DISCLAIMER: This article is a commentary. The statements and opinions contained in the article are those of the author, Tim Gibbons. The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of KTTN/KGOZ Radio, staff, management, or webmaster. (Missouri Independent) – Last month, Missouri Rural Crisis Center held a telephone town […]
The Grundy County Health Department reports three new COVID-19 cases since its last report on April 27th, which brings the total to 1,070. Four cases are active. It is noted there were nine new COVID-19 cases in April. The health dependent reports 21.4% of Grundy County residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 24.4% have […]
(Missouri Independent) – Missouri lawmakers must finish work on the fiscal 2022 budget by Friday. And while the biggest spending issue of the session, Medicaid expansion, is off the table, there are other big issues to resolve in the state-run health care program. One of the largest is whether to provide a cushion for hospitals that […]
The Missouri Senate has passed a $34 billion state budget proposal without funding an expansion of Medicaid. The upper chamber sided with the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Missouri House of Representatives by rejecting attempts to put expansion funding into the budget that begins in July. Gov. Mike Parson’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2022 […]
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Bob Casey (Pa.) introduced a resolution honoring Carl Lutz, a Swiss diplomat who saved more than 50,000 people – half of the surviving Jewish population of Budapest – from deportation to concentration camps during the Holocaust. While working in Nazi-occupied Hungary, Lutz obtained permission from Nazi leadership to issue […]
The fight to expand Medicaid coverage is not over yet in Missouri. The state Senate is expected to work Wednesday and Thursday on the 34-billion dollar state budget, which could include an effort to fund expansion. Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee rejected a compromise proposal that would have funded expansion on a smaller scale. […]
A Missouri State University survey of eight-thousand K-12 public school teachers says 1 in 10 educators plan to leave the field this year. Doctor Jon Turner, an associate professor at the university, says about 62-percent of those likely to quit point to challenges caused by the coronavirus. He says rural teachers have weathered the pandemic […]
A tractor-trailer truck hit a bridge rail and caught fire on Highway 36 east of Chillicothe early Saturday. Chillicothe and Wheeling firefighters extinguished the blaze with the damage described by Chillicothe Fire Department Captain Derrick Allen as a total loss to the truck and trailer from the crash and fire. Diesel fuel spilled into Medicine […]
The Missouri House and the Senate Appropriations Committee have voted against Governor Parson’s request to fund Medicaid expansion. Parson, a Republican, asked for more than 100-million dollars to fund the voter-approved measure that would allow other 275-thousand low-income adults to become eligible for government-funded healthcare. During a press conference at the Missouri Capitol, Governor Parson […]
The Grain Belt Express project plans to run wind power transmission lines across eight rural counties in northern Missouri—from Buchanan through Ralls. Though the Public Service Commission has approved it and the commission’s approval won a court challenge, agricultural opponents have once again found support in the Legislature. The Missouri House passed HB 527 to stop utility […]
Voters in Missouri approved a ballot initiative expanding Medicaid. If the state funds it, Missouri will be on track to receive more than $1 billion in federal incentives. As lawmakers continue their debate on whether to fund voter-approved Medicaid expansion in Missouri, pediatricians say lack of access to high-quality health care can lead to long-lasting […]
(Missouri Independent) – On the heels of a historic cold snap that left thousands across the Midwest without power, Kansas and Missouri residents could soon reap the benefits of a massive high-powered transmission line delivering renewable energy. Grain Belt Express, a project a decade in the making, is starting to acquire land along its route spanning […]
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) thank the thousands of Missouri deer hunters who donated 238,920 pounds of venison to the state’s Share the Harvest program this past deer season, including 4,787 whole deer. MDC and CFM also thank the participating meat processors throughout the state who grind […]
The chairman of a Missouri House oversight committee says the case of a bus driver who won his appeal with the state Department of Labor over unemployment overpayments will have large implications. Missouri House Special Committee on Government Oversight Chair Jered Taylor of Nixa tells the state labor director there are hundreds of cases just […]
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit against President Joe Biden, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, and several other members of President Biden’s administration to reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) enacted by President Trump and work toward combating migrant trafficking, securing the border, and ending the border […]
The Grundy County Commission on April 13th went over election results and terminated the county’s emergency declaration in regard to the pandemic. Presiding Commissioner Phillip Ray reports the county will follow state statutes on the ordinance involving enforcement of brush control adjacent to county roads. Landowners will be allowed 30 days from the delivery of […]
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) announced that they have introduced the bipartisan Access to Breast Cancer Diagnosis Act. The legislation would make breast cancer diagnostic tests more accessible and affordable. “Early breast cancer detection saves lives,” said Blunt. “Unfortunately, many Americans had to postpone preventive care – including breast cancer screenings […]
A coalition that’s dedicated to improving the well-being of Missouri children is praising the Missouri House’s bipartisan approval of a 76-million dollar increase for foster and adoptive children. Kids Win Missouri policy director Craig Stevenson says the House budget includes unprecedented support for the kinship and foster families who care for the 14,000 children in […]
A northwest Missouri state senator who worked to exempt federal stimulus payments from state income tax last year will work to keep the state’s hands off the latest round of checks. Senator Tony Luetkemeyer, a Republican from Parkville, says the state should not be taxing checks meant to help people during a time of crisis. […]
Missouri and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are launching a new eight-week program on Wednesday that will provide 168-thousand coronavirus vaccines in St. Louis. The program will allow three thousand people to get vaccinated seven days a week at the Dome at America’s Center. During a press conference today in St. Louis, Governor Parson says […]
