American Rescue Plan Act brought nearly $100 million to Joplin city projects

(From the City of Joplin)

The past several years have been historic for the City of Joplin in terms of major projects that were made possible by federal grant money awarded following the 2020 pandemic.

The three programs – the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (B.I.L.), and the Inflation Reduction Act – all provided tens of millions of dollars to the City, which it strategically used to address needs and take a “bigger and better” approach to the projects already planned.

Now, as Joplin prepares to finish the punch list of projects that will receive the final grant dollars, City officials are reflecting on the unprecedented level of major project development that has benefited citizens.

With the help of its consulting firm Guidehouse, the City spent three years aggressively applying for more than 50 grants, and proving its history of financial responsibility, legitimate project needs and workable plans for the funds. In the end, Joplin was awarded 26 of the grants it applied for, adding nearly $58 million in federal money.

Leslie Haase, the City’s director of Finance, said it was an incredible process to match up the City’s plans with potential grant awards.

“The reason we were able to capture these grants is because of the master plans developed by the departments, as well as our unfunded needs list,” Haase said. “If we had not been prepared and didn’t have those plans, we would not have been successful in getting these grants. Cities really do have to be ready because you never know when the opportunities will happen. I look back, and there have been other times when we needed to have shovel-ready projects to apply for grants. There is value in the planning.”

When adding the City’s required matching funds of nearly $34 million, the total approved project costs have been $97.3 million. To put this into perspective, it would have taken the City 12 years to raise that much through the Capital Improvement Sales tax, which was renewed by voters in April 2024. It has been a unique chapter in Joplin’s story, enabling the City to implement an unusual number and size of projects within just a few years.

All of the ARPA and B.I.L. grant-funded projects are in progress, if not completed already. Those projects include:

Projects to improve infrastructure:

Nearing Completion: Widening & improvement of 20th Street from Schifferdecker to Central City
Nearing Completion: Widening & Improvement of Zora Street from Range Line Road nearly to I-49 (Governor’s Grant)
Completed: 8 separate stormwater improvement projects to address flash flooding issues.
Completed: Extending drinking water to residents along Zora, 7th Street, and County Road 180.
Completed: Wastewater system improvements at 12th & Iowa
Completed: Sustainable Transit Structure Study

Projects to expand economic opportunities:

In Progress: Citywide Broadband Implementation
Completed: MSSU Health Science Innovation Center
Completed: Community Revitalization through down payment assistance, home repairs, and demolitions.
In Progress: Lead Remediation for residential homes
In Progress: Recycling Outreach & Education



Projects to improve public safety:

Completed: Better radio system for first responders so they can communicate efficiently with agencies across the entire state
Completed: Various improvements being made to the Justice Center building which houses our Police, Fire, 911 dispatch and municipal court
Completed: Emergency medical service equipment
Completed: Additional body cameras for Police
Completed: A second set of turnout gear for Firefighters
Completed: Cybersecurity equipment and training


Projects to improve parks, trails and beautification:
Completed: MOmentum Bike Park
In Progress: Grand Falls Trail (TAP Grant)
Completed: Tin Cup Bridge & Trail
In Progress: Parr Hill Park Improvements
Beginning Soon: Additional Trail Amenities across the city
Beginning Soon: Streetscaping on Main Street between 8th and 15th street (HUD Grant)

What’s left: Trail Improvements and Streetscaping

Two projects – the addition of trail amenities across City parks and streetscaping on Main Street between 8th and 15th Streets – are set to begin soon.

Paul Bloomberg, director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Joplin, said a Recreation Trails Grant will improve 12 Joplin parks through the addition of wayfinding signs that will be placed along the trails. Those parks will also receive 80 park benches, as well as tire fix-it stations and bicycle racks for cyclists.

The final phase of streetscaping on Joplin’s Main Street will also begin in the coming months. Over the past several years, the City completed streetscaping Downtown (1st-8th Streets) and Southtown (15th-32nd Streets). Midtown (8th-15th Streets) is the final section, and will include new sidewalks with decorative concrete, benches, trees, and other beautifications.

Rob Beachner, capital improvements project manager for Public Works, said staff have been working toward a public meeting within the next several weeks that will give business owners and citizens a chance to review plans and ask questions. Sprouls Construction will deliver the $5 million project.

While the City awaits word on its final grant application and the last stretch of projects get started, Haase said Joplin’s patience with the process and ability to be prepared have allowed the City to make incredible strides.

“We were smart throughout the process, and it has paid off for Joplin,” she said.

