The former city clerk of Flordell Hills, Missouri on Monday admitted stealing $487,673 from the small, struggling community. Maureen Woodson, 68, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel to one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. Woodson admitted that from roughly February 2016 to April 2022, she […]
A woman from Stoddard, County, Missouri on Monday admitted selling seven devices that turn AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles into machine guns. Sidney Brianne Scowden, 41, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. to one count of conspiracy to transfer a machine gun and three counts of transfer of a machine gun. […]
A Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court for his role in a kidnapping conspiracy that resulted in the victim’s murder. Marco A. Sosa-Perea, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 10 years in federal prison without parole. On Jan. 4, 2022, Sosa-Perea pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy […]
A Grandview, Mo., man who used explosives in two failed attempts to break into ATMs at Overland Park, Kan., businesses pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally possessing a firearm. Josiah Ronnell Lewis, also known as “Joey,” 44, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to being a felon in possession of a firearm. […]
(Missouri Independent) – The Department of Mental Health canceled a $16 million project to renovate a building at Fulton State Hospital for use as a sex offender treatment center because there is no realistic expectation of finding staff to run it. Lawmakers appropriated the money last year from federal COVID-19 recovery funds. Department Director Valerie Huhn […]
(Missouri Independent) – As states plan how they’ll spend the $25 billion remaining in federal COVID-19 relief funds, some also are facing criticism and renewed scrutiny over how they allocated money already received from the American Rescue Plan Act. Of the $198 billion authorized by Congress in 2021, $173 billion already has been appropriated by […]
(Missouri Independent) – Marie Moorehead has been asking Missouri agencies the same question since last fall. When will her family receive roughly $1,200 in one-time grocery benefits? The benefits were part of a COVID federal relief program designed to help cover last summer’s food costs. But more than five months since the summer ended, the […]
With wind energy growing increasingly common and more wind turbines dotting the landscape – especially in northwest Missouri – the threat to eagles and other birds is an increasing concern to conservation organizations and others. Birds have been hurt and killed after encountering the massive blades and air currents of wind turbines. The Missouri Department […]
February is Earthquake Awareness Month, and the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance continues to encourage Missourians to consider earthquake insurance as a part of their disaster planning and financial recovery plans. Each year, DCI produces an Earthquake Insurance Market Report to track earthquake insurance coverage in at-risk areas of the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The amount […]
When Tyler Haerr started college at Kansas State University, he had no plans of going back to his family’s farm in Taylor, Missouri. As the fourth-generation farmer got closer to graduation, the opportunity to get back to the family farm was one that he simply could not pass up. “When I went off to school, […]
Missouri’s public defender system is woefully understaffed, according to Mary Fox, Director of the State Public Defender Office. She told a House budget subcommittee last week that some Missouri counties don’t have ANY public defenders: “Currently in our Kennett, Missouri office, which is down in the Bootheel, we have run out of attorneys. […]
Missouri has been selected to participate in a national initiative aimed at increasing employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Labor tapped Missouri, along with nine other states and Washington, D.C., to take part in the National Expansion Employment Opportunities Network (NEON) initiative with the goal of increasing competitive integrated employment (CIE) […]
(Missourinet) – Language has been removed from a wide-ranging anti-crime bill that would have banned minors in Missouri from possessing firearms. It would have applied to anyone under 18 not accompanied by someone at least 21 years old. The bill’s sponsor, Republican Lane Roberts of Joplin, supported the ban, telling a House committee […]
(Missouri Independent) – A farmer-advocacy organization says record-breaking increases in the price of eggs isn’t being caused by inflation or avian flu, as claimed by egg companies, but by price collusion among the nation’s top egg producers. In a letter sent to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last week, the organization Farm Action accused the […]
(Missouri Independent) – A report from a patient advocacy group found the future of medical cannabis in the states is hazy unless costs are decreased, product safety standards are improved, and civil rights are strengthened for patients and prescribers. Americans for Safe Access issued its annual State of the States report on Thursday. The organization, a nonprofit, […]
U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Under Secretary Xochitl Torres Small unveiled the Rural Data Gateway, a new resource to make the Department’s data for rural projects easier to access for its partners and people living in rural communities. The Rural Data Gateway will help USDA better target resources to the people who need them […]
With program rules in effect, the Division of Cannabis Regulation within the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has reviewed requests and now approved 335 of the state’s licensed medical marijuana facilities to convert their license to a comprehensive license (adult-use and medical). Approved facilities include 207 dispensaries, 72 manufacturers, and 56 cultivation facilities. Facility […]
A man from St. Louis County, Missouri was arrested Friday on a federal charge of receiving child pornography. Christopher D. Cotton, 32, appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis later Friday and pleaded not guilty. He was indicted this week. The indictment alleges that Cotton used electronic devices to receive multiple videos and images […]
A doctor admitted on Friday that he diluted methadone that was dispensed in a St. Francois County, Missouri methadone clinic in 2021. Dr. Sunil G. Chand, 59, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk to one count of adulterating a drug with the intent to defraud or mislead. He admitted that […]
A Shawnee, Kansas, man was sentenced in federal court in Missouri for sex trafficking two teenage victims. Antonio B. Flemming, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to 13 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Flemming to 15 years of supervised release following incarceration. He will be required […]
