Community impact: Stories that made a difference in 2022
To borrow a phrase reporter Harrison Keegan used recently, 2022 was in many ways a return toward normal here in Springfield. Kids were back in school — after omicron forced an unplanned extension of winter break in January — we went out to eat and to concerts, even watched big blockbuster movies in theaters again.
Still, there were repeated reminders about how things have changed: Prices shot up, the job market tightened, and employers had to get creative as they competed to attract workers.
Partisan politics proliferated, as culture war issues dominated school board elections and book bans divided parents, students and educators. Neighborhood residents squared off with developers at council hearings, in court and at the polls while Missouri's legislature nearly ground to a halt as Republican state senators waged war on each other (opinions may differ as to whether that inaction was a plus or a minus on the 2022 scorecard).
At the News-Leader, our team of journalists settled into new downtown office space in Hammons Tower — with the occasional return to remote work when COVID reared its head. All part of that new normal.
What didn't change was our commitment to providing our readers and subscribers with professional, accurate and independent reporting — "to give the news impartially, without fear or favor," as pioneering American publisher Adolph Ochs once described it.
In 2022, our reporters pressed for public records, held those in power accountable and celebrated folks doing great things in the Ozarks. We wrote stories to inform and entertain and sought out fresh perspectives to shed light on historically marginalized or overlooked portions of our community.
A sampling of that work is included below, but I'd be remiss not to thank our readers and subscribers for the part they play as both supporters and partners in our work. We rely on you to help us tell the stories of our community, and we welcome your input. I invite you to share your questions, concerns and suggestions with me at 417-836-1170 or abridges@news-leader.com.
More:Five benefits of News-Leader digital subscriptions
Essential election year coverage
Few things are more fundamental to community journalism than providing accurate and insightful coverage of the democratic process, and in 2022 we expanded our partnerships with like-minded local organizations to ensure Springfield voters had the knowledge needed to make informed decisions at the ballot box.
In January, the News-Leader joined a coalition of nonpartisan community groups including the League of Women Voters, Junior League of Springfield, Leadership Springfield and others to organize interviews with the candidates running for school board in April.
The interviews, recorded on Zoom, aired in audio form on partner station KSMU, and in video form online at News-Leader.com and other partner websites.
The coalition continued its work through the year, interviewing candidates in competitive statehouse races and the 7th District U.S. House race ahead of the August primary and November general election. As we moved away from Zoom to in-person interviews, News-Leader photojournalist Nathan Papes coordinated video recording alongside our partners at KSMU.
Watch the videos here:Want to hear directly from candidates for state and federal office? Interviews air starting Oct. 17
As in previous election cycles, we also partnered with the League of Women Voters to print and distribute their voter's guide covering candidates and issues in the general election.
Ahead of the Springfield school board election in April, education reporter Claudette Riley worked to shed light on some of the political groups throwing their weight — and money — behind candidates in what is ostensibly a nonpartisan race. Groups including Back on Track and Truth in Politics supported conservative candidates while funding attack ads against others. Greene County Democrats issued a rare endorsement for two other candidates in the race.
When all was said and done, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce announced it would cease making endorsements in school board races, after going 0-for-2 backing candidates in April.
More:Truth In Politics group eyes April school board election, says 'our work is not done'
Throughout the year, News-Leader politics reporter Galen Bacharier helped readers keep tabs on candidates competing for state and congressional offices.
In 2022, it was often difficult to get candidates in the same room — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who eventually won the U.S. Senate race, was the first major party candidate in 24 years to skip out on debates hosted by the Missouri Press Association — but there was no shortage of political ads and social media sparring that sometimes played loosely with the facts.
Bacharier's reporting on campaign contributions, his comprehensive election guides and analysis helped voters sift through the noise and make informed decisions in an election year that saw a wave of women from the Springfield area running for office (and winning).
More:Women are all over the ballot in Springfield. Will voters send them to the statehouse?
Missouri voters' decision to legalize recreational marijuana was another November development with lasting ramifications — and a source of seemingly endless curiosity among readers.
When will recreational weed be available in stores? (February, most likely). Can you be fired for using marijuana under the new law? (In many cases, yes). Can you make your own edibles at home? (For yourself, sure.) We've answered those questions and more since the November vote, and you can count on continuing coverage of marijuana law and business in 2023 and beyond.
More:Missouri legislators aim to make it harder for citizens to change state law, constitution
Bringing emails, closed-door actions to light held institutions accountable
Missouri's Sunshine Law, which turns 50 this year, provides citizens and journalists a powerful tool for holding local government accountable.
In the wake of the April school board election, education reporter Riley filed a series of Sunshine requests with Springfield Public Schools seeking emails between board members and district officials. What she found was that a group of board members — including Kelly Byrne and Steve Makoski, both newly-elected, and board vice president Maryam Mohammadkhani — were engaging in discussions that potentially skirted the Sunshine Law, which requires most board business to be conducted in public meetings.
The emails, which covered hot-button topics like diversity and equity training and the district's lobbying efforts, provided important context for discussions that played out in public with comparatively little comment or explanation.