Senate Democrats demand apology after Eric Schmitt’s false accusations against Jack Smith

By Ashley Murray 

Missouri Independent

WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is demanding his colleagues across the aisle apologize to former special counsel Jack Smith after Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt launched false accusations at a recent hearing and called the former Justice Department official a “dirtbag.”

Committee ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., accused his Republican counterparts in a letter Wednesday of violating committee rules for presenting records they say supported accusations against Smith at the Sept. 29 hearing. Committee Democrats, Durbin said, did not have a chance to review the records in advance or later.

“We request that you immediately provide these and all other documents that you have withheld, commit to fully complying with Senate rules in the future, and apologize to Mr. Smith on behalf of the Committee for the unacceptable personal attacks and false accusations of perjury he faced during this hearing,” Durbin wrote in the letter to GOP Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, first reported by Politico.

Durbin specifically highlighted a poster displayed by Schmitt’s staff purporting to show text messages between Smith and security personnel about his attendance at an Atlanta Hawks NBA game. Schmitt intimated the messages were proof that Smith had been in Atlanta during a development in the Fulton County, Georgia, election interference case against then-former President Donald Trump. 

Two staff members behind Schmitt quickly flashed the poster before the senator accused Smith of perjury for denying attendance at the game and said the former prosecutor will be remembered “as a total dirtbag.”

Democrats on the panel asked for, but did not receive, copies so that they and Smith could view the poster’s contents more clearly. 

The accusations were immediately debunked in real-time during the hearing when Smith said he recalled being at a University of Maryland women’s basketball game against the University of Iowa to see the popular Iowa player Caitlin Clark on the date in question.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., then clarified that Schmitt had confused the Iowa Hawkeyes with the Atlanta Hawks, in a humiliating moment for Schmitt that quickly spread on social media.

The situation, and lack of shared records, “caused needless confusion, slowed down the business of the Committee, introduced the possibility that false information would be entered uncontested into the record, and created an embarrassing stain on one of the most important committees in Congress,” Durbin wrote.

“While Senator Klobuchar successfully clarified that Mr. Smith had attended a basketball game in a different state on the date in question, and subsequent reporting confirmed the same, Senator Schmitt has since doubled down on his false assertions. He has continued to publicly call Mr. Smith a liar and ‘dirtbag,’” Durbin continued, citing repeated comments from Schmitt to news media following the hearing.

The Republican-led hearing, titled “Oversight of Jack Smith’s Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters,” followed nearly two years of allegations by Grassley that the former special counsel improperly collected phone records of dozens of members of Congress during his probe of Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Grassley has also accused Smith of collecting information on Republican-affiliated organizations and individuals.

The insurrection followed Trump’s alleged conspiracy to create fake electors to swing the 2020 presidential election in his favor.

Smith denies any wrongdoing.

In an apparent response to the letter, Grassley posted on X just after 12:30 p.m. Eastern Thursday that “Jack Smith should apologize for taking the bank records of 42 Iowans & 4,782 Americans.”

When asked earlier for a response to Durbin’s letter, a spokesperson for Grassley pointed States Newsroom to the Iowa senator’s Sept. 29 comments about the hearing to Newsmax’s “The Record with Greta Van Susteren.” The comments did not include an apology. 

“I think that we learned through the thousands of pages that I’ve released to the public that Jack Smith was a tool of the Biden administration to put Trump in prison. (Trump) was the only one indicted, but the records that we (made) public today, and a few days ago, show that he swept at least 400 Republican organizations into his investigation, and 44 members of Congress by subpoenaing their phone records,” Grassley told the conservative media outlet.

In a response to Durbin’s letter on Friday, Grassley said committee Democrats “have run roughshod over Committee rules” in the past.

“I need not remind you that my oversight of this matter is years in the making, has been supported by courageous whistleblowers who came to my office concerned about the rotten political bias at the heart of Jack Smith’s investigation, and has been transparent with the American people and my Democratic colleagues from the get-go,” Grassley wrote in a four-page letter.

The Iowa Republican continued later in the letter: “Contrary to your misguided statement, the major embarrassment of the hearing was Democrats falling over themselves defending unlawful and unconstitutional actions by Jack Smith.”

The letter did not contain an apology, and Grassley said Democrats have been provided with thousands of pages of records and are invited to his office next week to review records Durbin specified in his letter.

Grassley further accused committee Democrats of failing to cooperate on previous investigations, including a 2020 COVID-19 matter, an inquiry into Hunter Biden and the vetting of Trump’s former personal attorney who now sits on the federal bench.

