The Spickard R-2 Board of Education on February 21st adopted the school calendar for 2022-2023. School will start on August 24th with dismissal at 1 pm. The last day of school is scheduled for May 17th, 2023. The calendar includes full-day professional development once a month instead of early dismissal Wednesdays. There will not be […]
Missouri has roughly 330,000 lead service lines, the pipes connecting water mains to buildings including people’s homes, and federal funding could help speed up the process of removing and replacing them. The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress last year includes $15 billion for lead-pipe replacement, building on funds from the American Rescue Plan. Erik D. Olson, senior strategic director at […]
(Missouri Independent) – On a recent Tuesday evening in southeastern Missouri, John Freeze stood in front of yet another angry group of constituents. Some here believe the number of COVID-19 deaths are being purposefully inflated for financial gain. Among the culprits, in their mistaken view: Hospitals seeking Medicare reimbursements; The federal government, led by Dr. Anthony […]
(Missouri Independent) – This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News. Aneka French applied for Medicaid in October, not long after Missouri became the 38th state to expand eligibility for the program. But her application sat for months in a backlog with tens of thousands of others. While she waited, French, 45, an uninsured medical […]
The Galt Board of Aldermen on February 16th approved ordinances involving utilities and the maintenance employee. City Clerk Ashley Bonnett reported the ordinances were related to Galt selling its electric system to the Grundy Electric Cooperative last year. The utility disconnection policy was revised, and the water reconnection fee is now $75. The reconnection fee […]
The Gallatin Board of Aldermen approved bids for a skid loader and roof repairs on February 14th. The purchase of a Cat skid loader was approved from Foley Equipment for $88,951.15 with an extended warranty and delivery in one week. Three other bids were submitted and ranged in price from $61,000 to $74,538.62 for other […]
The Grundy County Nursing Home District Board of Directors reviewed bids for repairs to a walk-in cooler and a new walk-in freezer on Tuesday. Eskew Mechanical Contractors, Incorporated’s bid was accepted for the repairs to the walk-in cooler for $9,250.38. A proposal from Eskew Mechanical Contractors was also selected for a new system of a […]
(Missouri Independent) – On the Friday before a drawn-out confirmation battle ended with his ouster from office, Missouri state Health Director Donald Kauerauf wrote an impassioned letter meant to convince conservative legislators who were on the fence about his appointment. The message: While he believed in vaccines and data and science, he didn’t believe in vaccine […]
Wintry storm chances will increase from late Wednesday evening through the day on Thursday. Rain is likely on Wednesday with that rain changing over to a mix Wednesday night and eventually snow on Thursday. Heavy mixed precipitation is possible with total snow accumulations of 3 to 5 inches and ice accumulations of around one-tenth of […]
(Missouri Independent) – This story was originally published as a collaboration between Investigate Midwest and Watchdog Writers Group. The American Farm Bureau Federation calls itself the “voice of agriculture,” a slogan it trademarked in 2007. But as the divide between agribusiness and small farmers has grown in recent decades, a unified voice of agriculture has become harder to […]
The gates at Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge will once again open to the public on Saturday, March 5, 2022, at 6 am. The Refuge is closed annually from late October to the first Saturday of March to allow for undisturbed habitat for migrating and wintering waterfowl. Once spring arrives the place becomes a Refuge […]
The Trenton City Council Monday night adopted two ordinances and accepted three bids. Financing is complete on $2,500,000 to make improvements at the Trenton water treatment plant. The council voted six to nothing to enter into a lease-purchase transaction with Central Bank of the Midwest at Kansas City as the lessor and Missouri Association of […]
(Missouri Independent) – This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News. The Biden administration and state officials are bracing for a great unwinding: Millions of people losing their Medicaid benefits when the pandemic health emergency ends. Some might sign up for different insurance. Many others are bound to get lost in the transition. State Medicaid […]
(Missouri Independent) – A handful of Republican lawmakers lashed out at the state’s medical marijuana industry Thursday, lobbing accusations of corruption into a Missouri House debate over whether to make it harder to amend the state’s Constitution. On a mostly party-line 98-53 vote, the Missouri House signed off on legislation Thursday that would require a two-thirds […]
A federal jury convicted a Florida doctor in the Southern District of Florida for a health care fraud scheme that billed private health insurance companies approximately $110 million for addiction treatment services that were not medically necessary. This is the second trial conviction to arise out of the Justice Department’s Sober Homes Initiative. According to […]
The Newtown-Harris R-3 Board of Education approved the district health insurance provider on February 9th. The provider will be the Ozarks School Benefits Association, and the district will pay $575.82. Contract extensions were approved for Superintendent Doctor Lucas McKinnis and Kindergarten through 12th Grade Principal Kim Palmer. Counselor Megan Brown’s resignation was approved. The board […]
(Missouri Independent) – As a young girl, state Rep. Raychel Proudie remembers when the beads in her hair would clap together as she walked. Her teachers would call it a “distraction” — the same way they did when her hair was “too high.” “You would come home and tell your mom, or she would get […]
Missouri State Parks will be launching an enhanced online reservation system at 7 a.m. Tuesday, February 15, 2022. To complete the upgrade, Missouri State Parks will not be accepting new reservations, changes, or cancellations from 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13 through 6:59 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15. This includes online reservations at this link, phone reservations […]
(Missouri Independent) – The Missouri House approved a $4.6 billion supplemental spending bill Wednesday that would give all state workers a pay raise. But lawmakers refused to go along with Gov. Mike Parson’s plan for a $15 an hour base wage for all state employees, instead offering that salary only to select workers. The bill would also […]
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources awarded a $50,000 Clean Water Engineering Report Grant to the city of Kidder to evaluate the city’s wastewater system. The grant offers funding to qualified communities to help cover engineering costs for evaluating water and wastewater system improvements. The city will use the grant to identify wastewater system improvements […]
