Category: General

BREAKING: Suspect in custody after shots fired at Joplin Police

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JOPLIN, Mo. — One man is in custody after shooting at Joplin Police and then leading officers on a vehicle pursuit.

The incident began around 9:30 p.m. Thursday evening in the area of 7th and Schifferdecker, when Joplin Police attempted to pull over a vehicle for a routine traffic stop.

The driver of that vehicle was an adult male.

Sergeant Ketrina Jones with the Joplin Police Department said the suspect refused to pull over and fired two shots at officers, before leading them on a pursuit.

No officers were stuck by the gunfire.

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Sergeant Jones said no shots were returned by Joplin Police, who then gave chase to the vehicle, southbound on Schifferdecker Avenue.

The pursuit came to an end about half-a-mile south of 32nd and Schifferdecker, on Coyote Drive.

Once the vehicle stopped, Sergeant Jones said the driver, who was the only occupant, refused to follow orders by police and exit the vehicle.

That’s when the Joplin Police Department activated their SWAT team.

Just before 11:00 p.m., the suspect exited the vehicle without incident.

Schifferdecker Avenue from 32nd Street to McClelland Boulevard was shut down while the scene remained active.

The male suspect is currently being held in the Joplin City Jail and charges are expected to be filed.

We’ll have more information on this developing story as it becomes available.

KBI: Bodies found by authorities in eastern Kansas identified, cause of death revealed

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WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) has released an update regarding two people who were found dead on Monday in rural Mound Valley, Kansas.

Autopsies revealed that both victims died of gunshot wounds, and the cases are now considered homicides.

The KBI says the victims have been identified as Leanda R. Pound, 43, of Mound Valley, and Jason M. Bakken, 39, of Mound Valley.

A news release from the KBI says on Monday, Oct. 3, around 8:30 a.m., the Labette County Sheriff’s Office requested KBI assistance in an investigation of two people who were found dead.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME. You can also submit a tip online at https://www.kbi.ks.gov/sar.

This investigation is ongoing, and no other information has been released at this time.

Homecoming week filled with activities at Missouri Southern

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JOPLIN, Mo. — It’s a big week for students at Missouri Southern State University.

They’re celebrating homecoming week at MSSU, with activities taking place each day this week.

Tonight (10/6), it was the annual homecoming week pep-rally and bonfire, which took place in front of the Mayes Student Life Center.

Hundreds of students, staff and alumni rallied around the football team in preparation for Saturday’s homecoming football game.

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Homecoming week activities continue tomorrow with a picnic on the oval, a live DJ, the announcement of the homecoming royalty and plenty of video games to go with this year’s homecoming theme: “Lions Level Up.”

“It’s so exciting and it builds adrenaline, and I know when I was in high school and played sports, people cheering you on just makes you so much more excited and makes you so much ready for the game, for sure,” said MSSU Freshmen, Kelsey Fletcher.

Saturday at 2:00 p.m., the Missouri Southern Lions host the Lincoln Blue Tigers for the homecoming football game.

The coronation ceremony will take place at half-time.

Below average for Friday and the weekend

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While temperatures are still calm this morning, we’re not going to warm up much today. Friday afternoon temperatures are only going to warm into the middle to upper 60s with a lot of sunshine and a nice breeze out of the northeast. Friday Night Football will see temperatures in the 50s before we cool into the lower to middle 40s by tomorrow morning. We’ll see partly cloudy skies tonight and through the weekend, which will lead to some rain chances next week.

Temperatures will warm into the 70s Sunday and Monday before we see the low 80s again into the middle of next week. A few rain showers are possible on Tuesday before a better chance will be over us on Wednesday with the passage of another cold front. This should drop temperatures closer to average by the end of next week. We’ll keep you updated with those rain chances as it gets closer.

Americans confess to many bad driving habits

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The following survey data was collected by U.S. News & World Report

KSNF/KODE — For most people in the United States, driving is a necessary part of everyday life. In fact, the Federal Highway Administration claims that U.S. drivers logged 3.27 trillion miles between March 2021 and March 2022.

Recently, U.S. News & World Report surveyed 2,000 U.S. drivers ages 16 and older (46% male and 54% female) to learn more about their driving habits, using the third-party survey platform Pollfish.

The majority of survey respondents (63%) say they have had a driver’s license for more than a decade. More than half were taught to drive by a friend or family member (58%) and more than a quarter (27%) picked up their skills in a driver education class in school.

Graphic image courtesy: U.S. News & World Report

With friends and family being the primary educators when it comes to driving, the assumption might be they are the same ones that pass along bad habits. Survey results show the complete opposite. The majority of U.S. drivers (60%) take full responsibility for their own bad driving habits, while others say their friends (12%) and family members (28%) taught them unsafe driving behaviors.

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When it comes to bad driving behavior, road rage is perhaps the most common among those surveyed. A majority of drivers (64%) admit to having experienced road rage while behind the wheel, while 27% say they have driven with passengers who act out.

Another bad habit is speeding. More than half of American drivers (51%) admit to speeding, while 25% say passengers have pressured them to speed. That risky behavior can come with major consequences: Tickets, fines, higher insurance rates, injuries and even death. For more than 20 years, speeding has been a factor in nearly one-third of all motor vehicle fatalities according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In addition to speeding, other unsafe driving behaviors drivers admit to include failing to use their turn signals (30%), not wearing a seatbelt (28%), rolling through stop signs (27%), and driving with a pet in their lap (25%).

Technology also plays a large role in bad driving habits, particularly when it comes to cell phones. Some 40% of drivers say they look at their phone while at a red light, while 27% admit to texting while driving. What’s more, 12% of drivers surveyed say they will look at their phone if they get a message while driving and 8% say they regularly look at their phone while driving. About one-fifth of survey participants (22%) say they have been in a car accident caused by someone being on their phone.

Fatigue is another factor according to the survey. Some 37% of drivers over the age of 16 admit to driving while feeling too tired. Nearly one in three (31%) say they have almost dozed off while behind the wheel, while 11% admit to falling asleep while driving. The NHTSA estimates that over 100,000 police-reported crashes due to driver fatigue occur each year. These crashes result in more than 71,000 injuries and $12.5 million in monetary losses.

Drivers aren’t alone in displaying bad habits while on the road. Among the findings, two-fifths (40%) of those surveyed say they have driven with passengers who didn’t wear a seatbelt. What’s more, 20% admit to driving with passengers who were drinking alcohol, while 15% say they’ve driven while passengers smoke marijuana.

Finally, more than a quarter (27%) of respondents say that when they themselves are passengers, they are prone to being a “backseat driver” and nagging the person behind the wheel.

Paint the Town Red Week is igniting Webb City's school spirit

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WEBB CITY, Mo. — Webb City High School’s Homecoming is just a couple of days away, and that school spirit is spreading throughout town.

It’s the city’s annual Paint the Town Red Week, which includes decorated storefronts.

The downtown area hosts several of the cardinal themed windows, but they’re also along Daugherty Street and on Highway 171.

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Fans will be celebrating tonight with a parade and community bonfire, which attracted around 3,500 people last year.

“It’s kind of a big thing that everybody looks forward to and, you know, it’s grown and grown tremendously every year. You know, it’s a really fun event,” said Leeann Crider, WC Chamber.

The parade starts at 6 p.m. and will travel South from City Hall, then West on Aylor Street to the middle school.

That’s where the community bonfire will be, as well as food trucks, bounce houses and games.

Wii Sports Tournament at Missouri Southern

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JOPLIN, Mo. — Missouri Southern’s Homecoming game isn’t until Saturday, but that didn’t mean students had to wait that long to compete.

They had the chance to take part in a Wii Sports tournament inside Billingsly Student Center.

Just another one of the many events during homecoming week.

They also got to play some classic arcade games. The machines are only available to the kids this week, but that could change in the near future.

“We’re hoping to get a student center later on right below us, and then we’ll hopefully implement these downstairs so everybody can have as a gathering for students to just come and collectively play games,” said Marcell John, MSSU Student, Campus Activities.

Homecoming week will feature a bonfire and pep rally tomorrow night at 8 p.m.

The parade is Saturday morning at 10 a.m. in downtown Joplin.

