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 […]

Missouri apprenticeship website

November 9 – 13 designated as Registered Apprenticeship Appreciation & Awareness Week

Governor Mike Parson recognized the importance of Registered Apprenticeship Programs with a proclamation to officially set apart the week of November 9-13, 2020, as Registered Apprenticeship Appreciation & Awareness Week, to coincide with National Apprenticeship Week. Now in its sixth year, National Apprenticeship Week is a nationwide celebration that gives businesses, communities, and educators the […]

Elderly person in Wheelchair

Audio: Federal data shows COVID has killed 1,400 Missouri nursing home residents and 20 workers

The latest federal information shows the coronavirus has killed more than 1,400 Missouri nursing home residents and 20 workers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report shows the figures make up nearly half of the state’s 3,100 COVID-19 deaths. Missouri has 521 federally licensed nursing homes. The report does not include assisted living centers […]

Amazon website

Amazon expands to Republic, Missouri; more than 500 jobs to be created

Seattle-based Amazon has announced that it will open its first fulfillment center in one of the fastest-growing towns in southwest Missouri. Governor Mike Parson made the announcement Thursday afternoon while briefing Capitol reporters in Jefferson City. The governor says the facility will be located in Republic. “The new fulfillment center, which is expected to launch […]

Audit Graphic

Audit of Medicaid Managed Care Program in Missouri finds millions wasted on Medicaid payments for ineligible beneficiaries

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway today released an audit of the Department of Social Services’ (DSS) Medicaid Managed Care Program, which found system limitations that resulted in millions of dollars in potential overpayments on behalf of ineligible participants. “At a time when every dollar is being stretched to deliver vital services to Missourians, state government […]

Hy-Vee Logo

Hy-Vee to offer free drive-thru breakfast for veterans and active-duty military on Veterans Day

Hy-Vee announced the start of Homefront Round-Up, its annual fundraiser in which the company teams up with customers to raise money to support veterans, active-duty military members, and their families. The fundraiser will be held November 1–15 at more than 275 Hy-Vee stores across its eight-state region. In its eighth year, Hy-Vee Homefront Round Up […]

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 […]

Presidential Election 2020

Audio: Over 800 thousand mail-in and absentee ballots cast in Missouri; 75% of voters expected to show at polls

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says nearly 828,000 mail-in and absentee ballots combined have been returned to the state’s local election authorities for the general election. In the 2016 general election, roughly 282,000 absentee votes were counted.     Ashcroft expects about 75% of Missouri’s voters to cast a ballot in the election.   […]