Several defendants received prison sentences or probation on Thursday in Grundy County Circuit Court. Mercer County Associate Judge Matthew Krohn was appointed to preside during the proceedings in Division One of Circuit Court. Princeton resident James LeRoy Houk saw his probation revoked on two drug-related counts and was sentenced to four years with the Missouri […]
State Auditor Nicole Galloway released the report of her regularly scheduled audit of Lawrence County, located in southwest Missouri. The report, which gives a rating of “fair,” is the first audit of the county since a 2016 audit gave the county a rating of “poor” – the lowest possible – and the subsequent 2017 follow-up report Auditors […]
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway released her citizen-requested audit of the City of Homestead Village, a small community near Excelsior Springs in Ray County. This audit was initiated when qualified voters in the village gathered the required number of petition signatures to trigger an audit under Missouri law. Auditors identified at least $4,348 in customer sewer payments […]
The Grundy County Commission on December 7th approved a recommendation from the Grundy County Library Board involving an appointment to the board. Deb Woodard was appointed to replace Cheryl Witten, who resigned from the library board. Grundy County Clerk Betty Spickard says the county commission was not given a reason for the resignation.
(Missouri Independent) – Faced with over a year’s delay from the state social services department on implementing extended mental health care for new moms, a bipartisan effort now aims to expand health care coverage more broadly for low-income pregnant women. Legislation filed last week by Sens. Elaine Gannon, R-De Soto, and Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, would extend […]
(Missouri Independent) – Two years ago, a company led by an influential Republican businessman faced off with the state’s environmental regulators over whether it needed to do additional testing for a chemical that health officials worried could pose a cancer risk to the company’s workers. The Moberly manufacturing facility, Orscheln Products LLC, is owned by […]
The Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services is warning citizens of a new text message scam targeting citizens and their personal information. According to website registration information, it was established on Dec. 2, 2021, and was registered using a provider from the European Union. The text message requests that citizens visit a website to […]
(Missouri Independent) – As the Senate works to finalize a major annual defense measure, there is a bipartisan push to include a requirement that all young Americans — including women — for the first time register for the military draft. The $777.9 billion measure, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, also would allocate millions to […]
Governor Mike Parson announced that he will recommend a 5.5 percent Cost of Living Adjustment and $15.00 per hour minimum base pay standard for all state employees across state government. “With many positions across state government facing turnover rates anywhere from 10-100 percent and vacancy rates from 30-100 percent, it is past time for us […]
City officials in Forsyth have implemented or are in the process of implementing the recommendations of a state audit from March that gave the lowest possible rating. State Auditor Nicole Galloway today released a follow-up review of the city’s progress on the audit’s 12 recommendations. The audit, which gave a rating of “poor,” found numerous […]
Twelve COVID-19 cases have been added for Grundy County since the health department’s update on the morning of December 1st. Health Department Administrator Elizabeth Gibson reports a total of 1,859 cases through December 1st. There have been 30 new cases this week. The number of active cases increased by nine to 36. Grundy County’s positivity […]
(Missouri Independent) – Attorney General Eric Schmitt will not appeal a consequential court ruling that strips powers from local health departments, despite a request from Missouri’s state health director to do so. In an email to The Independent, Schmitt’s spokesman said the attorney general’s office notified the Department of Health and Senior Services of its […]
The Milan C-2 School District is planning for the 2022-2023 school year and is seeking feedback on the potential of implementing a four-day school week. A survey is available on the school’s website in English, Spanish, and French. The survey in English is available by clicking HERE, The survey in Spanish is available by clicking […]
State Auditor Nicole Galloway released today her regularly scheduled audit of Harrison County, located in northwest Missouri. The report, which rated county operations as “good,” is the first audit of the county since a November 2015 audit, which resulted in a rating of “fair.” The audit found that the procedures for complying with the Sunshine Law […]
An audit of Wayne County released by State Auditor Nicole Galloway has identified several concerns with county government operations and has given a rating of “fair.” Wayne County is located in southeast Missouri. “Government officials are responsible for safeguarding taxpayer dollars. In Wayne County, our audit found several instances where safeguards were not in place, […]
The Chillicothe City Council will hold a workshop and regular meeting next week. City finances and the budget are to be discussed at the workshop in the Chillicothe Municipal Utilities meeting room on November 29, 2021, at 5 pm. The city council will consider an ordinance during the regular meeting at 5:30 that would approve […]
Trenton’s Building and Nuisance Board learned Monday evening that two properties of concern are in the process of being sold. The Walden Apartments at 1010 Avalon Street have Connie Lasher as the general manager representing Action Management and Consulting Services LLC. In an e-mail to the city, she wrote Walden Apartments is being purchased by […]
Three representatives of Rapid Removal Disposal met last night with the Trenton City Council and city officials to discuss issues regarding trash service, particularly complaints that have been received by staff at City Hall. Councilman Lance Otto led a discussion on his research on the banned breed dog ordinance as well as the dangerous dogs’ […]
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt earlier this month filed a comment letter during the comment period of a proposed USDA rule change that would affect the labeling of “fake meat” products. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office has been successful in defending a Missouri state statute that prohibits the labeling of “fake meat” products as meat. […]
State Auditor Nicole Galloway today released an audit of Sullivan County, located in northern Missouri. The report gave a rating of “fair” and highlighted several controls and procedures in county offices that need improvement. The rating is an improvement from the previous audit, which gave the lowest possible rating of “poor.” “While this audit showed […]
