Springfield News-Leader
ICE requests robot dogs for use in border security
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to spend up to $2 million on robot dogs designed to help officers safely inspect hazardous locations during law enforcement operations, according to a newly released Department of Homeland Security...
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War effort hampered by shifting objectives
WASHINGTON – Bombs had been dropping for more than a week when President Donald Trump assured congressional Republicans and donors the war on Iran wouldn’t last long. “We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some...
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Cup of care ambition
In 1973, Dolly Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” to soften the blow of leaving her business partner Porter Wagoner after years of producing hit country duets together. Parton was ready to pursue a solo career. So she played the song for Wagoner to...
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Cattle ranchers fume over Trump beef plan
POWER, MT – When Tim Brunner was at an auction barn recently, he was surprised to see decent cows selling several hundred dollars cheaper than they were just a few weeks earlier. He largely blames President Donald Trump, and he’s not the only...
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Colleges confront decline in reading
Anyone who has spent time on a college campus lately has probably heard laments from faculty about their students’ reading habits, or rather nonreading habits. Such complaints are more than an unfounded nostalgia for a bygone age. Reading – not just...
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LOVE, ALWAYS
Dolly Parton, the “Queen of Country” singing and songwriting icon with a personality as bold as her signature blond coif and rhinestone-encrusted outfits, has died. She was 80. Parton’s death was announced by her family on her social media pages and...
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Bessent: U.S. launching Iran pressure campaign
WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States is launching an “economic onslaught” against Iran, with a goal of severing every economic lifeline the country has so Tehran is forced to choose between global isolation and an...
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Ex-deputy convicted in Massey’s killing dies
SPRINGFIELD, IL – Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County Sheriff ’s deputy convicted of murdering Sonya Massey in her home in 2024, died on Aug. 23, his lawyer said. Daniel Fultz of Springfield, one of Grayson’s defense attorneys, confirmed the...
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Embryo personhood debate gains notice
About 100,000 babies were born through in vitro fertilization in 2024, according to the most recent U.S. data. But IVF commonly involves trying to create multiple embryos, because success is never guaranteed. If unused, those embryos can be frozen,...
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A look at the road ahead
The political appeal of the idea — slap restrictions on institutional investors who buy up single-family homes to make more housing stock for regular folk who want to actually live in them — is plain to see. Both houses of Congress endorsed it by...
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Most Americans say Trump is profiting from presidency
WASHINGTON – A majority of Americans believe President Donald Trump and his family have inappropriately profited from cryptocurrency since his return to power and that his policy decisions are influenced by his private business dealings, a new...
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MI teenage ‘hero’ called police after being shot
A 13-year-old girl, the lone survivor of a shooting spree in rural northern Michigan, called 911 after being shot multiple times and alerted authorities, according to her family and state police. The girl was discovered at a home in Lake Township in...
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Trump plan could hit science funding
Most Americans don’t read the rules that govern the federal grants funding science. Those rules, called the Uniform Guidance, shape how cancer research is funded, graduate students are trained, clinical trials are sustained, universities stock their...
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Poll: Trump approval rating hits new low
President Donald Trump’s polling woes continue as he fell to a new record low since his return to the White House, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos survey, with only one in three Americans approving of his job performance. The poll, released Aug. 17,...
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Hailstorm costs climbing
More than three months after the devastating spring hailstorm struck north Springfield, the community is still recovering from the fallout — and calculating the cost. On April 28, 2026, the National Weather Service recorded hail between 2.75 inches...
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Silver Dollar City unveils new ride opening in spring
A new ride is coming to Silver Dollar City, leaning into Missouri’s identity as the Cave State and the history of the park itself. The theme park announced Friday, Aug. 14, that Miner’s Mountain Express is coming to the park in spring 2027. The new...
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TheU
Ozarks Technical Community College is putting itself on the map. On Wednesday, Aug. 12, the school opened the doors to the new Michael L. Parson Student Union, also known as The U, as an asset encouraging Ozark Tech’s students to engage and connect. h...
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Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame adding 3 honorees
Newly reported cases of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic infection known for causing explosive diarrhea, may be slowing – though not by much – as the investigation into the unprecedented outbreak that has affected thousands drags on. The Centers for...
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Al-Qaida, Islamic State group adopting AI
Artificial intelligence may not create a new kind of terrorism, but it makes existing tactics cheaper, faster and easier. That is the central argument of a July report from the U.S.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. h It...
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SPS, law enforcement campaign urges safe driving around school zones ‘A shared responsibility’
Springfield Public Schools and area law enforcement are reminding drivers to keep an eye out for students as the first day of school approaches. With kids heading back to school on Aug. 25, SPS, Springfield Police Department and the Greene County...
