The Joplin Health Department is notifying Joplin area residents of an alert from the Springfield-Greene County Health Department about a Springfield restaurant employee who has been diagnosed with hepatitis A and was working while possibly contagious. As many as 5,000 people who between May 8 and 16 ate at the Red Robin restaurant, located at 3720 S. Glenstone Ave. in Springfield, might have been exposed to the virus.

Officials from the city of Carthage and the Carthage Water & Electric Plant emerged from a meeting Wednesday saying differences between the two organizations are being worked out.

A pathologist has determined that Rodney Hake, whose body was discovered Tuesday at the bottom of a steep ravine near Morse Park in Neosho, suffered a broken neck.

The exporting of water from Oklahoma is a hot topic now, members of the Tri-State Water Resource Coalition were told Wednesday by a representative of the Grand River Dam Authority in Northeast Oklahoma.

Representatives of a dozen organizations that have received help from the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri since the Joplin tornado three years ago gathered Wednesday near a home construction site to celebrate another donation from the group.

As Natalie Ely stands at her herb-garden window, overlooking a willow tree — her favorite — planted just outside, she can hardly believe that she and her husband ended up in their dream home after losing everything in the May 2011 tornado.

A Miami police officer was indicted Tuesday by an Oklahoma grand jury on two counts of perjury and one count of engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses. Teresa A. Lashmet, 36, is facing the three felony charges stemming from an incident in May 2013 involving the arrest of Jerry Dean Payne Jr., 36, of Miami.

Drought conditions are continuing to worsen in Kansas despite recent rain, prompting Gov. Sam Brownback to declare half the state in a drought emergency.

Chamber music lovers will have their choice of performances and venues when Pittsburg State University hosts its second annual Chamber Music Festival May 24-30. All of the nightly concerts are free and open to the public.

Wayne Smith, a former City Council member, was tabbed Tuesday night to fill a 1st Ward vacancy on the panel. Mayor Mike Moss had accepted a letter of resignation from Sean Haase at a May 6 council meeting.