// a href = ./ //

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - Three former Joplin residents faces federal charges accusing them of diverting relief funds after the 2011 tornado.

The U.S. Attorney's office for western Missouri said in a release Monday that 31-year-old Herlana Latham and 36-year-old Christopher L. Smith, both of Memphis, Tenn., and 30-year-old John L. Williams, of Cairo, Ill., are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.

Prosecutors say Latham was employed by a Joplin non-profit that distributed funds to landlords who rented to clients displaced by the May 2011 tornado. Prosecutors say Latham submitted fake applications for rental payments to Smith and Williams.

The indictment cites five specific checks, ranging from $1,050 to $2,000.

Online court records don't list lawyers Latham and Williams. Smith's lawyer didn't immediately return a phone message

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) - St. Louis-based Express Scripts says it will build a new patient-service call center in Joplin, creating 100 new jobs.

Gov. Jay Nixon announced Thursday that Express Scripts' new patient-service center will mean a $960,000 investment in Joplin's economy.

Express Scripts is a pharmacy benefits company that manages more than a billion prescriptions each year for millions of patients in the U.S.

The state of Missouri provided economic incentives to Express Scripts as part of its expansion in Joplin.

 

Tornado survivors in Joplin, Missouri are reaching out to help the victims of yesterday's devastating Oklahoma storm.  

Officials in the southwest Missouri city have brought together a team of public safety employees that they are sending to the tornado-stricken town of Moore, Oklahoma.

More than 150 people died when Joplin was devastated two years ago by the most deadly tornado in U.S. history.

A team of about a dozen Joplin area police and firefighters have been assembled to assist in Moore.

Meantime, more severe weather is in the forecast for parts of the central United States already reeling from powerful tornadoes this week.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., says golf ball-sized hail, powerful winds and isolated, strong tornadoes could strike areas of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma on Tuesday. The area at risk does not include Moore, Okla., where dozens of people were killed in a monstrous tornado Monday.

Forecasters say the greatest risk for severe weather Tuesday includes the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The National Weather Service is predicting flash flooding in parts of Arkansas and Louisiana as the storm system dumps several inches of rain in a short time frame Tuesday afternoon.

In Moore, where search and rescue operations continue, showers and thunderstorms are expected Tuesday with heavy rainfall.

   

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) - A Joplin man will face trial for first-degree murder after waiving a preliminary hearing in the killing of his estranged wife.

Thirty-five-year-old Rondias Webb waived the hearing Wednesday in Jasper County Circuit Court. He is charged in the Nov. 17 shooting death of 36-year-old Monica Webb.

Prosecutors say Monica Webb was shot inside the home where she had moved to get away from her husband. Police say Rondias Webb shot himself after shooting his wife.

The Joplin Globe reports Monica Webb had obtained a protection order against her husband in September after he was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault at an apartment they had shared. Two weeks before her shooting, Webb reported that her husband had violated the protection order.