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‘Scary’ blood crisis hits U.S., delaying surgeries
A Nashville surgeon is pleading with residents to donate amid a “scary” blood shortfall hitting the nation, causing the American Red Cross to declare a blood crisis for only the second time in its 145year history. Heart surgeon Dr. Brian Wilcox, the...
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Major fights await Senate
WASHINGTON – The Senate just went out with a bang – passing a government funding bill to try to avert another shutdown, confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general and bucking a voter ID measure. Overnight, a quick flurry of legislative activity...
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Blanche confirmed as attorney general
WASHINGTON – After weeks of Republican infighting, the Senate finally squeezed through a vote to confirm Todd Blanche as the nation’s next attorney general. The largely party-line vote early in the morning Aug. 8 included just two Republican...
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FUTURE READY
Children’s Mercy with Mercy allowed news outlets to tour their new O’Reilly Pediatric Center on Wednesday, Aug. 5. While the center isn’t expected to open until December, construction has continued at a fast clip since the final beam was raised into...
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Reports: U.S. missile supply badly depleted
The war on Iran has severely depleted key U.S. missile stockpiles and left the nation and its allies in a vulnerable position for potentially years to come, several experts and reports say. U.S. missile stockpiles were low before President Donald...
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MO voters make voices heard on 4 amendments
Missouri voters turned out in force to make their voices known on four statewide amendments during the primary election Aug. 4, 2026. By 9 a.m. Aug. 5, all precincts had reported in, although newsrooms including the Associated Press and New York Times...
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Gunshot detection tech ignites controversy
When gunshots ring out on America’s streets, bystanders face an instant, high-stakes dilemma. h Do I call the cops? Were those even gunshots? Maybe it was just fireworks. h Every moment of hesitation risks a delay in medical treatment or gives a...
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Trump branding push picks up momentum
Donald Trump’s name and face have been stamped on everything from buildings to books, casinos to steaks. But as America celebrates its 250th birthday, Trump, the developer turned reality TV star turned president, is putting his name on currency and...
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Folk duo’s 2nd full album is nod to Ozarks history
Cindy Woolf and Mark Bilyeu are bringing Ozarks folk songs back home 90 years after they were first recorded. As the first Artists in Resonance with the Smithsonian Folklife Center, the folk duo known as The Creek Rocks spent a week in Washington,...
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Democratic socialism: What it is, what it isn’t
Ahead of a challenging midterm election, Republicans have seized an opportunity to castigate their opponents as extremists after democratic socialists won Democratic congressional primaries in New York City, Colorado and Washington, DC. h GOP leaders...
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OZARKS EVENTS
It’s that time of year — kids are trying to soak up the last dregs of summer and parents are counting the days until school starts back up. If that’s not keeping you busy enough, here are more than two dozen events in the Ozarks this August. Celebrate...
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Different kinds of justice
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett likes to note that the black robes she and her colleagues wear show that the nine justices are “united symbolically.” h Despite different personalities, legal philosophies and backgrounds, the robes...
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Judge dismisses lawsuit over Trump faith group
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to have the court declare President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission to have an illegal lack of diversity through having only Christian and Jewish members. A multifaith group of organizations...
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‘THE DECLINE IS SIGNIFICANT’
When Ashton Reed voted for President Donald Trump in 2024, he was drawn by Trump’s vow to recharge the economy and curb the inflation that many around his hometown of Jackson, Missouri, blamed on then-President Joe Biden. Reed, 22, who has worked at...
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McConnell releases new photo, update on health
Doctors still have not cleared Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, to return to work or leave a rehabilitation facility, his office said in a July 27 statement. The 84-year-old was hospitalized for a fall and a brief loss of consciousness June 14,...
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Another suspect sought after Seattle shooting
Authorities were searching for a second suspect who they believe opened fire at a food festival in Seattle, killing three people and injuring four others. Police said the gunfire erupted when at least two people began firing at one another on July 26...
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City ready to ‘experiment’ with housing infill project
Springfield is ready to experiment with bringing missing middle housing projects to city-owned and underutilized lots. A solid proposal already has been explored for three lots in the Heart of the Westside neighborhood that could be used as a pilot to...
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Agency remains controversial after leadership change Mullin promised a quieter DHS – then came the shootings
If he were confirmed as the new secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin vowed, he would take the agency out of the headlines. Surges of immigration enforcement in several cities had grown increasingly unpopular among...
