News – Monday, June 23rd 2025
A former church youth ministry volunteer from Rolla was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. U.S. District Judge John A. Ross also ordered 52-year-old Bradley Thomas Colvin to pay $84,000 to 28 identified victims. According to court documents, Colvin searched for, viewed and downloaded child sexual abuse material for years. He also distributed the material via a peer-to-peer file sharing program to a Missouri State Highway Patrol officer conducting an investigation. Following a court-approved search of Colvin’s home, he admitted during a polygraph examination to having touched a minor for sexual gratification years earlier at a pool party celebrating the end of Vacation Bible School. Investigators found at least 833 videos and 5,566 images containing child sexual abuse material on Colvin’s computers and electronic devices. Colvin pleaded guilty in March in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography. He will be on supervised release for life after his prison term. The Missouri State Highway Patrol and Missouri State Technical Assistance Team investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case. The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The program marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet and to identify and rescue victims.
The Missouri Public Service Commission suggests a number of steps consumers can take in the kitchen and laundry areas to help with cooling the home, while saving electricity. Vacuum the coils of your refrigerator and check for frost buildup in refrigerators and freezers, which causes an appliance to work harder. Try to wash full loads in the dishwasher, and use the short cycle when possible. Consider washing clothes in cold water with a cold-water detergent. Use your microwave, toaster oven, slow cooker, broiler oven or other energy-saving appliances for cooking food. Turn down the temperature on your water heater. Just a few degrees can contribute to savings. Cover pans when cooking on a stove top and use exhaust fans periodically, as required, to reduce indoor humidity. Avoid using extension cords with appliances as they can reduce the efficiency of the appliance, plus there will be some energy loss in the cord.
According to the Missouri Net a summer meal program is underway for Missouri children. Tanya Harvey of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services says there are 950 meal sites throughout the state. Those sites in Salem include Salem Senior Center from 11:30 to 12:30 and William Lynch Elementary from 11:00 until 12:00. Meals are also available at Bunker R-III from 12:00 until 1:00. Harvey said that last year, they served more than four million meals to children in the USDA-backed program. Children up to age 18 can get a meal. The sites are located in areas where 50-percent of the children qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school, which means all children in that area can get a free meal if they want one. Children do not have to prove eligibility to obtain a meal. The USDA requires each meal include a milk, a grain, a meat or meat alternative, a fruit and a vegetable.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol would like to remind the public that driver examination stations throughout the state will be closed on Friday, July 4, 2025, in observance of Independence Day. Normal operations will resume on Monday. Follow the Missouri State Highway Patrol on X @MSHPTrooperGHQ