The head of the Missouri Department of Social Services is scheduled to appear before a panel of lawmakers Wednesday about the agency’s handling of abuse investigations within boarding schools. The Missouri House Special Committee on Government Oversight has called a Wednesday afternoon hearing to question the department’s acting director, Jennifer Tidball. The Kansas City Star has […]
(Missouri Independent) – The House Budget Committee will submit its revisions to Gov. Mike Parson’s $34.1 billion state operating budget to the full House this week without the benefit of clear guidelines for spending new infusions of federal cash. The committee must also decide whether and how it will use a record general revenue surplus. The fund’s cash balance […]
(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged the U.S. Senate to immediately pass legislation to close loopholes on background checks for guns and to ban assault weapons, following a mass shooting that killed 10 at a Colorado supermarket. “This should not be a partisan issue,” Biden said. “This is an American issue.” Biden’s […]
Trenton’s Building and Nuisance Board on Monday evening reviewed the status of four properties of concern. During a public comment portion of the meeting, Ed Arnold provided pictures of a residential location on Jefferson Street that he described as in dire need of cleanup. He mentioned it was across the street from his mother’s home […]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently amended the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act Declaration to allow more qualified professionals to serve as COVID-19 vaccinators. This action surpasses current Missouri standing orders for vaccine administration and authorized additional categories of qualified professionals to prescribe, dispense, and administer COVID-19 vaccines anywhere in […]
The Missouri Department of Mental Health, Division of Developmental Disabilities launched a partnership with StationMD to ensure that all 15,000 Missouri residents with disabilities who are on a Medicaid Waiver have 24/7 access to a doctor anytime they need it. After nine months of successful utilization of StationMD’s specialized telehealth service across the state, the […]
Governor Parson is proposing an even bigger pay raise for some Missouri Department of Corrections jobs. On top of the requested two-percent salary boost for all state workers, some Corrections food service workers, officers, sergeants, and lieutenants will get anywhere from a nearly six-percent to an almost 15-percent pay hike. In a staff […]
Missouri’s governor says more than 3,600 Jackson County residents were vaccinated on Friday at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, the largest state-supported vaccination event thus far in the state. A second day of vaccinations took place Saturday morning at 9 and continued until 7 p.m. Two Missouri National Guard teams were at Arrowhead on Saturday, and […]
Two St. Louis police officers have been charged with the sexual assault of four women, including claims of drugging at least one woman’s drink. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports 38-year-old Lafeal Lawshea is accused of raping two women in 2009 and then sexually assaulting a civilian police department employee in 2019. He […]
Governor Mike Parson has announced a new coronavirus vaccination phase will open on March 29 – earlier than originally anticipated. During a Capitol press conference today, Parson says Missouri is well ahead of schedule in its vaccination plan. “The federal government has informed us that COVID-19 vaccine allotments to Missouri are projected to increase significantly […]
A performer at a Branson, Missouri, theater pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing more than $85,000 from hundreds of his own audience members who donated to his non-existent charity for foster children. “For several years, this performer took advantage of his own audiences by pulling at their heartstrings while stealing from their pockets,” said […]
Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) sent letters to Federal Trade Commission Acting Chair Rebecca Slaughter and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) calling for a public Judiciary Hearing into recent revelations that the Obama-Biden FTC failed to enforce antitrust law in a 2011 investigation of Google and […]
Donnie Hays farm in northeast Missouri is where his identity lies and where he makes his dreams come true. Hays is the sixth generation to farm the land on his family farm outside of Monroe City where he raises corn, soybeans, and pigs. Like many Missouri farms, Hays’ operation is a family business. “Working with […]
The state House of Representatives has given initial approval to a bill that would make Missouri an open enrollment state. Representative Brad Pollitt, a Republican from west-central Missouri’s Sedalia, is sponsoring the plan. He served in the public school system for about 34 years, including as a teacher and a former School Superintendent in Sedalia. […]
(Missouri Independent) – Legislation creating a path to citizenship for undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children face a new border crisis and old partisan objections, diminishing the chances it will become law despite full Democratic control of Congress and the White House. On Thursday, the U.S. House is poised to pass the American […]
The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Missouri, Caldwell County Commission, USACE, and Caldwell County SWCD will host a groundbreaking ceremony to commemorate the beginning of construction on the Little Otter Creek Reservoir on March 19th, 2021. After over two decades of planning, design, reviews, and permitting, the Little Otter Creek Reservoir will begin […]
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and 16 of his colleagues reintroduced the Protect and Serve Act, legislation that would create federal penalties for individuals who deliberately target local, state, or federal law enforcement officers with violence. In 2020, more than 300 officers were shot in the line of duty and 47 officers were shot and killed, including […]
(Missouri Independent) – More than 70 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine — and along with that shot, a small paper card with the CDC’s label detailing the timing and manufacturer of the dose. Those paper cards at the moment are the only proof readily available to Americans of […]
Based upon The Livingston County Health Center’s calculation of positivity rate and other risk criteria, authorities in Chillicothe feel it is safe to end the mask declaration. According to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, face masks or face coverings are still strongly recommended in public places where social distancing cannot be maintained to […]
(Missouri Independent) – U.S. Rep. Debra Haaland made history on Monday when she became the first Native American to ever be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to hold a position in a president’s Cabinet. In a narrow 51-40 vote, senators confirmed Haaland, a New Mexico Democrat, to serve as secretary of the interior, where she […]
