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Missourians who are arrested, deemed unfit to stand trial and ordered into mental health treatment are now detained in jail for an average of eight months before being transferred to a mental health facility. And that’s “some good news,” Nora Bock, director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Division of Behavioral Health, said during […]

The post Missourians wait an average of 8 months in jail for court-ordered mental health services appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A shift is underway in the landscape of America’s utilities, and Missouri cannot afford to be left behind. For years, electric companies across the nation cited cost concerns in their resistance to clean energy. But that should be the case no longer, thanks to new federal opportunities. More of Missouri’s utilities must decide that embracing […]

The post Seizing the clean energy opportunity: Missouri’s time to shine appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Just 10 days after seeking permission to allow customers to opt out of controversial time-of-use pricing, western Missouri’s major electric utility withdrew its request with state regulators.  Under an order from the Missouri Public Service Commission, Evergy is expected next month  to implement time-of-use pricing, which places a premium on electricity prices at times of […]

The post Evergy withdraws request to make time-of-use pricing optional in Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

California and Florida have become the first states to require later public school start times, a response to reams of research showing significant advantages for high school students who can get more sleep by beginning their day at 8:30 a.m. or later. But such changes come with difficult ripple effects — upended bus schedules, later starts […]

The post Hit the snooze button: States debate later high school start times appeared first on Missouri Independent.

NEW YORK — A late-pandemic surge of new arrivals from India, Venezuela and China, reflecting people with legal visas and those fleeing across the United States’ southern border seeking asylum, helped bring more than 900,000 new immigrants to the U.S. between 2021 and 2022, according to a Stateline analysis of new census data to be released Thursday. Florida […]

The post States see influx of migrants from India, Venezuela and China appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation is responding to questions about the effectiveness of the software it uses to track information about marijuana products, including the results of state-mandated testing.  In a guidance document issued on Monday, the agency addressed questions regarding testing regulations that cannabis businesses rely on to ensure product is safe — […]

The post Missouri marijuana regulators defend product testing regime in aftermath of recall appeared first on Missouri Independent.

States engaged in decades of underfunding of land-grant Historically Black Colleges and Universities, leading to a more than $12 billion disparity with comparable white institutions, leaders of the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday. “Unacceptable funding inequities have forced many of our nation’s distinguished Historically Black Colleges and Universities […]

The post States urged by Biden administration to rectify underfunding of land-grant HBCUs appeared first on Missouri Independent.

What would your perfect job look like? You might choose to be your own boss, with space to creatively express yourself and feel fulfilled by your work. Maybe you would want day-to-day novelty, an experience that never grows stale. You might even seek a job that would allow you to pick up and move around […]

The post The challenges of being a teacher in Missouri don’t outweigh the massive benefits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends new COVID-19 booster vaccines for all — but many who need them most won’t get them. About 75% of people in the United States appear to have skipped last year’s bivalent booster, and nothing suggests uptake will be better this time around. “Urging people to get boosters has really […]

The post A new COVID booster is here. Will those at greatest risk get it? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Karina Hernandez’s ideal work environment is surrounded by plants, with her hands in the dirt.  Although she already has a biology degree, she recently decided to go back to school to take classes in horticulture at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, the state’s largest horticulture program.  And she was surprised to see courses on […]

The post Missouri colleges expand cannabis programs to prepare students for ‘green jobs’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Within 24 hours of posting, a Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services tweet posted Wednesday racked up over 250,000 views and 140 comments: A staggering difference from their usual engagement. The same messaging did numbers on Facebook as well, with over 140 comments and 50 shares by Friday. So, what accounts for this sudden […]

The post COVID vaccine post from Missouri health department sparks backlash on social media appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Now that a new school year has begun, each of us has an opportunity to decide how we will help children learn. Many school districts in Missouri and across the nation are facing an additional challenge over and above the usual ones in providing the best educational preparation for the children in their care. The […]

The post Closing Missouri’s education deficits is everyone’s responsibility appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden dispatched two senior administration officials to Detroit on Friday after the United Auto Workers union began a historic strike against the Big Three auto companies amid a contract dispute. “Over the past decade auto companies have seen record profits, including over the last few years because of the extraordinary skill […]

The post Automakers’ record profits not shared with workers, Biden says as UAW strike launches appeared first on Missouri Independent.

SEDAN, Kan. — James Rainbolt typically can tackle most problems at his rural water plant with some extra time or money. But he can’t fix this. “I just can’t make it rain,” he said. Like others across Southeast Kansas, Rainbolt remains helpless as he watches a persistent drought dry up the local water supply. He […]

The post ‘It’s an emergency’: Midwest towns scramble as drought threatens drinking water appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A recent report by an international human rights group ranked Missouri in the bottom third of all states for child rights, in part because Missouri still allows child marriage and corporal punishment in schools. The report, published by the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch, measured every state’s laws against the standards of the Convention on […]

The post Missouri lags behind most states for children’s rights, advocacy group finds appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Amid rising tensions and an approaching hard deadline, the U.S. House and Senate ended their work week on Thursday without a deal to fund the federal government past the end of the month. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has been struggling to build consensus among the members of his Republican Conference, pledged that […]

The post With two weeks until the money runs out, Congress grinds to halt on spending bills appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri students and teachers returned to the classroom this month facing a sobering reality. Missouri students are now worse at reading and math than the average American student. At a time when our students need and deserve a world-class education, we are actually falling further behind. According to the nation’s report card, NAEP, as of […]

The post Turning Missouri education around begins with transparent school performance appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A disability-rights advocate pleaded with Missouri mental health officials Thursday not to implement a policy change that could freeze pay rates for at-home caregivers relied upon by more than 3,000 individuals around the state. At issue is a decision by the Missouri Department of Mental Health to change how it calculates rates for a program […]

The post Missouri mental health department urged to abandon at-home care funding freeze appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers greeted a proposed $300 million increase to the formula that funds the state’s public schools with questions Wednesday, with some believing the figure seemed appropriate and others wondering if a change to the state’s accountability system drove estimates too high. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education unveiled its proposed budget for fiscal […]

The post Lawmakers consider boosting Missouri public education funding by $300 million appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Wednesday outlined to the Senate Judiciary Committee how she has sought improvements in the nation’s troubled prison system, and fielded questions from Republicans about transgender inmates. “Developing meaningful change throughout the agency is not something that happens in a moment,” Colette Peters, the director […]

The post U.S. prisons chief insists to Senate panel there’s been ‘visible change’ in the system appeared first on Missouri Independent.