Latest news with #SouthwestMissouri
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri PSC to hold town hall to hear from Liberty customers
The Missouri Public Service Commission has scheduled hearings next month in Southwest Missouri to hear from Liberty customers who have experienced or are still experiencing problems with service and/or billing practices. The commission on Feb. 27 ordered its staff to open an investigation after hearing from a number of customers commenting during a pending rate case by Liberty about faulty billing and poor service. The staff of the PSC will host a series of town hall meetings on the topic June 10-12. A town hall in Joplin is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, June 12, at Missouri Southern State University's Criminal Justice Center Auditorium, 3950 Newman Road. Three other town hall meetings are scheduled in the area: • 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, at the Aurora Recreation Center, 126 W. Hadley St., in Aurora • Noon Wednesday, June 11, at the Branson Chamber of Commerce Council Room in Branson City Hall, 110 W. Maddux St. • 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, at the Ozark Community Center in Ozark, 1530 W. Jackson St. PSC staff is currently in the process of gathering information and will file a report when completed. 'The purpose of these meetings is to hear directly from you, the customer, about your experiences with Liberty Utilities,' the staff said in a written release. '... Collecting information directly from customers will assist Staff in its investigation and provide a forum for customers to interact with Liberty, OPC and Staff.' The OPC is the Office of Public Counsel, a separate agency that represents ratepayers in hearings and rate cases before the PSC. In a separate filing, the staff said it it had issued 74 data requests to Liberty and had received responses to 41 of those requests. It said responses to the remaining data requests were expected as they came due in the coming weeks and the staff anticipated it would need to issue new data requests as it learns more about issues related to recent complaints with customer service and billing. Missouri Sen. Jill Carter, from Granby, held a town hall with Public Service Commission staff and Liberty officials, including Tim Wilson, president of Liberty Central Region Electric, and others on March 9 in Joplin. At that meeting, customers spoke about receiving inaccurate bills and about not receiving bills for months at a time and getting no help over the phone or in person from Liberty's customer service representatives. Wilson acknowledge problems with billing since April 2024, when the utility launched a change in its computer operating system of all the different utilities at Liberty to a common system used nationwide. 'I stand here before you tonight to own those,' Wilson said in March. 'And that's not been good for our customers. We implemented companywide, not just Empire, but companywide. We operate multiple utilities and in multiple states across the United States and all of them were on different operating systems. And so you can imagine the inefficiencies that come about whenever you have multiple operating systems over multiple companies.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Thousands without power in southwest Missouri
SOUTHWEST MISSOURI — As rainfall continues to pour through the area this weekend, hundreds are without power in the southwest Missouri area. According to City Utilities' (CU) outage map, 3,253 customers are currently experiencing power outages. 'Severe weather and high winds have caused outages in the northwestern part of town,' CU said early this morning. 'City Utilities crews are on-site and working safely and efficiently to restore power.' CU said that due to the number of utility poles that need to be replaced, they estimated at 6:46 a.m. that restoration repairs could take 7-8 hours. Those experiencing an outage please are encouraged to report it through City Utilities MyAccount at or by calling 888-863-900. Additionally, according to the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives (AMEC), these counties have seen a number of power outages: Greene County — 425 Douglas County — 753 Ozark County — 896 St. Clair County — 206 Christian County — 73 Dallas County — 65 Polk County — 56 This article will be updated throughout the day as rain persists. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
A look at the Southwest Missouri high school football, athletic indoor facilities
Southwest Missouri has seen a boom in indoor athletics facilities over the last decade, and more are scheduled to open over the next few years. The Joplin area got a head start, but the Springfield area is catching up. Strafford opened its 50-yard indoor football field in 2022, which was followed by Ozark's in 2024. Nixa and Logan-Rogersville will open theirs this summer, while Republic will break ground on its $22 million facility in the coming months. Advertisement Administrators believe more will be built across the state over the next decade. Springfield Public Schools plans to build one in the next few years for its five high schools. Here's a look at the indoor facilities across the region. Vote now: Who in Southwest Missouri has the best high school football stadium? Carl Junction Opened: 2016 Cost: Part of a $13.5 million project Carl Junction built a storm shelter that doubles as a multi-purpose indoor practice facility with artificial turf and batting cages. Carthage Opened: 2019 Cost: $2.2 million The Tiger Activity Center (TAC) opened in Fall 2019 with a 40-yard indoor football field, plus a 10-yard endzone. About $1.5 million came from the Kent D. & Mary L. Steadley Memorial Trust, with $500,000 coming from the McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital Trust. Another $300,000 was raised by local patrons. Cassville Opened: Unclear Cost: Unclear Advertisement Messages to Cassville regarding its indoor facility went unreturned. The Wildcats have had one on campus since at least 2009. Logan-Rogersville Opening: 2025 Cost: Part of a $32 million bond Voters approved a no-tax-increase bond in April 2022, which provided the Rogersville school district $32 million to construct and renovate classrooms at its schools, build and renovate libraries, construct a storm shelter, improve athletic facilities, and develop its indoor athletics facility. The indoor facility includes a 50-yard football field, a new weight room, coaches' offices, batting cages, locker rooms, a sky bridge connecting it to the high school and several other additions. A full turfed football practice field will reside right outside the building. Marshfield Opened: 2025 Cost: Part of a $10 million bond issue Advertisement Marshfield recently opened a multi-purpose building that was part of a 2023 bond issue with no tax increase. The issue also included constructing a storm shelter and expanding the agriculture department shop. The storm shelter was built with the idea of also using it as a multi-purpose building, which includes space for athletic practices. Neosho Opened: 2021 Cost: Part of a $22 million bond issue Neosho opened the La-Z-Boy End Zone Facility in 2021. It features a 40-yard football field plus a 10-yard endzone, batting cages, locker rooms, a weight room and coaches' offices. The facility was approved by Neosho's "Next Step Ballot Measure" in June 2020 and received an additional $400,000 from La-Z-Boy Midwest. The $22 million bond issue also included the creation of a performing arts center among other projects. Opening: 2025 Cost: $18 million Advertisement Nixa is in the final stages of completing its indoor facility after a $47 million bond issue with no tax increase was approved in April 2023. The building cost $18 million, and the school is also looking to update its technology, renovate classrooms, and build storm shelters. Dubbed "The Apex," the indoor facility will feature a full-sized football field and additional space for soccer. It will also house the football locker rooms, community spaces, film rooms, golf simulators, and more. The facility also includes concession stands that will be used when Nixa hopes to build baseball and softball facilities on campus in the near future. Inside the new Ozark High School activities center on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Opened: August 2024 Cost: Part of a $19 million bond issue Advertisement Voters approved a no-tax-increase bond issue in April 2022, allowing Ozark to open its indoor athletics facility. The bond issue also allowed the district to build storm shelters at Ozark Middle School and Tiger Pay, an early childhood center. Republic Scheduled opening: August 2026 Cost: $22 million Republic will soon break ground on its indoor athletics facility after a no-tax-increase bond issue was approved last month. The building, which will cost around $22 million, will be located behind the high school. The Tigers will have a full indoor football field that includes drop-down batting cages. It will be part of a brick building that also houses classrooms, a band room, a weight room and coaching offices. There will also be a room dedicated to JROTC. Strafford Opened: 2022 Cost: Part of a $7.5 million bond issue Advertisement Strafford's "HPER Building" (for health, physical education, and recreation) was voted on as part of a $7.5 million bond issue passed in 2019. The building features a 50-yard football field and a 10-yard endzone. It also includes additional classrooms, batting cages and other features for other sports. This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield area indoor high school football, athletic facilities
