KSN back on DISH Network after multi-year agreement reached

(From Nexstar Media Group)

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST) ("Nexstar"), today announced that it has reached a comprehensive multi-year distribution agreement with DISH Network. 

(Nexstar Media owns KSNF-TV in Joplin.)

The agreement restores Nexstar’s 164 local television stations across the country and Nexstar’s wholly-owned cable network, WGN America, to DISH Network’s programming line-up. 

(DISH Network has still not reached an agreement with Mission Broadcasting and is not carrying KODE in Joplin.)

WGN America will also launch on DISH’s streaming service, Sling TV, in early 2021. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The agreement means that more than 5 million DISH subscribers will again have access to the highly-rated network and local entertainment, sports, and news programming provided by Nexstar television stations and by WGN America, home of the country’s only live prime-time national newscast, NewsNation.

During the last three months, Nexstar successfully completed more than 250 distribution agreements with its satellite, cable, telco, and streaming partners. 

Combined with similar agreements reached with other providers in 2019, Nexstar now has long-term visibility regarding future retransmission and carriage fees covering 90% of the company’s footprint through 2022.

Nexstar’s local television stations and WGN America had been off DISH Network’s satellite system since Dec. 2. We regret the inconvenience experienced by our viewers and look forward to again providing them with leading network and local programming.

Oklahoma reports 45 COVID-19 deaths

(From the Oklahoma State Department of Health)

As of this advisory, there are 272,553 cases of COVID-19 in Oklahoma. 

3,478 is today's 7-day rolling average for the number of new cases reported.

There are 45 additional deaths identified to report.

One in Alfalfa County, one male in the 65 or older age group.
Two in Bryan County, two females in the 65 or older age group.
One in Canadian County, one female in the 65 or older age group.
Three in Cleveland County, three males in the 65 or older age group.
One in Comanche County, one female in the 65 or older age group.

Two in Custer County, two males in the 65 or older age group.
One in Jefferson County, one female in the 50-64 age group.
One in Johnston County, one male in the 65 or older age group.
One in Kingfisher County, one male in the 65 or older age group.
One in Latimer County, one male in the 65 or older age group.
One in Le Flore County, one female in the 50-64 age group.
One in Lincoln County, one male in the 65 or older age group.
Two in Love County, two females in the 65 or older age group.
Two in McClain County, one female in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 65 or older age group.
One in Murray County, one male in the 50-64 age group.
Seven in Oklahoma County, one female in the 50-64 age group, three females in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 50-64 age group, two males in the 65 or older age group.
One in Ottawa County, one male in the 65 or older age group.
Two in Pontotoc County, one female in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 65 or older age group.
Three in Pottawatomie County, one female in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 50-64 age group, one male in the 65 or older age group.
Two in Seminole County, one male in the 50-64 age group, one male in the 65 or older age group.
One in Stephens County, one female in the 65 or older age group.
Six in Tulsa County, two females in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 18-35 age group, one male in the 50-64 age group, two males in the 65 or older age group
One in Wagoner County, one male in the 50-64 age group.
One in Washington County, one female in the 36-49 age group.

There are 2,328 total deaths in the state.
Additional hospitalization data can be found in the Hospital Tiers report, published evenings Monday through Friday.
For more information, visit https://oklahoma.gov/covid19.html.

 

Nancy Hughes: Jerry's Christmas

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you; You will find a baby wrapped in clothes
and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:11-12 (NIV)

I’ll never forget that precious little boy: freckles scattered like tiny raindrops across his entire face, including his ears. Big brown eyes partially obscured by long, wispy blonde hair that brushed against an ever present smile minus two front teeth.

Jerry was a first grade student at the elementary school where I worked. He came from a home that was short on money but long on love. His clothes were always someone else’s property first, but he never seemed to care.

And this Christmas season was no different.

As a mother of three, I was frantically trying to balance home, husband, kids and job while I shopped endlessly for the perfect “only thing I want” gifts for my family. Somewhere in the rush of the season my focus shifted from the birth of a baby in a manger to the number of presents under our Christmas tree.

