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Mary Martha Hissink

Mary Martha Hissink, 96, formerly of Ottumwa, Iowa passed away on June 20, 2021 at the Barone Alzheimer Care Center in Nevada, Missouri.

“Mar” was born July 15, 1924 in Ottumwa to W. Harley McClure and Buena (Hicks) McClure. She married A. W. “Bill” Hissink on April 16, 1950 in Ottumwa. He preceded her in death in April 2012.

She’ll be missed by her two sons, Tom (Cathy) Hissink of Nevada MO, and Jeff (Betsy) Hissink of Fairport NY; three granddaughters Emily (TJ) Hunt of Parkville, MO, Claire (Kyle) Hooe of Nevada, MO, Rachel Hissink of Fairport NY; three great grandsons, Carter and Connor Hooe and Tucker Hunt; a sister Joyce (Don) Smart of Georgetown, TX and sister in law Barb Houser of Des Moines, IA.

She was preceded in death by two brothers, James and Jack McClure.

Those who wish may contribute in Mary’s memory to the Barone Alzheimer Care Center.

Gerald Gillette

Pittsburg, Ks – Gerald Gillette, 77, a Business owner passed away Saturday June 19, 2021. A Celebration of life will be held at a later date.

Arrangements are under the direction of Ozark Memorial Park Crematory of Joplin, Mo.

Sondra Maxine Moore

Sondra Maxine Moore, 81, Nevada, MO, passed away Saturday, June 19, 2021, at Nevada Regional Medical Center. She was born March 4, 1940, in Nevada, MO to Raymond and Maxine (Miller) Lawrence. She graduated from Nevada High School in the class of 1958 and had worked as a secretary and admissions clerk at the State Hospital for several years. On August 7, 1973, she married Shirod Moore Sr. in Texas. Sondra had attended the Nevada First Christian Church, enjoyed Bingo, and was a member of Eagles, and Elks, but the joy of her life was her grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Sondra leaves behind two daughters, Joi Lynn Applegate, Milo, MO and Jana Mather, Nevada, MO; one brother, Homer (Donna) Lawrence, FL; one sister, Tobie Brown, Lawson, MO; four grandchildren, Ginger (Tom) Nowak, Kelly (Bill) Redburn, Jeffrey James, and Jessica Mather; six great-grandchildren, Benjamin Nowak, Brian Stafford, Tessa Stafford, Ally Schnedler, Emily Redburn, and Allison Redburn.

Preceding her in death were her husband Shirold Moore Sr. and her grandmother, Corine Miller who raised her.

A funeral service will be held at 1:00 p.m. Thursday, June 24, 2021, at Ferry Funeral Home with burial to follow in Sheldon, Cemetery. The family will receive friends Thursday from 12:00 p.m. Until service time.

Memorials may be made to Carl Overton Christmas Fund with the funeral home serving as custodian.

News to Know (6/22/21)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A big win for college athletes. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled the NCAA’s strict limits on benefits to student-athletes violates Federal Anti-Trust Law. The ruling focuses on how schools reimburse players for things such as computers, science equipment and musical instruments. The narrow ruling does not directly address athlete compensation, but it could ultimately change the landscape of college sports.  Supreme Court win for college athletes in compensation case

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A court trial over Missouri officials’ refusal to expand Medicaid is underway. Voters last year amended the state constitution to expand access to the health insurance program to hundreds of thousands more low-income adults, including three women who are now suing Governor Mike Parson’s administration. The governor says he won’t expand Medicaid because the legislature refused to pay for it. Two single mothers and another low-income woman in response sued to force Missouri to provide coverage as called for in the state constitution. Missouri governor drops voter-approved Medicaid expansion

JOPLIN, Mo. – The Joplin City Council herd a presentation on an alternative mode of transportation, scooters. Bird scooters, specifically. They’re looking to come to town. The scooters utilize an app. That app allows residents to rent the scooters for a short period of time. When the person who is traveling by scooter is done, they leave it for the next rider or to be picked up by a Bird contractor for repair or charging. Last night the city council decided to move forward on negotiations with Bird scooters. Current 4-State scooter programs receive positive reviews