Schmitt’s office did not immediately respond for comment.

Durbin’s letter also requested records from Sen. Josh Hawley, also a Missouri Republican. Hawley’s office did not immediately respond for comment.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

Stark City residents arrested, items stolen from Newtonia Community Building recovered

(From the Newton County Sheriff's Office)

On October 8, 2026 at approximately 6PM, deputies with the Newton County Sheriff’s Officer were dispatched to the area of 23524 E. Hwy 86 in the Stark City area for a theft in progress. Upon arrival of deputies in the area, they learned that a suspect had just stolen a UTV in the area and the owner of the UTV was currently detaining the suspect at gunpoint. 

The suspect was identified as Scottie Nunez, a 30-year-old male from the Stark City area. Nunez was taken into custody and transported to the Newton County Jail. 

Deputies remained in the area and continued with their investigation. Deputies then located Shyanna Sales, a 31-year-old female, in the area who is a known associate of Nunez. 

During the contact with Shyanna, she was found to be in possession of drug paraphernalia. Shyanna was taken into custody for possession of drug paraphernalia. As deputies continued their investigation, they learned of possible stolen property that was located inside of Shyanna Sales house. A detective was called in, and a search warrant was obtained for the residence. 

During a search of her residence, possible stolen property was located and seized as evidence. Investigators continued with their investigation and confirmed on October 9, 2026 that the items seized from her residence were recently stolen from the Newtonia Community Center. 

Detectives with the Newton County Sheriff’s Office have submitted charges to the Newton County Prosecutor for review on both subjects. Scottie Nunez is currently in custody for Vehicle Theft. Shyanna Sales is currently in custody for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and for Receiving Stolen Property.

“I want to publicly acknowledge our deputies for going above and beyond the initial call of a motor vehicle theft and for their work to find additional stolen property. I am proud of our deputies and I’m proud of the work they do each day to keep our community safe. I am also glad that we were able to recover some of the property that was taken from the Newtonia Community.”

Leggett & Platt closing Kentucky plant

The first shoe has dropped following Leggett & Platt's merger with Somnigroup.

The company announced Wednesday it will be closing its Leitchfield, Kentucky plant putting 145 people out of work.

The company's press release says the closure is due to a need to consolidate operations. The closure is expected by the end of the year.

Kehoe expands executive order offering relief to farmers, truckers

(From Gov. Mike Kehoe)

Today, Governor Mike Kehoe signed Executive Order 26-20, expanding his Executive Order 26-19 issued last week, allowing the highway use of dyed diesel fuel for all motor vehicles operating for any purpose.

This action aligns state regulatory relief and enforcement discretion with President Trump's Emergency Tax Relief on Diesel Fuel Executive Order to provide economic relief and maintain uniformity across all transportation sectors.

"Today's action brings clarity to Missouri's farmers and truckers who are working hard to deliver goods and keep our economy moving while facing higher diesel costs," said Governor Kehoe. “Thanks to action at the federal level by President Trump, haulers in Missouri will now be able to utilize tax-free diesel fuel on any road in Missouri for any purpose. Lowering transportation costs across the entire supply chain means savings that trickle down to reduce everyday expenses for every Missouri family, business, and consumer."

Dyed diesel is off-road fuel marked red to be used in agricultural operations and sold without a motor-fuels tax. Because of its tax status, Missouri law bars its use on public roadways. 

The executive order suspends state restrictions and associated statutory penalties for vehicles traveling on Missouri-operated highways, and prohibits any state agency, department, or law enforcement officer from assessing administrative, civil, or criminal penalties against any owner or operator operating within the scope of this exemption.

The Executive Order 26-19's temporary increase in agricultural allowable weight limitations has also been extended through this executive order.

Executive Order 26-20 is effective immediately and will expire December 31, 2026.

Change of plea hearing set for Sarcoxie man on federal weapons charge

A change of plea hearing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in U. S. District Court in Springfield for Skylar Wyrick, 25, Sarcoxie, who is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Wyrick was indicted after he was arrested by the Carthage Police Department following an October 3, 2025 traffic stop.

A search uncovered a firearm, ammunition and methamphetamine, according to the government's detention motion.

Agenda posted for Joplin City Council work session

Joplin City Council Work Session

Monday, October 12, 2026

5:45 P.M., Council Chambers

AGENDA 

1.

