Springfield Business Journal’s inaugural Nonprofit Excellence Awards honor nine area nonprofits and three individuals serving the field.

Newsmakers in the areas of banking & finance, brewing, education, food service, health care, manufacturing and nonprofit.

Three top honors are announced as a dozen organizations and individuals are recognized at Oasis Hotel & Convention Center event.

The facility near the Amazon plant is slated to serve company's pharmaceutical division.

Executive Editor Christine Temple sits down with home health care leaders.

Guest columnist Dr. Brandan Gremminger: "If you or a loved one are presented with an option of receiving group treatment sooner than you can access one-on-one care, please know the research shows you aren’t settling for less. "

SBJ interviews the sports medicine provider at Citizens Memorial Hospital who recently completed the Wilderness Medical Society’s Triple Crown program.

The landscape for weight management has been expanding in recent months as the surging popularity of drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound is a frequent topic for local medical professionals and their patients. 

Jammi Glenn of Arvest Bank-Springfield Region: "Providing funding for future projects, developing products to meet their individual needs and staying involved with health care organizations are just a few ways the business community can maintain its connection with the health care community."

Patient demand from communities expanding south of Springfield prompted Mercy to construct a new emergency department, according to Mercy spokesperson Ettie Berneking.

After announcing a joint venture in January to bring a new inpatient rehabilitation hospital to the Ozarks, CoxHealth and a Pennsylvania-based company with a Springfield presence broke ground on the project earlier this month.

An independent panel of judges has selected this year’s class of Most Influential Women. With the addition of this class, 500 women have received this award.

Financial software, manufacturing, health care and restaurant are featured industries locally.

Tens of thousands of students are settling in for the semester.

The local funding is part of $500,000 awarded systemwide.

The Springfield health system announced the partnership with Pennsylvania-based Select Medical Holdings earlier this year.

The Workforce Development publication explores themes such as payroll shifts, wages and benefits demand, labor shortage impacts and employee barriers impacting recruitment and retention.

Nationally, the alarm continues to sound about a projected staffing crisis in the field of nursing – but at Southwest Baptist University, officials say enrollment in nursing programs is surging.

Descriptors of “community builder” and “business titan” were used in recent days by Springfield leaders to document the life of Sam F. Hamra, a longtime Queen City businessperson whose influence stretched across multiple industries for decades.

Mercy Springfield Communities cut the ribbon July 8 for its newest Queen City clinic; the newest branch of OakStar Bank opened in Nixa; and a Springfield-based children’s entertainment company opened a birthday party and event venue.