Vaccine Distribution or Covid-19 or Coronavirus

Audio: Next phase of COVID-19 plan, beginning March 15, includes teachers, faculty and staff in Missouri schools

The next tier of Missouri’s coronavirus vaccination plan will be activated on March 15. That means all teachers, faculty, and staff in public, private, and nonprofit pre-K-12 will become eligible. So will state-licensed childcare center workers, some food production employees, as well as grocery and convenience stores workers. Missouri is currently vaccinating residents in Phase […]

Missouri Attorney General reaches settlement with McKinsey & Company for role in opioid epidemic

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced that his Office and a coalition of attorneys general from 47 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories have reached a $573 million settlement with one of the world’s largest consulting firms, McKinsey & Company. The settlement resolves investigations into the company’s role in working for opioid […]

Missouri State Capitol courtesy of WikiMedia

Audio: Great Northwest Day at the Capitol was a virtual event in 2021, featuring Governor Parson via Zoom

Governor Mike Parson spoke to the Northwest Missouri delegation virtually on February 2nd during Great Northwest Day. After reviewing his State of the State address, Parson answered questions submitted by delegates and asked by Great Northwest Day Committee Chairperson Annette Weeks. One question involved the plan for the state to help ensure access to affordable […]

GRM Networks

GRM Networks to begin fiber construction in rural Bethany and Princeton exchanges this spring

GRM Networks has received approval from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service and is preparing to begin fiber-to-the-premise construction this spring in the rural Bethany and rural Princeton exchanges. Customers can anticipate construction crews and equipment in their area over the next several months once construction begins. This project’s funding stems from […]

COVID-19 Fraud graphic

Man pleads guilty to obtaining over $700,000 in COVID-19 relief using fraud scheme

A Washington man pleaded guilty today to perpetrating a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 relief guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Nicholas L. McQuaid, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s […]

Network cables (RJ45 ) connected to a switch

Computers on the Farm Conference meets February 8-9 via Zoom

With its virtual format, this year’s Computers on the Farm Conference, Feb. 8-9, will vividly underscore the increasingly vital role of computers in agriculture. “The topics are designed to simulate a hands-on experience for both beginner and advanced farm computer users,” says Kent Shannon, University of Missouri Extension agricultural engineering specialist and MU assistant teaching […]

Missouri Cattlemen's Association Website

Audio: Missouri Cattlemen’s Association legislative agenda includes banning companies from taking private land

The Missouri Cattlemen’s Association says one of its key legislative priorities this year is to prevent private companies from using eminent domain to get private land. Ag Policy Chairman Jimmie Long says the organization’s legislative progress was halted last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.     Many Missouri farmers and virtually all commodity groups […]

Emanuel Cleaver courtesy Wikipedia

Audio: Missouri Congressman wants financial companies to stop serving U.S. Capitol rioters

Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver wants banks and other financial services companies to stop processing transactions for rioters and organizations who were part of last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.     Congressman Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat, has written to a trade group called the Electronic Transaction Association to request that its member institutions […]

Dicamba

Public interest groups sue EPA for re-approving controversial herbicide dicamba

Public-interest groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over the agency’s re-approval of products containing dicamba, a herbicide controversial for its tendency to drift into neighboring fields and damage farmers’ crops and homeowners’ gardens. Last fall, the EPA green-lighted dicamba use for five years, the third time the agency registered dicamba products. George Kimbrell, legal director at […]

Environmental Protection Agency EPA

EPA takes action to investigate PFAS contamination

As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) extensive efforts to address PFAS, the agency is making new information available about EPA testing that shows PFAS contamination from fluorinated containers.   Through a coordinated effort with both the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a pesticide manufacturer, the agency has determined that fluorinated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) containers that are used to […]

Vaccine Distribution or Covid-19 or Coronavirus

Feds tell states to give COVID-19 vaccine to anyone 65 and older in bid to speed rollout

(Missouri Independent) – The Trump administration on Tuesday directed state officials to expand who is getting vaccinated for COVID-19, and announced that all available doses will be distributed to states instead of holding back a reserve of follow-up doses. Under the policy changes outlined by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, states should begin […]