This story courtest of Parket Padgett and Ben Gilbert of OzarksFirst.com-
A groundbreaking ceremony was held this morning to mark the beginning of construction on a new government plaza in Ozark.
The groundbreaking ceremony will mark the first step in developing a 39.36-acre parcel purchased by Christian County in January 2020 by expanding water and sewer infrastructure throughout the site.
Phase One of the project will include the construction of buildings for the County’s operational staff, its recycling center and maintenance and storage. The project also includes the development of a half-mile walking trail.
Additionally, one of the stormwater detention basins has been designed to serve as a small outdoor performance venue. The municipal campus will occupy roughly half of the 39.36-acre property with the remaining areas having road frontage being reserved for commercial development.
“The Historic Courthouse on the Ozark Square is a symbol of our heritage and has served this county well for a very long time and I believe it will continue to do so,” said Eastern Commissioner Bradley Jackson. “With that said, trying to meet all the needs of our continually growing population within the downtown square is no longer realistic and presents ever-growing access and parking problems for the businesses nearby. My hope is that over time this transition will support vitality here on the square while also expanding economic development opportunities near the future campus.”
Christian County has been one of Missouri’s fastest-growing counties for many years, increasing in population from 32,644 in 1990 to an estimated population of 93,114 in 2022, according to the press release.
This story courtesy of Bethany French of OzarksFirst.com-
The Willard Board of Alderman held a special meeting tonight to discuss the hiring and firing of interim city administrator Donna Stewart.
The present aldermen voted unanimously to reinstate Stewart as the interim city administrator. In a separate vote, the board also voted unanimously to censure Mayor Samuel Snider.
Tensions were high as the board of alderman discussed the hiring and firing of interim city administrator Donna Stewart.
City Attorney Ken Reynolds said in his legal opinion the mayor pro-tem acts on behalf of the mayor in his absence.
“He [the mayor] has a right to fire her,” said Reynolds. “But it’s subject to your [The Board of Alderman] approval.”
The mayor said the hiring of Donna Stewart was *illegal because The Boar of Alderman appointed Stewart for hire, but the mayor pro-tem approved the hire. Mayor Snider fired Stewart when he returned from a city business trip.
Thursday night a vote overturned that firing and reinstated Stewart as interim city administrator.
“I think it’s the aldermen are against the mayor right now,” said Dwight Dodson a citizen of Willard. “And I don’t think there are too many citizens that are for the mayor too, so we’ll see where it goes from here.”
The board also voted to censure Mayor Snider, which has no legal ramifications but officially brings his actions to public attention.
Both the Willard Board of Aldermen and the Mayor were not available for comment.
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
This week, Drake and SZA join forces for slime time, Doja Cat gifts us one more preview of Scarlet, and Demi Lovato lets those guitar solos squeal. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Drake feat. SZA, “Slime You Out”
“I’ma fall back and let SZA talk her s–t for a minute.” That’s how Drake concludes his opening verse on “Slime You Out,” a new high-wattage collaboration from his imminent new album For All The Dogs, and indeed, he’s made a wise decision ceding the floor: this atmospheric evisceration of fake lovers is dominated by SZA, who’s become one of the biggest names in music in the months since Drake’s last project, and sounds wholly engaged while crooning through a brush-off here. It helps that “Slime You Out” exists within the woozy, brutally honest R&B lane that SZA perfected on SOS, and instead of trying to compete with his co-star, Drake fires off a few capable similes before and after she highlights the track.
Doja Cat, “Balut”
When Doja Cat showcased her Scarlet singles (“Attention,” “Paint the Town Red” and “Demons”) during a show-stopping medley at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards earlier this week, not only did anticipation for her Planet Her follow-up continue to heighten, but the performance also demonstrated to those who hadn’t been paying attention: Doja is one of the most exciting rappers alive. “Balut,” a more contemplative track from the imminent album, glides where her other recent songs slam on the gas, but her flow remains just as hypnotic — “Is it coke, is it crack, is it meth / What the f–k do she put in them hits?” she asks, her voice fluttering through every syllable with casual swagger.
