A 20-year chapter ends today for Missouri Supreme Court Judge Laura Denvir Stith. After serving on the high court for two decades, Stith is retiring. The photos have come down off her office walls. Stith has packed up her certificates and awards she proudly showcased in her third-floor office along West High Street in Jefferson […]
U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) released the following statement today after voting against Democrats’ nearly $2 trillion budget reconciliation bill. The far-reaching legislation includes $1,400 stimulus checks, $300-per-week jobless benefits through the summer, a child allowance of up to $3,600 for one year, $350 billion for state aid, $34 billion to expand the Affordable Care Act subsidies, and $14 billion for vaccine distribution. […]
An Albany woman was injured Thursday afternoon when the vehicle she was driving left southbound Route AA in Gentry County struck a ditch and overturned, coming to rest on its top. The vehicle went off the west side due to what was called poor road conditions. Fifty-three-year-old Bendi Burgin received moderate injuries and was taken […]
The Trenton Park Board on March 3rd approved a bid for tree stump removal as well as actions involving the Van Meter shelter house and the swimming pool. The 2021-2022 budget was also reviewed. The approved stump removal bid was from Perkins Dozing of Jamesport for $200 per stump. Another bid was submitted from Custom […]
The Grundy County Commission on March 2nd approved an amendment to Public Administrator Jill Eaton’s resignation which is effective on March 9th. The commission has restarted the process of appointing an interim public administrator. Applications will be accepted for the position at the county clerk’s office until the position is filled. The county commission will […]
(Missouri Independent) – Last week, multiple mass vaccination events in rural areas neared the end of the day with hundreds of doses still on hand — prompting health departments to take to social media and encourage anyone to come for fear doses would be wasted. “We have ample vaccine still available that needs to be […]
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Ben Cardin (Md.) have introduced a measure to permanently extend the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), which has created jobs and driven investment in neighborhoods with high poverty and unemployment rates. The New Markets Tax Credit Extension Act (S.456) will permanently authorize a 39 percent federal tax credit for […]
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced a plan to require companies with revenues of $1 billion or more to pay their employees $15 per hour. Senator Hawley’s plan would result in an immediate wage increase for millions of workers while avoiding a one-size-fits-all increase that would disadvantage small businesses. Small business employees earning less than […]
(Missouri Independent) – The eyes of the nation turned to U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley over the holidays when he became the first senator to announce an objection to the certification of presidential electors. But the eyes of local politicos turned instead to his home-state colleague, Missouri’s senior senator. How would Roy Blunt — up for […]
A Missouri, woman who led police officers on a high-speed chase down Grand Avenue was indicted by a federal grand jury for two armed bank robberies. Sarah Theresa Watkins, 41, of Kansas City, was charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. The indictment replaces a federal criminal […]
(Missouri Independent) – Last spring, as Missouri businesses shed hundreds of thousands of jobs, Gov. Mike Parson warned that the state was headed for the worst financial crunch since the 2008 recession. Ten months later, Parson presented a budget plan that anticipates a $1.1 billion surplus on July 1, the biggest in state history. And if the $1.9 trillion pandemic […]
Most Missouri K-12 public schools have been offering in-person classes at least partially for several months, yet most teachers are not eligible to get a coronavirus vaccination. They will all be eligible in the next phase but that could be a couple of months away. Darbie Valenti-Huff, with the St. Joseph School District in northwest […]
The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission recently awarded a contract to Krupp Construction, of Ellisville, Missouri, for an improvement project on Baltimore Street in Kirksville. The project consists of resurfacing, American with Disabilities (ADA) improvements, and drainage improvements. The project will run from just north of Illinois Street to just south of Patterson Street. The […]
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and members of the Missouri Congressional Delegation sent a letter to the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking for a review of the natural gas supply in light of electricity outages, rolling blackouts, and controlled service interruptions across Missouri and the Midwest during extreme winter weather. “Due to […]
State Senator Greg Razer says Missouri students are “leaving in droves” to attend colleges and universities in Kansas, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. Razer, a Democrat from Kansas City, says some of these states are offering large discounts. State funding also impacts the ability of Missouri colleges and universities to recruit faculty and […]
The Missouri House Budget Committee is scheduled to hear today Governor Parson’s state budget proposal for higher education. Kansas City State Senator Greg Razer says state funding provided to Missouri’s colleges and universities is almost identical to what the state gave to them in 1999. Razer says in 1999, 70% of the University of Missouri-Columbia’s […]
(Missouri Independent) – I’m an independent Missouri farmer and livestock producer, and JBS, the largest meatpacker in the world and a Brazilian corporation, is attempting to put a 10,500 head hog operation next to my community and the Poosey Conservation Area in Livingston County. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is in the process of giving Missourian’s […]
You could be voting in 2022 on a proposed constitutional amendment in Missouri, requiring health insurers to cover preexisting conditions. House Joint Resolution 50 is a two-page proposal. It’s sponsored by State Rep. Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, the powerful House Majority Floor Leader. He says the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the Affordable Care Act this year. […]
You could be voting in 2022 on a proposed constitutional amendment in Missouri, requiring health insurers to cover preexisting conditions. The proposal is sponsored by GOP House Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher of Des Peres, who thinks the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the Affordable Care Act this year, Plocher describes his proposal […]
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and a coalition of 13 other attorneys general urged President Biden to reconsider his unilateral revocation of the 2019 Presidential Permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and advised him that the states that signed on to the letter are reviewing available legal options to protect their citizens and interests. “The […]
