More than 200,000 Missouri kids are facing food insecurity, according to the Missouri Kids Count 2021 Data Book. Today is the last day of a summer nutrition program in Cole and Osage counties, which has provided weekly meal ingredients, a gift certificate, and even free books to hundreds of children in the area. Elizabeth Anderson, Osage […]
(Missouri Independent) – Colored hard hats distinguish different roles and jobs at Seaboard Foods, a major meatpacking plant in Guymon, Oklahoma. Senior management have green. Supervisors wear dark blue. Foreign workers on visas don yellow-green. But Seaboard is part of a small but growing trend in the meatpacking industry, which already largely relied on an […]
Refugees from Afghanistan are beginning to arrive in Missouri. Missourinet’s Brent Palm has more on the story. Some of the first refugees flew into St. Louis Lambert International Airport over the weekend. One man named Mohammed told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that “it’s very nice to be here” and said he really […]
A new study from the consulting firm McKinsey finds that American kids are returning to school on average 4 to 5 months behind in their education – and 5 to 7 months behind for children from low-income areas and communities of color. As a result, many non-profits have stepped in to help, providing meals, school supplies, […]
(Missouri Independent) – The Missouri Department of Social Services must allow newly eligible residents that qualify for benefits under voter-approved Medicaid expansion to enroll and cannot impose greater restrictions on them, a Cole County judge ruled Tuesday. Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem sided with the plaintiffs who urged him to allow Medicaid expansion to take […]
The Missouri Department of Conservation congratulates Carlin Allison of Doniphan on a rare feat, catching a state record American eel. Allison was catfishing on the Current River July 26 when he reeled in the 6-pound, 15-ounce eel on his pole-and-line. This makes the ninth state record fish recorded in 2021. “I was using skipjack bait […]
(Missouri Independent) – Many of the staff and residents in Shunda Whitfield’s St. Louis County nursing home were sick before they even realized what was going on. It was April 2020, and masks weren’t yet standard practice. Little was known about COVID before it swept through nursing homes, and as a certified nursing assistant, Whitfield […]
(Missouri Independent) – Eight months after her son was born, Webster Groves High School teacher Jaime Adamski broke down in tears at her doctor’s office. Her breast milk had declined significantly since she had gone back to work. “I was depressed, angry, frustrated,” she said. “I felt like I was not a good enough mother […]
The pandemic paused many facets of life, and a new report says wellness checkups for children were among them. With school resuming this fall, research from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute urges Missourians to get kids caught up on preventive care. Mercy Hospital of St. Louis pediatrician Dr. Maya Moody is president-elect of the Missouri chapter […]
(Missouri Independent) – The summer surge of infection tied to the easily spread Delta variant of COVID-19 is accelerating in Missouri, with state health officials on Wednesday reporting the highest case total since mid-January. The Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,995 additional cases, with at least one case in 105 of the state’s 117 local […]
Governor Mike Parson announced $4 million in new grant opportunities to combat crimes against children and to provide additional funding to agencies that provide services to crime victims. “The last two years have created hardships and strained resources across the nation, but the reported rise in crimes affecting children and the difficulties experienced by agencies […]
Samuel Meservey from Chula, Missouri, has been selected as North Central Missouri College’s Outstanding Student for July. Sam, an A+ student, is a sophomore working toward his Associate in Arts transfer degree. After graduating from NCMC, Sam plans to transfer his two-year degree to Northwest Missouri State University and complete a bachelor’s degree in business […]
Redistricting reformers urged the people charged with drawing new voting-district maps in Missouri to commit to putting the voters over partisan interests. Governor Mike Parson has appointed a bipartisan group of commissioners to draw state legislative maps. The Legislature draws congressional maps. Caroline Fan, founder and president of the Missouri Asian American Youth Foundation said in […]
(Missouri Info Corps) – New crop diseases pervading Missouri have been linked to climate change, and they’re directly impacting crop production. Climate change has already made Missouri a little more hot and humid but has also caused some diseases for crops like corn and soybeans to become more prevalent. If not treated properly, farmers could […]
Community partnerships in Missouri are working to help young people, either in or aging out of foster care, connect with the resources they need to start their independent lives, and the pandemic has brought added financial hardship for many. DeWayne Bright, Sr., youth advocate for the Local Investment Commission (LINC) in Kansas City, works with […]
(Missouri Independent) – Kendra Findley had thought the Springfield area had seen the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in December — a month when cases regularly surpassed 200 a day and that saw a record 98 residents die of the virus. Looking back, that was when the Alpha variant, first identified in the U.K., was […]
(Missouri Independent) – A bipartisan coalition handed anti-abortion activists a rare defeat in the Missouri Senate Friday night, rejecting a push to ban Planned Parenthood as a Medicaid provider as it passed a bill to secure billions for the state’s Medicaid program. And only a restatement of the state’s already existing ban on using public funds to […]
After about three hours of testimony Thursday, the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee approved two bills to extend medical provider taxes vital to funding the state’s share of Medicaid. The first bill brought up for a vote would extend the taxes for five years, limit the types of contraceptives available to women on Medicaid and block Planned Parenthood from […]
Carroll County Memorial Hospital’s Board of Directors, staff, and community members said their thank-yous, farewells, and well wishes to Chief Executive Officer Jeff Tindle during a Retirement Celebration on June 11. Tindle’s retirement is effective June 30, 2021. Tindle began his service at Carroll County Memorial Hospital as Associate Administrator and Chief Financial Officer in […]
Eleven of Missouri’s largest concentrated animal feeding operations are working to reduce the state’s oversight of their hog facilities despite a record of manure spills and clean water violations. Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, has 11 CAFOs seeking new state permits. The facilities, dotted across northern Missouri, combined are capable of raising more […]
