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Good weather for winter ribbon-cuttings later this week in Joplin

This will be a week that many will remember in Joplin and greater southwest Missouri. Ribbon-cutting ceremonies will occur on

Friday at a new county courthouse and elementary school. KRPS's Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

This week's mild temperatures and partly cloudy skies will be great conditions for the two ribbon cuttings taking place about 1.6

miles from each other this Friday morning. The first, at Dover Hill Elementary in Joplin,will take place around 10 am.

Groundbreaking for the 67,000-square-foot project took place in April of 2021. Once complete, students from West Central and

Columbia Elementary schools will attend Dover Hill. The facility was constructed on a nearly 18-acre parcel of land donated to

Joplin Schools by the city.

Meanwhile, the ribbon cutting and open house for the new Jasper County Courthousewill also take place Friday between 10 am

and noon. The new 80,000-square-foot structure cost 30 million dollars to construct and replaces the significantly smaller

courthouse built in 1975. The project broke ground in October 2020. Both ribbon cuttings on Friday are open to the public. For 89 9 KRPS, I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro

Since 2017 Fred Fletcher-Fierro has driven up Highway 171 through thunderstorms, downpours, snow, and ice storms to host KRPS’s Morning Edition. He’s also a daily reporter for the station, covering city government, elections, public safety, arts, entertainment, culture, sports and more. Fred has also spearheaded and overseen a sea change in programming for KRPS from a legacy classical station to one that airs a balance of classical, news, jazz, and cultural programming that better reflects the diverse audience of the Four States. For over two months in the fall of 2022 he worked remotely with NPR staff to relaunch krps.org to an NPR style news and information website.