Implementation Of The Police & Fire Spending Plan 

Documents:

1. IMPLEMENTATION OF POLICE AND FIRE SALES TAX SPENDING PLAN 10.12.26.PDF
2. MML 2025 SALARY STUDY SUMMARY 10.7.26.PDF
3. 2020 COMPENSATION STUDY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.PDF
4. AGH INTERNAL EQUITY STUDY REPORT_080122.PDF

2.

Fire Department SAFER Grant 

Documents:

1. SAFER GRANT POLICE AND FIRE SALES TAX.PDF

3.

Proposed Stormwater Ordinance Updates

Documents:

1. PROPOSED STORMWATER ORDINANCE UPDATES.PDF

4.

Fall 2026 Jasper County Mapping Update 

Documents:

1. FALL 2026 JASPER COUNTY MAPPING UPDATE.PDF

ESPN NFL draft analyst pleads not guilty to traffic charge, trial date set

ESPN NFL draft analyst Matt Miller, 43, Webb City, waived his arraignment Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to failing to drive on the right half of the roadway in connection with the June 17 crash on MO 96 that cost him his left arm.

According to the Highway Patrol report, the accident occurred on MO 96 a mile and a half west of Oronogo when the 2023 Ford Bronco Miller was driving crossed the center line and was struck by a 2024 International driven by a 28-year-old Springfield man.

The case is scheduled for 9 a.m. December 8 before Judge John Nicholas.

Miller is represented by Judd McPherson.

On July 10, Miller released the following statement on X:

A quick update: The surgery to remove my left arm was successful with hopes of an eventual prosthetic replacement.

Similarly, the femur and patella surgeries were also successful and the fantastic surgery team was able to save my left leg. 

To best focus on my healing and recovery, I’m stepping away indefinitely and will be placed on leave from ESPN. Thank you to all for the prayers and thoughts; please keep them coming.

After the accident, allegations about Miller's alleged misuse of charities and fantasy football leagues are being investigated by the Missouri Attorney General's office.

Transgender care takes center stage in Missouri campaign to reinstate abortion ban

By Anna Spoerre 

Missouri Independent

Jamie Reed stood before a room full of Republicans in St. Louis County in September, clicking through a presentation about pediatric gender medicine.

The former caseworker at a St. Louis transgender clinic described puberty blockers and hormones in stark terms and warned of what she sees as lasting harm to children. The audience gasped, groaned and, at one point, a woman called her a hero.

But Reed had come to make a political case, too.

Amendment 3 would reinstate Missouri’s abortion ban with limited exceptions while also constitutionally prohibiting gender-transition treatments for minors. And Reed, who describes herself as a lifelong liberal and supports legal abortion with some restrictions, told the room which part of the measure she thought could help carry it.

“If we talk to people about the trans part of this amendment,” she said, “we can get it to pass.”

That calculation has become increasingly visible in the campaign for Amendment 3, as supporters emphasize restrictions on transgender healthcare in television ads, yard signs and public appearances — even though most gender-affirming medical care for minors is already banned in Missouri.

Chelsea Freels, 20, noticed that strategy as she passed signs on the way to visit her grandmother at the Lake of the Ozarks over the summer.

“Yes on 3,” they read. “Ban transgender surgeries for minors.” 

The signs surprised Freels, who received puberty blockers as a minor in Missouri. Gender-affirming surgeries for minors are already banned, as are puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

Two years earlier, Freels, who grew up in St. Louis, helped canvas across Missouri in support of the 2024 reproductive rights amendment. Voters narrowly approved it, overturning the state’s near-total abortion ban and protecting abortion rights until fetal viability.

A year later, the Republican supermajority in the statehouse put Amendment 3 on the ballot. It would ban most abortions, with exceptions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies and pregnancies caused by rape or incest during the first 12 weeks.

Polling points to another very close race in Missouri. Abortion access remains popular, as does banning hormone therapy or medications and gender-transition surgeries for minors.

“It’s really telling that the Republicans have shifted a lot of their messaging about A3 away from abortion,” Freels said. “And towards demonizing children.”

The campaign to ban abortion argues both issues fall under the same goal: protecting children by legislating reproductive healthcare.

“We’re not anti-anyone,” said Amanda Sanders, a spokesperson for Her Health, Her Future, the campaign for Amendment 3. “This is pro-protecting their childhood, their innocence.” 

Many major healthcare coalitions, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, support gender-affirming care for transgender youth, though surgery is uncommon for minors and some groups recommend deferring it until adulthood. 

Opponents call the transgender provision “ballot candy,” arguing lawmakers added an already-banned practice to make an abortion ban more attractive to voters.

