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Missouri fines CAFO, owned by Smithfield Foods, $18,000 for polluting streams with 300,000 gallons of waste

(Missouri Independent) – Regulators ordered an industrial hog farm in northern Missouri to pay more than $18,000 for spilling 300,000 gallons of manure into miles of nearby streams.  An advocate for environmentally responsible agriculture called that “pathetic,” noting the fine amounted to less than $0.04 per gallon of waste spilled.  “You’re talking about a multi-billion […]

Swan Lake Wildlife Refuge

Public comments sought on Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge headquarters and visitor facility relocation

A draft Environmental Assessment for Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Sumner, Missouri is available for public review on March 4, 2022.  The comment period will extend until April 4, 2022.  The Environmental Assessment provides an environmental analysis and cumulative impacts of alternatives for the new headquarters office at Swan Lake NWR.  During the floods […]

Sleeping Baby in dark room (Photo by Kevin Keith on Unsplash)

House grants initial approval to bill that would allow prison nurseries in Missouri

(Missouri Independent) -The House gave initial approval Wednesday to a bill that would allow newborns to remain with their incarcerated mothers for the first year and a half of the baby’s life. The bill would permit the Missouri Department of Corrections to establish nurseries within the state’s correctional facilities, allowing children born to incarcerated women to […]

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Video: Congressman Sam Graves responds to President Biden’s State of the Union Address

In response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address, Congressman Sam Graves (MO-06) highlighted the many struggles real Americans are dealing with every day in President Biden’s America. “The difference between what we’re feeling in North Missouri and what the President says we’re feeling is stark,” Rep. Sam Graves said. “The supply chain crisis, […]

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Missouri Senate passes $4.6B spending bill with pay raises, federal school funds

(Missouri Independent) – With a deadline looming that could cost Missouri almost $2 billion in federal education aid, the bill to distribute the money passed the state Senate on Wednesday after Democrats slammed a zero-dollar funding line as a partisan attack on Planned Parenthood. The $4.6 billion spending bill approved on a 25-7 vote is the first legislation requiring […]