The Second Harvest Community Food Bank has received a $211,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to assist the food bank with increased expenses due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Emergency Rural Health Care Grant will also facilitate mobile food distributions in Northwest Missouri. Emergency Rural Health Care Grants are part of […]
Tag: joe
Kansas City man sentenced to 12 years in prison for meth trafficking and illegal firearm
A Kansas City, Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court for illegally possessing a firearm and methamphetamine to distribute after trying to break into a car and a house. Joel L. Redman, 38, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to 12 years and seven months in federal prison without parole. On Sept. 15, […]
Legislators weigh blocking COVID visitor restrictions at Missouri hospitals, nursing homes
(Missouri Independent) – State Rep. Ed Lewis had just hours to say goodbye. In March 2020, his 89-year-old mother had to go to the hospital after suffering from a fall. Lewis’ sister was their mother’s primary caregiver, but in the pandemic’s first days as hospitals restricted visitors, family members weren’t allowed to stay with her. Lewis […]
Amid curriculum debates, sweeping ‘parents’ Bill of Rights’ wins initial House approval
(Missouri Independent) -As debates over school curriculum rage nationwide, the Missouri House granted initial approval Tuesday to a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” that would allow for lawsuits and funding to be withheld from schools that repeatedly violate the proposed law. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, aims to “to empower parents to enforce” rights […]
Department of Justice rule cracks down untraceable firearms known as ‘ghost guns’
(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden Monday unveiled the Department of Justice’s plan to regulate untraceable firearms known as ghost guns, as well as announced his nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The Department of Justice’s final rule bans the business of manufacturing ghost guns, such as “buy build shoot” kits […]
Record Missouri surplus likely to grow under $46.5B House budget plan
(Missouri Independent) – The biggest state budget in Missouri history could also leave the biggest surplus in state history when the next fiscal year ends. The Missouri House on Thursday sent 15 appropriation bills to the state Senate, one supplemental spending bill for the current fiscal year, and 14 spending $46.5 billion in the coming year. The […]
Pause on federal student loan repayments extended by Biden through August 31
(Missouri Independent) – The Biden administration Wednesday announced its plans to extend the pause on federal student loan repayments until the end of August. “I recognized in recently extending the COVID-19 national emergency, we are still recovering from the pandemic and the unprecedented economic disruption it caused,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “If loan […]
Jackson wins 3 GOP votes as U.S. Senate advances her Supreme Court nomination
(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. Senate advanced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic Supreme Court nomination in a 53-47 procedural vote Monday evening, hours after the Judiciary Committee deadlocked along party lines. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah voted with all 50 Senate Democrats on the procedural […]
Audio: Missouri U.S. Senators announce votes against Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson
It’s two Missouri thumbs down from our state’s U.S. Senators on the possibility of the nation’s first black female Supreme Court associate justice. Joey Parker tells us why our federal delegation is saying “nay” even before today’s (Monday’s) Senate Judiciary Committee vote. (Audio credit ABC News) U.S. Senator Roy Blunt announced his intent on […]
Control of Title X federal family planning funds remains with Missouri nonprofit
(Missouri Independent) – Despite facing competition from the state health department, the nonprofit Missouri Family Health Council Inc. will continue to administer federal Title X family planning funds. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded more than $250 million in Title X funding this week, including $5.3 million to Missouri. That money helps pay […]
Biden OKs release of 1 million barrels of oil a day from reserve, calls for supply boost
(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden called Thursday for U.S. energy companies to do their part in lowering gasoline prices by boosting supplies of oil, saying the industry should plow record profits back into increased production. Biden also said he would release 1 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve daily for the […]
Missouri House bill would cut down on poisonous lead in school drinking water
(Missouri Independent) – Missouri children would be better protected from lead poisoning under a state legislative bill to require schools to nearly rid their drinking water of the dangerous toxin. The bill, heard Monday by the House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, would require schools to test drinking water, remove old coolers and filter water where […]
U.S. to accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, levy more sanctions on Russia
(Missouri Independent) – The White House announced a wave of new sanctions against Russia on Thursday while pledging to send more humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and welcome up to 100,000 refugees. The new economic restrictions on Russia and billions more in aid for Ukrainians were detailed as President Joe Biden huddled with the North Atlantic […]
Groups criticize racial undertones at Supreme Court confirmation hearing
Black leadership groups are speaking out about what they see as racially charged lines of questioning during the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to become a high-court justice. Conservative senators have implied Jackson may be soft on crime, friendly to terrorists at Guantanamo, and a proponent […]
Republicans push work requirements for coverage under Missouri Medicaid expansion
(Missouri Independent) – When the Good Samaritan Care Clinic opened in 2006 in Mountain View, only about 5% of the free clinic’s clients were eligible for Medicaid. When it closed late last year, that number had risen to 70%, Dr. John Roberts, one of the clinic’s founders, told the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. Medicaid […]
Ketanji Brown Jackson vows to decide U.S. Supreme Court cases from a ‘neutral posture’
(Missouri Independent) – Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson began her four-day confirmation process to become the nation’s first Black female associate justice on Monday, listening to hours of opening statements from Senate Judiciary Committee members before giving her own. In her first public remarks since President Joe Biden nominated her last month, Jackson, who grew […]
U.S. Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to start today
(Missouri Independent) – After more than two weeks of private meetings with nearly half the U.S. Senate, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, will field questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee in highly anticipated public hearings that begin today (Monday). Members of the panel will question Jackson for […]
Audio: Missouri Senate to consider tax cut measures
Missouri state lawmakers have various tax-cutting and tax credit proposals to consider this session. As Joey Parker tells us, some legislators have been working years to make changes to the state’s tax code. Other tax credit proposals are geared at those who don’t have a badge. St. Louis Senator Steven Roberts sponsors Senate […]
Biden urges city leaders to take advantage of billions in federal relief funds
(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden on Monday urged local and city governments to continue to use the $130 billion in funds allocated to them from the American Rescue Plan to help during the pandemic. The president of the National League of Cities, Vince Williams of Union City, Georgia, introduced the president to attendees of […]
Pressure ramps up to halt Trump-era policy that expels migrants at the border
(Missouri Independent) – Senate Democrats and immigration advocates are pushing the White House to end a controversial Trump-era immigration policy enacted during the pandemic that allowed U.S. officials to expel migrants and asylum seekers at the border. “I continue to be disappointed, deeply disappointed, in the administration’s response,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York […]