Bolivar

BOLIVAR, Mo., -- A man faces drunk driving charges following a high speed chase through Bolivar early Sunday morning.    The pursuit happened around 1a.m. near highway 13 and east 380th Road.       An off-duty Humansville officer spotted the vehicle driving erratically and tried to pull the car over, that's when the driver sped off.       The officer reported reaching speeds in excess of 100-miles-per-hour before it came to a stop near Highways 13 and 83. No injuries were reported.

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- Guns were going to the highest bidders at Saturday's gun auction in Bolivar. Organizers of the Diamond S gun auction say events like this usually draw big crowds- but not quite this big. About a 1,000 people showed up at the auction. With the fears over gun control laws, folks say they're buying up guns and ammo however they can- while they can.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a car rolled off Highway 83 in Polk County and hit a tree and a utility pole. The driver, 25-year-old Bobby Ingle of Bolivar died at  the scene. His passenger suffered moderate injuries.

JEFFERSON CITY (Dec. 5, 2012)   -   State Auditor Tom Schweich  announced today that his office has started an audit of the City of Bolivar.  Local citizens circulated a petition requesting an audit of the city. Petitioners submitted 657 valid signatures, 35 more than the 622 needed to trigger a petition audit.  Schweich's audit will review city operations from fiscal year 2012.  Anyone who would like to share information about this audit is encouraged to contact the Missouri State Auditor's office at  800-347-8597  or by e-mail at  moaudit@auditor.mo.gov .

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- Four teens were hospitalized on Sunday night after a crash near Bolivar. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Hunter Allen, 17; Dakota Crouch, 17; Emily Ledford, 16; and Colby Ross, 19, all of Bolivar, were taken to the hospital in Bolivar with minor to moderate injuries. The four were riding in a 2008 Ford Focus on 455th Road, a mile east of Bolivar, when the rear of their car was hit by an unknown vehicle.  The Focus then ran off the left side of the road, overturned and hit a utility pole, according to a Highway Patrol crash report.

BOLIVAR, Mo. - Missouri Governor Jay Nixon plans to visit Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar this afternoon. Nixon will talk about plans to strengthen Medicaid in Missouri. He says it would strengthen the state's economy. Nixon also says a Medicaid expansion would give health coverage to an additional 300,000 Missourians over the next few years.

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- Money is so tight at city hall that the city resorted to cutting its staff.  Thirteen city employees were recently notified that their jobs were eliminated.

BUFFALO, Mo. -- City police say a boy from Bolivar is in a juvenile detention facility after leading officers on a 17-mile chase on Wednesday night. Buffalo police got a call about a suspicious vehicle on South Holly Drive just before midnight.  When officers got there, they saw contraband in the vehicle and arrested a man.  A boy who was with the man fled on foot, however. While two officers were dealing with the man, they say, the boy snuck back to the car and took off.  An officer chased him to Bolivar, where the driver ditched the car and fled into the woods toward his home.  After a short foot chase, officers arrested the boy at his home.

BOLIVAR, Mo. - One woman is dead after a crash on Missouri Route 13 south of Bolivar Monday morning. Troopers say the woman pulled into the path of another car at the intersection with 490th Road. Both drivers weren't wearing seat belts. The woman's identity has not yet been released.

BOLIVAR, Mo.-- A teenager from Bolivar has died in a one vehicle crash. Jordan Farr, 17, was killed Saturday night after his car ran off the road, hit a ditch and flipped over several times. Authorities say Farr was not wearing a seat belt. He was pronounced dead at an area hospital.

BOLIVAR, Mo. - Three units sustained heavy damage in a fire at the Country Inn Hotel Monday morning just outside Bolivar. The 911 call came into dispatch around 2:45 a.m. Several firefighters responded to find smoke coming from the basement area of the building. Nearly 45 people were staying at the hotel when the fire started, and they escaped without injury. Three basement-level units suffered heavy smoke and water damage. Authorities on scene said people staying at the hotel were alerted to the fire by smoke alarms that went off throughout the building.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A doctor from Polk County pleaded guilty to illegally selling prescription pain medicine.  The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri says in a release that Nolan Crisp, 75, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of illegally distributing prescription drugs .   The prosecutor's office says Crisp worked at Pomme de Terre Wellness Center in Bolivar from June 2009 through Nov. 10, 2010, and provided patients with...

