■ Annual Performance Report scores are up at eight of Jefferson County’s 11 public school districts – Festus, Fox, Windsor, Jefferson R-7, Hillsboro, Sunrise, Dunklin and De Soto. Two school districts – Northwest and Grandview – however, have lower scores this year, and scores remain static at the Crystal City School District. For the fourth year in a row, the Festus School District comes out on top, with a score of 98.9 percent. On the other end of the spectrum is the De Soto School District, which again is lowest in the county, with an 84.6 percent APR score. See Kim Robertson’s Page 1 story, complete with charts that detail individual schools’ performances.
■ Some county residents got an unpleasant surprise when they opened their personal property tax bills this year. For the first time, the Jefferson County Assessor’s Office is using vehicles’ VIN numbers (vehicle identification numbers, which are unique to each vehicle) to determine assessments for 2016 personal property taxes, which are due Dec. 31. That means assessments for some vehicles have gone up – unexpectedly. See Steve Taylor’s story.
■ The public is invited to a “Library Renovation Demolition Party” on Friday, Dec. 16, at the Jefferson College Library on the Hillsboro campus, 1000 Viking Drive. The event for the library, slated to receive a renovation costing more than $5 million, is scheduled for noon to 1:30 p.m and will give people the opportunity to swing a sledgehammer at a library wall. See Kevin Carbery’s story.
■ Want to run for local office? It’s election time again. Filings for the April 4 election will open at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13, and will close at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17. Seats will be up open for boards that govern cities, school districts, fire, ambulance, water, sewer and road districts, and for the Jefferson College Board of Trustees. See Kevin Carbery’s story, which identifies whose terms are expiring throughout the county.
■ A new roof was just installed at Rock Township Ambulance District’s House 1 in Arnold, and the parking lot was repaved last month, but one more project at the house is in the works. Mold recently was discovered at House 1, 1800 Lonedell Road, and it needs to be eliminated. See Kim Robertson’s story on what happens next.
■ In this week’s column, Editorial Page editor Patrick Martin urges the Jefferson County Council to join an opioid drug registry that might help prevent overdose deaths.
■ Hillsboro High School edged out Festus to win the JCAA All-Sports Award for last school year. It was WAY close. See Sports editor Russell Korando’s column.
*** Only two Christmas parades left in the season – in House Springs and Hillsboro this Saturday. See the Calendar in your Leader.