The game against Lincoln kicks off at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

From ancient Rome to the Sunflower State: the Southeast Kansas Regional Bocce Competition

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COLUMBUS, Kans. — A unique sport that dates back to ancient Rome takes over a Special Olympics event.

The competition was fierce at the Southeast Kansas Regional Bocce Competition in Columbus.

The goal is to roll a bocce ball closest to the target ball. Students from Pittsburg, Girard, Caney, and Columbus high schools volunteered to join the “Unified” program for the sport.

It partners those students with an athlete that has a disability.

“It’s really important for the kids to come on out, have some fun, participate in sports, but then also to form these relationships. This sport in particular is called our unified sport, So we partner our athletes together with peers that don’t have disabilities, and they are able to form those relationships that go on for lifelong friendships,” said Erin Fletcher, Director of Grants & development Special Olympics Kansas.

Participation in this year’s event doubled from last year.

The next event for Special Olympics Kansas will be a bowling competition, on November 2nd in Pittsburg.

If you are interested in volunteering, you can do so here, on the Special Olympics Kansas website.

Keeping track of campus: how teachers and staff monitor Joplin High School

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JOPLIN, Mo. — 2,350 students, give or take a few, every day at Joplin High School.

It’s a big job to keep track of students. Keep them safe, and keep them out of trouble. How do officials balance all of it?

“It’s, you know, you would think that it’s huge,” said Steve Gilbreth, JHS Principal.

The 500,000 ft campus that’s home to Joplin High School and the 2,350 students enrolled there.

“I think we’re the third or fourth largest high school in the state,” added Gilbreth.

And while education is the main focus, keeping kids safe and on focus are also big challenges.

“There’s an area there that the principal’s we call it the Thunderdome; because it’s a place where kids gathered just to talk. They block kids from easily going to the gym or going to the third floor or going to Franklin tech,” said Gilbreth.

A focus for teachers and staff who patrol the halls to keep students moving.

One of the most basic ways to watch the student body, but there’s also plenty of high tech help.

“We have well over 400 cameras in this building. And we’ve updated those got those on a better format for the district for viewability both live viewability as well as being able to go back and document incidents,” said Dave Pettit, Joplin Schools Facilities Dir.

Tracked both live by JHS security but also available archived and remotely for school district leaders. Older tech also still plays a part.

“They may need things throughout the day, so they have walkie sewers. There’s a lot of there’s the ability to have communication anywhere in this building at any given second,” said Gilbreth.

Software also tracks the smoke alarms, back up generators, and can communicate campuswide if something critical happens, and even the school layout itself comes into play.

“Having that central corridor that that you can view and kind of get a feel for what’s going on in the building with that long corridor that then culminates typically right there at the commons area. Just outside the gym. And the cafeteria. That’s a good flow. And it gives us the accessibility to kind of maintain how we do things but also as we have to go to get out of this building the amount of exits that we have,” said Pettit.

It all adds up to a normal school day at Joplin High School.

“You just, you know, manage what you can and you know, but we do a good job of managing a big number of kids. And a big number of teachers. And a lot of comings and goings,” said Gilbreth.

Kansas home prices are still high, but what's next?

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WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Whether you are in the market for a new home or trying to sell a home, a new report has information that could help you decide what to do. The 2023 Kansas Housing Markets Forecast says Kansas home values will end 2022 up 12.3% and then rise by another 5.4% next year.

The Wichita State University (WSU) Center for Real Estate released the 2023 forecast Wednesday. Stan Longhofer, director of the center, will present the finding at a state realtors conference on Thursday.

“Home price appreciation is slowing, but the supply of homes available for sale remains near historic lows,” he said. “Although bidding wars may not be as intense as they were earlier this year, it will continue to be a sellers’ market across most of the state.”

The WSU Center for Real Estate reviewed current housing market conditions in Wichita, Kansas City, Topeka, Lawrence, and Manhattan. It also looked at 23 counties around the state and created a forecast for housing market activity through the end of next year.