There was some success but at a price . . . a high price. My Christmas budget was shrinking rapidly. “Why couldn’t my children want something a little cheaper?” I kept thinking. “Why do they think they have to have every thing they see on television?”

Those questions were occupying my thoughts as I walked down the first grade hall and saw Jerry skipping toward me in his winter coat that was about three sizes too large and worn tennis shoes minus the laces.

“Hey, Jerry! How are you?” I asked. “I’m good, Miss Nancy. It’s almost Christmas . . . Jesus’ birthday . . . did you know?” I couldn’t help but smile at that comment. “Yes, I have heard that. So what do you want for Christmas, Jerry?”

He quickly replied “Oh, I already know what I’m getting. It’s the same every year.”

At this point I would have expected a child making that statement to duck his head in disappointment and go on, but not Jerry.

As I knelt down to hug and encourage him, Jerry put his hands on my shoulders and, with a huge smile, continued: “When I wake up on Christmas morning, there will be a BIG candy cane under my pillow!” as he licked his lips and rubbed his tummy in anticipation of that moment. “And then, under the tree, I’ll get a little Matchbox car to add to my others. I can hardly wait, Miss Nancy!”

As I hugged Jerry and watched him skip on to class, I could not hold back the tears of sadness – not for Jerry but for my attitude. Instead of focusing on Christ and His birth, I had gotten caught up in the world’s view that the number of gifts you have under the Christmas tree determines your happiness.

Christmas at our home would never be the same again. All because of a candy cane under a pillow, a Matchbox car under a tree . . . and a very thankful little boy named Jerry.

Father, thank you for the most priceless gift of love you could ever send – the gift of your Son. May we never forget that He went from a manger to the cross for us. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect
Do you find yourself focused more on gifts than the Giver of Life at Christmas?

Have you talked with your children about the Ultimate Gift that Jesus gave each of us?

Apply

Sit down with your children and help them write on slips of paper the gifts that they can give Jesus this Christmas, like trusting Him, being obedient, and sharing Him with friends.

Have them wrap each of their gifts for Jesus in a box and offer each one to Him on Christmas morning in prayer.

Power

Luke 2:11-12 (NIV) “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you; You will find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger.”

Romans 6:23 (NIV) “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

2 Corinthians 9:15 (NIV) “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

John 1:14 a (NIV) “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV) “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

(For more of Nancy Hughes' writing, check out her blog, Encouragement from the War Room.)

Paul Richardson: The good, the bad and the downright absurd

Merry Christmas! When I was young my parents always made Christmas special, as a parent that task was ours to make the holiday special for our children. The good wife and I are in a new stage of life now, and so changes have occurred.

As I stated last week, I don’t normally write about holidays, but this year I am taking full advantage of the entire palette. I read a bit of advice on Facebook that stated, “You may buy your wife clothes, perfume or jewelry, but she will never forget the year that you buy her a mop!” My go-to was always a skillet and a pound of bacon, and she could keep the skillet.

In 2018, the good wife purchased a fire truck for me as a Christmas present. Since she won’t let me have a full-sized train, this was an excellent substitute. A Mayberry Police car would be a nice addition in the future. 

Anyway, since she had purchased such an awesome item, I felt like the bar had been raised and I really needed to step up. No jokes about a mop or a skillet and a pound of bacon, I really needed to reach deep and acquiesce to something that I had resisted continually.

In years past the goodwife had repeatedly, and I stress repeatedly, stated that she wanted to go on a cruise. Not around the city square and down the boulevard, but one of those on a big boat, in deep water and to remote, foreign sounding places. My response had always been, “If I can’t take the motorcycle and ride there, I’m not going!” But this year, this year, she had bought me a fire truck. I stood tall and purchased a seven-day cruise in the Caribbean with three ports-of-call, a fine room with a king-sized bed and port window. Very cosmopolitan, indeed!

In order to avoid any confusion, I took the cruise information, laminated it with a label that said, “Caribbean Bacon” and placed in a skillet, then wrapped it in a series of boxes, like Matryoshka Dolls.