“The politicians pushing Amendment 3 are lying,” said Tom Bastian, a spokesperson with the No on 3 Stop the Ban campaign, which includes Planned Parenthood, Abortion Action Missouri and the ACLU of Missouri. “The facts are that healthcare for transgender youth is already banned in Missouri and it will remain banned no matter how people vote.”

If Amendment 3 passes, Missouri will be the first state to place a ban on gender-affirming care in its constitution. Twenty-six other states have statutory bans in place.

On Tuesday evening, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe on a webcast fundraiser for Her Health, Her Future, emphasized that Missouri is a battleground for abortion and transgender issues. The message laid out the larger stakes: If Missouri voters champion Amendment 3, other conservative states could follow suit with a similar amendment framework.

“What happens here doesn’t just matter to the people of St. Louis or Kansas City, or Springfield, or the small towns across our state,” Kehoe said. “People around the country are watching to see what Missouri does.”

‘Political scapegoat’

“It starts with drag queen story hour and ends with children under the knife,” begins the first of two TV ads for Her Health, Her Future. “Irreversible sex change surgeries on minors, that’s the goal of the trans extremists.” 

Such surgeries were rare in Missouri before the state banned them in 2023. An internal Washington University review found its transgender center stopped referring minors for surgery in late 2018. Six chest surgeries were performed by university physicians on adolescents transitioning to male between 2018 and 2023, but the referrals came from outside providers.

Sara Burke, a Syracuse University psychology professor who studies stereotyping and discrimination, called the campaign rhetoric political scapegoating that could worsen prejudice against transgender people.

“Abortion is quite popular; whereas, there seems to be a wave of knee-jerk, anti transgender sentiment in politics right now,” Burke said. “They’re just trying to score points, and it’s a cynical ploy with real human consequences. Transgender children are highly vulnerable. Treating them as a political scapegoat makes their lives worse.”

Those now championing Amendment 3 point to the August 2027 sunset on the ban restricting cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers as a reason for asking voters to ban something that’s already banned. The ban on gender-affirming surgeries for minors has no expiration.

“We do not want to leave the protections for children to the winds of the political change of whoever is in office in the legislature and courts,” Sanders said. 

Earlier this year, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the ban on gender-affirming care for minors, known as the SAFE Act, rejecting a challenge brought by families represented by the ACLU of Missouri and Lambda Legal. 

Opponents of Amendment 3 say lawmakers could extend the expiring restrictions before they sunset. 

Asked about the strategy to leave abortion out of TV ads, Sanders said the campaign was leaning into all sides of the amendment. 

“We will continue to put out content on all aspects of this abortion vote,” she said. “But this was so important that I think it could get lost in the conversation if it wasn’t pointed out.”

Opponents argue abortion is what has been lost. 

“The legislature banned transgender care for minors a couple years ago,” Michael Wolff, a retired chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court and dean emeritus of St. Louis University School of Law, said in a political ad for Stop the Ban. “Misleading? That’s what it is. Don’t let politicians fool us into banning abortion again.” 

A court challenge last year argued unsuccessfully that Amendment 3 violated Missouri’s single-subject rule by combining abortion and gender-affirming care. An appeals court ruled the subjects were sufficiently connected because transition-related treatments may affect fertility and therefore could be considered related to reproductive health care. 

What is reproductive healthcare?

Reed has become a prominent voice in the Yes on 3 campaign and appears in one of its television ads. Her public profile dates to 2023, when she accused the Washington University Transgender Center of rushing minors into puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones without adequate mental health assessments and failing to fully inform families about potential side effects. 

“I probably was the last expected person to speak in the room tonight,” Reed told the crowd. “And maybe the last expected person to speak up in support of Amendment 3.” 

Those familiar with her story might not be so surprised.

Reed became a national name in the trans healthcare debate in 2023, when she gave an affidavit to the Missouri attorney general with her accusations against the Washington University center. 

Families whose children received care at the clinic for years have disputed Reed’s characterization in testimony and interviews with The Independent, describing evaluations that lasted months and saying providers discussed fertility preservation, including egg and sperm storage.

Reed rejects the idea that she is sacrificing abortion rights to secure a ban on gender-affirming care. She does not believe people can change sex and sees medical transition as harmful to gay and gender-nonconforming people.

“This is a fundamental attack on gender, non-conforming homosexuals,” Reed said. “And for me to have that message in a room of Republicans goes to show how challenging this issue is for the left … it kills me that the Democratic party is willing to die on this hill.” 

