Moving out of the nest

Jill Melton has to be drug away by her husband, Don, after moving their son, Braxton, into his apartment at Missouri State University. The Meltons aren’t empty nesters yet, because their daughter, Riley, has two more years of high school. Braxton’s roommate, and lifelong friend, Logan Osterman, took the gag photo.

NEIGHBORHOOD

End of Summer Bash Friday night

After-hours shopping, two concerts and a beer garden are the highlights of Friday night’s End of Summer Bash in downtown Webb City.

Broadway will be barricaded at 3 p.m. for the celebration. 

Local 2001 of the International Association of Fire Fighters will operate the beer garden on Broadway from 4 to 10 p.m.

Downtown shops will stay open until 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Left of Center band will be on stage at 6 p.m., followed by Mayday By Midnight at 8 p.m.

Downtown will be busy again Saturday night with the monthly Cruise Night.

Two more in Joplin die of COVID, hospitalizations at 82

The delta variant of the coronavirus continues to threaten the region’s health, with rumors of even vaccinated people testing as positive.

The Joplin Health Department reported Tuesday that two more Joplin residents have died of the disease. They were both men, ages 60 and 87.

Those deaths bring Joplin’s total number of COVID-19 deaths to 155. At last check, there were 82 coronavirus patients in local hospitals.

Anyone age 12 and above can be vaccinated. For information about how to get a vaccine and a chance to win $10,000 in the statewide drawing, go to the Stronger Together website.

More than 100 local doctors ask school boards to make masks mandatory

Area school districts, including the Webb City R-7 School District, were sent letters Monday signed by more than 100 physicians imploring the boards and superintendents to require universal mask wearing, especially for the sake of children too young to be vaccinated.

Here is the seven-page letter, which ends with the list of doctors and links to references: