Stories from Thursday, January 17, 2008

James "Leo" Smith, 82, formerly of Nevada, passed away on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008, at St. John's Medical Center, in Tulsa, Okla., following a short illness. He was born Oct. 23, 1925, in Ottawa, Kan., to Lloyd Caleb Smith and Ida Mac Boyd Smith. He married Marie Elaine Jones on Sept. 9, 1950, in Nevada, and she preceded him in death on Sept. 15, 2004...

The Nevada Tigers will be hosting the ninth annual Tiger Basketball Classic the week of Jan. 22-26 with games every evening except Thursday and one game Saturday afternoon. On Tuesday, Jan. 22, at 6 p.m., KCSE will play Nevada. Kansas City Renaissance Academy meets Carthage Jan. ...

The Nevada City Council voted 3-1 Tuesday night to give preliminary approval to a special ordinance terminating the city's contract with Adams and Associates to develop a master plan for the city's parks, with councilmen Russ Kemm, Bill Gillette and Bill Edmonds voting yes and Mike Hutchens voting no. ...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Sen. Chris Koster, D-Harrisonville, has been named to the Agriculture, Conservation, Parks and Natural Resources Committee, which considers bills that relate to animals, agriculture, the state park system, conservation, soil and water, and wildlife and game refuges...

Yesterday afternoon, at about 3:45 p.m. Nevada along with Milo, Sheldon and many rural residents in Vernon County suffered a complete power outage. The incident left area residents in the dark for just a few moments. There have been no reports of damage or other incidents as a result of the power failure as of today, although several reported minor work setbacks due to the unexpected loss of power...

Joplin native Justin Fletcher has been performing stand up comedy for years, and will be performing in Nevada for his next show. JLF Productions, an entertainment agency based out of Kansas City and Des Moines, is run by Fletcher and hosts a stand-up comedy tour that performs all over the Midwest. ...