More:SPS board member Kelly Byrne tried to oust task force members who voted for opponents, emails show
Following those early stories, the volume of emails between board members dropped.
Other emails Riley obtained shed light on the district's policy of considering book ban requests behind closed doors, a practice that Missouri press attorney Jean Maneke said was "not justifiable" under the Sunshine Law.
Attempts to ban books from school libraries — and public libraries, too — were a lightning rod for controversy across Missouri in 2022, and Springfield wasn't the only district that caught flak for a lack of transparency. Parents in Nixa were up in arms after school administrators made changes to district policy on library books in a way that prevented public comment or scrutiny. The board, which previously had banned or restricted access to a dozen books, reaffirmed the policy changes in a later, public meeting.
More:After banning books in May, Nixa school board made other changes. Parents are crying foul.
Conflict between development, neighborhoods boils over in Galloway, University Heights
Clashes between developers and neighborhood activists were a recurring theme in our coverage of local government in 2022.
Residents in the Galloway neighborhood who for years had opposed construction of apartments across from Sequiota Park won a victory in court in June, when an appeals court overturned an earlier ruling and sent the proposed zoning change to a public vote — but not without first offering sharp criticism of the city's decision to support the developer rather than defend the referendum process outlined in City Charter.
Featured on the November ballot as Question 1, the pro-developer side garnered the endorsements and financial support of business leaders and the Chamber of Commerce (local government reporter Andrew Sullender detailed a debate over the Chamber's influence on city politics in a pair of stories earlier in the year).
Some city leaders argued the pushback could endanger the city's ability to attract future business, but residents voted by a wide margin — more than 70% — in favor of neighborhood preservation.
More:What does voters’ decision on Galloway neighborhood mean for future of Springfield development?
Similar tensions were on display in our coverage of a proposed mixed-use development at the northwest corner of National Avenue and Sunshine Street, within the bounds of the University Heights neighborhood.
Developer Ralph Duda and his partners with Be Kind & Merciful, LLC faced stiff opposition from the start — an early meeting to collect feedback ended abruptly when a resident called Duda's wife a gender-based slur, and a later meeting at the site of a demolished house featured armed guards.
More recently, neighborhood residents filed a lawsuit that seeks to enforce 100-year-old deed restrictions limiting the area to residential use, while Duda has complained publicly and in a letter to City Council that his project has not received fair treatment.
The rezoning case, which could go before the city's Planning & Zoning Commission this month, already has been a catalyst for change, prompting city staff, commissioners and council members to review and revise guidelines for neighborhood meetings to make the process less contentious.
Investigations uncovered new allegations of abuse, confusion after abortion ban
Investigative journalism is near and dear to me as an editor and I'm especially proud of the work that went into two projects last year.
Early in 2022, reporter Gregory Holman and I were contacted by Nancy French, an author and freelance writer who since 2021 has reported and written extensively about abuse at Branson-based Kanakuk Kamps. The News-Leader had covered the criminal proceedings and lawsuits surrounding former camp director Peter D. Newman — accused of molesting dozens or even hundreds of boys, according to the prosecutor — but French had uncovered allegations involving multiple other abusers affiliated with the camp, along with evidence that camp leaders had repeatedly ignored or excused Newman's behavior for years before his arrest.
Months of interviews, research and legal vetting followed as Holman and French followed separate but related leads. As editor of the project, I often worked late into the night reviewing notes and court records and contacting former Kanakuk employees and other sources to fact-check details before we were ready to publish.
Holman's story, published in April, detailed the experiences of two Branson men who were abused by Newman as children. The men joined a growing group of abuse survivors calling for Kanakuk to be more transparent and accountable for past failures.
French's stories published a month later, in May. While Kanakuk has frequently referred to Newman as a lone predator whose crimes were "the first time we've ever dealt with anything like this,” French's reporting identified multiple abusers affiliated with the camp since the 1980s, including several who had been fired or reported to police for their conduct with campers. Through extensive interviews with former Kanakuk employees and campers, she also detailed a permissive camp culture that paved the way for Newman and others to groom children.
Several churches broke ties with Kanakuk in the wake of our reporting, and one former camper who had been abused by Newman filed suit against the camp and leader Joe White, alleging they had concealed information that could have altered an earlier settlement.
More:Survivors, ex-employees say unreported abuse at Kanakuk camps in Branson spans decades
The U.S. Supreme Court's June decision overturning Roe v. Wade marked a turning point for the nation and Missouri, which quickly enacted a "trigger law" banning most abortions in the state. The restrictions immediately raised questions — unanswered by state officials for weeks — about how the law applied to medically-necessary abortions and other cases where a mother's health was at risk.
In early August, Mylissa Farmer of Joplin contacted the News-Leader to share what she had experienced the previous week after being told the baby she was carrying was not viable and needed to be terminated to safeguard her own life. Bounced from one hospital to another across three states "with a baby dying inside me," Farmer eventually found help at a clinic in Illinois, but not before Missouri doctors told her the new law prevented them from intervening unless her vitals plummeted or infection set in.
