Face Mask photo from Unsplash

Study: Saint Louis University face mask policy reduced quarantines, COVID cases

(Missouri Independent) – Tying quarantine requirements to the Saint Louis University face mask requirement successfully reduced the number of students sent to isolation and helped cut COVID-19 infections this spring, according to a study published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Under the university’s rules, students without masks who had close contact […]

Missouri Coronavirus

Audio: Eight of nine Missouri counties leading in COVID-19 case rates over the past week are in southeast Missouri

Eight of nine Missouri counties leading in COVID-19 case rates over the past week are in the southeast part of the state. They are Scott, New Madrid, Carter, Madison, Mississippi, Perry, St. Francois, and Bollinger Counties.  Nurse Eric Slaughter tells KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau the hospital turned a holding area into additional intensive care unit […]

Amaren Missouri

“Simply unconscionable”: Advocates push Ameren to keep electric bills low during pandemic

(Missouri Independent) – Ameren Missouri should not increase its electrical rates for its customers as they struggle to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and economic fallout, a coalition of environmental, veterans, and tenants advocates said Wednesday.  The St. Louis-based utility filed with regulators in March seeking a rate increase worth nearly $300 million per year to pay […]

Judge with gavel at desk

Audio: State Appeals court upholds another employee discrimination case against the Missouri Department of Corrections.

A state appeals court has upheld another employee discrimination case against the Missouri Department of Corrections.     The case could potentially cost taxpayers more than $700,000. The St. Louis Post Dispatch says it’s the latest in a series of big-ticket judgments against prison system administrators revolving around an employee’s concern about an attempt to […]

Michael Lee Cooper

Man from Chula charged with sexual misconduct after exposing himself to restaurant employee

Chillicothe Police Chief Jon Maples says officers located a suspect vehicle on September 7th regarding a call on September 3rd about someone in a restaurant drive-through exposing himself to an employee. The alleged incident happened in the 1000 block of South Washington Street. Maples says a 37-year-old man was arrested for sexual misconduct after officers […]

A gavel and a name plate with the engraving Lawsuit

Virginia’s black farmers push lawmakers to provide debt relief, end lawsuits delaying USDA loan forgiveness

Farmers of color are urging Congress to end a slew of lawsuits delaying a loan-forgiveness program designed to make amends for years of loan discrimination against minority farmers. White farmers are claiming in court Congress’s $4 billion debt relief for Black farmers, part of a COVID-19 stimulus package, amounts to reverse discrimination. John Boyd Jr., president of […]

Child Porn

Man pleads guilty to the sexual abuse of a two-year-old and a seven-year-old child in order to produce child pornography

A man pleaded guilty to two counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography in connection with his sexual abuse of two minor children. According to court documents, Brian Anthony Gilbert, 33, of District Heights, Maryland, uploaded and advertised at least two video files of child pornography depicting an […]