Farmers of color are urging Congress to end a slew of lawsuits delaying a loan-forgiveness program designed to make amends for years of loan discrimination against minority farmers. White farmers are claiming in court Congress’s $4 billion debt relief for Black farmers, part of a COVID-19 stimulus package, amounts to reverse discrimination. John Boyd Jr., president of […]
Southeast Missouri Congressman Jason Smith says every agribusiness in the state is dealing with worker shortages. Smith, a Republican from Salem, says the biggest problem with the worker shortage is the government is paying more people to stay home than it is for them to get a job. Federal pandemic unemployment insurance ended […]
(Missouri Independent) – Despite increasing legal access to medical and recreational cannabis in states across the U.S., veterans face unfair treatment and stigmatization because the U.S. refuses to recognize marijuana as a viable treatment option. While the VA has embraced the federally illegal status of the drug, agency policy does not allow discrimination against veterans […]
(Missouri Independent) – Under a new state law that went into effect late last month, Missouri will become the final state to enforce a federal law designed to ensure mental health care is covered by insurance providers the same as treatments for physical ailments. The provisions were included in House Bill 604, an omnibus insurance bill […]
(Missouri Independent) – A trial will be held in early November to determine whether a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Centene will take over the contract for prison health care in the Missouri Department of Corrections. In a hearing Thursday, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green set Nov. 3 as the first day in the trial where current […]
(Missouri Independent) – A provision tucked in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package would direct Congress to chart a path for citizenship for millions of undocumented people. If passed, the House provision would provide a pathway to citizenship for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, often referred to as Dreamers, farmworker workers; those […]
The Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority (MASBDA) announced the Biofuel Infrastructure Incentive Program (BIIP) to increase the distribution and use of biofuels in the state of Missouri. Funds will be awarded to fuel retailers, fuel distributors, terminal companies, or fleet operations that dispense, or will soon store or dispense, ethanol blends of E15 […]
Low-interest federal disaster loans are now available to certain private nonprofit organizations in Missouri following President Biden’s federal disaster declaration for Public Assistance as a result of severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding that occurred June 24 – July 1, 2021, announced Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Private nonprofits […]
(Missouri Independent) – Calls from tenants seeking emergency rental assistance are escalating in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that blocked a national eviction moratorium. The Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) has 60 application processors working to distribute hundreds of millions in federal aid and has been fielding about 500 calls and responding to […]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is updating the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2 (CFAP 2) for contract producers of eligible livestock and poultry and producers of specialty crops and other sales-based commodities. CFAP 2, which assists producers who faced market disruptions in 2020 due to COVID-19, is part of USDA’s broader Pandemic Assistance for Producers […]
The Grundy County Commission received an update on August 31st on the streambank stabilization project near the Thompson River Bridge on Highway 6. Shannon Howe with the Howe Company reminded the commission they had opened bids on August 3rd, and the bids were good for 60 days. No action was taken on bids that day. […]
(Missouri Independent) – The dispute over the $1.4 billion contract to provide prisoner health care in Missouri is moving into the courts. Corizon Health, which has held the Department of Corrections contract since 1992, filed a lawsuit Monday in Cole County alleging that unfair treatment and improper scoring gave the contract to Centurion Health, a Virginia subsidiary of […]
In January, student loan borrowers will have to start paying off their loans again, as the pandemic-related pause on payment is set to expire. Now, a new report looks at ways to fix problems in the student loan system. Report co-author Michelle Dimino – senior education policy advisor at Third Way, a public policy think tank in […]
There’s a push to make Missouri the 20th state to legalize recreational marijuana. Brent Palm has more on the Legal Missouri 2022 campaign, The group filed a citizens’ ballot initiative with the Missouri Secretary of State’s office that would allow residents age 21 and older to possess, grow and use marijuana. The proposed […]
(Missouri Independent) – New cases from the Delta variant wave that has killed more than 1,150 Missourians since June 1 have plateaued, but hospital ICUs continue to fill — and small, rural hospitals are among the hardest hit. There were 690 patients in ICU beds across the state on Tuesday, the most recent day reported by the state Department of Health […]
(Missouri Independent) -The U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of the Biden administration’s last-ditch effort to extend a federal ban on evictions has put hundreds of thousands of American renters at risk of losing their housing — and is increasing pressure on states and localities to get rental assistance dollars distributed faster. In an eight-page majority opinion […]
Charges have been filed regarding a homicide investigation involving the death of a Northwest Missouri State University graduate student and her daughter. The Boone County Sheriff’s Office reports 45-year old J. T. McLean, the long-term boyfriend of 43-year-old Allison Abitz, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the murder of Allison and […]
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has activated a state contract with SLSCO of Galveston, Texas, to provide monoclonal antibody (mAb) infusion treatment for 30 days at sites in the following counties: Jackson, Pettis, Scott, Butler, and Jefferson. This contract follows Governor Mike Parson’s August 11 announcement that $15 million would be committed to staffing, equipment, and […]
Governor Mike Parson announced the winners of the first drawing of the MO VIP. At the time of the August 13 drawing, a total of 495,296 MO VIP entries were received. The MO VIP incentivizes vaccination for those who have not yet been vaccinated, as well as provides an opportunity for rewards for the more […]
The Missouri Public Service Commission has established the deadline for those wishing to intervene and participate in a natural gas rate case filed by The Empire District Gas Company d/b/a Liberty. Applications to intervene and participate in this case must be filed no later than September 27, 2021, with the Secretary of the Missouri Public […]
