News – Monday, August 3rd, 2026

In the July 30th edition of Your World Today, there was a reported accident that occurred on July 28th involving two juveniles in a 2011 Ford Focus at 13900 Highway E. We need to issue a correction to this story: the 16 year old female juvenile that was driving is from Vienna, Missouri. The 16 year old female juvenile passenger is from Rolla, Missouri. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

An accident occurred around 10:35 in Dent County on Friday evening on Hwy. 32 about 500 feet west of County Road 2405. According to the highway patrol report, a 2004 Ford F150 driven by a 59-year-old male from Salem was travelling westbound and struck a 46-year-old male pedestrian from Cook Station walking in the roadway. The pedestrian suffered serious injuries and was flown by Mercy Life Line to Mercy Hospital in Springfield. The Ford sustained minor damage and was driven from the scene.

An accident occurred Friday evening around 6:30 in Phelps County on Hwy. 68 near County Road 4470. According to the highway patrol report, a 2013 Dodge Dart driven by a 30-year-old female from Salem was travelling southbound and hydroplaned off the right side of the roadway and struck a fence and overturned. The female suffered moderate injuries and was transported to Phelps Health. The report goes on to state she was wearing a safety restraint at the time of the accident. The Dodge was totaled and removed from the scene by Whitaker’s Towing.

An accident occurred Saturday afternoon around 12:18 in Phelps County at 16226 Hwy O. According to the highway patrol report, a 2002 Ford Explorer driven by a 34-year-old female from St. James was travelling northbound and traveled off the right side of the roadway and struck a tree. The driver suffered moderate injuries and was transported to Phelps Heath by Phelps Health EMS. The report states she was wearing a safety restraint at the time of the accident. The Ford sustained extensive damage and was towed by Tunes Towing.

According to a post on the City of Salem Facebook page, there have been reports of businesses and entities receiving emails with Secure Documents and a potential title of, “Annual Special Report – City of Salem 2026” allegedly sent on behalf of the mayor. This IS NOT communication from the City of Salem. The city strongly urges residents to not click any links in such an email. This email does not originate from an actual city email address. For more information, you can contact the city administration office at (573) 729-4811.

The Dent County Commission has cancelled its meeting for this morning at the courthouse, as commissioners have been invited to attend Congressman Jason Smith’s annual farm tour. The next County Commission will be 9:00 in the morning Thursday and will be open to the public.

The Missouri’s 2026 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday begins on August 7th at 12:01 in the morning and continues through Sunday, August 9th until midnight. Certain back-to-school purchases, such as clothing, school supplies, computers, and other items as defined by statute, are exempt from all state and local sales or use taxes for this time period only. The sales tax exemption is limited to clothing with any article having a taxable value of $100 or less; school supplies that do not exceed $50 per purchase; computer software with a taxable value of $350 or less; personal computers that do not exceed $1,500; computer peripheral devices that do not to exceed $1,500; and graphing calculators that do not exceed $150. In the “clothing” category, this includes any article of wearing apparel intended to be worn on or about the human body including, but not limited to, disposable diapers for infants or adults and footwear. The term shall include but not be limited to, cloth and other material used to make school uniforms or other school clothing. Items normally sold in pairs shall not be separated to qualify for the exemption. The term shall not include watches, watchbands, jewelry, handbags, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, scarves, ties, headbands, or belt buckles. In the “personal computers” category, this would include laptop, desktop, or tower computer systems which consists of a central processing unit, random access memory, a storage drive, a display monitor, a keyboard, and devices designed for use in conjunction with a personal computer, such as a disk drive, memory module, compact disk drive, daughterboard, digitalizer, microphone, modem, motherboard, mouse, multimedia speaker, printer, scanner, single-user hardware, single-user operating system, soundcard, or video card. In the “school supplies” category, this would include items normally used by students in a standard classroom for educational purposes, including but not limited to, textbooks, notebooks, paper, writing instruments, crayons, art supplies, rulers, book bags, backpacks, handheld calculators, graphing calculators, chalk, maps, and globes. The term shall not include watches, radios, CD players, headphones, sporting equipment, portable or desktop telephones, copiers or other office equipment, furniture, or fixtures. School supplies shall also include graphing calculators valued at $150 or less and computer software having a taxable value of $350 or less.

Healthy Dent County and Titan Paving & Yard Drainage invites the community to an unforgettable evening of music, laughter, and audience participation at its Dueling Pianos Fundraiser this Friday at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. The event will feature The Flying Ivories, an exciting dueling-piano act that combines live music, comedy, sing-alongs, and audience requests. Gather your friends and prepare for a lively evening. Line Dancing and Karaoke will also be part of this fun evening. Doors are to open at 5:30 in the evening and the show will be from 6:30 to 9:30 in the evening. A VIP table for six is $250, and individual tickets are $25. Tickets can be purchased online or in person at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. There will be concessions and a cash bar at the event. For more information about The Flying Ivories, visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/flyingivories. For event questions, call 573-729-8163 or email Jackie@SalemCommunityCenter.org.