On Christmas Eve, everyone in the room was aware of the pending cruise. My dear mother, my children, and my grandsons, everyone knew. As she completed the opening procedure, which turned out to be rather lengthy and arduous, she finally arrived at the skillet and “fake” bacon. Being fully aware of my skillet story, she had this somewhat disgusted look on her face. As an effort to save myself, I began explaining the present, exciting everyone, but her look stayed the same.

The next day the good wife informed me that she no longer wanted to go on a cruise. This is where Christmas turned absurd. As a child, when all was good, I would never have imagined the emotions that were associated with this particular Christmas.

We went on the cruise in July 2018 and had a great time, but there is much more to this story. Keep it Merry, Christmas that is!

Missouri passes 5,000 COVID-19 deaths as vaccine rollout continues

By Rudi Keller

Missouri Independent

Missouri surpassed 5,000 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday when the state Department of Health and Senior Services added 211 new fatalities, including 140 from a weekly review of death certificates.

The state has now endured 5,158 deaths from the disease caused by the coronavirus that has caused a worldwide pandemic. The weekly review of deaths to link them to case reports, which normally is completed each Monday, will stretch into Tuesday, the department stated in an email.

“Due to a higher than average volume of records to review, the team has not yet completed this process for the week,” the email from department spokeswoman Lisa Cox stated.

The weekly reviews, which began in October, have added more than 1,000 deaths to the state count that were not included in initial case reports. At the start of October, the Missouri death rate was about 57 percent of the national rate and with the adjustment on Tuesday it is above 85 percent of the national rate.

Missouri has recorded 84 deaths per 100,000 residents, while the national rate is about 95 per 100,000 residents. The highest death rate, at more than 200 per 100,000 residents, is in New Jersey.

The largest number of deaths, 1,197 by the state count, have occurred in St. Louis County, which has the state’s largest population. The highest death rate, 260 per 100,000, is in Clinton County, which has 53 deaths among its 20,387 people.

There has been at least one death in each of the state’s 117 local health jurisdictions.

  

In her email, Cox noted that state and local death numbers do not always agree.

“At the state level, we are not currently reporting probable or pending deaths,” Cox wrote. “There are some instances when these deaths are reported out by local public health departments, but the information is not reported by DHSS until confirmed in our disease surveillance system either by the county or through analysis of death certificates.”

The department reported 2,123 new coronavirus infections Tuesday and the seven-day average of reported cases continued to fall. With fewer than 3,000 new cases on seven of the past 10 days, the average is 2,867 per day, down from a peak of 4,722 per day on Nov. 20.

Hospitalizations remain high, with the department reporting 2,703 inpatient cases as of Saturday, down slightly from previous days but above any date prior to Nov. 16.

In other COVID-19 news, CVS announced it will begin delivering the Moderna vaccine next week to residents and staff of long-term care facilities in Missouri. The pharmacy chain stated it will vaccinate 4 million residents and staff at 40,000 facilities, including 100,000 in Missouri.

CVS will send teams to each facility three times to make sure residents and staff receive their initial shot and the booster required three to four week later.

Rudi Keller covers the state budget, energy and the legislature. He’s spent 22 of his 30 years in journalism covering Missouri government and politics, most recently as the news editor of the Columbia Daily Tribune. Keller has won awards for spot news and investigative reporting.

Oklahoma reports 43 COVID-19 deaths

(From the Oklahoma State Department of Health)

As of this advisory, there are 269,276 cases of COVID-19 in Oklahoma. 

3,435 is today's 7-day rolling average for the number of new cases reported.

There are 43 additional deaths identified to report.

Two in Bryan County, one female in the 50-64 age group, one male in the 65 or older age group.
One in Canadian County, one female in the 65 or older age group.
One in Cherokee County, one female in the 50-64 age group.
Two in Cleveland County, one female in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 50-64 age group.
Four in Comanche County, two females in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 50-64 age group, one male in the 65 or older age group.

