Missouri non-farm payroll employment increased again in December 2020, but a large increase in the civilian labor force sent unemployment higher. Employment, seasonally adjusted, increased by 10,400 jobs over the month, and over-the-year job losses from COVID-19 shutdowns fell below 100,000. However, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by 1.3 percentage points from November […]
KC-area Congressman Emanuel Cleaver will have more power in the new Congress, as a senior Democrat. He will soon become the chairman of the subcommittee of the House Finance Committee, one that oversees Housing and Insurance. Cleaver supported Biden early– and in return, Biden held a major rally in Kansas City at the […]
During a briefing at the State Capitol, Governor Mike Parson announced that the Missouri National Guard will begin assisting the Department of Health and Senior Services and other state partners in establishing COVID-19 vaccination sites across the state. A mass vaccination team will be assigned to each of Missouri’s nine Highway Patrol regions. “The Missouri […]
A proposed biofuels rule from the EPA is getting criticism from ethanol supporters. The part of the rule ethanol supporters like would address E-15 labeling and infrastructure requirements and not act on 66 petitions for Small Refinery Exemptions. Growth Energy’s Chris Bliley tells Brownfield EPA’s proposed rule is in the middle between good and bad. […]
The Highway Patrol reports a Jamesport man sustained moderate injuries when he lost control of the car he drove. The crash happened on a slush-covered road nine miles northeast of Chillicothe on January 15th, Emergency medical services transported 59-year-old Jeffrey Hale to the Hedrick Medical Center of Chillicothe. The car traveled east on Route A […]
Two off-duty Rocky Mount, Virginia police officers, were charged in federal court in the District of Columbia in connection with the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson were charged by complaint with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without […]
Two Brookfield residents have been charged in Linn County after law enforcement found what was determined to be homemade explosive devices in a residence on Caldwell Street. Twenty-nine-year-old Creed David Paul Jones faces the felonies of unlawful possession, transport, manufacture, repair, or sale of an illegal weapon; stealing—motor vehicle/watercraft/aircraft; and possession of a controlled substance […]
The movement to expand affordable legal services is receiving renewed focus since a U.S. Supreme Court Justice made a public endorsement of the idea. Conservative-leaning Justice Neil Gorsuch recently wrote an op-ed for USA Today, calling on states to find creative ways for more Americans to get free or affordable legal guidance, especially in non-criminal cases. […]
Hospitals and health departments in the state have reported immunizing their employees and front line workers with a COVID-19 vaccine. Grundy County Health Department Administrator Elizabeth Gibson reports no doses of a COVID-19 vaccine are yet available at the health department for its employees. The health department is working on getting a vaccine for individuals […]
The University of Missouri Extension will offer a three-night class on estate, succession, and retirement planning for farmers and business owners. Extension Agricultural Business Specialist Darla Campbell will teach “Your Farm, Your Business, Your Future” with other Extension specialists and a probate judge on January 19th and 26th and February 2nd from 6 to 9 […]
Missouri’s Director of Agriculture says funding for small meat processors will continue to be a priority in 2021. Chris Chinn tells Brownfield roughly $20 million of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funding for the state went towards improving existing small and medium processors and building new ones. “We could also see, approximately, maybe […]
The North Central Missouri Regional Water Commission has posted a Request for Qualifications for an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract for Phase 1A for timber harvest. This will be, likely, the smallest of multiple phases of timber harvest and tree clearing. It is approximately 90 acres where the future East Locust Creek Reservoir (ELCR) dam […]
Nineteen community water systems have been awarded a Water Fluoridation Quality Award from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fluoridation is the adjustment of fluoride in drinking water to a level that is effective for preventing tooth decay. The award recognizes those communities that achieved excellence in community water fluoridation by maintaining […]
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway has released an audit of the County Reimbursement Program, which reimburses county governments for certain costs for housing and transporting state prisoners. The program is administered by the Missouri Department of Corrections. The audit found that a combination of delayed reimbursements due to lack of state funding and increasing incarceration […]
The Missouri labor market showed further improvement in November 2020. Employment, seasonally adjusted, increased by 17,400 jobs over the month. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points from October 2020 to November 2020, and the civilian labor force increased more than 23,000. However, the labor market still showed substantial losses from […]
As of December 1, there were 77.5 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, down 1 percent from December 2019 and down 1 percent from September 1, 2020, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Other key findings in the report were: Of […]
The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control arrested Christepher Tubbs, 35, of Lebanon, Missouri, for promoting and possession of child pornography. The arrest was the result of a lengthy investigation conducted by members of the Division of Drug and Crime Control’s Digital Forensics Investigative Unit and the Missouri Digital Forensic Center. […]
Missouri’s rural counties lack mental health services despite growing financial stress and suicide rates with all of Missouri’s 99 rural counties facing a shortage of mental health professionals; 57 of them have none. The University of Missouri Extension hopes to change that through a multistate project to help farmers, ranchers, and farm families find affordable […]
Missouri’s first elk-hunting season ended Sunday with all five of the hunters selected for permits harvesting bull elk during the firearms portion December 12-20. An archery portion ran October 17-25 with no harvests. The five Missouri hunters were selected for elk-hunting permits through a random drawing of more than 19,215 permit applications, including 33 for […]
A civil complaint filed by the Department of Justice has alleged that Walmart Inc. unlawfully dispensed controlled substances from pharmacies it operated across the country and unlawfully distributed controlled substances to those pharmacies throughout the height of the prescription opioid crisis. The complaint alleges that this unlawful conduct resulted in hundreds of thousands of violations […]
