(Missouri Independent) – Most of the enormous surplus accumulating in Missouri’s general revenue fund will be off-limits to members of the House Budget Committee when it prepares the fiscal year 2023 spending plan for floor debate. Gov. Mike Parson’s $47.3 billion budget proposal projects a $1.6 billion general revenue surplus at the end of June 2023. […]
Federal officials have confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Stoddard, Bates, Jasper, and Lawrence Counties. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory, in Ames, Iowa, confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic influenza in the flocks. Samples are delivered to the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Missouri for testing if […]
An investigation into an armed and violent drug-trafficking organization led to the arrests of 25 Kansas City, Missouri, area residents this week in an operation that involved more than 200 law enforcement officers from multiple local and federal agencies. “This operation removed a large number of armed and dangerous drug dealers from the streets of […]
A Sedalia man was injured when a pickup truck overturned two miles north of Linneus the afternoon of March 10th. The Highway Patrol reports 27 year old Christopher Duffey refused medical treatment of minor injuries. The pickup traveled south on Highway 5 before running off the right side of the road and overturning. The vehicle […]
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s Securities Division has announced that Missouri is the first state to adopt rules requiring investment advisor representatives to ask their customers if they have a trusted contact. A trusted contact, as defined by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), is the person you authorize your financial advisor or firm to […]
More information has been released about the Trenton Green Hills Women’s Shelter’s restructuring. Executive Director Lisa Dicks reports one reason for restructuring is because when the shelter moved from the “typical-style residential home” into the new structure, the service delivery model stayed the same. She says that as time passed, needs have changed. Other things […]
The Laredo R-7 Board of Education on March 7th took action on health insurance for 2022-2023. Ozarks School Benefits Association was accepted. The school will pay $540 plus vision and life insurance. Secretary Robin Griswold reports employees can choose between seven different plans, including HSAs and PPOs. Some of the plans cost more than $540. […]
The Community Food Pantry of Grundy County commodity distribution scheduled for March 10th has been postponed due to pending weather conditions. This was done as a safety measure for patrons and volunteers. The event at the food pantry in Trenton has been rescheduled for March 17th at the regular times. Individuals needing emergency commodities are […]
Missouri’s 2022 statewide tornado drill will be held today (Tuesday, March 8, 2022) at 10 a.m. This is an opportunity for Missourians to practice their sheltering plans and ensure readiness in case of a severe weather emergency while at home, work, or school. Each year, the National Weather Service chooses the date of Missouri’s statewide […]
Federal officials have confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza in a commercial chicken flock in Stoddard County, Missouri. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic influenza (HPAI) in the commercial broiler chicken flock. Samples were delivered to the Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Missouri for […]
The Highway Patrol reports a La Plata man sustained serious injuries when the utility terrain vehicle he drove overturned one mile north of South Gifford on Wednesday afternoon, March 2nd. A private vehicle took 50-year-old Michael Gunnels to Samaritan Hospital in Macon. The UTV was in a field on private property, made a turn, and […]
Legislation that would expand the number of places conceal-carry permit holders can carry guns is ready for debate in the State Senate. A State Senate committee passed the bill Tuesday, which would allow conceal-carry permit holders to carry guns onto the floor of the House or Senate, or to meetings of any local […]
PAR Broadcasting received a news release from PETA that claims, in part, the Sullivan County Prosecuting Attorney should investigate an incident at the Smithfield Farmland Foods plant near Milan. Quoting the news release, PETA says it obtained USDA documentation revealing workers kicked a pig, eliciting a cry, and struck other pigs with the use of […]
A former Delaware doctor was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for unlawful drug distribution and maintaining a drug-involved premises. Patrick Titus, 58, of Milford, was convicted by a federal jury in July 2021 of 13 counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances and one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises. “This sentence […]
A Missouri man was sentenced in federal court after law enforcement officers seized more than two kilograms of methamphetamine from his residence. Walter M. Terrell, 37, of Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 13 years in federal prison without parole. On Sept. 1, 2021, Terrell pleaded guilty to one count […]
The Jamesport Tri-County R-7 Board of Education will discuss salary and benefits for 2022-2023. The board will meet in the school library on March 9, 2022, at 6 pm. Other items on the agenda include a financial audit, the Safe Return to In-Person Instruction, and Continuity of Services Plan, technology, fundraising requests, summer school, and […]
(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address is set to focus significantly on the economy, with the former member of the U.S. Senate calling on Congress to pass much of the agenda stalled in the so-called Build Back Better bill. During the Tuesday night speech, which begins at 9 p.m. […]
On Dec. 10, 2021, severe storms and six confirmed tornadoes in Missouri killed two people and destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and buildings, as well as 20 large transmission towers and lines that move power between Missouri and Arkansas. The storm system serves as another reminder that deadly tornadoes can strike any time of […]
Missouri’s supplemental budget bill signed into law Thursday includes a provision to block patients who rely on Medicaid from accessing Planned Parenthood health centers. Federal Medicaid law protects patients’ rights to choose their providers, including Planned Parenthood. Michelle Trupiano, executive director of the Missouri Family Health Council, noted because of the Hyde Amendment, Medicaid cannot cover abortions, […]
(Missouri Independent) – Americans may be tempted to view the war in Ukraine as an unfortunate, but far away, crisis. As an economist, I know the world is too connected for the U.S. to go unaffected. On Feb. 22, 2022, President Joe Biden warned Americans that a Russian invasion of Ukraine – and U.S. efforts to thwart or […]