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Kan. – Harvest is underway in the 4-States and hay season is in full swing. Use caution when traveling around farm trucks, tractors, combines, or other implements. First, don’t assume the farmer knows you are there. Pass with extreme caution. When a farm vehicle pulls to the right side of the road, it does not mean it is turning right or allowing you to pass. Due to the size of some farm equipment, the farmer must execute wide left turns so allow it plenty of room and time to turn. Be alert to see if they might be turning into a driveway or field. Don’t assume that a farmer can move aside to let you pass.

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Latest updated blog – Staying nice and warm for Tuesday – Nick

Good late Monday evening, everyone. Today brought quite a change after our hot and humid weekend wrapped up the other day. Thanks to our cold front that passed through as advertised, we had some scattered t-storms develop late last night and better chances work through this morning. Once the last of the rain chances cleared out this afternoon, we were able to enjoy a dry afternoon after the area saw about half an inch of rain on average. Needless to say, areas that saw heavier pockets of rain had rain amounts push almost up to 2 inches before the rain chances moved on.

In addition to it bringing rain and t-storm chances our way, the cold front certainly lived up to its name. After we saw highs in the lower to middle 90s on Sunday, our temperature journey throughout today turned out to be a bit of an interesting one. We started the day with midnight highs around 82°. Once the front and the t-storm chances worked into Joplin, temperatures dropped to 63° by 7 AM. Once the rain chances cleared out, the mostly sunny skies started arriving a bit sooner than expected. That’s why we had afternoon temperatures in Joplin bounce back into the middle 70s.

Looking at our weather setup, it’s looking good for the overnight and for our Tuesday. At the surface, our cold front continues its march to the east and southeast. Along and ahead of the front, showers and t-storms will continue to move along from New England down to the Gulf Coast. Behind the front, we have a little area of high pressure keeping our skies quiet for tonight and Tuesday.

Upstairs at the jet stream level, we have a setup that seems pretty hard to come by this late in the month of June. After spending last week under the upper-level ridge, it has been forced back near the Mexican border around Arizona and New Mexico. With no other systems immediately on the way and us on the cooler side of the jet, we’re looking at a pretty great Tuesday.

With dry air behind the cold front working together with mostly clear skies and a light breeze, it will be a chilly start for our Tuesday morning. It wouldn’t hurt to have a light jacket handy before you head out the door as lows will drop back into the lower to middle 50s. It’s also worth noting that the record low for Joplin on Tuesday is 53°. While Joplin may come close to matching the record, some outlying areas could see temperatures drop as low as 51° before we hit sunrise.

Those same conditions will lead to a quick warm up throughout the morning and into Tuesday afternoon. We’ll quickly climb into the lower 70s by 10 AM before we hit the middle 70s by the noon hour. Even though it will be a warm afternoon with most spots topping out around 81°, the low dew points and low humidity will make it feel nice for any outdoor plans.

Looking ahead to Wednesday, the upper-level ridge will start to slide back into the Southern Plains over the state of Texas. For us, we’ll stay on the milder side of the jet with partly sunny skies across the area. That will take us from lows around 60° Wednesday morning to highs back in the middle 80s for Wednesday afternoon.

The ridge strengthens just enough to sneak back in here and push highs back in the lower 90s for Thursday and Friday. While we can’t rule out a few isolated t-storms for Thursday afternoon, we’ll watch for a stronger storm system start to work in on Friday. An upper-level low coming out of the Dakotas will force another frontal system our way as we head through the weekend. That’s when mostly cloudy skies and better chances for scattered t-storms will work in.

