeons, coming to Neosho to take care of our community. Each surgeon has their own unique specialty their own area of expertise.”

Procedures offered will include breast biopsies and dealing with some upper digestive issues.

Dr. David Baker, Freeman Surgeon, said, “We’re going to offer a full wide range of outpatient surgery, that will include gallbladder surgery, skin lesion excision. We’ll also offer screening endoscopy, colonoscopies.”

The surgical team says the goal of offering those options in Neosho is to make it more convenient for patients to take care of their health.

Dr. Alan Buchele, Freeman Surgeon, said, “We’re able to offer a lot of services here that can be done in Neosho so they don’t have to make the drive up to Joplin. And we’re also able to give them their post op care here, which makes that follow up a little easier and more convenient for them.”

Pandemic causes skyrocketing lumber prices

MIAMI, Okla. – The pandemic has affected many businesses in many ways and the lumber industry is no exception.

“You call today and I give you a price on a 2 by 4 today, that price is probably not going to be good tomorrow,” said Mark Welch, owner of M&D Lumber in Miami, Oklahoma.

Welch also says the soaring prices are creating headaches for both him and his customers.

“(They’re) just frustrated with prices. I get cussed out regularly, people thinking we’re price gouging until they call around. I mean, it’s affecting everybody everywhere in every town,” said Welch.

According to Business Insider, prices have soared more than 250% during the last year because the pandemic forced many mills to close or significantly slow production, but Mark says that’s not all that happened.

“Well right when COVID first hit, we actually had a record number of sales with everybody home not doing anything. That really depleted the mills and what everybody had in the storehouse, and that’s where we’re at right now, trying to fill that,” said Welch.

Mark says he hopes lumber prices calm down as our country makes progress fighting COVID-19, but as of now, he doesn’t like what’s happening.

“Right now, we’re still on an upward trend. I hope by the end of 2021 that we’ve at least become stable,” said Welch.

 

5 arrested in violent robbery of Lady Gaga’s dogs

LOS ANGELES – The woman who returned Lady Gaga’s stolen French bulldogs was among five people arrested in connection with the theft and shooting of the music superstar’s dog walker, Los Angeles police said Thursday.

Detectives do not believe that the thieves initially knew the dogs belonged to the pop star, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. The motive for the Feb. 24 robbery, investigators believe, was the value of the French bulldogs – which can run into the thousands of dollars.

The dog walker, Ryan Fischer, is recovering from a gunshot wound and has called the violence “a very close call with death” in social media posts. He was walking Lady Gaga’s three dogs – named Asia, Koji and Gustav – in Hollywood just off the famed Sunset Boulevard when he was attacked.

Video from the doorbell camera of a nearby home shows a white sedan pulling up and two men jumping out. They struggled with Fischer and one pulled a gun and fired a single shot before fleeing with two of the dogs, Koji and Gustav.

The video captured Fischer’s screams of, “Oh, my God! I’ve been shot!” and “Help me!” and “I’m bleeding out from my chest!”

Lady Gaga offered a $500,000 reward – “no questions asked” – to be reunited with the dogs. The singer had been in Rome at the time filming a movie.

The dogs were returned two days later to an LAPD station by a woman who originally appeared to be “uninvolved and unassociated” with the crime, police initially said. The woman, identified Thursday as 50-year-old Jennifer McBride, had reported that she’d found the dogs and responded to an email address associated with the reward, police said.

McBride turned out to be in a relationship with the father of one of the suspects, the LAPD said Thursday. It was not immediately clear if she had received the reward.

Police arrested James Jackson, 18; Jaylin White, 19; and Lafayette Whaley, 27, in connection with the violence. They are charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit robbery and second-degree robbery, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Jackson, who authorities say was the shooter, also faces charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and a felon carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle. White faces one count of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury.

White’s father, 40-year-old Harold White, and McBride were arrested and accused of being accessories to the attack. The elder White also was charged with one count of possession of a firearm and McBride faces a charge of receiving stolen property.

Jackson, Whaley and the Whites are all documented gang members, according to the LAPD.

The five suspects were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. It was not immediately clear if they had attorneys who could speak on their behalf.

All five were being held on $1 million bail each, online jail records show.

Lady Gaga did not immediately address the arrests on her social media accounts Thursday afternoon. Fischer and Lady Gaga’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

More Americans sign contracts to buy homes in March

SILVER SPRING, Md. – More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in March after two months of declines, pointing to a healthy housing market as summer approaches and the economy continues what is shaping up to be a rapid recovery.

The National Association of Realtors’ index of pending home sales rose 1.9% to 111.3 in March after declining 11.5% in February and 2.4% in January. The increase Thursday, however was weaker than the 3.5% analysts surveyed by FactSet had projected.

Contract signings, considered a barometer of purchases that will take place in the next two months, are 23.3% ahead of where they were last year, largely due to lockdowns put in place when the pandemic hit U.S. shores in March 2020.

Earlier this month, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. housing construction bounced back by nearly 20% last month to the fastest pace since 2006 as home builders recovered from a February cold spell that delayed projects. Builders began construction on new homes and apartments at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.74 million units in March, the fastest pace for home building since a level of 1.8 million in June 2006 during the last housing boom.

Economists expect new construction to help make of for the years-long dearth of inventory that has stymied would-be buyers. The Realtors said housing starts are forecast to reach 1.6 million this year and 1.7 million in 2022.

“Low inventory has been a consistent problem, but more inventory will show up as new home construction intensifies in the coming months, as well as from a steady wind-down of the mortgage forbearance program,” said the Realtors’ chief economist, Lawrence Yun.

Of the four regions, only the Midwest saw a decline in contract signings last month.