An ongoing battle in Washington DC for a new Farm Bill is a key concern for growers ahead of the upcoming corn planting season. &nbsp;

Missouri Corn CEO Bradley Schad says hard work is being done to make sure a new farm bill can be passed this year. &nbsp;

"Most likely, if anything passes, it will be in lame duck session, we want to get it done before then and we're going to do everything we can to get it done before then, "Schad tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "But the challenges that we're facing that we see, the dysfunction that we see in DC, has been difficult."&nbsp;

Schad says, though, members of Missouri’s Congressional delegation, including Mark Alford and Sam Graves, continue fighting to help get a new Farm Bill passed this year.&nbsp;

Schad says unfortunately due to dysfunction in Washington DC they were unable to get a new farm bill passed last year. &nbsp;

"We got an extension which is a good thing in 2023, and we need to get a new Farm Bill passed so we're working on that," Schad explains&nbsp;

Schad says there are many updates they want to see in a new farm bill, but one thing that should not be changed is crop insurance&nbsp;

"We'd have to make sure that no changes happen there, our farmers are very happy where they're at," Schad points out. &nbsp;

Schad says of the many updates that the organization hopes to see in the farm bill, including an increase in trade funding which helps farmers sell to foreign countries&nbsp;

"We just haven't seen an increase, and as you know inflation is high right now and has been for the last couple years, and if we're going to stay up to speed and make sure that our farmers are going to be at those tables across the world that we can continue trading, we have to have the dollars to be able to do that," Schad says. "We haven't seen an increase in many, many years."&nbsp;

Schad says they continue to work with their partners, like the Missouri Soybean Association or Cotton Farmers, to make sure something gets passed this year.&nbsp;

By MATT PIKE&nbsp;St. Joseph Post&nbsp;An ongoing battle in Washington DC for a new Farm Bill is a key concern for growers ahead of the upcoming corn planting season. &nbsp;Missouri Corn CEO Bradley Schad says hard work is being done to make sure a new farm bill can be passed this year. &nbsp;"Most likely, if anything passes, it will be in lame duck session, we want to get it done before then and we're going to do everything we can to get it done before then, "Schad tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "But the challenges that we're facing that we see, the dysfunction that we see in DC, has been difficult."&nbsp;Schad says, though, members of Missouri’s Congressional delegation, including Mark Alford and Sam Graves, continue fighting to help get a new Farm Bill passed this year.&nbsp;Schad says unfortunately due to dysfunction in Washington DC they were unable to get a new farm bill passed last year. &nbsp;"We got an extension which is a good thing in 2023, and we need to get a new Farm Bill passed so we're working on that," Schad explains&nbsp;Schad says there are many updates they want to see in a new farm bill, but one thing that should not be changed is crop insurance&nbsp;"We'd have to make sure that no changes happen there, our farmers are very happy where they're at," Schad points out. &nbsp;Schad says of the many updates that the organization hopes to see in the farm bill, including an increase in trade funding which helps farmers sell to foreign countries&nbsp;"We just haven't seen an increase, and as you know inflation is high right now and has been for the last couple years, and if we're going to stay up to speed and make sure that our farmers are going to be at those tables across the world that we can continue trading, we have to have the dollars to be able to do that," Schad says. "We haven't seen an increase in many, many years."&nbsp;Schad says they continue to work with their partners, like the Missouri Soybean Association or Cotton Farmers, to make sure something gets passed this year.&nbsp;

As corn growers prepare for spring they hope for a new Farm Bill

ATCHISON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for continuing to avoid court.

On Saturday, police arrested 38-year-old Lance A. Gasper of Atchison on a District Court warrant for failure to abide by court orders., according to Police Chief Mike Wilson.

In July police arrested him on requested charges of aggravated failure to appear.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706537425433.png" alt="Gasper-photo Atchison Co." />
 <figcaption>Gasper-photo Atchison Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>ATCHISON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for continuing to avoid court.On Saturday, police arrested 38-year-old Lance A. Gasper of Atchison on a District Court warrant for failure to abide by court orders., according to Police Chief Mike Wilson.In July police arrested him on requested charges of aggravated failure to appear.

Kansas man accused of failure to abide by court orders

A trio of tax credits, along with a funding boost for a subsidy program for low-income children, won a mention in Gov. Mike Parson’s annual State of the State address last week

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/cbates/">CLARA BATES</a>

In early 2020, Peapod Learning Center in Springfield had a waiting list years out.&nbsp;

The nature and farm preschool earned state recognition as it continued to expand after opening more than a decade earlier.

“It was off the charts wonderful,” said owner and director Carly Walton.&nbsp;

Then the pandemic hit. By June 2020, the farm school was forced to close and enrollment at the nature school dropped to 50% capacity as some parents left the workforce and others struggled to afford care.

Now Walton worries what will happen once COVID-era American Rescue Plan Act Child Care Stabilization funds — “instrumental,” she said, to keeping her doors open during the pandemic — dry up at the end of the year.&nbsp;

She’s not the only one concerned.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/10/05/critical-infrastructure-missouri-child-care-shortage-called-a-crisis-for-employers/">Missouri is facing a child care crisis</a>, with about 200,000 children living in parts of the state considered<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/26/missouri-child-care-deserts-now-include-nearly-half-of-kids-5-and-under/">&nbsp;“child care deserts”</a>&nbsp;where there are one or fewer child care slots for every three children. Even areas not officially deemed deserts often can’t hire enough staff to serve as many kids as their capacity allows.&nbsp;

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, along with Gov. Mike Parson, have once again put this crisis atop their legislative agenda, pushing a package of tax credits they hope will make child care more available and affordable for working families while helping private providers stay afloat.

A package of child care tax credits were on the cusp of passing last year but Senate&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/10/05/critical-infrastructure-missouri-child-care-shortage-called-a-crisis-for-employers/">filibusters stalled and then killed&nbsp;</a>the bill before it could come up for a vote.&nbsp;

The legislation, refiled this year&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1488&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">by Republican state Rep. Brenda Shields</a>&nbsp;of St. Joseph and Democratic state Sen.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=816">Lauren Arthur</a>&nbsp;of Kansas City, would offer three types of credits: for taxpayers who donate to support child care centers, for employers who make investments in child care needs for their employees and for child care providers.

Also among the child care priorities Parson highlighted this year is a $51.7 million budget increase to the child care subsidy program for low-income children, on the heels of a $78 million increase last year.&nbsp;

“Today, we have the capacity to serve just 39% of Missouri children in licensed facilities,” Parson said during last week’s State of the State address. “It’s time for change.”

Arthur, like Parson, said child care is an issue that crosses the political divide. She said bipartisan support of the issue has seemingly grown since last year. But she’s wary of obstacles the legislation could again face.

“There’s a real need, but there are people who are ideologically opposed and there are people who use any bills as leverage to further their own interests and their own agenda,” Arthur said. “That’s what we saw last year, and I think it’s possible we will see it again this year.”

Sam Lee, a long-time anti-abortion lobbyist who has pushed for this bill as pro-life legislation, said he’s hopeful the tax credits succeed, but is worried their prospects could be doomed in a divided Senate.&nbsp;

“This is the year no one really knows what’s going to pass and it’s not because of the lack of merits of the legislation,” Lee said. “It’s just because of the consternation in the Senate.”

Child care related funding and legislation last year gained traction primarily as a workforce issue and has garnered wide support from business groups.

<a target="_blank" href="https://chamber-foundation.files.svdcdn.com/production/documents/EarlyEd_MISSOURI_2021_DIGITAL.pdf?dm=1694110497">A</a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/sites/default/files/EarlyEd_MISSOURI_2021_DIGITAL.pdf">ccessibility, quality and cost-related hurdles</a>&nbsp;to child care, a 2021 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation study found, force many Missouri parents out of the workforce or cause disruptions to their work, costing the state more than $1.3 billion annually.&nbsp;

Missourians, like many Americans, confront a limited supply of child care that, when available, can rival the cost&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/2021%20Price%20of%20Care%20State%20Sheets/Missouri_Price%20Fact%20Sheet%202021.pdf">of a mortgage or in-state college tuition</a>.&nbsp;An&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/26/missouri-child-care-deserts-now-include-nearly-half-of-kids-5-and-under/">investigation</a>&nbsp;of child care spending by The Independent and MuckRock last year found that almost half of Missouri’s children under age five, or about 202,000 children, live in child care deserts, with one or fewer child care openings for every three children.&nbsp;

The average cost of full-time center-based care for an infant in Missouri was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/2022_CC_Afford_Analysis.pdf">$11,059</a>&nbsp;as of 2022, according to Child Care Aware. On the other side of the equation, staff at child care facilities often make&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://meric.mo.gov/data/occupation/occupational-employment-wages">just over</a>&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/26/missouri-child-care-deserts-now-include-nearly-half-of-kids-5-and-under/">minimum wage,</a>&nbsp;which can make hiring and retention difficult.&nbsp;

Running a high-quality facility is often even more expensive than the fees parents can pay, so providers aren’t generally cashing in, but rather operating on thin profit margins.

“Early care and education providers cannot continue to subsidize care,” Nicci Rexroat, owner of A Place to Grow child care centers in mid-Missouri, testified at a state Senate committee hearing last week. “We just can’t afford it.”

“Without substantial and sustainable investments, the quality that the children deserve will continue to decline or become more and more scarce,” Rexroat added.

Lawmakers last year passed a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/07/24/a-78-million-boost-to-missouris-child-care-subsidy-will-reach-providers-next-month/">$78 million boost</a>&nbsp;to child care subsidies to encourage child care providers to offer services to low-income and foster families and another&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/10/05/critical-infrastructure-missouri-child-care-shortage-called-a-crisis-for-employers/">$81 million</a>&nbsp;for state-funded pre-kindergarten targeted at low-income four-year-olds. Both were backed by Parson.

Casey Hanson,&nbsp;director of outreach and engagement at the child advocacy nonprofit Kids Win Missouri, said she sees this session as a chance to build on the momentum from last year.

Hanson called the child care tax credits “an interesting and innovative way we can engage both government, private business and individual and child care providers in a solution.”&nbsp;

The child care policy that so far has taken center stage is the tax credit package, though other proposals have been filed, as well.&nbsp;

The three components of the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/bill.aspx?bill=HB1488&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">legislation</a>&nbsp;include:

<a target="_blank" href="https://documents.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills241/witnesses/HB1488Testimony.pdf">Supporters</a>&nbsp;of the tax credits include various chambers of commerce and business groups, child advocacy groups and children’s health organizations. No one testified against the bill at the&nbsp;Senate&nbsp;committee hearing and just one person did at the House hearing, while dozens testified in support.

Rexroat testified that the credits could give providers the opportunity to raise wages and bring back qualified staff who can’t afford to work in the industry now.

“These tax credits could create a buy-in from other businesses and the community, helping to shift the narrative to what those of us have always known in the industry: that child care is infrastructure,” she said.

Some Republicans have raised concerns about tax credits being inefficient.&nbsp;

At a Senate committee hearing last week, state Sen. Rusty Black, a Republican from Chillicothe, said he wanted to make sure “I’m not creating more red tape, more paperwork.”

The bill includes a provision allowing an intermediary nonprofit organization to help providers with the tax credits, which Arthur said is designed to provide technical expertise to those who don’t have the resources. Black wondered whether that intermediary could add additional hurdles to providers’ participation.

“I’m on the side of child care, but we’ve come up with way too many rules and regulations,” Black said, citing the passage of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/07/26/licensed-home-daycares-can-exempt-related-kids-from-max-capacity-under-new-missouri-law/">Nathan’s Law</a>, which limited the number of related children that in-home daycares could supervise, for safety reasons.

“Are there gonna be more hidden rules to make it more restrictive?” Black asked, “…Because that scares me.”&nbsp;

Amanda Coleman, vice president of early childhood and family development at the Community Partnership of the Ozarks, said there is a need for hundreds of infant spots in the Springfield area, “an alarming number.”

Coleman has worked with Kids Win Missouri to identify ways businesses can be part of the solution. She said a tax credit would be an immense help. Surveys she’s helped conduct show many parents in the Springfield area have left the workforce or changed jobs to accommodate child care needs. That leaves private child care providers struggling to keep their doors open.

“This is really important because we need adults to come to work, and those parents need to be able to have a safe, high-quality place for their children to go to during the day or while they’re at work,” Coleman said.

Coleman said another area survey found the average cost of full-time care in southwest Missouri is about $14,300 a year for infants and toddlers and $10,400 a year for preschool-age children.

Shields said she spent the summer traveling the state speaking with providers and parents. The stories were the same: parents are paying upwards of $20,000 a year for child care, if they can find it in the first place. Providers are crushed each time they turn down families.

“It breaks their hearts not to be able to provide services to these families that are struggling and who want to go to work,” Shields said.

Shields said she’s hopeful they’ll have success in the House again this year. Her bill&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/bill.aspx?bill=HB1488&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">cleared a committee on Thursday</a>&nbsp;and could be debated by the full House as early as this week.

“I will work the Senate hard to make sure that that happens, but I think we will do it,” she said.&nbsp;

Parson’s proposed $51.7 million increase to the state’s child care subsidy program would increase the rate the state reimburses providers who accept children on the program for low-income children.&nbsp;

Higher state rates&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/05/03/bureaucratic-hurdles-stymie-missouri-families-seeking-help-affording-child-care/">means</a>&nbsp;families, generally, would pay less, and can mean subsidy recipients become competitive with parents paying entirely out-of-pocket.

The subsidy increase, Arthur said, may be even more important than the legislation that accompanies it because of how far behind other states Missouri is.&nbsp;

The federal government recommends states pay providers at the 75th percentile of market rates, but&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/using-child-care-subsidy-payment-rates-and-practices-incentivize-expansions-supply">few do</a>.&nbsp;A boost last year brought Missouri up to the 58th percentile of what the market rate study found to be the rate of care.

The governor’s proposed increase would bring rates to 100% of the market rate amount for infants and toddlers and the 65th percentile for preschoolers and school-aged children.

Hanson said sustainable, long-term investments are crucial in “making sure those that are taking care of our kids are able to take care of themselves and valuing that it is important work.”&nbsp;

The subsidy rate increase, Shields said, might be a tougher sell than the tax credits, but she’ll continue showing her colleagues how desperate families are for safe, reliable and affordable care.&nbsp;

“The reason the support has grown,” Arthur said. “Is because people have heard from their constituents and businesses in their districts that this has caused major problems.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1701948513473.png" alt="-Missouri lawmakers are again seeking to push through child care tax credit legislation in the hopes of mitigating&nbsp; the state’s child care crisis (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>-Missouri lawmakers are again seeking to push through child care tax credit legislation in the hopes of mitigating&nbsp; the state’s child care crisis (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>A trio of tax credits, along with a funding boost for a subsidy program for low-income children, won a mention in Gov. Mike Parson’s annual State of the State address last week</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/cbates/">CLARA BATES</a>In early 2020, Peapod Learning Center in Springfield had a waiting list years out.&nbsp;The nature and farm preschool earned state recognition as it continued to expand after opening more than a decade earlier.“It was off the charts wonderful,” said owner and director Carly Walton.&nbsp;Then the pandemic hit. By June 2020, the farm school was forced to close and enrollment at the nature school dropped to 50% capacity as some parents left the workforce and others struggled to afford care.“It’s never recovered,” she said.Now Walton worries what will happen once COVID-era American Rescue Plan Act Child Care Stabilization funds — “instrumental,” she said, to keeping her doors open during the pandemic — dry up at the end of the year.&nbsp;She’s not the only one concerned.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/10/05/critical-infrastructure-missouri-child-care-shortage-called-a-crisis-for-employers/">Missouri is facing a child care crisis</a>, with about 200,000 children living in parts of the state considered<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/26/missouri-child-care-deserts-now-include-nearly-half-of-kids-5-and-under/">&nbsp;“child care deserts”</a>&nbsp;where there are one or fewer child care slots for every three children. Even areas not officially deemed deserts often can’t hire enough staff to serve as many kids as their capacity allows.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706132917144.png" alt="&nbsp;Missouri Gov. Mike Parson highlighted child care issues in his 2024 State of the State speech - Screen grab from the live video feed from State of the State address" />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;Missouri Gov. Mike Parson highlighted child care issues in his 2024 State of the State speech - Screen grab from the live video feed from State of the State address</figcaption>
 </figure>A bipartisan group of lawmakers, along with Gov. Mike Parson, have once again put this crisis atop their legislative agenda, pushing a package of tax credits they hope will make child care more available and affordable for working families while helping private providers stay afloat.A package of child care tax credits were on the cusp of passing last year but Senate&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/10/05/critical-infrastructure-missouri-child-care-shortage-called-a-crisis-for-employers/">filibusters stalled and then killed&nbsp;</a>the bill before it could come up for a vote.&nbsp;The legislation, refiled this year&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1488&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">by Republican state Rep. Brenda Shields</a>&nbsp;of St. Joseph and Democratic state Sen.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=816">Lauren Arthur</a>&nbsp;of Kansas City, would offer three types of credits: for taxpayers who donate to support child care centers, for employers who make investments in child care needs for their employees and for child care providers.Also among the child care priorities Parson highlighted this year is a $51.7 million budget increase to the child care subsidy program for low-income children, on the heels of a $78 million increase last year.&nbsp;“Today, we have the capacity to serve just 39% of Missouri children in licensed facilities,” Parson said during last week’s State of the State address. “It’s time for change.”Arthur, like Parson, said child care is an issue that crosses the political divide. She said bipartisan support of the issue has seemingly grown since last year. But she’s wary of obstacles the legislation could again face.“There’s a real need, but there are people who are ideologically opposed and there are people who use any bills as leverage to further their own interests and their own agenda,” Arthur said. “That’s what we saw last year, and I think it’s possible we will see it again this year.”Sam Lee, a long-time anti-abortion lobbyist who has pushed for this bill as pro-life legislation, said he’s hopeful the tax credits succeed, but is worried their prospects could be doomed in a divided Senate.&nbsp;“This is the year no one really knows what’s going to pass and it’s not because of the lack of merits of the legislation,” Lee said. “It’s just because of the consternation in the Senate.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1706533181155.png" alt=" Rep. Brenda Shields, seen presenting on her child care tax credit legislation earlier this month (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications)." />
 <figcaption> Rep. Brenda Shields, seen presenting on her child care tax credit legislation earlier this month (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Building on momentum</h2>Child care related funding and legislation last year gained traction primarily as a workforce issue and has garnered wide support from business groups.<a target="_blank" href="https://chamber-foundation.files.svdcdn.com/production/documents/EarlyEd_MISSOURI_2021_DIGITAL.pdf?dm=1694110497">A</a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/sites/default/files/EarlyEd_MISSOURI_2021_DIGITAL.pdf">ccessibility, quality and cost-related hurdles</a>&nbsp;to child care, a 2021 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation study found, force many Missouri parents out of the workforce or cause disruptions to their work, costing the state more than $1.3 billion annually.&nbsp;Missourians, like many Americans, confront a limited supply of child care that, when available, can rival the cost&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/2021%20Price%20of%20Care%20State%20Sheets/Missouri_Price%20Fact%20Sheet%202021.pdf">of a mortgage or in-state college tuition</a>.&nbsp;An&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/26/missouri-child-care-deserts-now-include-nearly-half-of-kids-5-and-under/">investigation</a>&nbsp;of child care spending by The Independent and MuckRock last year found that almost half of Missouri’s children under age five, or about 202,000 children, live in child care deserts, with one or fewer child care openings for every three children.&nbsp;The average cost of full-time center-based care for an infant in Missouri was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/2022_CC_Afford_Analysis.pdf">$11,059</a>&nbsp;as of 2022, according to Child Care Aware. On the other side of the equation, staff at child care facilities often make&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://meric.mo.gov/data/occupation/occupational-employment-wages">just over</a>&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/26/missouri-child-care-deserts-now-include-nearly-half-of-kids-5-and-under/">minimum wage,</a>&nbsp;which can make hiring and retention difficult.&nbsp;Running a high-quality facility is often even more expensive than the fees parents can pay, so providers aren’t generally cashing in, but rather operating on thin profit margins.“Early care and education providers cannot continue to subsidize care,” Nicci Rexroat, owner of A Place to Grow child care centers in mid-Missouri, testified at a state Senate committee hearing last week. “We just can’t afford it.”“Without substantial and sustainable investments, the quality that the children deserve will continue to decline or become more and more scarce,” Rexroat added.Lawmakers last year passed a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/07/24/a-78-million-boost-to-missouris-child-care-subsidy-will-reach-providers-next-month/">$78 million boost</a>&nbsp;to child care subsidies to encourage child care providers to offer services to low-income and foster families and another&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/10/05/critical-infrastructure-missouri-child-care-shortage-called-a-crisis-for-employers/">$81 million</a>&nbsp;for state-funded pre-kindergarten targeted at low-income four-year-olds. Both were backed by Parson.Casey Hanson,&nbsp;director of outreach and engagement at the child advocacy nonprofit Kids Win Missouri, said she sees this session as a chance to build on the momentum from last year.Hanson called the child care tax credits “an interesting and innovative way we can engage both government, private business and individual and child care providers in a solution.”&nbsp;<h2>‘Child care is infrastructure’</h2>The child care policy that so far has taken center stage is the tax credit package, though other proposals have been filed, as well.&nbsp;The three components of the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/bill.aspx?bill=HB1488&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">legislation</a>&nbsp;include:<ul>
 <li>The “Child Care Contribution” tax credit, which would allow donors to child care providers to receive a credit equal to 75% of a qualifying donation, up to a $200,000 tax credit. The provider must use the donation to “promote child care” including by improving facilities, staff salaries or training.&nbsp;</li>
 </ul><ul>
 <li>The “Employer Provided Child Care Assistance,” which would be aimed at creating partnerships between businesses whose employees need child care and providers. It would allow employers to receive tax credits equivalent to 30% of qualifying child care expenditures.</li>
 </ul><ul>
 <li>The “Child Care Providers Tax Credit,” which would allow child care providers to claim a tax credit equal to the provider’s employer withholding tax and up to 30% of a provider’s capital expenditures on costs like expanding or renovating their facilities.&nbsp;</li>
 </ul><a target="_blank" href="https://documents.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills241/witnesses/HB1488Testimony.pdf">Supporters</a>&nbsp;of the tax credits include various chambers of commerce and business groups, child advocacy groups and children’s health organizations. No one testified against the bill at the&nbsp;Senate&nbsp;committee hearing and just one person did at the House hearing, while dozens testified in support.Rexroat testified that the credits could give providers the opportunity to raise wages and bring back qualified staff who can’t afford to work in the industry now.“These tax credits could create a buy-in from other businesses and the community, helping to shift the narrative to what those of us have always known in the industry: that child care is infrastructure,” she said.Some Republicans have raised concerns about tax credits being inefficient.&nbsp;At a Senate committee hearing last week, state Sen. Rusty Black, a Republican from Chillicothe, said he wanted to make sure “I’m not creating more red tape, more paperwork.”The bill includes a provision allowing an intermediary nonprofit organization to help providers with the tax credits, which Arthur said is designed to provide technical expertise to those who don’t have the resources. Black wondered whether that intermediary could add additional hurdles to providers’ participation.“I’m on the side of child care, but we’ve come up with way too many rules and regulations,” Black said, citing the passage of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/07/26/licensed-home-daycares-can-exempt-related-kids-from-max-capacity-under-new-missouri-law/">Nathan’s Law</a>, which limited the number of related children that in-home daycares could supervise, for safety reasons.“Are there gonna be more hidden rules to make it more restrictive?” Black asked, “…Because that scares me.”&nbsp;Amanda Coleman, vice president of early childhood and family development at the Community Partnership of the Ozarks, said there is a need for hundreds of infant spots in the Springfield area, “an alarming number.”Coleman has worked with Kids Win Missouri to identify ways businesses can be part of the solution. She said a tax credit would be an immense help. Surveys she’s helped conduct show many parents in the Springfield area have left the workforce or changed jobs to accommodate child care needs. That leaves private child care providers struggling to keep their doors open.“This is really important because we need adults to come to work, and those parents need to be able to have a safe, high-quality place for their children to go to during the day or while they’re at work,” Coleman said.Coleman said another area survey found the average cost of full-time care in southwest Missouri is about $14,300 a year for infants and toddlers and $10,400 a year for preschool-age children.Shields said she spent the summer traveling the state speaking with providers and parents. The stories were the same: parents are paying upwards of $20,000 a year for child care, if they can find it in the first place. Providers are crushed each time they turn down families.“It breaks their hearts not to be able to provide services to these families that are struggling and who want to go to work,” Shields said.Shields said she’s hopeful they’ll have success in the House again this year. Her bill&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/bill.aspx?bill=HB1488&amp;year=2024&amp;code=R">cleared a committee on Thursday</a>&nbsp;and could be debated by the full House as early as this week.“I will work the Senate hard to make sure that that happens, but I think we will do it,” she said.&nbsp;<h2>Subsidy rate increase</h2>Parson’s proposed $51.7 million increase to the state’s child care subsidy program would increase the rate the state reimburses providers who accept children on the program for low-income children.&nbsp;Higher state rates&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/05/03/bureaucratic-hurdles-stymie-missouri-families-seeking-help-affording-child-care/">means</a>&nbsp;families, generally, would pay less, and can mean subsidy recipients become competitive with parents paying entirely out-of-pocket.The subsidy increase, Arthur said, may be even more important than the legislation that accompanies it because of how far behind other states Missouri is.&nbsp;The federal government recommends states pay providers at the 75th percentile of market rates, but&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/using-child-care-subsidy-payment-rates-and-practices-incentivize-expansions-supply">few do</a>.&nbsp;A boost last year brought Missouri up to the 58th percentile of what the market rate study found to be the rate of care.The governor’s proposed increase would bring rates to 100% of the market rate amount for infants and toddlers and the 65th percentile for preschoolers and school-aged children.Hanson said sustainable, long-term investments are crucial in “making sure those that are taking care of our kids are able to take care of themselves and valuing that it is important work.”&nbsp;The subsidy rate increase, Shields said, might be a tougher sell than the tax credits, but she’ll continue showing her colleagues how desperate families are for safe, reliable and affordable care.&nbsp;“The reason the support has grown,” Arthur said. “Is because people have heard from their constituents and businesses in their districts that this has caused major problems.”

Missouri child care crisis a top priority for governor, bipartisan group of lawmakers

BROWN COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just after 4:30p.m. Sunday in Brown County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2019 Volkswagen Jetta driven by Zachary R. Thornton, 30, Kansas City, Missouri, was eastbound on 170th Street.&nbsp;

The driver failed to stop at the stop sign at U.S. 73 and continued eastbound. The driver lost control and vehicle traveled into the north ditch, jumped the creek, landed on the front end and struck a tree.

EMS transported Thornton to Amberwell Hiawatha Hospital. The KHP did not have seat belt usage information.

BROWN COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just after 4:30p.m. Sunday in Brown County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2019 Volkswagen Jetta driven by Zachary R. Thornton, 30, Kansas City, Missouri, was eastbound on 170th Street.&nbsp;The driver failed to stop at the stop sign at U.S. 73 and continued eastbound. The driver lost control and vehicle traveled into the north ditch, jumped the creek, landed on the front end and struck a tree.EMS transported Thornton to Amberwell Hiawatha Hospital. The KHP did not have seat belt usage information.

Mo. man hospitalized after car jumps creek, strikes tree

The campaign has the support of the major abortion advocacy groups in Missouri, but it’s also drawn criticism from activists over its fetal viability standard

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a>&nbsp;

A campaign to legalize abortion in Missouri disclosed raising more than $1.1 million in donations on the first day it launched.

The campaign, a coalition organized under a political action committee called&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://moconstitutionalfreedom.org/">Missourians for Constitutional Freedom</a>, announced Thursday it was launching a campaign to move forward with a ballot initiative that would legalize abortion up until the point of fetal viability.&nbsp;

With the exception of medical emergencies, all abortions are illegal in Missouri.

The campaign has the support of Abortion Action Missouri, the ACLU of Missouri and Planned Parenthood affiliates in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Among the largest contributions include $100,000 from Abortion Action Missouri, $100,000 from the ACLU of Missouri, $75,000 from Planned Parenthood Great Plains and $30,000 from Access Missouri, according to reports filed to the Missouri Ethics Commission.&nbsp;

But the largest donation so far was a $500,000 check from the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://thefairnessproject.org/ballot-measure-campaigns/#az">Fairness Project</a>, a 501c4 nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors. The organization helps bankroll ballot measures across the country, including&nbsp; Missouri’s successful 2020 Medicaid expansion initiative petition.

After months of internal debate, abortion-rights organizations settled on a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to&nbsp;“regulate the provision of abortion after fetal viability provided that under no circumstance shall the government deny, interfere with, delay or otherwise restrict an abortion that in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional is needed to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.”

While many say they see a clear path to victory for the amendment if it makes it to the ballot, the coalition still faces a tight timeline. The group estimates it will&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/missourians-for-constitutional-freedom-1?express_lane=true&amp;refcode=web-donate&amp;amount=25">need to raise $5 million</a>&nbsp;to successfully gather the more than 171,000 signatures needed by May 5 in order to appear on the statewide ballot.

“We are so proud to have launched this campaign with such a broad coalition and are excited to continue engaging Missourians in every corner of the state to come together and end Missouri’s abortion ban,” Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, said in a statement Thursday on behalf of the coalition.

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiZ6_HmquiDAxXflGoFHZvqDLIQFnoECBMQAQ&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mowomenandfamilyresearchfund.com%2F&amp;usg=AOvVaw28p_J0It88uqHwLvob-iLU&amp;opi=89978449">A competing ballot campaign</a>&nbsp;launched in November, led by longtime GOP Congressional staffer Jamie Corley, would enshrine abortion rights in the constitution up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/11/27/missouri-rape-hotline-reporting-requirement-in-abortion-rights-petition-draws-criticism/">allow exceptions for rape and incest.</a>

Corley on Thursday declined to give an update on her campaign status, but said having two initiatives on the ballot would be “less than ideal in terms of moving forward.”

“We all agree that the current abortion ban is too extreme and needs to change,” Corley said. “And we’ll keep assessing day by day what our role is in changing the abortion ban and making sure we restore access.”

Anti-abortion advocates lead new opposition campaign

The campaign to enshrine abortion rights up to fetal viability has been endorsed by numerous high-profile Democrats, including state Rep. Crystal Quade, who is running as a Democrat for governor on a platform that includes restoring abortion access.

“Since Missouri became the first state to enact a total abortion ban, women and families have suffered, doctors have fled the state, and our rights have been stripped away,”&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/crystal_quade/status/1747991284998902249?s=20">Quade wrote&nbsp;social media</a>. “Sign the petition, gather signatures, and let’s return reproductive freedom to Missouri.”

While the major abortion advocacy organizations are lining up behind the measure, anti-abortion activists have launched their own campaign in opposition.

A political action committee, whose president is veteran anti-abortion activist Sam Lee, was formed last week to “push back against the Big Abortion Industry,” according to a news release. As of Thursday evening, the group had received a donation of just over $5,000, from the Missouri Catholic Conference and two $10,000 donations from the Missouri Senate Campaign Committee and the House Republican Campaign Committee.

The group, called&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://mostandswithwomen.org/">Missouri Stands with Women</a>, aims to fight any initiative petitions seeking to put abortion rights on the ballot, including the viability ban.

“When it really comes down to it, this measure is actually going to allow unregulated tax-payer funded abortions up to the moment of birth,” said Stephanie Bell,&nbsp;a spokeswoman for the committee. “Essentially what it’s saying is that as long as the individual has a health care professional that says the abortion is needed not only for the life of the mother, but for physical and mental health, that abortion will be available up until the moment of birth.”

“Our coalition is united and aligned, and we didn’t just come together yesterday,” Bell said. “We are prepared to educate voters and let them know what’s really in the initiative.”

Popularity of viability language in ballot initiatives

Erika Christensen, with Patient Forward, a group that advocates for abortion care later in pregnancy, said Thursday’s announcement to include a viability limit wasn’t surprising, considering many states have taken similar approaches since Roe was overturned, including&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://19thnews.org/2023/12/abortion-states-election-2024-ballot-measures/">Arizona, Florida, Nebraska and Nevada</a>. Last fall, Ohioans voted to legalize abortion up to the point of viability.&nbsp;

“It will be better at getting people abortions,”&nbsp;Christensen&nbsp;said of the ballot measure. “It will hurt getting the government out of pregnancy.”

Viability can be difficult to define, she said, though it’s usually determined to be between 20 and 25 weeks gestation.&nbsp;

The Missouri petition defines fetal viability as the point in pregnancy when “there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.”&nbsp;

Christensen&nbsp;said while arguments are often made that a middle ground is needed to restore abortion access in states dominated by Republicans, those states are also where abortion advocates need to demand greater access.

“There’s still a lot of later abortion stigma in the reproductive-rights field,”&nbsp;Christensen&nbsp;said. “There are just different goals within the reproductive rights field, and I think we’re seeing that now finally play out after many years of arguments behind doors.”

Viability language has been criticized by some organizations, including members of the Missouri coalition like&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-of-the-st-louis-region-and-southwest-missouri/interested-parties-memos/ipm_022723">Planned Parenthood.</a>&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.acog.org/advocacy/facts-are-important/understanding-and-navigating-viability">American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists</a>&nbsp;has dissuaded the use of viability limits in legislation, as there is no single clinical definition of viability.&nbsp;

Less than a year ago, Advocates of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region &amp; Southwest Missouri published a letter&nbsp;titled “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-of-the-st-louis-region-and-southwest-missouri/interested-parties-memos/ipm_022723">abortion restrictions under the guise of protections</a>” that reads “viability standard tried and failed to balance state and personal interests, and it did not work.”

On Thursday, the same organization announced its support of the ballot initiative.

Veteran pro-abortion advocates want to eliminate bans

While the state’s major abortion-rights organizations support the initiative petition launched Thursday, criticism of the viability standard remains among veterans of Missouri’s reproductive health care movement.

Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, a spokesperson with the National Institute for Reproductive Health who previously worked for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, said attempts to amend state constitutions are near-permanent, and should be treated with a higher standard.

“We as a movement have been talking the talk for decades, and now it’s time to walk the walk,” she said. “We can’t both say Roe is the floor only to permanently reinstate the floor.”&nbsp;

The coalition initially filed 11 different initiative petitions. Some versions sought to make abortion legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy and one would have removed all gestational limits on abortion.&nbsp;

Schwarz, with Abortion Action Missouri, previously told The Independent that the coalition believes viability language meets most Missourians where they are.&nbsp;

“Many members of our coalition are out talking about abortion with Missourians every day, and we know that Missourians often have complex or nuanced positions on abortion, but there is one thing that they are aligned in, and it’s that they want to end the abortion ban,” Schwarz said. “That they do not support the abortion ban we are living under today, and we are confident this is our best path forward.”

Some see the language as a compromise not all abortion advocates are willing to make.

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mothstories/video/7239751453273820458">Robin Utz,&nbsp;</a>who had an abortion in Missouri at 21 weeks when her unborn daughter was diagnosed with a fatal fetal condition, had&nbsp; hoped the coalition would choose a version without viability limits.&nbsp;

“Why we continue to let these people interfere with our healthcare is beyond me,” Utz said. “They‘ve shown us who they are, they act in bad faith, and I am a real-world consequence that is not theoretical or hypothetical.”

She added: “They are lacking imagination and courage to do the right thing.”&nbsp;

Pamela Merritt, who, like Utz, previously sat at the coalition table when abortion-rights groups were grappling with how to roll back abortion restrictions in Missouri,&nbsp;has long said she won’t support a petition that includes a fetal viability limit.&nbsp;

“I look forward to hearing the coalition articulate their strategy,” said&nbsp;Merritt, the executive director of Medical Students for Choice.&nbsp;“Not just through November of 2024, but for the next several years.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1705526567510.png" alt="FILE - People rally in support of abortion rights, July 2, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. A divide between abortion rights activists over whether to include restrictions related to the viability of the fetus on planned state ballot measures is roiling the movement. The conflict has been especially divisive in Missouri, where conflicting strategies are complicating efforts to push ahead with a ballot measure in a state with one of the nation's strictest abortion bans. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)" />
 <figcaption>FILE - People rally in support of abortion rights, July 2, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. A divide between abortion rights activists over whether to include restrictions related to the viability of the fetus on planned state ballot measures is roiling the movement. The conflict has been especially divisive in Missouri, where conflicting strategies are complicating efforts to push ahead with a ballot measure in a state with one of the nation's strictest abortion bans. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>The campaign has the support of the major abortion advocacy groups in Missouri, but it’s also drawn criticism from activists over its fetal viability standard</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a>&nbsp;A campaign to legalize abortion in Missouri disclosed raising more than $1.1 million in donations on the first day it launched.The campaign, a coalition organized under a political action committee called&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://moconstitutionalfreedom.org/">Missourians for Constitutional Freedom</a>, announced Thursday it was launching a campaign to move forward with a ballot initiative that would legalize abortion up until the point of fetal viability.&nbsp;With the exception of medical emergencies, all abortions are illegal in Missouri.The campaign has the support of Abortion Action Missouri, the ACLU of Missouri and Planned Parenthood affiliates in Kansas City and St. Louis.Among the largest contributions include $100,000 from Abortion Action Missouri, $100,000 from the ACLU of Missouri, $75,000 from Planned Parenthood Great Plains and $30,000 from Access Missouri, according to reports filed to the Missouri Ethics Commission.&nbsp;But the largest donation so far was a $500,000 check from the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://thefairnessproject.org/ballot-measure-campaigns/#az">Fairness Project</a>, a 501c4 nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors. The organization helps bankroll ballot measures across the country, including&nbsp; Missouri’s successful 2020 Medicaid expansion initiative petition.After months of internal debate, abortion-rights organizations settled on a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to&nbsp;“regulate the provision of abortion after fetal viability provided that under no circumstance shall the government deny, interfere with, delay or otherwise restrict an abortion that in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional is needed to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.”While many say they see a clear path to victory for the amendment if it makes it to the ballot, the coalition still faces a tight timeline. The group estimates it will&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/missourians-for-constitutional-freedom-1?express_lane=true&amp;refcode=web-donate&amp;amount=25">need to raise $5 million</a>&nbsp;to successfully gather the more than 171,000 signatures needed by May 5 in order to appear on the statewide ballot.“We are so proud to have launched this campaign with such a broad coalition and are excited to continue engaging Missourians in every corner of the state to come together and end Missouri’s abortion ban,” Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, said in a statement Thursday on behalf of the coalition.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiZ6_HmquiDAxXflGoFHZvqDLIQFnoECBMQAQ&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mowomenandfamilyresearchfund.com%2F&amp;usg=AOvVaw28p_J0It88uqHwLvob-iLU&amp;opi=89978449">A competing ballot campaign</a>&nbsp;launched in November, led by longtime GOP Congressional staffer Jamie Corley, would enshrine abortion rights in the constitution up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/11/27/missouri-rape-hotline-reporting-requirement-in-abortion-rights-petition-draws-criticism/">allow exceptions for rape and incest.</a>Corley on Thursday declined to give an update on her campaign status, but said having two initiatives on the ballot would be “less than ideal in terms of moving forward.”“We all agree that the current abortion ban is too extreme and needs to change,” Corley said. “And we’ll keep assessing day by day what our role is in changing the abortion ban and making sure we restore access.”<h2>Anti-abortion advocates lead new opposition campaign</h2>The campaign to enshrine abortion rights up to fetal viability has been endorsed by numerous high-profile Democrats, including state Rep. Crystal Quade, who is running as a Democrat for governor on a platform that includes restoring abortion access.“Since Missouri became the first state to enact a total abortion ban, women and families have suffered, doctors have fled the state, and our rights have been stripped away,”&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/crystal_quade/status/1747991284998902249?s=20">Quade wrote&nbsp;social media</a>. “Sign the petition, gather signatures, and let’s return reproductive freedom to Missouri.”While the major abortion advocacy organizations are lining up behind the measure, anti-abortion activists have launched their own campaign in opposition.A political action committee, whose president is veteran anti-abortion activist Sam Lee, was formed last week to “push back against the Big Abortion Industry,” according to a news release. As of Thursday evening, the group had received a donation of just over $5,000, from the Missouri Catholic Conference and two $10,000 donations from the Missouri Senate Campaign Committee and the House Republican Campaign Committee.The group, called&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://mostandswithwomen.org/">Missouri Stands with Women</a>, aims to fight any initiative petitions seeking to put abortion rights on the ballot, including the viability ban.“When it really comes down to it, this measure is actually going to allow unregulated tax-payer funded abortions up to the moment of birth,” said Stephanie Bell,&nbsp;a spokeswoman for the committee. “Essentially what it’s saying is that as long as the individual has a health care professional that says the abortion is needed not only for the life of the mother, but for physical and mental health, that abortion will be available up until the moment of birth.”“Our coalition is united and aligned, and we didn’t just come together yesterday,” Bell said. “We are prepared to educate voters and let them know what’s really in the initiative.”<h2>Popularity of viability language in ballot initiatives</h2>Erika Christensen, with Patient Forward, a group that advocates for abortion care later in pregnancy, said Thursday’s announcement to include a viability limit wasn’t surprising, considering many states have taken similar approaches since Roe was overturned, including&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://19thnews.org/2023/12/abortion-states-election-2024-ballot-measures/">Arizona, Florida, Nebraska and Nevada</a>. Last fall, Ohioans voted to legalize abortion up to the point of viability.&nbsp;“It will be better at getting people abortions,”&nbsp;Christensen&nbsp;said of the ballot measure. “It will hurt getting the government out of pregnancy.”Viability can be difficult to define, she said, though it’s usually determined to be between 20 and 25 weeks gestation.&nbsp;The Missouri petition defines fetal viability as the point in pregnancy when “there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.”&nbsp;Christensen&nbsp;said while arguments are often made that a middle ground is needed to restore abortion access in states dominated by Republicans, those states are also where abortion advocates need to demand greater access.“There’s still a lot of later abortion stigma in the reproductive-rights field,”&nbsp;Christensen&nbsp;said. “There are just different goals within the reproductive rights field, and I think we’re seeing that now finally play out after many years of arguments behind doors.”Viability language has been criticized by some organizations, including members of the Missouri coalition like&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-of-the-st-louis-region-and-southwest-missouri/interested-parties-memos/ipm_022723">Planned Parenthood.</a>&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.acog.org/advocacy/facts-are-important/understanding-and-navigating-viability">American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists</a>&nbsp;has dissuaded the use of viability limits in legislation, as there is no single clinical definition of viability.&nbsp;Less than a year ago, Advocates of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region &amp; Southwest Missouri published a letter&nbsp;titled “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-of-the-st-louis-region-and-southwest-missouri/interested-parties-memos/ipm_022723">abortion restrictions under the guise of protections</a>” that reads “viability standard tried and failed to balance state and personal interests, and it did not work.”On Thursday, the same organization announced its support of the ballot initiative.<h2>Veteran pro-abortion advocates want to eliminate bans</h2>While the state’s major abortion-rights organizations support the initiative petition launched Thursday, criticism of the viability standard remains among veterans of Missouri’s reproductive health care movement.Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, a spokesperson with the National Institute for Reproductive Health who previously worked for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, said attempts to amend state constitutions are near-permanent, and should be treated with a higher standard.“We as a movement have been talking the talk for decades, and now it’s time to walk the walk,” she said. “We can’t both say Roe is the floor only to permanently reinstate the floor.”&nbsp;The coalition initially filed 11 different initiative petitions. Some versions sought to make abortion legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy and one would have removed all gestational limits on abortion.&nbsp;Schwarz, with Abortion Action Missouri, previously told The Independent that the coalition believes viability language meets most Missourians where they are.&nbsp;“Many members of our coalition are out talking about abortion with Missourians every day, and we know that Missourians often have complex or nuanced positions on abortion, but there is one thing that they are aligned in, and it’s that they want to end the abortion ban,” Schwarz said. “That they do not support the abortion ban we are living under today, and we are confident this is our best path forward.”Some see the language as a compromise not all abortion advocates are willing to make.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mothstories/video/7239751453273820458">Robin Utz,&nbsp;</a>who had an abortion in Missouri at 21 weeks when her unborn daughter was diagnosed with a fatal fetal condition, had&nbsp; hoped the coalition would choose a version without viability limits.&nbsp;“Why we continue to let these people interfere with our healthcare is beyond me,” Utz said. “They‘ve shown us who they are, they act in bad faith, and I am a real-world consequence that is not theoretical or hypothetical.”She added: “They are lacking imagination and courage to do the right thing.”&nbsp;Pamela Merritt, who, like Utz, previously sat at the coalition table when abortion-rights groups were grappling with how to roll back abortion restrictions in Missouri,&nbsp;has long said she won’t support a petition that includes a fetal viability limit.&nbsp;“I look forward to hearing the coalition articulate their strategy,” said&nbsp;Merritt, the executive director of Medical Students for Choice.&nbsp;“Not just through November of 2024, but for the next several years.”

Missouri abortion ballot effort raises more than $1 million in first day of launch

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/author/ashley-murray/">ASHLEY MURRAY</a>&nbsp;

WASHINGTON — Bipartisan U.S. senators are sounding the alarm on cost, workforce shortages and dangerous incidents at assisted living facilities across the country as the needs of aging Americans are&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.prb.org/resources/fact-sheet-aging-in-the-united-states/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20Americans%20ages,from%2017%25%20to%2023%25.&amp;text=The%20U.S%20population%20is%20older%20today%20than%20it%20has%20ever%20been.">forecast</a>&nbsp;to sharply increase.

Sen. Bob Casey, chair of the Senate Committee on Aging, led a hearing Thursday to highlight the panel’s fact finding mission. Unlike nursing homes, assisted living care is largely unregulated at the federal level.

“It is long past time for Congress to re-examine this model and ensure that it’s meeting our nation’s needs,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said in his opening remarks.

Citing a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncoa.org/article/80-percent-of-older-americans-cannot-pay-for-long-term-care-or-withstand-a-financial-shock-new-study-shows">recent survey</a>&nbsp;that found 80% of adults would not be able to afford four years in an assisted living facility, Casey appealed directly to the public to share their experiences.

“I want to hear from you about the true cost of assisted living,” Casey said, holding a sign that urged people to submit stories to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.aging.senate.gov/assistedlivingbills">aging.senate.gov/assistedlivingbills</a>.

“I think it’s very important that we hear from people — hear from people about their own experience as family members, as people who are paying the bill and also expecting the promises that are made when someone becomes a resident of an assisted living facility,” Casey said.

“It is only by hearing those stories, only by hearing about those experiences, can we bring the needed change that I know we all agree has to come.”

Residents and family members recall poor care

Among those who testified was a Virginia woman who said she witnessed alarming situations due to short staffing and poor training in a facility where her husband lived with&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/lewy-body-dementia/what-lewy-body-dementia-causes-symptoms-and-treatments#:~:text=Lewy%20body%20dementia%20(LBD)%20is,movement%2C%20behavior%2C%20and%20mood.">Lewy Body Dementia</a>.

Patty Vessenmeyer, of Gainesville, Virginia, described an “extremely loud” central group room at the facility and finding a resident “bloody and staggering down a hallway” after she tripped on a raised area of the floor covered by a rug.

“A company knowledgeable about dementia care would not design a facility this way,” she said.

She also told lawmakers about having to break up a physical altercation when one resident was beating another with his cane, and of finding her husband had soiled himself when staff was not around to help him reach the bathroom.

Without identifying the Warrenton, Virginia, facility, Vessenmeyer told the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Mike Braun, that the base cost for her husband’s room was $7,900 a month, but that her monthly bill eventually totaled $13,000.

“That sounds unaffordable,” Braun, an Indiana Republican, said.

“If he hadn’t passed away rather quickly … it would have used up all of my nest egg,” Vessenmeyer said.

“That’s the kind of stuff I’ve been appalled by,” Braun responded.

Jennifer Craft Morgan, director of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Georgia, told the panel that assisted living costs across the nation average $4,500 a month, making it “inaccessible to most Americans.”

In addition to breaking down cost barriers, Morgan recommended the industry consistently educate and train workers, reward companies that deliver high-quality care, and standardize monitoring and resources to increase state-based oversight and transparency.

But care is not as costly in all states, and operators can choose to go beyond state requirements, Julie Simpkins, co-president of Gardant Management Solutions, told the lawmakers.

The Illinois-based company is the fifth largest assisted living care provider in the U.S. Gardant operates services aimed at low-income seniors in Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia.

Simpkins told Braun that in states like Illinois and Indiana, low-income families see limited out-of-pocket expenses because of the states’ arrangements with federal Medicaid waiver programs.

When asked if that situation stretches across the country for low- and middle-income families, Simpkins told Braun: “Nationally, there needs to be programs in each state to provide access to affordable assisted living. They’re not all there yet.”

Simpkins also testified that Gardant’s facilities exceed state requirements “when we believe it is in the best interest of our residents.”

Those instances include immediately reporting to the state when residents wander out of the facilities, a situation the industry calls “elopement.”

“Even something as technical as a resident walking out the door and instantly returning with a staff member — we know they didn’t leave our community and our staff immediately addressed the situation, but we still report it,” Simpkins said.

Another example, Simpkins said, is that every employee at Gardant’s memory care facilities trains beyond the required levels to become certified dementia practitioners.

Still, “it’s important to note that every state, every community, and every resident is different,” Simpkins said in her testimony.

“Efforts to standardize all assisted living communities would be both unworkable and irresponsible for resident care,” she said.

Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition in New York City, disagreed.

As needs of aging adults have evolved since assisted living dawned in the 1980s, Mollot advocates for national standards and a national database of assisted living caregivers and companies.

“The absence of any federal quality or safety standards, coupled with a virtual absence of reliable public information on the quality, safety and cost of assisted living, have made assisted living a sector ripe for investment by sophisticated private enterprises who can shuffle around resources and take profits with little regard to the promises made to seniors and their family,” Mollot said in his opening statement.

Later, during questioning, Mollot told Casey: “Essentially, there’s no independent validated information on assisted living for the consumers, for policymakers, or for the general public. So families, as you noted, have to rely on facilities and facility marketing materials.”

Casey responded to Mollot, saying he thinks it’s “pretty fundamental that people should have the opportunity to place reliance upon a source that is objective and, to use your word, independent.”

Braun also criticized Simpkins’ argument against standardization, particularly when it comes to transparency.

“I don’t know how you could say that wouldn’t be good,” he said to Simpkins.

“I’ve been the most vocal senator that our health care system is broken,” Braun later continued. “We do not have transparency. We do not have competition.

“It’s kind of almost like an unregulated utility and you get your bill after you had a significant health care scrape or a bad accident. You gotta hold your breath to see how much it’s gonna cost or if you can afford it,” he said.

The hearing did not focus on pushing a particular piece of legislation forward. Rather, the senators said they will be gathering information to assess the industry.

Casey touted the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letters_to_assisted_living_facility_companies.pdf">letters</a>&nbsp;he penned in mid-January to the three largest corporate assisted living care operators, including Atria Senior Living based in Louisville, Kentucky; Brookdale Senior Living in Brentwood, Tennessee; and Sunrise Senior Living in McLean, Virginia.

The Pennsylvania lawmaker also announced he was joining colleagues in requesting that the Government Accountability Office study how much federal money is spent on assisted living facilities, what those facilities are charging families and whether or not they make their charges easily known.

Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Raphael Warnock of Georgia co-signed the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_gao_re_assisted_living.pdf">letter</a>&nbsp;to GAO.

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/author/ashley-murray/">ASHLEY MURRAY</a>&nbsp;WASHINGTON — Bipartisan U.S. senators are sounding the alarm on cost, workforce shortages and dangerous incidents at assisted living facilities across the country as the needs of aging Americans are&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.prb.org/resources/fact-sheet-aging-in-the-united-states/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20Americans%20ages,from%2017%25%20to%2023%25.&amp;text=The%20U.S%20population%20is%20older%20today%20than%20it%20has%20ever%20been.">forecast</a>&nbsp;to sharply increase.Sen. Bob Casey, chair of the Senate Committee on Aging, led a hearing Thursday to highlight the panel’s fact finding mission. Unlike nursing homes, assisted living care is largely unregulated at the federal level.“It is long past time for Congress to re-examine this model and ensure that it’s meeting our nation’s needs,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said in his opening remarks.Citing a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncoa.org/article/80-percent-of-older-americans-cannot-pay-for-long-term-care-or-withstand-a-financial-shock-new-study-shows">recent survey</a>&nbsp;that found 80% of adults would not be able to afford four years in an assisted living facility, Casey appealed directly to the public to share their experiences.“I want to hear from you about the true cost of assisted living,” Casey said, holding a sign that urged people to submit stories to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.aging.senate.gov/assistedlivingbills">aging.senate.gov/assistedlivingbills</a>.“I think it’s very important that we hear from people — hear from people about their own experience as family members, as people who are paying the bill and also expecting the promises that are made when someone becomes a resident of an assisted living facility,” Casey said.“It is only by hearing those stories, only by hearing about those experiences, can we bring the needed change that I know we all agree has to come.”<h2>Residents and family members recall poor care</h2>Among those who testified was a Virginia woman who said she witnessed alarming situations due to short staffing and poor training in a facility where her husband lived with&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/lewy-body-dementia/what-lewy-body-dementia-causes-symptoms-and-treatments#:~:text=Lewy%20body%20dementia%20(LBD)%20is,movement%2C%20behavior%2C%20and%20mood.">Lewy Body Dementia</a>.Patty Vessenmeyer, of Gainesville, Virginia, described an “extremely loud” central group room at the facility and finding a resident “bloody and staggering down a hallway” after she tripped on a raised area of the floor covered by a rug.“A company knowledgeable about dementia care would not design a facility this way,” she said.She also told lawmakers about having to break up a physical altercation when one resident was beating another with his cane, and of finding her husband had soiled himself when staff was not around to help him reach the bathroom.Without identifying the Warrenton, Virginia, facility, Vessenmeyer told the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Mike Braun, that the base cost for her husband’s room was $7,900 a month, but that her monthly bill eventually totaled $13,000.“That sounds unaffordable,” Braun, an Indiana Republican, said.“If he hadn’t passed away rather quickly … it would have used up all of my nest egg,” Vessenmeyer said.“That’s the kind of stuff I’ve been appalled by,” Braun responded.Jennifer Craft Morgan, director of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Georgia, told the panel that assisted living costs across the nation average $4,500 a month, making it “inaccessible to most Americans.”In addition to breaking down cost barriers, Morgan recommended the industry consistently educate and train workers, reward companies that deliver high-quality care, and standardize monitoring and resources to increase state-based oversight and transparency.<h2>Cost and care vary by state</h2>But care is not as costly in all states, and operators can choose to go beyond state requirements, Julie Simpkins, co-president of Gardant Management Solutions, told the lawmakers.The Illinois-based company is the fifth largest assisted living care provider in the U.S. Gardant operates services aimed at low-income seniors in Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia.Simpkins told Braun that in states like Illinois and Indiana, low-income families see limited out-of-pocket expenses because of the states’ arrangements with federal Medicaid waiver programs.When asked if that situation stretches across the country for low- and middle-income families, Simpkins told Braun: “Nationally, there needs to be programs in each state to provide access to affordable assisted living. They’re not all there yet.”Simpkins also testified that Gardant’s facilities exceed state requirements “when we believe it is in the best interest of our residents.”Those instances include immediately reporting to the state when residents wander out of the facilities, a situation the industry calls “elopement.”“Even something as technical as a resident walking out the door and instantly returning with a staff member — we know they didn’t leave our community and our staff immediately addressed the situation, but we still report it,” Simpkins said.Another example, Simpkins said, is that every employee at Gardant’s memory care facilities trains beyond the required levels to become certified dementia practitioners.<h2>Debate over national standards&nbsp;</h2>Still, “it’s important to note that every state, every community, and every resident is different,” Simpkins said in her testimony.“Efforts to standardize all assisted living communities would be both unworkable and irresponsible for resident care,” she said.Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition in New York City, disagreed.As needs of aging adults have evolved since assisted living dawned in the 1980s, Mollot advocates for national standards and a national database of assisted living caregivers and companies.“The absence of any federal quality or safety standards, coupled with a virtual absence of reliable public information on the quality, safety and cost of assisted living, have made assisted living a sector ripe for investment by sophisticated private enterprises who can shuffle around resources and take profits with little regard to the promises made to seniors and their family,” Mollot said in his opening statement.Later, during questioning, Mollot told Casey: “Essentially, there’s no independent validated information on assisted living for the consumers, for policymakers, or for the general public. So families, as you noted, have to rely on facilities and facility marketing materials.”Casey responded to Mollot, saying he thinks it’s “pretty fundamental that people should have the opportunity to place reliance upon a source that is objective and, to use your word, independent.”Braun also criticized Simpkins’ argument against standardization, particularly when it comes to transparency.“I don’t know how you could say that wouldn’t be good,” he said to Simpkins.“I’ve been the most vocal senator that our health care system is broken,” Braun later continued. “We do not have transparency. We do not have competition.“It’s kind of almost like an unregulated utility and you get your bill after you had a significant health care scrape or a bad accident. You gotta hold your breath to see how much it’s gonna cost or if you can afford it,” he said.<h2>Looking ahead</h2>The hearing did not focus on pushing a particular piece of legislation forward. Rather, the senators said they will be gathering information to assess the industry.Casey touted the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letters_to_assisted_living_facility_companies.pdf">letters</a>&nbsp;he penned in mid-January to the three largest corporate assisted living care operators, including Atria Senior Living based in Louisville, Kentucky; Brookdale Senior Living in Brentwood, Tennessee; and Sunrise Senior Living in McLean, Virginia.The Pennsylvania lawmaker also announced he was joining colleagues in requesting that the Government Accountability Office study how much federal money is spent on assisted living facilities, what those facilities are charging families and whether or not they make their charges easily known.Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Raphael Warnock of Georgia co-signed the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_gao_re_assisted_living.pdf">letter</a>&nbsp;to GAO.

Senate panel examines quality, costs of assisted living centers

Paul Luster was named St. Joseph’s police chief in late May 2023.

Even before he was selected, Luster brought up a key topic in his interview; de-escalation of situations when interacting with citizens.

"It seems like it always comes up that officers could have done more to deescalate the situation," Luster said on KFEQ's The Hotline with Barry Birr.

"Sometimes, that's accurate. Other times, it's not. But, that seems to be a narrative that gets formed really quickly. So, I wanted to look for a program that would give our officers the best opportunity and best skillset to deescalate situations and to have better outcomes."

This past summer, four St. Joseph police officers were sent to Decatur, Illinois for a training session put on by the Police Executive Research Forum - PERF for short.

The training was centered on de-escalation.

"They developed training called Integrating, Communications, Assessment and Tactics," Luster explained. "We had the opportunity, right after I got here, to send four department members out to Decatur, Illinois out to their national training center."

These four officers spent August through December of last year, training all St. Joseph officers and dispatchers on how to have better outcomes when responding to emergencies and engaging with citizens.

"We worked every week to get everyone through (the training)," Luster said, "and get the officers those skillsets so they can have better results when they're out serving our community St. Joseph. So, I'm really excited about it."

Luster says this de-escalation focuses on two main areas - one is better educating officers on what they’re dealing with before they respond to a call.

"It really gets the officers in the mindset of, what information do I have, what information would I like to have, is that information available and can I get it before we have to go and engage in this situation?"

The other part, Luster says, is assessment of the situation and knowing options are available once on scene.

"Once they're there, it's this constant revolving model of assessing the situation and then identifying options, identifying the best course of action, but knowing that could change at any second."

Luster says when he first trained as an officer, the mantra was “make sure you get home safe at night.”

Now, Luster says, de-escalation training takes it one step further.

"The most important thing is we all go home safely," he said. "It really challenges some traditional mindsets. A lot of times, you can go into training and, 'Oh we already do this stuff.'"

"Sure, you do part of this stuff, but this puts all into a really well designed package and gives the officers a good skillset."

You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/10/1696955587054.jpeg" alt="Stock image." />
 <figcaption>Stock image.</figcaption>
 </figure>By TOMMY REZACSt. Joseph PostPaul Luster was named St. Joseph’s police chief in late May 2023.Even before he was selected, Luster brought up a key topic in his interview; de-escalation of situations when interacting with citizens."It seems like it always comes up that officers could have done more to deescalate the situation," Luster said on KFEQ's The Hotline with Barry Birr."Sometimes, that's accurate. Other times, it's not. But, that seems to be a narrative that gets formed really quickly. So, I wanted to look for a program that would give our officers the best opportunity and best skillset to deescalate situations and to have better outcomes."This past summer, four St. Joseph police officers were sent to Decatur, Illinois for a training session put on by the Police Executive Research Forum - PERF for short.The training was centered on de-escalation."They developed training called Integrating, Communications, Assessment and Tactics," Luster explained. "We had the opportunity, right after I got here, to send four department members out to Decatur, Illinois out to their national training center."These four officers spent August through December of last year, training all St. Joseph officers and dispatchers on how to have better outcomes when responding to emergencies and engaging with citizens."We worked every week to get everyone through (the training)," Luster said, "and get the officers those skillsets so they can have better results when they're out serving our community St. Joseph. So, I'm really excited about it."Luster says this de-escalation focuses on two main areas - one is better educating officers on what they’re dealing with before they respond to a call."It really gets the officers in the mindset of, what information do I have, what information would I like to have, is that information available and can I get it before we have to go and engage in this situation?"The other part, Luster says, is assessment of the situation and knowing options are available once on scene."Once they're there, it's this constant revolving model of assessing the situation and then identifying options, identifying the best course of action, but knowing that could change at any second."Luster says when he first trained as an officer, the mantra was “make sure you get home safe at night.”Now, Luster says, de-escalation training takes it one step further."The most important thing is we all go home safely," he said. "It really challenges some traditional mindsets. A lot of times, you can go into training and, 'Oh we already do this stuff.'""Sure, you do part of this stuff, but this puts all into a really well designed package and gives the officers a good skillset."You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

St. Joseph Police Department completes de-escalation training program

Evergy customers who need help with high winter utility bills have some help available to them.

Evergy announced that Kansas residents can apply for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, or LIEAP, through March 29, while Missouri residents can apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, all year long.

Evergy spokesperson Courtney Lewis says the utility does not disconnect customers for overdue bills when the temperature dips below a certain point.

"Under the cold weather rule, Evergy does not disconnect customers for non-payments when temperatures are below the cold weather rule threshold," Lewis explained. "In Missouri, that's 32 degrees (Fahrenheit). In Kansas, that's 35 degrees."

Temperatures over the next 7-10 days are expected to be well above that cold weather rule. The energy assistance programs from Evergy provide a one-time payment to customers who need help with high utility bills. This money is put directly into the customers' accounts.

Lewis adds there are some easy ways to help lower your heating bill during the cold months.

"If you have drafty windows or doors, you can seal them up," she said. "You can go out and get that shrink wrap that goes over your windows. Weather stripping or even towels make a big difference. You can set your thermostat a little lower. If you're using a space heater, use that sparingly and make sure it's not running all of the time."

Customers in need of financial assistance due to high energy bills can apply online and learn more at Evergy.com.

By TOMMY REZACSt. Joseph PostEvergy customers who need help with high winter utility bills have some help available to them.Evergy announced that Kansas residents can apply for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, or LIEAP, through March 29, while Missouri residents can apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, all year long.Evergy spokesperson Courtney Lewis says the utility does not disconnect customers for overdue bills when the temperature dips below a certain point."Under the cold weather rule, Evergy does not disconnect customers for non-payments when temperatures are below the cold weather rule threshold," Lewis explained. "In Missouri, that's 32 degrees (Fahrenheit). In Kansas, that's 35 degrees."Temperatures over the next 7-10 days are expected to be well above that cold weather rule. The energy assistance programs from Evergy provide a one-time payment to customers who need help with high utility bills. This money is put directly into the customers' accounts.Lewis adds there are some easy ways to help lower your heating bill during the cold months."If you have drafty windows or doors, you can seal them up," she said. "You can go out and get that shrink wrap that goes over your windows. Weather stripping or even towels make a big difference. You can set your thermostat a little lower. If you're using a space heater, use that sparingly and make sure it's not running all of the time."Customers in need of financial assistance due to high energy bills can apply online and learn more at Evergy.com.You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Evergy offering financial assistance for those facing high heating bills

An accident in the south end held up traffic for a few hours
late Thursday night to very early Friday morning.

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostAn accident in the south end held up traffic for a few hours
late Thursday night to very early Friday morning.St. Joseph police report a trailer containing liquid oxygen
came loose from a truck, overturning and spilling liquid oxygen onto the
3600 block of King Hill Avenue. The accident occurred shortly before
midnight. Police report the hazardous material was cleaned up and King Hill
reopened to traffic around 2:15 Friday morning.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

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