TJ Billard, a Northwestern University communications professor who studies media and transgender politics, said pairing abortion and transgender care reflects a broader political argument about gender, sexuality and traditional social roles. 

Billard said describing the transgender provision simply as a political “pill hidden inside the cheese” risks missing why the issues appeal to many of the same voters.

Both can be framed around anxieties over changing ideas about gender and sexuality, Billard said, making transgender issues an increasingly potent political flashpoint.

So far, they said, trans advocates have been woefully unsuccessful in garnering more support in the face of these arguments, which Billard characterized as misinformation and fear-mongering. 

“The vast majority of people had never given thought to a trans person, certainly didn’t necessarily care about trans people, and definitely, even if they opposed it, didn’t think it was a problem at a scale that needed immediate political addressing,” Billard said. 

Anti-abortion divide could complicate Missouri Amendment 3 campaign

A 2025 study by St. Louis University’s Transgender Health Collaborative found that 35% of parents of LGBTQ youth were considering leaving the state; 96% of parents to LGBTQ youth reported feeling the same or more stress and increased concern for their child’s safety.

Katie Heiden-Rootes, a St. Louis University family therapist and researcher who works with transgender young people and their families, said clients have told her the election-year visibility has made it harder to sleep, work and parent.

She accused Missouri Republican leadership of creating “boogeymen” out of the trans community to sway a vote.

“It stokes fear and hatred towards a group of people who really just want to live and be seen as full humans in the state of Missouri,” Heiden-Rootes said. “And that’s not what’s happening right now.”

Kelly Storck, a private practice therapist who focuses on gender care in the St. Louis area, said because of the 2023 law, her minor patients and their parents have to drive to Chicago and beyond to access medical treatment options. Now, she said, they’re also facing a “smear” campaign.

“It keeps people quiet. It keeps people hidden. I promise you legislation like this has killed children and will continue to enact great harms to children,” she said. “They will not see a way or a place for them to exist in the world, because of these conversations, and because these anti-trans sentiments and ideologies exist.”

Rene Freels, Chelsea’s mother, still lives in the St. Louis suburbs with her husband. Their home once felt politically insulated, she said. Then Yes on 3 signs appeared in the churchyard down the street.

Chelsea has become more hesitant to visit home, her mother said.

The family has considered moving but decided instead to save money in case they eventually feel they need to leave the country with their daughter.

“Us parents are trying to end this so that when we pass away, our kids don’t have to deal with this type of discrimination, this vile discrimination, so that they just can live their lives free and have free movement,” Rene Freels said. “Nobody’s life is easy, but at least they can just be free to be themselves. But this is just an onslaught against our kids.” 

Chelsea Freels said when she canvassed for abortion rights in 2024, she met conservatives all over the state whose political beliefs were rooted in loving their neighbors and treating one another with kindness. It’s why, she believes, Missourians voted to raise the minimum wage and establish paid sick leave, why they expanded Medicare access and why they voted for abortion rights. 

“When you ask those people if they want to protect the people around them, it’s always a yes,” she said, reflecting on the 2024 election. “And that’s why I’m confident that we’re going to win this one.”

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

Two arrested, meth confiscated following search warrant execution at Granby home

(From the Newton County Sheriff's Office)

On October 7, 2026 at approximately 2:25 PM, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team, along with the Granby Police Department and members of the Ozarks Drug Enforcement Team, executed a search warrant at 1227 Fir Street in Granby, Missouri. 

Investigative activities conducted by the Newton County Sheriff’s Office newly formed Special Enforcement Group had identified the residence as a location where narcotics were being distributed.

Upon executing the warrant, Newton County personnel encountered three individuals in the back yard of the residence. James Bettes, the homeowner, was found to be in possession of a baggie of suspected methamphetamine in his pocket and was taken into custody and transported to the Newton County Jail. One other male subject at the location, Roberto Consecu, was taken into custody on an immigration detainer and was transported to the Newton County Jail.

During a subsequent search of the property, a baggie containing approximately 33 grams of suspected methamphetamine was located in the vicinity where Mr. Bettes was contacted. Additionally, a loaded firearm was located inside the residence along with digital scales, and empty baggies. 

Charges for Possession of a Controlled Substance, Delivery of a Controlled Substance and Unlawful Use of a Weapon have been submitted to the Newton County Prosecutor’s Office for review on Bettes.

The Newton County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Granby Police Department, the Ozarks Drug Enforcement Team and the Newton County Ambulance District for their assistance in the service of this warrant. 

If you have any information about suspected drug activity, we ask that you contact the Sheriff’s Office with that information.