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Daylight saving bill could run out of time
WASHINGTON – Time may be running out for a bill to stop changing the clocks. President Donald Trump has advocated for years to make daylight saving time permanent, ending the twice-yearly practice that forces people in much of the country to lose an...
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NATO steps up security in Arctic
EVENES, Norway – During a frozen morning in Arctic Norway, a group of British and Norwegian soldiers padded softly through a snow-blanketed birch forest. They were on a simulated NATO reconnaissance mission, among some 30,000 troops who took part in a...
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Trump super PAC war chest is massive
President Donald Trump’s allies have stockpiled more than $400 million in a fund that can run advertisements ahead of November’s elections, according to the newest information filed with the Federal Election Commission. That’s as much as the...
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Quartz countertops driving health crisis
If you walk into a Costco, Home Depot or Lowe’s and order a countertop for your kitchen renovation, the store will likely contract with a local fabrication shop, instructing them to make one from a material called engineered stone. Often marketed as...
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Burnham becomes new U.K. prime minister
LONDON − Same to-do list. Similar politics. But an upgrade of sorts: quicker on his feet, more fluent in public and more attuned to a country impatient for visible progress on immigration and the cost of living. That’s how many British officials and...
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GOP plans to wrap SAVE Act in budget
WASHINGTON – Vice President JD Vance emerged from a July 15 meeting on Capitol Hill with a clear message: Republicans have a plan for the SAVE America Act. Whether that plan is realistic is a different story. Flanked by House Speaker Mike Johnson,...
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Trump rhetoric heats up as midterms approach
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump had a warning. The nation is imperiled, he told a group of religious conservatives, by a force bent on destroying “the traditional American way of life.” “These are hard-core, godless communists,” Trump said at the...
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Poor air quality lingers in Midwest, Northeast
Smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada, along with fires in northern Minnesota, kept air quality at unhealthy levels across parts of the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast on July 17, shrouding cities in haze and prompting warnings that the...
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Fighting escalates in Persian Gulf
DUBAI – Iran and the United States exchanged intensified fire on July 16 in a weeklong escalation that has all but torn up last month’s truce, but Iran’s release of a U.S. citizen was seen as signaling a path to avert the resumption of allout war. For...
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Kirk memorials fail to gain traction
It didn’t take long after Charlie Kirk’s assassination on a university campus in September to hear calls to erect memorials in his honor. Lawmakers, councilmembers, pastors and college leaders announced plans to rename highways, build statues and...
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Latest Starship launch projected for July 16
SpaceX will launch the world’s largest rocket for the second time in 2026 as the race heats up for Elon Musk’s commercial spaceflight and technology company to be ready for NASA’s next moon mission. The company said it is working toward a July 16...
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Senator Kennedy , 74, becomes viral sensation
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana looked closely into his phone’s selfie camera, then flipped the view around to reveal a lush oasis: his backyard. “This is another one of those silly videos my staff told me I needed to make,” the 74-year-old junior...
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Heat waves turn homes dangerous for all ages
Most people know that heat waves can be dangerous. What they may not realize is that the heat indoors can be much worse than outdoors. When the power goes out and air conditioning stops, a house starts to function like a greenhouse. Heat enters...
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Our American Vision
As we celebrate 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, we asked Americans across the Midwest a simple question: In a few words, what does America mean to you? The answers we received in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,...
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Trump says Iran requests to continue negotiations
The fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran appeared to have fallen apart over continued strife over the Strait of Hormuz as Iranians buried their supreme leader, killed by U.S.-Israel forces at the outset of the war. There were no new...
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Climate change ‘fingerprint’ seen in heat
Early July brought historic extreme weather for the fourth year in a row, and scientists again see the “fingerprint” of climate change in a deadly Fourth of July. In 2023, it was a record-smashing heat wave. In 2024, history-making Hurricane Beryl...
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Program gives struggling artists $1,000 a month
Though artificial intelligence is making it easier than ever to produce images, music and text, the technology is also making it harder for the people who have traditionally produced this work to earn a living. A photographer who once was commissioned...
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Platner weighs future of Senate bid
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the head of Senate Democrats’ midterm operation, told Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, to immediately withdraw after a woman said he...
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Independence Day parade saw huge turnout once again
Blaring music and hundreds of people decked in the nation’s colors took over the streets near Drury University as the 35th annual Midtown Fourth of July Parade celebrated a special American birthday. Shouts of “Happy 250!” echoed from the crowd of...