The jet stream setup you see below for Sunday shows how our weather will fare as we go through both Saturday and Sunday. This upper-level low will keep the frontal system around for both days and keep t-storm chances in the forecast. This will serve to bring temperatures back down into the middle 80s for Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

Sticking with Doug’s pattern, we’ll have some scattered t-storm chances stick with us for Monday. However, the 80s will stick with us as well as a new work week gets going. Doug has you covered with his long range forecast out through the middle of July down below. Have a good night and a great Tuesday!

Nick

June 29th-July 3rd:  A warm start to the week but then just hot and humid.  We’ll watch for t-storm chance to return by Thursday into the holiday weekend.

July 4th-10th:  A hot and humid week with thunderstorm chances on the 4th and 5th, then again late in the week and into the weekend.

July 11th- 17th:  A little cooler to start the week with scattered thunderstorms on Sunday.  A hot middle and then warm end to the week.  Thunderstorms back in the weekend of the 17th.

Beiter throws complete game shutout; Griffons roll by Outlaws

WATCH: Chase Beiter (MSSU) throws a complete game shutout, allowing just 3 hits and striking out 10 Monday night – leading the Nevada Griffons to an 8-0 win over the Joplin Outlaws.

Covid-19 Delta variant emerging in Kansas and Missouri

NEWTON COUNTY, Mo. & CRAWFORD COUNTY, Ks. –Coronavirus cases are starting to increase again in Southwest Missouri and Southeast Kansas.

The Crawford county health department says they are also starting to see an emergence of the delta variant.

“We have started to see some variants, the one of concern for us is the delta variant and not because it’s more dangerous because it makes the virus more transmissible,” said Teddi Van Kam with the Crawford County Health Department.

She says this variant makes it even more important to be vaccinated against the virus.

 “We want people to be aware, we have had seven verified cases since June first that had the delta variant, and so it is here and we just want people to be aware of that fact and to reconsider becoming vaccinated,” Van Kam said.

In Newton county, they have two confirmed cases of the delta variant and first found out the variant was in the county through the sewage water.

“Have been testing of the wastewater, sewage system, and they have found some of the variants in the watershed, the sewers water, and so don’t know if that means there’s going to be an uptick in those particular variants it just really shows us that covid is here in all of its forms,” said administrator Larry Bergner.

Marc Johnson, a professor at the University of Missouri says they have been collecting water samples throughout the state since last July.

“Starting in July of last year we started just collecting wastewater samples from many different places throughout the state and just using them to measure how much SARS Covid 2 was in the wastewater,” Johnson said.

In Newton County, that’s been in Joplin and Neosho. Johnson says this method of testing is more efficient.

“With the wastewater, we get a pretty rapid readout and it’s not only rapid but it’s also more comprehensive. so you may get a person who tested positive for the India variant…so the beautiful part is it doesn’t matter if they got tested or not, as long as they are pooping in their toilet, we’ll be able to detect if they were infected,” Johnson said.

Current 4-State scooter programs receive positive reviews

Joplin’s city council may want to look to its 4-State neighbors as it considers partnering with the Bird scooter company to bring a scooter program to Joplin.

The City of Pittsburg brought Bird scooters to town last fall, and Carthage got its scooter program courtesy of the Lime company up and running just last week.

“They’ve been wildly popular to this point. Most of the riding’s been occurring during the evening hours when it’s nice and cool out,” said Carthage Parks & Rec. Director Mark Peterson.

Those scooters may be the hot new ticket in Carthage, but what about Pittsburg where they’ve been around for a bit?

“There’s been 4600 rides from April to today which is pretty healthy in terms of usage,” said Pittsburg Deputy City Manager Jay Byers.

Byers also says the community has come to accept and even appreciate the scooters after first wondering why they were being left around town. The scooters are rentable within a certain area and the company sends people to pick them up after they’re done being ridden.

“After people got used to them, they seemed to be ok with it,” said Byers.

And Carthage has gotten a jump on the issue of scooters being randomly left around town by creating a scooter district of sorts.

“We mapped out locations with Lime to create a historic district where people can ride Lime scooters. They’re accessible in our parks,” said Peterson.