News-Leader health reporter Susan Szuch spent more than two months verifying Farmer's story through medical records and additional reporting. The story, published in October, sparked debate ahead of the November election and prompted an investigation by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Expanding view of life in the Ozarks
Not all of our work was so heavy. For readers who enjoy the wilder side of life in the Ozarks, outdoors reporter Sara Karnes brought the goods, with stories (and photos) about oddities including a lamprey caught in the Current River and a deer hunter bagging a buck with a rival's horned skull tangled in its rack.
Karnes also went deep with stories explaining (at times controversial) state conservation policies for dealing with feral hogs, along with the reasoning behind changes to Missouri hunting seasons and the state's strategy for controlling chronic wasting disease.
More:Rising deer population leads MDC to add more dates to hunting season in coming year
Our coverage of the region and its diverse residents went beyond the traditional. Greta Cross, who joined the News-Leader in January, spent much of her first year seeking out stories in overlooked corners of the local community.
Cross wrote about a documentary showcasing the untold stories of women who overcame gender discrimination and segregation along Route 66, as well as an online film series created by Missouri State students exploring Black nightlife in a Midwestern college town.
She spent months interviewing current and former Springfield residents about the city's decades-old drag scene, which has gained national attention in recent years as Ozarks-area drag queens have competed on the RuPaul's Drag Race reality television competition.
More:For decades, Springfield drag queens have been in national spotlight for resilience, passion
When City Council discussed potentially revisiting 2014's Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity ordinance — a short-lived nondiscrimination law narrowly repealed by public vote — local politics reporter Sullender spoke with members of the LGBTQ community about the lingering trauma of that episode, and the range of views about whether it was worth fighting again.
Sullender also wrote about an incident in which Billy Long, who as congressman had voted against federal protections for same-sex marriage, walked out of a same-sex wedding shower his family was co-hosting. Noting that the conflict was not unique in the Ozarks, where families and friends may hold widely diverging views on sexuality and same-sex relationships, Sullender's story included advice from both an LGBTQ advocate and a more conservative Springfield preacher about how families can better navigate religious and moral disagreements.
Highlighting good deeds and helping neighbors
Some of our most rewarding stories showcased the good work done by others in the Ozarks and community efforts to lift up and support folks struggling with unexpected and long-term challenges.
Riley, our education reporter, continued her occasional series Future of the Ozarks, profiling students in southwest Missouri doing big things at a young age.
More:Future of the Ozarks: Richard Ryder, homeless in high school, sees teaching as his calling
We also completed the seventh season of our Captain Springfield competition, a light-hearted but fiercely-contested annual competition to select the city's biggest champion from a field of community nominees.
Other efforts blended tragedy with the joy of seeing needs fulfilled.
Breaking the news that long-time Missouri State athletics broadcaster Art Hains had been hospitalized was the sort of news we never wish to share. But the tribute penned by sports reporter Wyatt Wheeler, who co-hosts a radio show with Hains, honestly and emotionally captured the bonds formed between colleagues, friends and fans.
The community response was equally powerful. As Hains continues his recovery, a GoFundMe campaign created to help with medical expenses has raised more than $105,000.
More:Wheeler: As Art Hains lies in a hospital bed, we should all strive to be a little more like him
News-Leader readers also demonstrated their generosity as we conducted our Share Your Christmas fundraiser in partnership with Crosslines.
From Thanksgiving to mid-December, we profiled local families and care center residents in need of additional support during the holidays. Despite heartbreaking challenges and loss, their requests by-and-large were simple — a few toys for their children, warm clothing, perhaps something sweet to eat and a reminder that someone in their community was thinking of them.
As they have for the past 58 years, our readers donated money and gifts needed to fill those requests, providing gifts and additional household items for more than 30 Springfield families and some 80 care center residents.
More:Share Your Christmas: Distributing gifts 'probably the best day of the project'
To cap things off, I'll highlight a story that started and ended 2022 for us.
Jan. 15, reporter Sullender wrote about the arrival in Springfield of Afghan translator Romal Noori and his family. Noori, who had worked with the American military for almost a decade, was forced to flee his country when the U.S. withdrew and the Taliban took control.
Army veteran Tommy Breedlove, of Ozark, worked with Noori and others to help dozens of U.S. allies and their families escape to safety. Finally, in January, it was the Noori family's turn.
More:Afghan family makes new life in the Missouri Ozarks with help of one U.S. veteran
In a follow-up story published in our Christmas Day paper, Sullender wrote about the family's experiences and hopes after almost a year in southwest Missouri.
Breedlove shared about how difficult it had been to try to help others, with limited success. Noori, meanwhile, focused on his children.
"I hope someday my children became helpful for the community, for the people around them, for the neighbors, for the needy pupils. This is my wish for them, and I'd like to see them with such a great opportunity to help others like people keep helping us," Noori told the News-Leader when asked for his dream of the future.
Let us all look for ways to do that in the new year.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Community impact: News-Leader stories that made a difference in 2022