Demi Lovato, Revamped
Although Demi Lovato recruited some of rock music’s heavy hitters — Slash, The Used’s Bert McCracken and The Maine, among others — for a headbanging re-imagining of her pop hits, Revamped is led by Lovato’s own technical wizardry, as their vocal power is refracted through a different prism but sounds no less potent in the process. Songs like “Heart Attack,” “Cool for the Summer” and “Neon Lights” sound revitalized behind stinging guitar solos, while Lovato, whose underrated 2022 album Holy Fvck hinted at a rock makeover, giddily completes the transformation here.
Rod Wave, Nostalgia
Nostalgia is Rod Wave’s fifth album in five years, and could potentially become his third straight Billboard 200 chart-topper — the Florida native has impressively expanded his fan base (an arena headlining tour kicks off next month) while remaining prolific with his heartfelt, ultra-melodic hip-hop. The follow-up to last year’s Beautiful Mind looks back on his journey (naturally, considering the album title) while also folding some unexpected voices into his emotive aesthetic, including indie-pop collective Wet and rising singer-songwriter Sadie Jean.
Diddy, The Love Album: Off the Grid
Although the track list to Diddy’s long-awaited new project The Love Album: Off the Grid posits the hip-hop dynamo as something of a master of ceremonies — guests include Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Summer Walker, 21 Savage, Herb Alpert, The-Dream and Swat Lee, and that’s just on the first half of the full-length — the man himself is far more than just a curator, as present within the futuristic R&B ideas of the album as he was on Diddy-Dirty Money’s landmark LP Last Train To Paris. In fact, the back half of the project, featuring stars ranging from Teyana Taylor to Coco Jones to Jeremih, illustrates just how adept Diddy remains at bridging gaps between a new generation of stars and his own.
Thirty Seconds To Mars, It’s The End of the World but It’s A Beautiful Day
“Stuck” and “Seasons,” the two hits that preceded Thirty Seconds to Mars’ sixth studio album It’s The End of the World but It’s A Beautiful Day, suggested a tightening of the veteran rockers’ long-running aesthetic, which has sprawled out in the past but was sanded down to compact hooks and concise sentiments on those singles. Indeed, Jared and Shannon Leto’s latest effectively simplifies the band’s appeal for its strongest work in years: songs like “World on Fire” and “Midnight Prayer” boast intricate electro-rock foundations without ever getting lost in the details, and over 33 minutes, the band explores themes of heartbreak, isolation and personal evolution with brisk confidence.
Editor’s Pick: Mitski, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
Whether or not you’re invested in the context of Mitski’s latest release — following last year’s widescreen triumph (yet critically polarizing) Laurel Hell, as well as a greater profile, label contract negotiations and retirement thoughts — The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We is all-out gorgeous, a studio masterclass that’s grounded in some of the most arresting arrangements of the singer-songwriter’s career. Mitski’s incisive lyricism will always be a calling card, but these 11 lush, organic songs are worth getting lost in before her words help guide the listener back home.
Having sprouted on Billboard’s charts in winter, Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” stood tall throughout spring and summer, and now ties a pair of records just before fall on the Adult Contemporary survey.
The single adds a 24th week at No. 1 on Adult Contemporary (dated Sept. 23), equaling the longest command for a song by a woman, first set by Adele’s “Easy on Me” in 2021-22.
Meanwhile, with both hits on Columbia Records, they now share the mark for the longest Adult Contemporary reign for a song released by the label over the chart’s history.
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Most Weeks at No. 1 on Adult Contemporary Chart:
36, “Girls Like You,” Maroon 5, beginning Nov. 10, 2018
21, “A New Day Has Come,” Celine Dion, March 30, 2002
20, “Memories,” Maroon 5, March 21, 2020
20, “Just the Way You Are,” Bruno Mars, Feb. 5, 2011
The Adult Contemporary chart ranks titles by weekly plays on a panel of 85 adult contemporary radio stations. The tally began in Billboard‘s pages (as the “Easy Listening” chart) on July 17, 1961; once Luminate data began powering the chart exactly 32 years later (July 17, 1993; airplay is now provided to Luminate by Mediabase), lengthy reigns became much more common than before.
“Flowers” previously topped the mainstream top 40-based Pop Airplay chart for 10 weeks and the adult top 40-focused Adult Pop Airplay ranking for 17 frames – the most atop the latter list among songs by women.
