Text from our SGF Sunday email newsletter, written by Reporter Rance Burger

Springfield’s Discovery Center is an interactive science museum that reinvented itself as a positive force in education at the apex of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was in one of our most-read news stories of the week for some corrective action with the Internal Revenue Service regarding the center’s tax-exempt status. Reporter Jack McGee got an explanation from director Rob Blevins, who said, “it all should be corrected soon.”

The clearing of perhaps Springfield’s largest and most sophisticated homeless encampment tears the scab off of a hot button debate topic in Springfield. Columnist Steve Pokin explores what happens when an encampment is discovered, why Springfield police and Greene County sheriff's deputies are working off of two different sets of rules of engagement.

As Springfield voters prepare for board of education elections April 4, the Daily Citizen gave each of the four candidates vying for two positions the chance to address voters In Their Own Words. Before you mark your ballot, meet each candidate:

Nikki Petitt’s influence dots landscapes all over Springfield, and that’s why Mike O’Brien features her story this week in Lives Remembered. Petitt never stopped learning about plants and horticulture, and then she shared her vast knowledge with Springfieldians to grow gardens of all types. She shared her brilliance, kindness and patience along the way.

Coach Barry Hinson once told his former player Drew Richards, “You probably want to stay in insurance.” Richards apparently didn’t listen, and pursued a career in coaching basketball anyway. The former basketball standout at Missouri State, and before that Logan-Rogersville High School, is now in the NCAA Division-II ranks at University of North Carolina-Pembroke. Lyndal Scranton got Richards to open up about the lengths it took to go this far.

IN-DEPTH

Springfield's largest homeless camp cleared; city gives campers 3 days to vacate

Officers with the Springfield Police Department cleared a large long-time homeless encampment in northeast Springfield this week, giving residents three days to collect belongings and […]

MOST READ THIS WEEK

Hiking guide: Two Rivers Bike Park is a local hidden gem

When you need some nature therapy, but don’t have all day, head to Two Rivers Bike Park, just 30 minutes from Springfield.

Springfield’s Discovery Center has nonprofit status revoked, exec attributes it to IRS ‘clerical errors'

The Discovery Center of Springfield, the interactive science museum downtown, had its tax-exempt status automatically revoked by the IRS on Dec. 15, 2021, even though […]

STEVE POKIN

Pokin Around: City proved this week homeless camps can be cleared compassionately

I’m not here to tell a heart-warming tale. I’m here to point out what has […]

Pokin Around: You can be skeptical of claim of regrown toes without being un-Christian

A Joplin woman says toes that were amputated years earlier miraculously regrew during a healing […]

SPORTS

Coaching never crossed Drew Richards' mind as a player at Missouri State. Now he's a rising star in the D-II ranks

For a guy who went through college with no desire to coach, Drew Richards now cannot imagine life without it.

VOICES

Opinion: For Women's History Month, let's lift up, not tear down

OPINION | This month reminds me of how I grew up in the 70s while being raised by my dad. I heard talks about women’s […]

LIVES REMEMBERED

Nikki Petitt: ‘Her love of the natural world was shown throughout her daily life’

The arrival of spring often brings thoughts of planting and tending flowers, trees and other landscaping. And for many in and around Springfield, it reminds […]

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