2023 Kansas Housing Markets Forecast series

Source: WSU Center for Real Estate

Kansas Statewide Forecast

  • Home sales — Home sales activity across the state was slowing even before mortgage rates began to rise. Sales are expected to end the year down 6.9% at 43,100 units. Home sales should rebound to 44,930 units in 2023, an increase of 4.2%.
  • Construction — New single-family building permits in Kansas are expected to fall by 3.9% this year to 6,310 units. Construction activity should stabilize in 2023, dropping a modest 0.9% to 6,255 units.
  • Home prices — Home prices across the state rose by 14.6% last year as surging demand ran headlong into supply constraints that have been building for years. While demand has eased with rising mortgage rates, Kansas home values should still end the year up 12.3%. The pace of appreciation should slow next year to a still-strong 5.4%

Wichita Forecast

  • Home sales — Tight inventories and rising mortgage rates should cause Wichita-area home sales activity to fall by 4.9% this year to 11,560 units. Sales will rebound slightly in 2023, ending the year up 0.7% at 11,640 units.
  • Construction — New home construction activity in the Wichita area is expected to rise 5.2% this year to 1,530 units. This trend should continue in 2023, with permitting activity rising another 2.6% to 1,570 units.
  • Home prices — Wichita home price appreciation may be slowing from its torrid pace of the first part of the year but should still end the year up a remarkable 12.9%. Appreciation will return to a more normal pace of 4.7% in 2023.

Click here to read the full Wichita forecast.

Kansas City Forecast

  • Home sales — Total home sales in the Kansas City area should end the year down 8.3% at 41,940 units due to a combination of a lack of inventory and softening demand. Sales activity should rebound in 2023, rising 5.6% to 44,290 units.
  • Construction — Single-family permitting activity in the Kansas City metropolitan area slowed over the first half of this year due to supply chain issues and labor shortages. Kansas City should end the year with 6,295 single-family permits, down 10.7% from 2021. Permitting activity should drop again slightly in 2023, falling 1.7% to 6,185 units.
  • Home prices — The frenzied demand that characterized the market through the early part of this year appears to have eased. Nevertheless, extremely tight inventories will continue to put upward pressure on home prices. Kansas City values should end the year up 13.8% before slowing to 6.5% in 2023.

Click here to read the full Kansas City forecast.

Topeka Forecast

  • Home sales — Topeka area home sales will end the year down 2.5% at 3,410 units. Sales should decline again just slightly in 2023, ending the year down 0.6% at 3,390 units.
  • Construction — New home construction activity in the Topeka area has risen markedly over the past several years in spite of supply chain issues and labor market shortages. This trend should continue, with total single-family building permits rising 4.3% this year to 435 units. Construction should taper off somewhat in 2023, falling 2.3% to 425 units.
  • Home prices — Extremely tight inventories continue to put upward pressure on Topeka-area home prices, which should end the year up 9.7% before slowing to a more-typical 3.3% gain in 2023.

Click here to read the full Topeka forecast.

Lawrence Forecast

  • Home sales — Lawrence-area home sales are expected to fall by 4.9% this year to 1,470 units due to tight inventories and softening demand. Sales should rebound slightly in 2023, ending the year up 0.7% at 1,480 units.
  • Construction — Single-family permitting activity in the Lawrence area has stabilized at about 270 units annually in recent years. This trend should continue for the foreseeable future, with Lawrence ending the year with 275 new single-family permits, followed by 265 new permits in 2023.
  • Home prices — Extremely tight inventories have caused Lawrence home values to rise at a historically fast pace. Lawrence home values should end the year up 12.3% before slowing to a more normal appreciation rate of 4.8% in 2023.

Click here to read the full Lawrence forecast.

Manhattan Forecast

  • Home sales — Home sales activity in the Manhattan-Junction City metropolitan area is expected to decline by 9.3% this year to 2,030 units due to a lack of inventory coupled with higher mortgage rates. Sales should fall by another 2.5% in 2023 to 1,980 units.
  • Construction — New home construction activity in the Manhattan-Junction City area is expected to rise by 3.4% to 275 units this year in spite of supply chain issues and a shortage of labor. This should continue in 2023, with permits increasing another 3.6% to 285 units.
  • Home prices — Home values in the Manhattan-Junction City metropolitan area are on pace to rise by 9.3% this year. The market should normalize in 2023, with home values rising by a solid but more-typical 4.2%.

23 Kansas counties

Click the links below for each county’s housing market forecast.