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Missouri fines CAFO, owned by Smithfield Foods, $18,000 for polluting streams with 300,000 gallons of waste

(Missouri Independent) – Regulators ordered an industrial hog farm in northern Missouri to pay more than $18,000 for spilling 300,000 gallons of manure into miles of nearby streams.  An advocate for environmentally responsible agriculture called that “pathetic,” noting the fine amounted to less than $0.04 per gallon of waste spilled.  “You’re talking about a multi-billion […]

Executive Action or session Trenton R-9 School Board

Trenton Board of Education announces resignations, new hires and salaries for school administrators

Following an executive session, the Trenton R-9 Board of Education on Tuesday night made several personnel decisions and set salaries for school administrators. Resignations were accepted from Kayla Horton for special education at the elementary level and Cara Leininger as a pre-school teacher. All probationary teachers at Trenton were offered a contract for next year. […]

Winter Storm Warning

Upcoming winter storm prompts Winter Storm Warning in northern Missouri

A Winter Storm is set to track through northern Missouri tonight (Wednesday) through Friday Morning. Accumulating Snowfall is expected tonight through early Friday morning with the greatest Snowfall into west and northwest Missouri. Periods of moderate to heavy bands of snowfall are possible. Depending on the track of the storm, residents may find their Thursday […]

Life Flight Helicopter

Two Sheridan teens injured in Monday crash; one life-flighted to hospital

Two teenagers from Sheridan were injured Monday afternoon in an accident on a snow-covered road in Worth County. The driver, 18-year-old Dillan Gavigan, was flown by a medical helicopter (Life Flight Eagle) to Mosiac Life Care in St. Joseph with serious injuries. A passenger, listed as a 13-year-old boy, received moderate injuries and was taken […]

Icy Roads News Graphic

Slick road causes Bethany woman’s pickup to skid into path of big rig on I-35

A Bethany resident was taken to the hospital following an Interstate 35 accident Monday morning four miles south of Eagleville. The highway patrol listed injuries as minor for 34-year-old Chasiti Robbins of Bethany. A private vehicle took her to Harrison County Community Hospital. The pickup Robbins was driving skidded off the right side of the […]

Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick (photo by Tim Bommel - Missouri House Communications)

Schools left ‘scrambling’ after Missouri treasurer tied bond deals to Attorney General’s COVID demands

(Missouri Independent) – It was just after 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 10, when the forms arrived from the state treasurer’s office. Without warning, and with little explanation, school superintendents discovered they were now required to certify their district had complied with Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s demands to drop all COVID-19 mitigation measures, such as […]

Winter Weather Advisory

Winter Weather Advisory issued for many northern Missouri counties north of Highway 36

The National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill has issued a Winter Weather Advisory from 7 pm Sunday evening until 6 am Monday morning for the following counties in northern Missouri. Adair, Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Clinton, Daviess, De Kalb, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Holt, Mercer, Nodaway, Platte, Putnam, Schuyler, Sullivan, and Worth counties. Counties in far northeastern […]

Guilty Plea

Former Missouri mail carrier facing 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing sports trading cards

A former mail carrier pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing nearly 100 sports trading cards worth thousands of dollars from the mail. Paul O. Robinson, 26, of Richmond, Missouri, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to a federal information that charges him with one […]

Video Poker Machines from Missouri Independent (Photo by Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent).

Push for expanded Missouri gambling puts casinos, video operators in opposing camps

(Missouri Independent) – Approving video lottery would produce more than 10 times the new state revenue of sports wagering and drive cash-prize video games of debated legality out of Missouri, a newly updated report contends. The report, prepared by Morowitz Gaming Advisors LLC and Global Gaming & Hospitality Capital Advisors LLC and paid for by companies that […]

Farm Scene

Farmers who plant cover crops will be eligible for crop insurance premium subsidies

Farmers who plant cover crops will be eligible for crop insurance premium subsidies worth $5 an acre for the second year in a row. To qualify for the payments from USDA, farmers must report their cover crop acreage to the Farm Service Agency by March 15. Last year, USDA made payments totaling $59.5 million for 12.2 million acres of cover […]

Defund The Police Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

U.S. House hearing on extremism toward minorities turns into ‘defund the police’ debate

(Missouri Independent) – Leaders of faith organizations and Historically Black Colleges and Universities told members of a U.S. House panel on Thursday how their institutions and places of worship have been roiled by bomb threats and extremism. They talked about the recent waves of bomb threats aimed at HBCUs, a terrifying hostage-taking at a Texas […]

Donald Kauerauf, the director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, speaks during a press conference at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on July 21, 2021

Before ouster, Missouri health director drafted a letter to senators that was never sent

(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 […]

Guilty Plea

Two women, former federal correctional officers, plead guilty to bribery and contraband smuggling scheme

Two former correctional officers pleaded guilty to engaging in bribery and smuggling contraband into Leavenworth Detention Center. According to court documents, Jacqueline Sifuentes, 26, of Laredo, Texas, and Cheyonte Harris, 29, of Raytown, Missouri, previously worked as correctional officers at Leavenworth Detention Center, a privately-run maximum-security federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. Sifuentes used her position […]

(photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Missouri House refuses to accept Governor Parson’s plan for $15 base pay for state jobs

(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 […]