Athletes Bethany Hamilton and Riley Gaines held a children’s story hour at The Library Center over the weekend. Hundreds of people gathered on Feb. 2 to hear the women read their books and answer kids’ questions during a Q&A session. Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Missouri Secretary of State hopeful Valentina Gomez were also in attendance. more

School resource officers from more than 10 school districts across southwest Missouri were in the Ozark School District for the Regional SRO Meeting Jan. 31 where they discussed trends and brainstormed ways to be proactive in their school districts. more

Charges have been filed for an Arkansas woman after an alleged fraud attempt and police chase on Thursday, Jan. 25 in Nixa. more

Christian County announced on Monday a unique opportunity for commercial developers: prime commercial development property, known as County Government Plaza, situated along Highway 14 in the City of Ozark. more

The Ozark Board of Education, at a special Jan. 26 meeting, voted to hire Dr. Phillip Link as the Executive Director of Human Resources beginning in the 2024-25 school year. more

Community Partnership of the Ozarks’ Christian County Homeless Alliance will sponsor their annual Hot Soup, Cold Nights fundraiser on Friday, Feb. 2 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Redeemer Lutheran Church at 911 W. Mt. Vernon St., Nixa. more

JEFFERSON CITY — Last year, the Missouri Legislature passed Senate Bill 190, which provides state income tax relief for senior citizens and gives voters or county officials the ability to adopt an ordinance freezing real property taxes for eligible senior citizen homeowners. more

Least Of These, Inc., the only full-service food pantry serving Christian County, exceeded its $501,000 end-of-year fundraising goal. more

Billings Elementary has announced its quarter 2 honor roll. Congratulations to the following students: more

The Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals (MAESP) named two Ozark administrators, Dr. Sandra Roy and Kristy Richart, as principal of the year and assistant principal of the year, respectively, for the Southwest Region for 2024. more

The Ozark Board of Education, at its Jan. 18 meeting, voted to hire Dr. Kendra Scott as the South Elementary principal for the 2024-25 school year. more

The Ozark Board of Education, at its Jan. 18 meeting, voted to hire Justin Peery as the Finley River School principal for the 2024-25 school year. more

Last Thursday, Jan. 18, Missouri State Treasurer Vivek Malek announced his support for Representative Brian Seitz’s (R-Branson) House Bill 2143, or the Foreign Adversary Divestment Act. more

Earlier this month, the City of Ozark hired Benjamin DeClue as an interim city administrator. He took over the role from Steve Childers, who has accepted a new position as the City of Springfield’s Planning & Development Director. more

The Nixa Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and Chamber President/CEO Whitney Guison, are pleased to welcome new officers and board members to the board of directors, effective January 2024. more

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and the national awareness day was on Jan. 11. The month is dedicated to raising awareness of human trafficking and educating individuals on how to stop this crime. more

The Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) Board of Trustees approved an additional $312,948 to expand the planned Agriculture and Electrical Distribution Systems Building at the Richwood Valley campus in Nixa. The building project will grow by nearly 3,000 square feet, bringing the facility’s total footprint to 19,600 square feet. more

Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland has officially kicked off their 2024 Girl Scout Cookie season, the annual event in which Girl Scouts unbox their futures as young female entrepreneurs through the world’s largest entrepreneurial program for girls. more

Ozark School District is hosting its first-ever We Are Ozark Hiring Event, and the public is invited. The District has open positions in all departments from educators to custodians and nutrition services. The hiring event — slated 6:00-8:00 p.m. Jan. 23 in the Ozark Innovation Center, 1600 W. Jackson St. — will be an opportunity for prospective employees to meet current staff and supervisors, ask questions, fill out an application and even interview. more

It has been nearly five years since Ozark School District purchased the commercial property known as the Fasco building. As of Dec. 29, the District has nearly doubled that space with the purchase of its neighbor, Dolby Laboratories. more

In 2024, Nixa Hardware & Seed Company (NH&SC) will be celebrating the remarkable milestone of 125 years in business. The store is currently located at 510 W. Mt. Vernon St. in Nixa. more

On Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, Lucid TLC Studio & Art Gallery will host the opening reception for the Howard Garrison Show from 6:00-8:00 p.m. more

“Grandpa, stop, stop,” yelled young 10-year-old Serenity Honors as she and Grandpa Chris McQuay sped into the Elks parking lot to deliver masses of food. “We just lost cartons of green beans on the road.” more

Ozarks Food Harvest announced last month they have earned a 100 percent rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest and most-utilized independent charity evaluator, based on their performance across multiple metrics. This rating designates Ozarks Food Harvest as an official “Give with Confidence” charity, indicating that The Food Bank is using its donations effectively based on Charity Navigator’s criteria. more

Kent Doyle has been selected as the next superintendent for the Spokane R-VII School District. He will take over the position from Della Bell-Freeman, who is retiring after 32 years of service to public education. Doyle will begin his duties on July 1, 2024. more