“Flowers” launched at No. 1 on the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100 in January and ruled for eight weeks. It’s from Cyrus’ album Endless Summer Vacation, which debuted at its No. 3 best on the Billboard 200 albums chart in March, marking her 14th top 10.
All charts dated Sept. 23 will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Sept. 19.
Halsey surprised fans on Friday (Sept. 15) when they revealed that they are hard at work on their fifth album, the first record under a new contract with Columbia Records.
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“not pictured: me splitting myself in two everyday so that I can give you my deepest wounds (and a handful of perfect joys) for the 5th time in 10 years,” the singer wrote alongside a picture in which they are standing in front of a painting in a long black skirt and black crop top.
At press time Halsey didn’t provide any additional information on the album’s release date or track list and the accompanying pic post mostly featured what appeared to be scenes from the 28-year-old “So Good” star’s private life.
The snaps included a picture of a spider in a web, a group of young men with their skateboards on the roof of a building, a dish of pasta, footage from an unnamed concert, a snap of someone packaging dried flowers, a few selfies, a short video of Halsey laying on a couch and laughing while watching The Last Airbender animated film (like the other videos, it had no sound) and a picture of an elaborate LEGO house.
Halsey signed a new recording contract with Columbia Records in June after parting ways with their longtime label home Capitol Records after eight years. They released their first four albums on Capitol, dating to their 2015 debut, Badlands, on its Astralwerks imprint. Capitol also released 2017’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, as well as 2020’s Manic and 2021’s collaboration with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.
The break with Capitol came a year after Halsey appeared to call the label out for not releasing their single, “So Good,” until, “they can fake a viral moment on TikTok.” In May, Halsey wrote on Tumblr that they were “hard at work” on new music.
Halsey re-worked her If I Can’t Have Love song “Lilith (Diablo IV Anthem)” with BTS‘ Suga as part of the latest installment of Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo IV video game in June. At the time, she told Billboard, “Collaborating with Suga on a project that revolves around our mutual admiration for dark mythology has been a longstanding dream of mine. ‘SUGA’s Interlude,’ our previous collaboration, while introspective, is pretty whimsical in tone. Together, we were able to infuse the anthem with intricate narratives that encompass a wider range of emotions I wouldn’t have been able to tell without him. He added a whole new perspective to the song. Plus, it was just honestly really cool to do something so badass with my friend.”
Drake and SZA joined forces on “Slime You Out,” which was released midday Friday (Sept. 15) as the first single from Drizzy’s upcoming album For All the Dogs.
The five-minute song is a slugfest fueled by disappointment and lies. Drake leads the way on the R&B-centric tune by expressing his frustrations about spending an exorbitant amount of money on women. Clever lines such as “sending wires on wires on wires like Idris” are aplenty. At the same time, SZA delivers counterjabs about her beau’s fraudulent behavior, including one colossal haymaker: “Tripping when that d–k is barely third place.”
The superstar rapper first announced the single at the Austin stop of his It’s All a Blur Tour with 21 Savage. “I’m even going to say something tonight in Austin, Texas, I haven’t said yet,” he shared at Moody Center. “I know y’all excited to hear the album. I know it’s, like, two weeks out. I’m a drop a song for y’all this week. Yeah, yeah. What a time, what a time. I appreciate y’all. Deeply, by the way, I do. It’s a lot of love in Texas.”
The green slime-covered cover art for “Slime You Out” originates from Halle Berry getting slimed at the 2012 Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards.
Although “Slime You Out” marks Drake and SZA’s first official collaboration, the two have nodded to each other multiple times throughout their musical releases. SZA’s 2016 “2AM” track — which was officially released last June as part of CTRL‘s deluxe edition to commemorate her critically acclaimed debut studio album’s five-year anniversary — refers to PartyNextDoor and Drake’s “Come and See Me” from the former’s 2016 album PartyNextDoor. On Drake’s “Diplomatic Immunity” track from the 2018 Scary Hours two-pack, he raps, “I just pulled up on Solána show, the girl’s a natural/ I knew her way back when Hollywood was international.”