BOLIVAR, Mo.  -- Administrators locked down schools late Monday morning after a report that someone had fired shots from a car near the intermediate school and the high school about 11:30.   Police were looking for a specific car and officers stopped a car matching that description at a parking lot east of those schools (photo), where they questioned four people in two vehicles and detained two of them. Police at the scene said the four people involved are high school-aged, and know each other.  They wouldn't confirm whether the gun was real or a fake gun, like a BB gun or an Airsoft gun.  Police said they didn't have a motive for the dispute.   A police department spokesman said officers would conduct a search on Monday afternoon to try to gain more evidence in their investigation.  They said neither car has damage from a gunshot and the reported shooting was not at a school, although one or both cars did drive through a school parking lot. The school district got the all-clear from police at noon.  Superintendent Steve Morgan says students attended classes and lunch but couldn't go outside the schools.  He said everything else was normal in the schools.  He said the situation is formally called a "Lock and Learn.

BOLIVAR -- Two Bolivar churches came together to celebrate Easter Sunday. Freshwater Church and Southern Hills Baptist Church joined forces to hold a massive Easter egg hunt; there were about 10,000 eggs for the little ones to find.      Before the big hunt, the two churches held services together.      Pastors from both congregations say they wanted to reach out to the community and spend the holiday unified. "There's always this feeling of competition between churches and we wanted to smash that competition and have two churches come together and work together for something like this," said  Freshwater pastor Joshua Hedger.

BOLIVAR, Mo.-- Two teachers from Bolivar are being hailed heroes after saving the life of a fellow co-worker, Nurse Kristy Lipsey.  

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- The discovery of black mold in City Hall forced municipal leaders to draft a plan of action.  Making all the repairs could take several months.  That means almost everyone working inside will have to pack up their office and move out. "There have been some headaches occasionally," said City Administrator Darin Chappell.  "Nobody has experienced any difficulties of any significance. " Chappell says those headaches technically began with a thunderstorm that blew through months ago, peeling back part of the roof on City Hall.  Rainwater then seeped inside.

A couple of local schools are jockeying to be named as having the best mascot in the country. The West Plains Zizzers and the Bolivar Liberators have been entered in USA Today's Best Mascot Contest. First-round voting began on Monday, and will continue until March 5, when the winners from each state will go into the regional voting. From there, a top mascot will be picked. You can get online and vote for your favorite mascot here .

BOLIVAR, Mo. - Missouri Governor Jay Nixon plans to visit Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar this afternoon. Nixon will talk about plans to strengthen Medicaid in Missouri. He says it would strengthen the state's economy. Nixon also says a Medicaid expansion would give health coverage to an additional 300,000 Missourians over the next few years.

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- Meyer Bluegrass Band brought home top honors at an international competition in Nashville last weekend.  The band is three brothers and one sister who have been playing bluegrass music together since 2008. Meyer Bluegrass Band won the International Band Contest at the convention and awards contest of the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America .  The event was at the Sheraton Music City Hotel. John, David, James, and Mary Meyer have been playing bluegrass together since 2008.  They won the KSMU Silver Dollar City Youth In Bluegrass competition in 2009 with older brothers Joe and Paul.  The family homeschools and has been involved with music since Mary was a baby.

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- A third young man will likely be charged for a shooting spree last weekend in Polk County.   The Polk County Sheriff's Department says the high school wasn't the trio's first target on Saturday night. Peter Collins was already asleep on Saturday night, but his friends heard the shots.  "They heard pop, pop, pop, and Wendy immediately jumped up from the chair and went to the window to look out and saw the truck, got a really good description of the truck," said Collins on Thursday.