One in Cotton County, one female in the 65 or older age group.
Three in Creek County, two females in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 36-49 age group.
One in Custer County, one male in the 65 or older age group.
One in Grady County, one male in the 65 or older age group.
One in Kingfisher County, one female in the 50-64 age group.
One in Logan County, one female in the 65 or older age group.
Two in Marshall County, one female in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 65 or older age group.

One in Mayes County, one male in the 65 or older age group.
One in McIntosh County, one male in the 36-49 age group.
Four in Oklahoma County, one female in the 50-64 age group, two females in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 50-64 age group.
One in Payne County, one female in the 65 or older age group.
Two in Rogers County, one female in the 65 or older age group, one male in the 50-64 age group.
Two in Stephens County, two males in the 65 or older age group.
Ten in Tulsa County, two females in the 50-64 age group, three females in the 65 or older age group, five males in the 65 or older age group.
One in Wagoner County, one male in the 65 or older age group.
One in Washington County, one male in the 36-49 age group.

There are 2,283 total deaths in the state.

Additional hospitalization data can be found in the Hospital Tiers report, published evenings Monday through Friday.

For more information, visit https://oklahoma.gov/covid19.html.

Greene County reports 22 COVID-19 deaths, 86 during December

(From the Springfield-Greene County Health Department)

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department is saddened to announce the deaths of 22 Greene County residents from COVID-19. These fatalities were reported to us between Wednesday, December 16 and Tuesday, December 22.

Our community lost: 

A man in his 50s
A woman in her 50s
Two men in their 60s
A woman in her 60s
Two men in their 70s 

Two women in their 70s
A man in his 80s
Three women in their 80s
A man in his 90s
Seven women in their 90s
A woman in her 100s

We extend our condolences to everyone impacted by these losses. We take each loss personally and our hearts are with each of you, especially during the holiday season.

Sadly, December is now our deadliest month for COVID-19, with 86 deaths announced by the health department so far this month. A total of 282 Greene County residents have died from COVID-19.

Parson appoints Judge Jack Goodman to Missouri Southern District Court of Appeals

 

(From Gov. Mike Parson)

Today, Governor Mike Parson announced the appointment of Judge Jack A.L. Goodman to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District. Judge Goodman will succeed Judge Daniel E. Scott, who will retire on December 31, 2020.

Judge Goodman, of Monett, earned his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy along with his Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri – Columbia.

Judge Goodman currently serves as the Presiding Judge of the 39th Judicial Circuit. He is an active member of the Mt. Vernon Kiwanis Club, the Mt. Vernon Rotary Club, and several local Chambers of Commerce. Judge Goodman and his family are active members of their church and other community organizations.

Missouri Lottery Commission receives excellent rating in state audit

(From State Auditor Nicole Galloway)

State Auditor Nicole Galloway has released a regularly scheduled audit of the Missouri State Lottery Commission. The audit did not identify any significant deficiencies in internal controls, any significant noncompliance with legal provisions, or any significant deficiencies in management practices and procedures.

The audit, which resulted in no findings, gave the Commission a rating of excellent, the highest available. The previous audit of the Commission, released in 2019, gave the same rating.

The complete audit of the Missouri State Lottery Commission can be found here.

Arkansas reports 38 COVID-19 deaths

(From Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson)

Governor Asa Hutchinson provided today's update on Arkansas's COVID-19 response.

In its Wednesday update, the Arkansas Department of Health reported 2,893 new cases; 22,516 active cases; 1,110 hospitalized, which is up 7 from Tuesday; 174 on ventilators, which is up 1 from Tuesday; deaths added today, 38, for a total of 3,376; a total of 207,941 cases; 155,447 recoveries; PCR tests, 8,604; antigen tests, 3,697.

The Health Department reported that the top counties for new cases are Washington, 272; Pulaski, 265; Benton, 260; Faulkner, 123; and Craighead, 109.

Governor Hutchinson released the following statement on today’s COVID-19 numbers:

"Today's high number of cases is concerning as we're two days away from Christmas. This is frequently a time to gather with our family in large groups, but this year that presents an increased risk of spreading COVID-19, so let’s plan with our safety guidelines in mind. Please protect yourself and your family."