Josh Conaway

Missouri State University is moving to update its draft policy on wearing masks following feedback from students and faculty. KSMU’s Josh Conaway reports. 

On July 29 from 10 to noon, the History Museum on the Square will hold a ‘sensory friendly’ experience for special-needs visitors, featuring dimmed lights and quiet areas.

The museum says the experience is meant to be less stimulating and overwhelming than a normal visit. 

Krista Adams, who directs development of the museum, says the experience is for people of all abilities and breaks down the barrier for people to visit. 

Election judges are important part of a local polling station; they make sure voting goes off without a hitch.  In Greene County, more election judges are needed this year than ever, as Missouri holds in-person primary voting on August 4 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Greene County Clerk’s Office needs about 100 more judges to help check in voters, hand out ballots, clean polling stations, and make sure everyone keeps distance from one another. 50 must be registered Democrats, and 50 must be Republicans, to keep hiring bipartisan.

Springfield health care leaders say they're seeing younger people with serious complications of COVID-19 admitted to their hospitals.

At a press conference in Springfield on July 14, Brent Hubbard, president and COO of Mercy Hospitals Springfield, said in the beginning of the outbreak most patients admitted to Mercy with COVID-19 were older than 60. Now, he says more patients coming in are in their 50s and younger, with one patient who is 20 years old.

“We’re seeing younger age ranges being admitted to the hospital setting,” Hubbard said.

By a vote of eight to zero, with one person abstaining, Springfield City Council passed an ordinance requiring face masks to be worn in public. KSMU asked several local business owners for their reactions.

Living in the middle of a pandemic is stressful. It can take a toll on mental health. But now, some grant funding is going toward a team of mental health professionals in the Joplin area to help.

Originally, the FEMA-funded “Show-Me Hope” grant went toward survivors of 2019 storms in southwest Missouri, helping them cope with psychological trauma. But funding has expanded to include support of those dealing with the strain from the COVID-19 crisis.

How do museums and libraries go about protecting rare items during a pandemic? KSMU asked the Meyer Library at Missouri State University and the Springfield Art Museum.

Meyer Library’s Special Collection contains one-of-a-kind materials, like letters from early Ozarks history, the newspapers from MSU’s founding, and the Rare Books Collection.

Missourians can now enroll in free, online classes to learn new job skills.

The offer comes from a partnership between the Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development and Coursera, an online learning platform. Users who sign up before September 30th will get free access to 3,800 courses to take by the end of the year. The effort is aimed at helping workers who lost their jobs because of the shockwaves from the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. Senate has passed a resolution introduced by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri condemning China’s proposed “national security law,” which Hawley says would “steamroll” Hong Kong.

Many Missourians are flocking to campgrounds--including people who haven't previously considered themselves "campers." Missouri state parks report a higher number of visitors during an already crowded time of year.

Park and campground workers across the state are keeping busy this summer as COVID-19 forces people to keep a distance from each other.

David Kelly, deputy director of Missouri State Parks, says campgrounds have seen a spike in first-time visitors who want to escape to the great outdoors instead of staying cooped up at home.

In the wake of global protests demanding racial equality and police reform, the Springfield Police Department has added a page to the city website to collect department policies and statistics for the public. 

Health officials in Greene County have significantly lowered the region’s health capability score to 1 out of 10 on the local coronavirus Recovery Dashboard. 

Clay Goddard, director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, said in a City Council Meeting June 23, that Springfield’s regional health capability score went down because of an increase in cases throughout Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri, particularly in the counties making up the Joplin metro area.