Child Abuse Graphic

Audio: Missouri House committee working to get to the bottom of boarding school abuse allegations falling through the cracks

A Missouri House committee is working to get to the bottom of abuse allegations surfacing about several faith-based boarding schools, but then falling through the cracks. State Representative Dottie Bailey of Eureka says there are too many Missouri Children’s Division managers and not enough frontline workers handling child abuse and neglect allegations. During an oversight […]

Medicaid Missouri

Audio: Missouri’s House Budget Committee Chairman outlines Medicaid-related budget bill

Missouri’s House Budget Committee learned details today (Tuesday) about a budget blueprint from Chairman Cody Smith to use dollars slated for Medicaid expansion for other programs instead. Funding includes 26-million dollars for adult daycare and home-delivered meals. Chairman Smith testifies the funding also includes 88-million dollars for nursing home care.     This involves a […]

Student Loans or graduation cap on money

Audio: Missouri Senate Education Committee Chair wants community colleges to get more core funding

The Missouri Legislature is making its way through the state budget process. Shelbina State Senator Cindy O’Laughlin says she would like Missouri’s community colleges to get an increase in core funding from the state. O’Laughlin is the chair of the Senate Education Committee.     O’Laughlin, of northeast Missouri’s Shelbina, uses Moberly Area Community College […]

Missouri State Fair 2021

Missouri State Fair awards scholarships to 4-H and FFA youth

Missouri State Fair Director Mark Wolfe announced today that 40 youth, selected from Missouri 4-H and FFA State Fair exhibitors, will be awarded scholarships by the Missouri State Fair and the Youth in Agriculture (YIA) committee. These students are seeking higher education at a Missouri university/college. “Cultivating Missouri agriculture youth is at the core of […]

USDA Sign

USDA announces funding available to assist socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency announces the availability of $2 million to establish partnerships with organizations to provide outreach and technical assistance to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. The funding was made possible by USDA’s new Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative, an effort to distribute resources more broadly and to put greater […]

Missouri Department of Corrections

Audio: Missouri House signs off on budget to include bigger pay raise for some corrections jobs

The Missouri House has passed a 34-point-one billion-dollar state operating budget that includes a big pay raise for some hard-to-fill Department of Corrections jobs. On top of the requested two-percent salary boost for all state workers, some Corrections food service workers, officers, sergeants, and lieutenants would get anywhere from a nearly six percent to an […]

Jobs for America’s Graduates-Missouri website

JAG-Missouri attracts more than $100,000 to support students

Jobs for America’s Graduates-Missouri, known as JAG-Missouri, recently received a number of contributions totaling more than $100,000 – one of the best fundraising periods in the organization’s recent history. JAG is a 40-year-old national nonprofit organization that has helped more than 1.5 million students reach their full potential by ensuring they graduate from high school […]

Immunization needle

Audio: Missouri bill would lower school immunization requirements

Missouri children attending daycares, K-12 public schools, or college might not be required to get vaccinated against certain illnesses – if they have a “conscientious belief” opposing the immunizations. Lebanon State Representative Suzie Pollock is proposing the change for vaccinations against polio, rubella, mumps, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and others. Her bill would also […]

Medicaid Missouri

Missouri House plan to reject Medicaid expansion faces uncertain fate in the Senate

(Missouri Independent) – Republicans in the Missouri House finalized their plan to block funding for voter-approved Medicaid expansion on Thursday, giving final approval to its version of the state’s budget and sending it to the Senate. What happens next remains unclear. House Democratic Leader Crystal Quade said she’s confident the Senate will restore the $1.9 […]

Budget news graphic

Audio: Jesus’ name invoked by both parties as Missouri House approves $34 billion budget, without Medicaid expansion

After a heated floor debate that included numerous biblical references, the Missouri House voted Thursday afternoon to give final approval to a $34.1 billion state operating budget. The House budget does not contain funding for Medicaid expansion. The operating budget now heads to the Missouri Senate, and Medicaid expansion supporters hope senators will include the […]