COVID-19 Delta Variant

COVID cases among children rising as Missouri Delta variant wave enters fifth month

(Missouri Independent) – Clay LaRue, superintendent of the Van Buren R-1 School District, made a tough decision Sunday. With COVID-19 cases spiking in Carter County in southeast Missouri, and many of those infections among very young children, LaRue shut down the district’s pre-kindergarten program for two weeks. He had previously directed faculty, staff, and students […]

Notice of Eviction

Missouri fielding “high volume” of calls for rental assistance as evictions resume

(Missouri Independent) – Calls from tenants seeking emergency rental assistance are escalating in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that blocked a national eviction moratorium. The Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) has 60 application processors working to distribute hundreds of millions in federal aid and has been fielding about 500 calls and responding to […]

Chronic Wasting Disease CWD

Missouri Department of Conservation reminds deer hunters to get harvested deer sampled for Chronic Wasting Disease

With deer hunting in Missouri opening for archery season on September 15 and firearms portions in the coming months, the Missouri Department of Conservation wants hunters to know key information about chronic wasting disease.  MDC will be holding mandatory CWD sampling during the opening weekend of firearms season and voluntary CWD sampling all season for […]

Mask Mandate News Graphic

Biden administration opens civil rights investigation into states banning school mask mandates

(Missouri Independent) – Federal education officials have launched civil rights investigations in five Republican-led states that have prohibited school districts from mandating mask-wearing, saying those policies could amount to illegal discrimination against students with disabilities. The Biden administration notified the education chiefs in Iowa, Tennessee, South Carolina, Utah, and Oklahoma of the investigations through formal letters Monday. The new investigations will examine […]

Missouri Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Audio: Missouri pediatricians group responds to attorney general’s lawsuit about school masking requirements

The Missouri Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics is responding to Attorney General Eric Schmitt suing to block mask mandates in Missouri’s K-12 public schools. Schmitt, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, says a mask mandate “flies in the face of science, especially given children’s low risk of severe illness and death and their […]

Missouri School Boards Association

Audio: Missouri School Board Association leader responds to attorney general’s lawsuit challenging school mask requirements

State Attorney General Eric Schmitt is suing Columbia Public Schools and any Missouri K-12 public school requiring students and staff to wear masks. Schmitt, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, says a mask mandate “flies in the face of science, especially given children’s low risk of severe illness and death and their low risk of […]

Hospital Bed (Photo by Frederic Köberl on Unsplash)

Missouri ICUs filling as Delta variant wave moves into northeast, southeast regions

(Missouri Independent) – New cases from the Delta variant wave that has killed more than 1,150 Missourians since June 1 have plateaued, but hospital ICUs continue to fill — and small, rural hospitals are among the hardest hit. There were 690 patients in ICU beds across the state on Tuesday, the most recent day reported by the state Department of Health […]