Childcare Center from Unsplash website

‘Won’t be able to survive’: Childcare centers serving low-income Missourians face closure

(Missouri Independent) – Cortaiga Collins doesn’t know how much longer her childcare center will survive. Only about a dozen children have been attending regularly amid the pandemic. Under normal circumstances, she used to serve as many as 100.  She’s already had to reduce the hours that Good Shepherd Preschool and Infant/Toddler Center in St. Louis […]

Accident-Crash graphic

Two injured in crash on Highway 139 near Harris

Two drivers were injured when their vehicles collided late Tuesday afternoon on Highway 139 near Harris, in western Sullivan county. Twenty-two-year-old Brady Huffman of Galt received serious injuries and was taken by ambulance to the Northeast Regional Medical Center in Kirksville, while 20-year-old Zoe Littleton of Maryville received minor injuries and was taken by a […]

Amendment 3: Missouri with checkmark graphic

Voters repeal Clean Missouri redistricting plan they enacted in 2018

(Missouri Independent) – Missouri voters on Tuesday repealed a constitutional amendment they enacted in 2018 that would have required legislative districts be drawn to ensure partisan fairness. They replaced it with one that critics contend could forgo the use of total population to draw districts and instead exclude all non-voters, specifically children and non-citizens — tilting the political […]

North Central Missouri Development Alliance or NCMDA

NCMDA board member Jackie Soptic: “Technology and internet revolutionize economic development”

North Central Missouri Development Alliance Board Member Jackie Soptic says technology and the internet have revolutionized economic development. Site selectors and companies can visit a location from their home or office by reading statistics and demographic information.     The United States Census also provides data on demographics. Soptic says that data should be used […]

Trenton R-9 School District

Trenton High School and Department of Conservation partner to plant a “Native Plant Garden” on campus

Students at Trenton High School recently added a native plant garden to their campus in partnership with the Missouri Department of Conservation and Quail Forever. Members of the school’s Future Farmers of America chapter organized the planting. Native wildflowers and grasses can provide beauty and benefit pollinator insects such as butterflies. Students prepared planting beds […]

Little Otter Creek Reservoir graphic

Contractor bidding process to begin this Fall in preparation to construct Little Otter Creek Lake in Caldwell County

A contractor bidding process is to begin this fall to prepare for the construction of a 344-acre multipurpose reservoir in Caldwell County. This comes after all agencies involved approved the Little Otter Creek Lake to move forward to begin construction after nearly 25 years of planning, design, reviews, and permitting. The primary purpose of the […]

Missouri Department of Conservation Trim Grant website

Missouri Department of Conservation awards grant funding for community forest improvements

The Missouri Department of Conservation recently awarded $366,446 to Missouri communities through its Tree Resource Improvement and Maintenance (TRIM) grant program. TRIM grants offer cost-share funding for government agencies, schools, and nonprofit groups to manage, improve or conserve trees on public lands. “TRIM grants help communities with tree management-related activities that help keep neighborhood trees […]

CARES Act Graphic

Over $5 million in CARES Act grants announced to expand child care services on Missouri college campuses

Governor Mike Parson announced that five Missouri colleges are grant recipients of over $5 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Child Care Plan funding to improve the quality and availability of child care and early education programs. “Access to quality child care is critical for working families, and attending college is […]