MO Lawmaker Jay Wasson to enter running for Congress

NIXA, Mo. — A longtime Missouri lawmaker is throwing his hat in the ring for Congress.

Republican Jay Wasson of Nixa plans to run for the 7th Congressional Seat currently held by Billy Long.

He has served as both a state representative and state senator. Wasson says his priorities include fiscal responsibility in Washington D.C. And addressing widespread immigration issues.

“Things like freedom of speech — I feel like — man if somebody says something somebody doesn’t like they cancel them anymore. Or they’re taken off Facebook. Those are not, that’s not right. And those are rights and freedoms that we ought to have,” said Jay Wasson, Mo. Cong. Candidate.

Long is not running for re-election to the seat. A number of candidates are hoping to replace him, including state senators Eric Burlison and Mike Moon, Dr. Sam Alexander, and Derral Reynolds.

Governor Parson announces 1.8 million dollar grant to better investigate crimes against children

JOPLIN, Mo. — Close to two-million dollars in grant money will help a number of state agencies in Missouri better investigate and prosecute criminals who victimize children.

Two of the 19 agencies splitting more than 1.8 million dollars are the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office, Governor Mike Parson announced the funding today.

It comes from the “Missouri Crimes Against Children – Sex Crimes COVID-19 Funding Opportunity.” eligible expenses include additional investigators and prosecutors — training — and computer software and equipment.

Pitt State freshman class grows for first time in six years

PITTSBURG, Kans. — Meanwhile, for the first time in six years, a freshman class at Pittsburg State has grown.

834 students make up the class of 2025. They represent 15 states, as well as India and Spain. 141 of them are first generation college students.

And, while most of the students in the freshman class graduated high school in the spring, 27 of them graduated in 2020, 6 in 2019 and 8 in 2018. Overall, enrollment at the university is down 6% from last year.

Ribbon cutting ceremony held for "Silverback Landing" Pittsburg housing development

PITTSBURG, Kans. — It’s a first for the city of Pittsburg in a really long time.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held today on the new “Silverback Landing” housing edition just east of the Pitt State campus. It’s the city’s first new housing development in 30 years.

Today’s ceremony celebrated the first phase of the project. City officials say it’s the beginning of the end of one of the biggest issues the city faces.

“Our housing survey showed there was a significant amount of people that work here but don’t live here and we thought I wonder why that is and when we looked deeper it was because we didn’t have any stock that would support it, so we started working on that several years ago and this is another one of those developments that just shows if you build it, they will come,” said Daron Hall, Pittsburg City Manager.

“We’ll have 133 home sites, phase one has 60, so we’ll have two more phases, uh we’ll basically be having a central park in the middle, phase two will have a pool for the neighborhood, they’ll be setting up a homes association where so people can manager their own amenities,” said Mickey Vena, Owner/Manager, Silverback Landing.

Construction on the project started about 18 months ago.

PSU fraternity hosts paid car smash event to raise funds for Feeding America

PITTSBURG, Kans. — Have you ever just wanted to take out your frustrations with a sledge hammer? On an inanimate object, mind you.

Students at Pitt State had the chance to do that today on the oval. All part of a fundraiser by the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

One dollar gave a student 5 whacks. A good way for them to release stress — and help a good cause.

“We’re doing a car smash to benefit Feeding America, Feeding America is our philanthropy organization, so every event that we do that raises money goes towards them, um just trying to help people here and all across America that need food or are in need,” said Cale Chapman, Vice President, Lambda Chi Alpha.

The car that took the beating was donated by Payne’s Wrecker Service in Frontenac. Today’s event raised close to 500 dollars.

Career Clothes Closet has free business attire for seniors graduating from Pitt State

PITTSBURG, Kans. — Graduating seniors will need more than just a diploma to land their first job out of college. They’ll need to also look the part.

That’s the purpose of the “Career Clothes Closet” at Pittsburg State. It officially opens for students on Monday. Most of the clothes inside the closet have been donated by members of the community.

“We are re-opening our Career Clothes Closet to students on campus that can come and pick out some professional attire if they’re maybe not able to afford to go get it on their own, this is an option for them, especially before we have our Career Fair later in October, October 19th and 20th,” said Jaime Dalton, Director, PSU Career Services.

To find out how you can donate new or gently used men’s or women’s business attire to the university — we have a link here.

