Turner Report celebrates 15 years

This month marks the 15-year anniversary of the Turner Report.

Thanks to those of you who were here at the beginning and all of you who have somehow found your way to this blog over the years.

It took a while before I decided what I wanted the Turner Report to be. It began less than two months after I began teaching eighth grade English in Room 210 at South Middle School in Joplin and at first it alternated between various topics, including things that were happening at South, what I was doing in my classroom, comments about movies I was watching and books I was reading and, of course, news.

Within a couple of years, it began to develop into what it is now- a combination of news and commentary about the Joplin area, Missouri and the nation, with a mixture of politics and investigative reporting.



The cast of characters has changed over the years as we went through various governors, speakers of the house, local officials and even presidents, as we went through most of George W. Bush's presidency, both of Barack Obama's terms and Donald Trump's tenure.

The Turner Report provided coverage on a number of events that affected this area. While many of you first found this blog after the Joplin Tornado on May 22, 2011, the events covered here have included the fatal fire at the Anderson Guest House, the murder of Rowan Ford of Stella, the closing of O'Sullivan Industries, the Wallace Bajjali and Bruce Speck fiascoes and any number of other crimes and scandals.

In November 2013, after slightly more than 10 years of providing news and commentary, the Turner Report was joined by a series of other blogs designed to broaden news coverage for this area. While this blog continued to offer investigative reporting, commentary, political news and more in-depth coverage, Inside Joplin was started to cover more typical police blotter and records page items, community news from this corner of southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas and Inside Joplin Obituaries began to offer obituaries for people who are from or who were connected to Jasper, Newton, McDonald and Barton counties.

I have more changes planned in the future and none of them include cutting back on coverage.

Thanks again to those who have been here since the beginning and those who have come along since. You have made this a pleasure and I look forward to continuing well into the future.