Another session of the Missouri Legislature has come and gone. Of the 1,559 House bills and 689 Senate bills filed this time around, 69 bills will make it to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk. Here are some key bills left up to the governor to sign or veto: Missouri lawmakers vote to pump up […]
As the school year ends, you can expect young people to start applying for summer jobs. For agricultural employers, these young workers can provide extra capacity at a time when farms and agribusinesses often have more work than they have employees to get that work done. “Labor is tight as the economy picks up steam […]
To address workforce shortages across the state, Governor Mike Parson directed the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to notify the U.S. Department of Labor that Missouri will end participation in all federal pandemic-related unemployment insurance programs effective Saturday, June 12 at 11:59 p.m. “From conversations with business owners across the state, we know […]
The Princeton City Council on Monday, May 10, approved service contracts for bands and a change order for a water project. City Clerk Cory Willett reports one service contract was for the Country Buddies for $900 for the citywide garage sales this past weekend. The other was for the Point of No Return for $1,000 for […]
Missouri voting-rights advocates joined a national call to action Saturday to promote the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the For the People Act. The Lewis Act would require states with a history of voter discrimination to get approval from the Justice Department before making legal changes to voting rules. Julie Steiger, co-president of the League of […]
A Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court for transporting a Kansas minor across state lines to engage in criminal sexual activity. Nathan Roger Belcher, 31, of Carl Junction, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 12 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Belcher to serve 20 years on […]
(Missouri Independent) – Lawmakers slammed the Department of Social Services on Thursday for underreporting the number of substantiated cases of abuse and neglect at youth residential facilities during a previous legislative hearing. For nearly an hour-and-a-half on Thursday, the House Special Committee on Government Oversight pressed DSS officials on why the number of findings of […]
A Union, Missouri, man who was scheduled to begin his criminal jury trial instead pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing six pounds of methamphetamine to distribute. Felix Franz Forjan, 71, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to one count of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. According to the plea […]
A Missouri man has pleaded guilty in federal court to multiple charges of illegally possessing firearms, including stolen firearms, and drug trafficking. Brandon L. Hill, 33, of Independence, Missouri, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays on Thursday, April 29, to three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, two counts […]
Three Albany residents accused of not bringing a vehicle to a disabled woman after taking money from her to do so have been charged in Caldwell County. Forty-two-year-old James Michael Gordon II, 36-year-old Trista Boley, and 31-year-old Christa Danielle Lycan face felony charges of financial exploitation of an elderly or disabled person, stealing–$750 or more, […]
A California man was charged in federal court with transporting more than four kilograms of fentanyl from Los Angeles, California, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, aboard a bus that stopped at a Kansas City, Missouri station. Miguel Angel Duran, 28, was charged with one count of possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute in a criminal complaint […]
Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), along with U.S. Representatives Sam Graves (Mo.) and Emanuel Cleaver II (Mo.), led a bipartisan, bicameral letter urging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to quickly and fully utilize the tools and resources Congress provided in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020 and the FY2020 Energy and Water […]
Jon Schaffer, 53, of Columbus, Indiana, admitted that he breached the Capitol on January 6, 2021, wearing a tactical vest and armed with bear repellent, and pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering the U.S. Capitol to obstruct Congress’ certification of the U.S. presidential election results. “On this 100th day since the horrific January 6 assault on […]
The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Trenton man on April 15th on multiple allegations. Thirty-six-year-old Edwin Floyd Gordy IV has been charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and the misdemeanors of possession of marijuana/synthetic cannabinoid of 10 grams or less, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia—prior drug offense, and operate […]
As you head outdoors this season to enjoy the sunshine and warmer weather, you may encounter a variety of newborn animals. Young wildlife can pull on our heartstrings as they appear to be abandoned, but that’s usually not the case. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reminds the public that interfering with wildlife can do […]
(Missouri Independent) – While playing politics with healthcare in Missouri is certainly nothing new, holding Missouri Medicaid hostage over basic birth control is a stunning — and consequential — shift. As captured in headlines across the state, state Sen. Paul Wieland has put the entire Missouri Medicaid program in jeopardy with his late-night amendment to a […]
Police chokeholds could be banned in Missouri. The Missouri Senate has overwhelmingly passed a wide-ranging bill that would ban them. Parkville Senator Tony Luetkemeyer’s plan would also let Kansas City police officers live outside of city limits, and ban officers from having sexual contact with someone they have detained or jailed. The plan […]
The Justice Department announced today that Sonia Tabizada, 36, of San Jacinto, California, was sentenced to 15 months and 13 days for intentionally obstructing persons in the enjoyment of their free exercise of religious beliefs by threatening to bomb Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, D.C. In May 2019, school officials announced that Visitation Prep, […]
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced that his Office has prevailed in federal appeals court in the case Turtle Island Foods, SPC v. the State of Missouri, otherwise known as the fake meat labeling case. Earlier this morning, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s ruling in the […]
Firefighters in northeast Missouri’s Hannibal say three people are now dead from that horrific house fire, including two small children. Missourinet Quincy affiliate WGEM reports the fire killed 42-year-old Jason Carpenter, along with five and six-year-old brother and sister Logan and Summer Shanks. Neighbor Candiss Clement tells WGEM she can’t believe the victims are gone. […]