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Safety issues beset Silicon Valley defense startup
Ayear ago, Ryan Tseng, the head of U.S. defense tech startup Shield AI, announced his company had turned a new page. h After a gory incident that partially severed a U.S. Navy official’s fingers during a test of its V-BAT drone, Shield AI had addressed...
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SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY
The 56 steps, cut from pink granite, ascend to a neoclassical temple that seems plucked from ancient Greece and deposited on a Kentucky hilltop. One for each year of President Abraham Lincoln’s life. h If the first eight steps, rising amid the site’s...
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Tiny Caribbean island made U.S. independence possible
The American Revolution is often told as a heroic story of 13 colonies rising up against a mighty empire and, with some help from France, winning their independence. But the real story is more complicated. As the United States celebrates the 250th...
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THE MEANING OF REVOLUTION
Like Americans today, the people living in the United States in 1826 were preparing to celebrate a milestone for their country. July Fourth of that year marked the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. As what was known as the “Jubilee”...
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High court upholds birthright citizenship
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump called on Congress to take action ending birthright citizenship after the Supreme Court on June 30 rejected his attempt to redefine who is born American, a centerpiece of his hard-line approach to immigration. “The...
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Find fun in the Ozarks
While Independence Day often hogs the spotlight in July, there is more to do than just enjoy fireworks this month. The Ozarks are offering up something for everyone, from fishing to exploring caves to meeting local authors. Here are 29 events to keep...
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Beef-A-Roo employees refuse to work without pay
Leah Guster doesn’t know how she’s going to cover her rent or her car payment. Cheyenne Flagg, a single mom of four, isn’t sure how she’s going to pay for her 18-month-old’s daycare. They’re not alone — none of the employees at the 3312 E. Chestnut...
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‘We all care about our kids’
Sarah Laub tried everything to get her son with learning disabilities a better education. She drove him to a private school an hour and a half away from their home in rural Missouri before being directed to the local public school. When he continued...
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OZARKS CELEBRATE
America’s semiquincentennial — the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — is just days away. Across the nation and in the Ozarks, people are gearing up to celebrate this Fourth of July with flair and style. h Here are the...
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Trump sees wins on immigration, guns
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump victories in two immigration cases June 25. In the divide between gun rights and gun violence, the justices struck down another state law, this one in Hawaii, aimed at curbing guns in public...
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‘NURTURE HOPE’
A teenager scrolls through their phone at the dinner table, barely looks up and answers questions with one-word replies. For many adults, that image has come to stand for a larger fear: that today’s young people are disconnected from others and may be...
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‘Opening the conversation, not building it around a project’
Data centers that train and run artificial intelligence models are currently a hot button issue across the United States, including in the Missouri Ozarks. On June 22, the Springfield City Council heard a special ordinance that would put a 120-day...
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Helping hand in healing
The birth of Danielle Stewart’s daughter thrust her into advocacy. She tells the story often. “Imagine walking into a hospital to have your first child,” Stewart said. “And leaving on a stretcher alone, paralyzed from your waist down.” Stewart says a...
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Juneteenth events celebrate Black history and success
For 161 years, African Americans have celebrated their freedom. From the end of slavery in 1865, through the segregation era during the 1900s, to seeing Black leaders thrive in the 2000s, the tapestry of Black history in America carries on from June...
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Millions fewer are receiving food aid
Angelina Guatemala, 64, counted on federal food stamps after retiring a couple of years ago in Ogden, Kansas, from assorted jobs arranging flowers, decorating cakes, and preparing meals. But a rules change Congress adopted last year for the...
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Fundraiser grows after dam tragedy
More than 72 hours after four people went over the Lake Springfield Dam in a kayak, one remains missing as of June 18. On June 14, the Springfield Fire Department was called to rescue 12-yearold Aurelie Stawny, 17-year-old Sofie Stawny, 19-year-old...
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Michigan swimmer to tow 250 cannonballs
Jim Dreyer, the 62-year-old long-distance swimmer who calls himself “The Shark” and has achieved unusual feats in the water, is planning a new test of strength: The Michigander aims to tow 250 cannonballs while swimming 22 miles. Take that, UFC...
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LOWER CRIME RATES AT RISK
The United States is experiencing one of the steepest declines in violent crime in modern history, including a murder rate at its lowest point in more than a century. Homicides across 35 major American cities fell 21% in 2025, amounting to 922 fewer...
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Special bench unveiled at the Patriotic Party in Park
The Saturday night thunderstorm that prompted flash flood warnings passed by cleared out just in time for the Patriotic Party in the Park, honoring America’s 250th anniversary and National Flag Day on Sunday, June 14. The Rachel Donelson Chapter of...
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