Granby students wear pajamas to school to raise money for cancer patients

GRANBY, Okla. — Some students in Granby didn’t even bother to change out of their pajamas for school today.

It was all for a good cause — raising awareness about childhood cancer and raising money for “Camp Quality.” the effort from the East Newton School District, was “to put cancer to sleep” — a way to wrap up childhood cancer awareness month.

Camp Quality’s executive director was invited to speak to students about her experience with childhood cancer and the organization she runs. Students then presented a check for more than 460 dollars raised for the camp.

“I’m from Granby, this is my home. So, I was so excited to come home and for these young children to make a difference, to raise money for other kids, it’s truly priceless and something so special to me,” said Kristin Patterson, Speaker.

“We raised the money through a bunch of fundraisers, through volleyball, selling cake pops, we had -” said Halle Cook, Student.

“- a raffle,” finished Halle Cook, Student.

“Yeah, we had a raffle at the high school,” said Schriever.

Halle Cook, Student, “And you pay a dollar to wear your pajamas. And all that money went to Camp Quality.”

Patterson adds she’s grateful to have spoken to around 20 groups this month about Camp Quality, which didn’t used to be as common. The camp makes sure every child diagnosed with cancer gets to have a summer camp experience, as well as participate in other year-round programs to improve their quality of life.

Show Me The Ozarks Magazine hosts breast cancer awareness fundraiser at Freeman West

JOPLIN, Mo. — October is starting a little early — with a big fundraiser in the fight against breast cancer.

“Show Me The Ozarks” magazine hosted its 11th Annual “Covers for a Cause” today. Cover photos were taken of women and men decked out in all kinds of pink accessories.

The event also offers everything from raffles for a pink quilt and pink guitar, to pink hair extensions. Organizers say the annual project is an easy way to rally support for the cause.

“Everybody has either a neighbor or a relative, a friend, you know a co-worker that has dealt with breast cancer and we also feature breast cancer survivors every October too which means a lot to me,” said Lee Radcliff, Show Me The Ozarks Magazine.

The event was held at Freeman West, which also handed pink “breast cancer” t-shirts. The health system will hold a “go pink” day to highlight breast cancer awareness next week.

Soroptimist International celebrates 100 year anniversary

JOPLIN, Mo. — A century of service was celebrated this afternoon in Joplin.

“Soroptimist International” turns 100 years old this year. A special ceremony and ribbon cutting for the Joplin Club was held at the Joplin Area Chamber Of Commerce.

It also featured proclamations and recognition from Mayor Ryan Stanley — and State Senator Bill White. The club also announced a new campaign that’s underway — called, “100 Acts of Service.”

“We’re looking for opportunities in the community. We’re very much focused towards women and girls, so looking for opportunities in the community to assist and help women and girls meet their goals and become economically independent,” said Lynda Barnwart, Soroptimist International of Joplin President.

The Joplin Club has 55 members — 14 of whom are lifetime members. It was first established in Joplin in 1937. You can learn more about the organization. We have a link here.

KODE Medical Focus: Minor Sports Injuries

JOPLIN, Mo. — It could be a sprained ankle or a kink in your neck that won’t go away. Many patients tend to ignore minor injuries — but in some cases that can lead to much bigger medical issues.

“All sorts of things show up, sprains and aches and pains,” said Dr. Ryan Sorell, Primary Care.

It could be ankles, or knees or shoulders. Some times, some TLC at home is all it takes.

“Initially managing that at home kind of the old rice therapy so you know compression and elevation and rest and anti-inflammatories and those things are still good first line, you know, treatments to try and take care of those types of injuries,” said Dr. Sorell.

But in other cases, a trip to the doctor’s office could be crucial.

“If something’s going on, you’ve kind of addressed it at home by yourself and it’s going on more than a couple of weeks, it’s probably worth getting checked out. There may be something else kind of going on or something underlying that you can address to kind of help prevent that or get make it better,” said Dr. Sorell.

An MRI or X-ray could help address the pain and point to the best fix for your problem.

“You know instability or unlocking kind of mechanical symptoms or, you know my knee or my ankle or elbow or shoulder whatever that joint is is kind of getting stuck or you know my motion is changing. Usually there’s something mechanical but beneath that where you know there’s a tear or underlying inflammation or some sort of, You know, injury or damage that needs addressed,” said Dr. Sorell.