Jessica Busker

Chillicothe woman accused of operating illegal daycare has bond amended to “own recognizance”

A Chillicothe woman accused of operating an illegal daycare out of a home had her bond amended in the Associate Division of Livingston County Circuit Court on March 29th. Online court information shows 24-year-old Jessica Maurine Busker’s bond was amended to own recognizance posting pending making bond in Greene and Warren counties. No bond was […]

Private School

Audio: Lawmakers to question Missouri DSS chief about boarding school abuse investigations

The head of the Missouri Department of Social Services is scheduled to appear before a panel of lawmakers Wednesday about the agency’s handling of abuse investigations within boarding schools. The Missouri House Special Committee on Government Oversight has called a Wednesday afternoon hearing to question the department’s acting director, Jennifer Tidball. The Kansas City Star has […]

President Joe Biden Photo Courtesy of the White House

Biden calls on U.S. Senate to act on background checks after Colorado mass shooting

(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged the U.S. Senate to immediately pass legislation to close loopholes on background checks for guns and to ban assault weapons, following a mass shooting that killed 10 at a Colorado supermarket. “This should not be a partisan issue,” Biden said. “This is an American issue.” Biden’s […]

Little Otter Creek Reservoir graphic

Groundbreaking ceremony set for Caldwell County’s Little Otter Creek Reservoir March 19, 2021

The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Missouri, Caldwell County Commission, USACE, and Caldwell County SWCD will host a groundbreaking ceremony to commemorate the beginning of construction on the Little Otter Creek Reservoir on March 19th, 2021. After over two decades of planning, design, reviews, and permitting, the Little Otter Creek Reservoir will begin […]

Trenton Utility Committee

Trenton Utility Committee presented details on financial impact of extremely cold weather in February

Trenton’s Utility Committee heard details Tuesday evening on the preliminary financial impact for TMU regarding substantially-increased prices for natural gas and the electric market due to the prolonged extreme cold weather last month. Trenton Municipal Utility Comptroller Rosetta Marsh says having a large reserve in the electric department will help Trenton withstand the higher costs […]

Titus Kottwitz

Seventh grade Trenton Middle School student, Titus Kottwitz, wins spelling bee in St. Joseph on his own “volition”

A Trenton seventh-grader, Titus Kottwitz, won the Northwest Missouri Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday in St. Joseph. The Trenton Middle School student was among 26 spellers competing from 13 counties in northwest Missouri winning by spelling the word “volition.” There now will be preliminary, quarterfinal, and semi-final rounds held virtually to determine the national finalists […]

Jobs Report or unemployment

Missouri unemployment rate drops to 4.3% in January, 2021, down from 4.4% in December, 2020

Missouri non-farm payroll employment increased in January 2021, and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by a tenth of a percentage point. Employment, seasonally adjusted, increased by 5,900 jobs over the month, but over-the-year job losses were back above 100,000 following benchmark adjustments to 2020 estimates. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.3 percent […]

Laredo R-7 School

Laredo Board of Education accepts health insurance bid, approves field trips and renews teaching contracts

The Laredo R-7 Board of Education accepted health insurance through the Ozark Schools Benefits Association on March 8th. The district will pay $530 for 2021-2022 plus vision and life insurance. The board approved field trips. They included the eighth grade to Kansas City, kindergarten through second grade to Shatto Dairy, and third through eighth grades […]

Pilot of plane that crashed near Galt ignored suggestions to stay in Moberly until weather improved

A National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report indicates the pilot of the single-engine plane that crashed near Galt on February 8th ignored warnings about bad weather before the crash. Grundy County Coroner Dewayne Slater confirmed 85-year-old Philip Lefevre, Senior of Saint Louis, and 47-year-old Philip Lefevre, Junior of Sunset Hills, died in the crash. The […]