Missouri’s largest privately-owned outpatient physical therapy company continues to grow. Columbia-based Peak Sport and Spine now has more than 45 offices across the state, as well as facilities in numerous other states. Company founder Phillip Smith says Peak Sport and Spine gets bigger, better and stronger each year. They now have more than 700 employees. That includes employees in Missouri and in eight other states. Mr. Smith grew up in west-central Missouri’s Marshall. He and co-founder Mark Dempsey joined host Fred Parry in-studio for the hour Saturday morning on 939 the Eagle’s “CEO Roundtable.” They were also joined by Brian Smith, who serves as chief executive officer of their Kansas City-based sister company PT Partners. One of the biggest things they discussed is access:
UPDATE: Accused mid-Missouri bank robber to go on trial this summer
A June federal jury trial is scheduled for a Columbia man accused of robbing two mid-Missouri banks and robbing at least four other businesses in the state.
31-year-old Drake Adam Stockton-Kenney’s trial is scheduled to take place on June 5 at the Christopher Bond Courthouse in Jefferson City.
Federal prosecutors say Stockton-Kenney and a Moberly woman robbed Alliant Bank branches in Pilot Grove and Boonville, escaping with more than $30,000 between the two robberies. They’re also charged with robbing Check into Cash in Moberly in 2021, World Finance in Mexico in 2021 and businesses in Marshall and Hannibal.
Meantime, Missouri’s Probation and Parole Board has revoked Stockton-Kenney’s parole. He went to state prison at the age of 18 for robbery and has spent most of his adult life in prison. Federal prosecutors say he was on parole for robbery when he robbed the two Cooper County banks in 2021. The parole board revoked his parole after the bank robberies, and he’s currently incarcerated at the state’s maximum-security prison in northwest Missouri’s Cameron.
Rural Missouri lawmaker predicts his bill can be game-changer for movie production
A mid-Missouri state lawmaker says his tax credit bill has the potential to bring film production back to Missouri.
State Rep. Kurtis Grgeory (R-Marshall), a former Mizzou football captain, tells 939 the Eagle that this is one industry that virtually doesn’t exist in Missouri now because the state lacks incentives. He is testifying this morning before the Missouri House Economic Development Committee in Jefferson City. Gregory’s Show MO Act is House Bill 675. It’s five pages.
Supporters of the bill note the popular television show “Ozark” is primarily filmed in Georgia, rather than the Lake of the Ozarks. That’s because of Georgia’s generous tax credits for film production, supporters say. Actor Jason Bateman stars in the show.
Gregory predicts his bill will be a job creator, adding that the amount of people “behind the scenes” is astonishing. He tells 939 the Eagle that the bill will result in new jobs for the 4,000 graduates a year from Missouri colleges in the motion media industry and support structures from hair to make-up to catering and costume supply.
He also says Missouri’s two major airports, interstate system, natural beauty, historic towns and large cities make it a perfect location.
MDA director and Missouri commodity groups say tax credits are critical to rural economic development
Missouri’s commodity groups are praising the passage of a six-year extension for agricultural tax credits.
Governor Mike Parson (R) has signed the legislation into law, and he was joined by Missouri Pork Association (MPA) executive vice president Don Nikodim and other farm group leaders. Nikodim tells 939 the Eagle that the extension is very important.
“The Missouri Agriculture and Small Business program run through the department here (Missouri Department of Agriculture) helps farmers figure out some things that they need to do to be successful in a business plan etc. And so those dollars are going to be allocated based on the same formula as other tax credits for business innovation are,” Nikodim says.
The Columbia-based Missouri Cattlemen’s Association also joined Governor Parson at the bill-signing ceremony. The tax credits include programs for biodiesel, meat processing facilities and urban farming.
Meantime, Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) director Chris Chinn is also praising the bill’s passage. She says the tax credits are vital to economic development in rural Missouri. Director Chinn tells 939 the Eagle that those tax credits helped the Mid-Missouri Energy ethanol plant in west-central Missouri’s Malta Bend get started.
“We’re really excited about that because it’s added value to the corn farmers in that area, but more importantly to that rural community. It’s provided good-paying jobs in that community,” Chinn says.
Malta Bend is a small farming town of about 175 residents located on Highway 65, between Marshall and Carrollton.
(AUDIO): Rost Enterprises executives outline TopTracer golf development plans on 939 the Eagle’s “CEO Round Table”
The new president of Rost Enterprises says the popular Midway Golf and Games just west of Columbia draws customers from St. Louis, Kansas City and rural towns like Sedalia, Marshall, Boonville, Mexico, Moberly and Macon. Rost Enterprises operates Midway Golf and Games, Rost Landscaping and Superior Garden Center. New company president Taylor Burks and founder Tim Rost joined host Fred Parry in-studio for the hour Saturday on 939 the Eagle’s “CEO Round Table.” They say the addition of TopTracer in 2023 will make Midway Golf and Games the premier family fun destination in mid-Missouri. They also outlined plans to build a restaurant and bar and a banquet facility that would seat up to 300 people for dinner: