a Better Bubble™

Aggregator

Remodeled Walmart opens today in south St. Louis County

1 year 2 months ago
ST. LOUIS -- A newly remodeled Walmart store is celebrating its opening today in St. Louis County, at 3270 Telegraph Road. The grand opening will feature a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a parking lot tailgate party outside the store. Attendees can enjoy food trucks, giveaways, and appearances by local mascots Fred Bird and Louie, as well [...]
Joe Millitzer

The Original Crusoe's Closes, Plans to Reopen in Bevo Mill

1 year 2 months ago
The Original Crusoe's (3152 Osceola Street) finally closed its doors in Dutchtown two weeks ago — eight months after owner Stevie Limmer LaChance first announced it would be shuttering. LaChance had been buoyed by the outpouring of support for the south city mainstay, which her father founded in 1979. She grew up in the restaurant before taking over operations about a decade ago with her husband Elliot as her father dealt with Parkinson's disease.
Sarah Fenske

Doctors plead with Congress to help improve U.S. maternal mortality rates

1 year 2 months ago

WASHINGTON — Doctors on Thursday urged Congress to pass legislation addressing the disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality throughout the country and to lower barriers that have hindered people of color from becoming medical professionals. During a hearing in the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, a panel of five medical professionals detailed […]

The post Doctors plead with Congress to help improve U.S. maternal mortality rates appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jennifer Shutt

Missouri capitol dome turning blue for fallen officers

1 year 2 months ago
JEFFERSON CITY,Mo. - Tonight, the Missouri Capitol dome will be illuminated in blue to pay tribute to law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. The lighting marks the beginning of a series of events dedicated to honoring these fallen heroes. There will be a candlelight vigil this evening at 8 p.m. [...]
Joe Millitzer

Friday, May 3 - Responses to "Transgender Center Concerns" tip line

1 year 2 months ago
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey opened a tip line last year to get information about care of transgender people that could be considered abusive or illegal. St. Louis On The Air Producer Danny Wicentowski submitted a sunshine request for what was sent in during the first 48 hours it was open. He spoke with Elaine Cha about what he found: that most of the input was in favor of transgender care and critical of Bailey.

'Landspout' tornado touches down in Carl Junction, Missouri

1 year 2 months ago
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — A type of tornado called a ‘landspout’ was confirmed north of Joplin near Airport Drive around 1:35 p.m. Thursday, May 2. Homeowners in the Dogwood Trail Loop area in east Carl Junction are now focusing on cleaning up. Authorities with the Carl Junction Fire Protection District are describing the impact as [...]
Dustin Lattimer

Homeowner Fights Back After City Orders Her to Scrap New $48K Roof

1 year 2 months ago
Anyone who has ever had a labor of love turn into a major headache should be able to relate to Lindsay Dausman.  In 2015, she and her husband bought a century-old, three-story home on Westminster Place in the Central West End. Dausman's hope was to fix it up, restore its original beauty and add a few modern elements before selling it to someone who wanted to live in the city.
Ryan Krull

More States Are Allowing Child Support Payments to Reach Children

1 year 2 months ago

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week.

It is one of the enduring myths of the U.S. child support system: that payments made by fathers actually make it to their families. And yet, every year, hundreds of millions of dollars in child support is instead intercepted by federal and state governments — as reimbursement for the mother having received welfare at some point.

But that may be changing. Since a 2021 ProPublica investigation found that child support payments totaling $1.7 billion annually were taken from families and redirected into state coffers, at least six states have rewritten their laws and policies to allow the money to flow directly to kids.

New Mexico, where we focused our reporting, made such a change shortly after our story was published. From Wyoming to Illinois, Michigan to Vermont to California, more child support is now going to children. And several other states are considering similar reforms during their upcoming legislative sessions.

This July, Illinois will start “passing through” all child support paid by fathers to their families, instead of pocketing it as repayment for welfare. “The intent of this change is for more families to receive more support,” said Jamie Munks, spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. A state’s child support system should not be funded by withholding child support from the lowest-income families being served, she said.

“Not passing through money to a family who is already experiencing financial difficulties will likely exacerbate those difficulties and may make them more reliant on government assistance,” Munks added.

Nicole Darracq, assistant director at the California Department of Child Support Services, said that under a new state law her agency has roughly doubled the amount of child support that it is passing through to families currently receiving welfare. There was roughly a $44 million net increase in payments to families from 2019 to 2022, she said.

Darracq added that starting this week, another piece of new state legislation will allow child support that fathers pay to mothers who’ve previously received welfare to go to those moms and their kids, instead of being intercepted. This change will send an additional $160 million to families each year, she said.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ most recent analysis of state laws, at least 26 states and Washington, D.C., pass through some or all child support payments made by fathers to their families that have received welfare, also known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. In the other states, the government takes the cash.

The practice of confiscating child support from poor families persists in part because some conservative policymakers believe that welfare provided to single mothers should be considered a loan from taxpayers, to later be repaid by the patriarch of the family.

“Legislators suggest to me that if a family gets both [welfare] and child support, they’re ‘double-dipping,’” Jim Fleming, past president of both the National Council of Child Support Directors and the National Child Support Enforcement Association, told ProPublica in 2021. “That argument is still out there,” he said, although it is “becoming more and more of a minority view.”

Do You Have a Tip for ProPublica? Help Us Do Journalism.

by Eli Hager