On “Mr. Right Now” from 21 Savage and Metro Boomin‘s 2020 joint project Savage Mode II, he raps “Yeah, said she wanna f–k to some SZA, wait/ ‘Cause I used to date SZA back in ’08” in his guest verse. (She later confirmed on Twitter — now X — that the pair dated in ’09, but “in this case a year of poetic rap license mattered.”) And most recently, SZA’s guest verse on the Future-assisted “Telekinesis” from Travis Scott‘s 2023 Utopia album seems to directly respond to Drake’s third verse on “Marvins Room” from his 2011 sophomore album Take Care.
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For All the Dogs will be released next Friday, Sept. 22, via OVO Sound and Republic Records. He announced the highly anticipated album’s release date by posting an archival video on Instagram of his father, Dennis Graham, from the early ’90s, singing alongside a blues band on the local Toronto TV show Stormy Monday With Danny Marks.
For All The Dogs marks the 6 God’s eighth studio album and his first solo album since his dance-heavy Honestly, Nevermind project that he released in June 2022. Five months later, he teamed up with 21 Savage on their joint LP, Her Loss. Both releases debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Two of Billboard’s newly crowned R&B/Hip-Hop Hall of Fame recipients joined forces on Friday morning (Sept. 15), when Nas enlisted Lil Wayne for his Magic 3 standout track “Never Die.”
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The Hit-Boy-produced song comes shortly after Nas’ 50th birthday, as the venerable MCs ruminate about their longevity in the rap game. “We ain’t gon’ never die, I’m an icon in real-time,” declares Nas on the triumphant hook. Esco also gave a nod to his partner-in-rhyme during his verse, saying, “The brand new Brand Nubians, N-A-S and Wayne.”
Weezy closed things off with a smoldering verse littered with sports metaphors as he name-drops Deion Sanders and Zion Williamson. He also salutes Nas during his lyrical barrage, rhyming, “Weezy and my slime Nas, ain’t nobody like us.”
For Nas and Wayne, “Never Die” marks their first collaboration in 12 years. They last sparred together on Weezy’s Tha Carter IV song “Outro” before pairing up on Nas and Damien Marley’s 2010 Distant Relative track “My Generation.”
Last month, Nas and Lil Wayne were honored at Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players event after being inducted into the Hall of Fame Class of 2023 for their cultural contributions in honor of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
“To see that we’re here and [hip-hop is] thriving [is incredible],” said Nas in his cover story with Billboard in August. “The art form is crazy right now. That’s a beautiful thing, and for younger artists that are just 20 years old to realize the history that is there and was laid down for them, to look at it and go, “Wow, this is a long history with deep roots,” is a great feeling.”
Kim Tae-hyung, better known to ARMY as V, is never far from the spotlight.
With the release of his six-track collection Layover, the BTS star is very much the main man right now.
V marked the occasion by performing one of the first concerts for Tiny Desk Korea, a new series based on the popular NPR spot.
Filmed in Seoul, South Korea last month, with a newly assembled production crew and eight-member session band – many of whom flew from the U.S. for the recording – V unleashed three slinky Layover cuts.
V kicks things off with “Love Me Again,” takes us for a spin of “Slow Dancing,” and ends matters with “For Us.”
“These songs evoke a sense of fleeting tranquility, as if they effortlessly pass by and offer a soothing pause,” he remarks in his native tongue.
The 11-minute performance video is part of the newly launched international version of Tiny Desk, a joint venture between NPR and LG U+, the Korean telecommunications and media company. The first few episodes, including performances by the Kim Chang Wan Band, Sunwoo Jung-A and the Yoon Suk Cheol Trio, are available on the Tiny Desk Korea YouTube channel, with new content dropping each Thursday.
Layover, meanwhile, has been warmly received since its Sept. 8 release. Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Sept. 8) on Billboard, choosing the new solo collection as their favorite music release of the past week – with 96% of the vote.
The K-pop star’s six-track album, which also includes “Rainy Days,” “Blue,” and a piano version of “Slow Dancing,” is eying a top 10 debut in the U.K., where it entered the midweek chart at No. 5.
V is no stranger to the Tiny Desk format. With his BTS bandmates, he performed on the flagship segment back in 2020, and again in 2022.
Watch the latest Tiny Desk below.
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