This is neither complete nor comprehensive, but a combination of tornadoes, straight line winds and heavy rains over the Missouri Ozarks from May 7 to May 9 has left portions of the area battered and trying to dry out in the face of new storms expected for this week.
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Harry Truman was known as “give ‘em hell Harry”. On the 125th anniversary of his birth, spring storms killed three people, threw down trees, tore up roofs, and damaged vehicles across southern Missouri.

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The United States Geological Survey has funded nearly $250,000 in grants to Midwestern universities and agencies for further investigation of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, according to a news release May 1. (more…)

Mingo National Wildlife Refuge will get about $2.8 million for a new visitors’ center. The Neosho Fish Hatchery is on target for $1 million. Also set to receive funds are both Squaw and Great Rivers National Wildlife Refuges.

(JS Comment: Whatever you think of the Recovery Act, it’s good to see that some of the recovery money is going to fish, forests, wildlife, parks and federal cleanup projects in more rural areas, and not all of it is staying in the big city.)

The 1970s were a turbulent time, with various cultures and subcultures clashing amidst militant feminism, Civil Rights turmoil, the Watergate scandal, and the Vietnam War.

Wishing to escape the hassles of the decade, in July 1974, over 150,000 people flooded into Sedalia, MO, for the three-day Ozark Music Festival. Residents living near the Missouri State Fairgrounds woke on July 19 to attendees sleeping in their yards and bumper-to-bumper traffic clogging the roads into town. (more…)

When I’m in Piedmont, I usually drive out Canyon Road to visit Bob and Pat Todd, and usually pass by the entrance to Lon Sanders Canyon Conservation Area without stopping.

This time, it was a beautiful spring day and I was in no hurry to be anywhere, so I pulled in to explore. (more…)

Traveler readers might be interested in lawyer Harry Styron’s blog post and linked article about laws affecting stream use. (more…)

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday that it would dedicate between $10-$25 million of the federal Recovery Act funding to clean up lead contaminated properties in the Fredericktown area.

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Waterfowl hunters spent $900 million on a variety of goods and services from food, transportation, guns and decoys to hunting dogs, clothing and other incidental expenses in 2006, according to a new report issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (more…)

By Emery Styron

The Missouri House of Representatives on April 8 gave first-round approval to a bill that would lower the age for concealed carry of firearms to 21, allow carrying of concealed firearms on college campuses and expand the Castle Doctrine. (more…)