(Missouri Independent) – When Missouri’s health department refused to turn over certain documents to ProPublica reporter Pamela Colloff in October 2020, she did what the attorney general’s office directs anyone to do if they believe a government agency is illegally withholding public records. She filed a Sunshine Law complaint with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, […]
The Missouri General Assembly has been on spring break this week and will reconvene March 21st. State Representative Rusty Black of Chillicothe says he thinks the House of Representatives did good work in the first part of the session. Black is in his sixth year as a State Representative. He enjoys being involved […]
State Auditor Nicole Galloway released her office’s annual report on the state’s financial reporting processes. The report examines Missouri’s annual statewide financial statements and makes recommendations to ensure accurate financial reporting, which better protects and accounts for taxpayer resources. Auditors found that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations needs to improve controls in the […]
(Missouri Independent) – Applying for health insurance through Medicaid expansion took Raven Cole just 10 minutes. But the wait to see if she’s approved has dragged on for months. The 23-year-old legal assistant applied for coverage, “well over two to three months ago.” “And I haven’t heard anything back,” Cole said. Cole is one of […]
Another Missouri resident is facing charges in connection with the January sixth U.S. Capitol riot last year. The Kansas City Star reports that 39-year-old Lloyd Cruz Junior from the northwest Missouri town of Polo has been arrested and charged with parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building and entering or remaining in […]
(Missouri Independent) – Inmates at St. Louis’ primary jail filed a federal class-action lawsuit Tuesday accusing guards of torture with mace and depriving them of water for days. The inmates are represented by a team of attorneys from the MacArthur Justice Center, ArchCity Defenders, the SLU Law Legal Clinics, and Rights Behind Bars. “They spray chemical agents […]
The Grundy County Commission on March 15th made an appointment for a one-year unexpired term on the Jefferson Township Board. Rocita Hutson will fill the position previously held by her husband Eugene Hutson, who died in January. Commissioner Don Sager notes Rocita Hutson’s term will go until April 2023. Shelbi Becker with the state auditor’s […]
January unemployment rates for area counties range from Linn County at five percent, down to two point seven percent reported for Worth County. January is the most recent month the County by County statistics are available. Missouri’s January unemployment rate is four point four percent. Grundy County is a little under the state average with […]
Among cases Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Division One of the Grundy County Circuit Court: Trenton resident Kyle Ray Graves pleaded guilty to felony possession of a controlled substance/synthetic cannabinoid. Two other counts were dismissed. Graves was sentenced to seven years with the Department of Corrections with the term to be consecutive to any other […]
North Central Missouri College Foundation announces the Distinguished Alumni Class for 2021, John Hunolt, Janet (Boyd) Lake and Nick Sottler. Honorees will be recognized during the Pirates Ball on March 26, 2022, at the Ketcham Community Center on the campus of North Central Missouri College. The Pirates Ball is to honor distinguished alumni, Voyage Fund […]
Preliminary hearings were waived by four defendants on Tuesday in the Associate Division of Grundy County Circuit Court. Trenton resident, Brandon Dean Bibee Burkhardt, has two drug-related counts as of March 1st: delivery of a controlled substance/synthetic cannabinoid and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Chillicothe resident Jimmy Dean King is charged with forgery from May […]
Auditor Galloway released her findings from an audit of the city of Cross Timbers in Hickory County. Residents of Cross Timbers, a small town of fewer than 120 residents in west-central Missouri, initiated the audit through the petition process. The audit released, which gives a rating of “poor” – the lowest possible rating – found […]
The Grundy County Health Department reports daily new COVID-19 cases are in the single digits, and the county has the lowest number of active cases since January 6, 2022. There have been 20 new cases in the past seven days. The number of active cases dropped by 16 from March 1st through March 20. There […]
Captain Erik A. Gottman, commanding officer of Troop B, Macon, announces that effective April 1, 2022, Sergeant Christopher L. Cerroni will retire with over 29 years of dedicated service. Cerroni was appointed to the Patrol on January 1, 1993, as a member of the 65th Recruit Class. After graduating from the Patrol Academy, he was […]
A Polo man was sentenced March 3rd to life in the Missouri Department of Corrections on second-degree murder. Online court information shows 36-year-old Kevin Lynn Barnett Junior was also sentenced in Livingston County Circuit Court to seven years on unlawful possession of a firearm. The sentences are to run consecutively to each count and all […]
The grudges continue among Missouri Senate Republicans. The upper chamber did not vote on any bills on Thursday. A group of Republicans who continue to stall work in the chamber ate up the clock talking about abortion. That’s when Senator Karla May, a Democrat from St. Louis, interrupted to speak her mind. The […]
(Missouri Independent) – Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday once again refused to accept the conclusions of an investigation by the highway patrol and Cole County prosecutor surrounding a reporter who uncovered a security flaw in a state website. Speaking to a gathering of reporters and editors in the governor’s mansion for Missouri Press Association Day, […]
United States District Court Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk sentenced Antwan Jones to eight years in federal prison for his role in a carjacking, weapons charges, and assaulting a federal officer. Jones had previously pleaded guilty in November 2021. According to the plea agreement, Jones and his co-defendant stopped their SUV next to the victim on […]
(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 […]
Missouri non-farm payroll employment increased from December 2021 to January 2022, and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by one-tenth of a percentage point. Employment, seasonally adjusted, increased by 9,100 jobs over the month, with job gains in both goods-producing and service-providing industries. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in January 2022, […]
