December 2025

Some weeks move in a blur of responsibilities, long days and quiet pressure. You handle the things that must be done and keep going because that is what life expects from most of us. Work does not slow down when you need it to. Families do not pause their needs.

The Excelsior Standard, Dec. 5, 2025 Stan Falconer, 59, of Excelsior Springs passed away Nov.

LATHROP – Analese Happy gave herself an extra reason to feel grateful shortly before Thanksgiving. Wrestling Nov.

The Little Red Truck donation boxes returned to storefronts in Richmond and Excelsior Springs last month as residents filled them with food for families preparing for Thanksgiving.

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Allegations of child sexual abuse against a church youth pastor took a significant turn after his bond request was denied. Excelsior Springs resident Donald Aaron Axtell, 37, is charged with two felonies, including second-degree statutory rape and possession of child pornography.

When a tractor-trailer collided with a police patrol vehicle on Missouri 210 Highway in October, the impact left Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) Corporal Zach Thomas unconscious and trapped behind the wheel as motorists began pulling over.

Clay County’s growing population helped drive the development of the county’s first major law enforcement construction project in 25 years. The Law Enforcement Resource Center opened Nov. 25 to provide space for firearms training, defensive tactics and scenario-based instruction.

How far prep girls wrestling has come within the past 20 years! Or even within the past five years! I remember when I interviewed my first high school girls wrestler.

What began as a plan for the Wood Heights district to quietly support another Thanksgiving assistance effort turned into a full holiday project for the town’s Fire Protection District Auxiliary.