Stories from Thursday, June 13, 2013

The Vernon County Commission authorized the Great River Associates engineering firm of Springfield to proceed with permit applications and engineering work on a bridge project in Monte-vallo Township in the southeast corner of the county. The bridge project is about 45 percent engineered according to Jason Sivils of Great River. The bridge is located on County Road 3125 about two and a half miles north of the Barton county line and right on the Vernon and Cedar county line...

The jury trial for a Stockton man charged with statutory rape and statutory sodomy is set to begin Thursday and possibly last through Friday in the Vernon County Circuit Court. Eli Lee McKeehan, 27, was charged in February 2012 in Cedar County, but the trial was moved to Nevada after a change of venue was approved in July. Osceola attorney Matthew Baker represents McKeehan...

Illinois native Gloria Tucker has joined the staff of the Nevada Daily Mail as a reporter/photographer. Tucker, 22, moved to Nevada a little more than two weeks ago after graduating with honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's College of Media with a bachelor's in journalism. While in college, she was a student member of the Society of Professional Journalists...

Ash Street will remain closed between Allison and Hunter streets for at least today and will remain closed until the city is certain the water leaks have been resolved and Ash Street is safe for traffic. Roger Beach, public works director, said Wednesday afternoon that the street will probably be open by the weekend...

I've been a baseball fan all my life and as many who know me can attest, a bit of a techno-nerd. Well, both of those sides of me got quite a treat Wednesday night. From some 1,800 miles away in Kansas City, 13-year-old Nick LeGrande threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Yankees-Athletics game...

The Southwest Elite baseball team under head coach Jim Rayburn was swept Tuesday, at Champion Diamonds by the Midwest Nationals Blue team. Grant Davis took the loss on the mound in the opener, allowing five runs in 2 1/3 innings of work. Brendon Craig led the Elite offense with two hits and Caleb Kauffman and Tyler Cantrell each had a home run in the 9-7 defeat...