The COVID-19 count continues to climb in northwest Missouri. Regional information provided this morning by the Grundy County Health Department shows since testing began, 15 counties have collectively, 22,000 thousand positive COVID-19 probable cases come in at 21,966 along with 395 COVID-19-related deaths. The Grundy County update shows an increase by ten in the positive […]
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and researchers at the University of Missouri – Columbia have been collaborating on a statewide project to test domestic wastewater for genetic markers of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Missouri’s Coronavirus Sewershed Surveillance Project is funded by a Centers for […]
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 […]
Former Missouri U.S. Senator John Danforth is weighing in on fellow Republican Josh Hawley’s effort to contest General Election results. Danforth, who endorsed Hawley, says “Lending credence to President Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen is a highly destructive attack on our constitutional government.” He says it is “the opposite of conservative; it […]
The struggle is real for Missouri when it comes to a constant shortage of K-12 public school teachers. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) wants to ramp up its teacher workforce by seizing the opportunity in a relevant setting. Dr. Paul Katnik, the assistant commissioner of the Office of Educator Quality, says […]
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 […]
The COVID pandemic has prompted the Roman Catholic Church to schedule additional Christmas Eve masses this year, and 3 pm Christmas Eve services will be allowed for the first time. Diocese of Jefferson City Bishop Shawn McKnight says the early Christmas Eve masses are the most popular ones of the year. Columbia’s Our […]
A live Christmas tree can give your home a one-of-a-kind ambiance during the holiday season. From the natural suppleness of its needles to that majestic stature, to the unmistakable evergreen aroma. But after the holidays are over, it doesn’t mean that your natural Christmas tree needs to retire. It can find a second career in […]
Death from COVID-19 has visited now every county in Missouri. Tiny Worth County along the border with Iowa has about 2,000 people. The Department of Health and Senior Services reported over the weekend that Worth was the last of 117 local health jurisdictions to have a death recorded on the department’s COVID-19 dashboard. The report, […]
If it’s a weed, spray it. That’s the mindset that most in the agriculture industry held for years, however, that thinking no longer works as more weeds become resistant to herbicides, says Kevin Bradley, University of Missouri Extension weed scientist. Bradley uses waterhemp as an example. Waterhemp is one of 14 herbicide-resistant weed species in […]
University of Missouri Extension field crop entomologist Kevin Rice says Missouri soybean and corn growers should be on the lookout for growing populations of yield-robbing insects in 2021. Soybean gall midge MU Extension found soybean gall midge in two northwestern Missouri counties in 2019. Soybean gall midge larvae feed internally in the base of soybean […]
For most Missourians, there’s no place like home for the holidays. Meredith Terpstra, with AAA, says with the pandemic still a concern, some 34-million fewer people will travel between December 23rd and January 3rd. The travel forecast is down 29-percent and it marks the first drop in year-end holiday travel since 2008, with […]
The Missouri Department of Conservation has closed the St. Joseph and Chillicothe offices to the public due to rising COVID-19 concerns. MDC staff will still be able to answer phone calls to those offices. Sales of 2021 Natural Events Calendars will continue if arrangements by phone are made for contactless pickup outside the buildings. MDC […]
The Missouri Conservation Commission recently gave final approval to the Missouri Department of Conservation for the state’s first black bear hunting season framework. The Commission finalized the hunting season framework and related regulations at its December 11 open meeting in Jefferson City. The approved framework limits any future bear hunting to areas of southern Missouri […]
Governor Mike Parson announced that Missouri’s Electoral College members will meet on Monday, December 14 at 2 p.m. at the State Capitol to cast their votes for President and Vice President of the United States. The meeting and subsequent vote of the electors provide the official assignment of Missouri’s 10 electoral votes to the candidates […]
To safely and effectively manage the deer population in some state parks, managed deer hunts are held in a coordinated effort between the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Division of State Parks and the Missouri Department of Conservation. The following parks may be temporarily closed on the specified dates listed below. Bennett Spring State Park […]
The U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and six other federal law enforcement agencies announced the completion of the third annual Money Mule Initiative, a coordinated operation to disrupt the networks through which transnational fraudsters move the proceeds of their crimes. Money mules are individuals who assist fraudsters by receiving […]
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports 10 people died in traffic crashes during this year’s Thanksgiving holiday counting period–from 6 p.m. Wednesday, November 25, 2020, through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, November 29, 2020. During the Thanksgiving holiday counting period, troopers report the following traffic statistics for 2020: Crashes ─ 321 Injuries ─ 72 Fatalities ─ 9 DWI ─ 100 Drug Arrests ─ […]
Market analyst Clayton Pope takes issue with the contention that current higher soybean prices are demand-driven. Pope concedes that USDA’s 75-million-bushel jump in soybean exports is significant for the market, but he says the August to November soybean supply dropped 346 million bushels. “Calling this a demand market is a little bit of a misnomer, […]
(Missouri Independent) – In early July, the Columbia City Council passed an ordinance requiring everyone over 10 years old to wear a face mask when in close contact with someone from outside their household. Since that vote, a requirement for face masks has been in every health order issued for the city of 123,000 by the Columbia-Boone […]
