Students in Pre-K-12, staff, and visitors will be required to wear masks indoors in the St. Joseph School District beginning August 23, 2021, the first day of school for the district, regardless of vaccination status. Masks will not be required outdoors. Following presentations and discussion, the St. Joseph Board of Education voted 5 […]
Tag: guidance
Less than half of Missouri nursing home staff vaccinated, reviving fear of lockdowns
(Missouri Independent) – Many of the staff and residents in Shunda Whitfield’s St. Louis County nursing home were sick before they even realized what was going on. It was April 2020, and masks weren’t yet standard practice. Little was known about COVID before it swept through nursing homes, and as a certified nursing assistant, Whitfield […]
Grundy County reports 14 new cases of COVID-19; a total of 29 cases in last seven days
COVID-19 cases have increased by 14 in Grundy County since July 30th, bringing the total to 1,356. The health department reports there have been 29 new cases in the last seven days. Thirty-two cases are active. The positivity rate for the last 14 days is 18.83%, which is trending up. There have been 31 breakthrough […]
Audio: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issues COVID-19 guidance
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issued updated COVID-19 guidance last week. Missouri School Boards Association Deputy Executive Director Brent Ghan, early in the afternoon of July 27, said the association supported the guidance and urged school districts to look at it. He called vaccination a public health prevention strategy to help end […]
Audio: Missouri has new coronavirus guidance out to help K-12 schools reopen safely this fall
The state has new coronavirus guidance out to help Missouri’s K-12 schools reopen safely this fall. The guidance aligns with the CDC recommending masks be worn indoors by anyone age 2 and older who is not fully vaccinated. The state says mask requirements should be made by local school boards, after consideration of […]
Wright Memorial and Hedrick Medical Center revise visitor guidelines to Level 3
Wright Memorial Hospital and Hedrick Medical Center have revised their visitor guidelines to allow Level 3 limited visitation, as of July 23. Wright Memorial and Hedrick were previously at a ‘Level 4’, which allowed patients only one visitor per day. Level 3 visitor guidelines allow two visitors per patient per day in inpatient areas and […]
New cases of COVID-19 reported in Putnam, Livingston and Linn counties
The Putnam County Health Department reports seven new COVID-19 cases since July 15th, making the total 535. Five of the new positive cases are linked through close contacts. Eight cases are active. There are 14 COVID-19-related hospitalizations and 13 deaths. The Putnam County Health Department requests close contacts self-quarantine for at least seven days. On […]
Stop Ransomware website: Government launches first one-stop ransomware resource
As part of the ongoing response, agencies across the U.S. government announced new resources and initiatives to protect American businesses and communities from ransomware attacks. The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, together with federal partners, have launched a new website to combat the threat of ransomware. The Stop Ransomware […]
Woman arrested for fake COVID-19 immunization and vaccination card scheme
A California-licensed homeopathic doctor was arrested for her alleged scheme to sell homeoprophylaxis (the controversial use of homeopathy as a preventive against serious infectious diseases) immunization pellets and to falsify COVID-19 vaccination cards by making it appear that customers had received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized Moderna vaccine. Juli A. Mazi, 41, of […]
Landowners and tenants invited to respond to 2021 Missouri rental rate survey
Landowners lease roughly 35% of Missouri crop, pasture, and woodland acreage to renters every year. Rented acreage has increased in recent years as more land has transitioned to the next generation, interest rates have incentivized land investments, and interest in carbon markets and working land conservation has grown, said Ben Brown, extension economist with the […]
Infrastructure, events, budgets and purchases among agenda items tackled at meeting of NCMC Board of Trustees
The North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees on June 22nd heard about upcoming events involving academic affairs. Vice President of Academic Affairs Doctor Tristan Londre said a dual credit and adjunct workshop on June 23rd will provide professional development for returning faculty and orientation for new instructors. He noted the college hopes to gather […]
Webinar and publications offer guidance for local broadband initiatives
Thirty-seven percent of Missourians did not have wired broadband in their homes from 2015 to 2019. Should we be concerned that one out of three Missouri households are not connected to high-speed internet? What does “wired broadband” mean? As governments roll out new broadband initiatives, these are timely questions that Broadband Technologies: A Primer on […]
Audio: Missouri moving back into the industrial hemp market quickly
It took 70 years for Missouri to get back into the industrial hemp market- and now there is more demand than ever because of its use in CBD oil. Missouri was once a top hemp producer in the nation, but then it got regulated as a drug because of its connection to its cousin, marijuana. […]
Feds pony up to get more SNAP-eligible families enrolled
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering a 50/50 match on Nebraska dollars invested in outreach to get more eligible families enrolled in SNAP, the program formerly known as food stamps. Ellen Vollinger, legal director at the Food Research and Action Center, said the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program helps struggling families put food on the […]
Mosaic receives grant from United States Department of Agriculture to expand telemedicine services
Mosaic Life Care was recently awarded $902K from the United States Department of Agriculture Distance Learning and Telemedicine federal grant. Funds will be used for telemedicine devices for increased access to quality health care within northwest Missouri communities. Telemedicine services will flow from the hub in St. Joseph to the rural end-user site, with equipment […]
COVID-19 surge in north Missouri creates worries for summer as vaccinations decline
(Missouri Independent) – In the last week of April, the Linn County Health Department signaled that the COVID-19 pandemic had cooled enough that it could discontinue weekly reports on new cases. With only three active cases on April 21, the urgency for frequent updates seemed to have passed. But the coronavirus came roaring back this […]
Iowa program aims to usher in next generation of farmers
Iowa farmers have been busy with the spring planting season. As operations hire workers for the summer, a nonprofit connects them with aspiring ‘ag’ professionals who could represent the industry’s future labor force. For nearly a decade, the group Practical Farmers of Iowa has carried out its Labor-4-Learning initiative, where participating farms provide on-site training for […]
MU research shows fungicides in soybean at R3 boost yield, reduce disease
Three years of research in the “MU Certified” Strip Trial Program shows that applying fungicides to soybean at the R3 growth stage reduces foliar disease and increases yield. University of Missouri Extension plant pathologist Kaitlyn Bissonnette said the results come from 33 tests across the state from 2018 to 2020. Trials show that fungicide application […]
Lawmakers introduce legislation to protect adopted children
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), co-chairs of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, announced that they have reintroduced the Safe Home Act to protect adopted children from unregulated custody transfers. This legislation would add UCTs to the federal definition of child abuse and neglect under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. […]