Local News – Thursday, December 8th, 2022

The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce and City of Salem “Parade of Lights” float winners have been announced. In the “Commercial” category, the winner was Parsons Chiropractic while the “Non-Commercial” winner was the Dent County Health Center. Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you goes out to all the businesses and organizations who entered floats this year in the parade. In the “Horse” category, Kimberly Stewart was selected the winner by the judges.

Missouri’s Office of Broadband Development (OBD) in collaboration with Meramec Regional Planning Commission will host a virtual video call on the topic of broadband availability on Monday, December 19th at 3:00. Citizens, public officials and other leaders will have an opportunity to hear about how they can help improve recently released maps showing broadband availability specific to the Meramec Region. Newly created Federal Communications Commission (FCC) maps will determine what share of $42.45 billion in federal broadband funding will come to the state of Missouri through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, a component of the infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act. The map will identify what locations in the state qualify for help using those funds. To see the FCC map, visit broadbandmap.fcc.gov. At the meeting, OBD staff will review what the map shows about the region and introduce attendees to the FCC’s challenge process, which allows individuals and institutions to submit corrections to the map. By establishing that a given location does not have the level of service listed on the map, the challenge process can open that location up to future funding opportunities and increase Missouri’s share of BEAD funding. Initial estimates indicate that each additional challenge that successfully identifies a new unserved location could be an additional $5,000 of broadband infrastructure funding to the state. The National Telecommunications Information Agency, the federal agency responsible for the BEAD program, has indicated that all challenges filed by January 13th will be considered in its decision about how much BEAD funding each state receives. Challenges filed after that date are still important in order to ensure that no locations are missed when the time comes to fund projects using the BEAD allocation. OBD is partnering with University of Missouri Extension to provide in-person technical support for anyone interested in filing challenges at their county offices across the state. Residents in Dent County should contact the Dent County Extension office is 729-3196. This event is only one component of extensive technical assistance OBD plans to offer to individuals, local governments, and other groups interested in participating in the challenge process. On Friday, December 16th, at 1:00 in the afternoon, OBD will hold a statewide call for anyone interested in hearing more about how they can participate in the challenge process. The December 19th Webex meeting is specific to the Meramec Region. The Office of Broadband Development will also answer questions about the challenge process over the phone at 526-1028 or by email at broadband@ded.mo.gov. In addition to encouraging individuals to file challenges, OBD staff will review how local institutions can promote participation in the challenge process and to work with local officials to identify data sources that could be used for larger-scale challenges. Beginning in 2023, Missouri will use BEAD funding to launch its Connecting All Missourians initiative, which aims to provide high-quality broadband internet to every home and business in the state. Please contact Linda Carroll at MRPC for the meeting link, by phone at 573-265-2993 or by email at lcarroll@meramecregion.org. MRPC is assisting the OBD with outreach and community engagement in the Meramec Region.

The Missouri Department of Conservation encourages experienced Missouri birders to become citizen scientists by helping with the National Audubon Society’s 123rd Christmas Bird Count, or CBC between December 14th through January 5th, 2023. The CBC is an early-winter bird census where thousands of volunteers across the U.S., Canada, and many countries in the western hemisphere go out over a 24-hour period on one calendar day to count birds. Christmas Bird Counts are held annually to gather data on winter bird populations and to track the long-term status of species and large-scale trends. Each CBC has a coordinator who assigns portions of a 15-mile diameter count circle to participants to count all birds seen and heard over a 24-hour period. Missouri hosts about 20 CBCs, in our area the event will take place at Maramec Spring Park and at Big Spring in Van Buren on Saturday December 17th. For more information, including contacts and instructions, visit mobirds.org. Click on a count and contact the CBC organizer listed if the count is accepting new volunteers.

The City of Salem Airport Board will be meeting this evening at the City Hall Council Chambers at 202 North Washington Street. The meeting, called by Airport Board President Tyler Naramore, will be held to discuss future planning for the airport with Lochner and get updates on a number of projects including the fuel tank, pilot lounge, new hanger project and gate opener. The Airport Board meeting is open to the public.