People released from Missouri prisons during pandemic face added challenges For people released from prison or jail, returning to their communities is a challenge in the best of times. Often, employers don’t want to hire them. A criminal record makes it hard to find housing. Many people have lost touch with family members.The coronavirus pandemic has magnified these challenges. Now, jobs are more scarce, and people are isolated.Normally, the Department of Corrections partners with community groups and state agencies to help prepare people [...]
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Low-income Missourians will be hit hard by coming utility shut-offs, advocates say When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit Missouri, several utility companies like Ameren and Evergy pressed pause on disconnecting services for nonpayment. But many of these breaks came to an end in recent weeks.Some advocates say Missouri could soon see a flood of disconnections.James Owen is the executive director of Renew Missouri, an organization working for renewable and accessible energy within the state. Neighboring states like Kansas and Illinois have issued [...]
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At his New Jersey golf club, Trump finds supportive audience BEDMINSTER, N.J. — They hustled down the stairs, the rain dabbing their polo shirts and golf attire, as they dashed inside the clubhouse, drinks in their hands and masks missing from their faces.It was an unexpected perk of their country club membership: being the audience for President Donald Trump's hurriedly announced news conference Friday evening at his course in Bedminster, New Jersey.They were props in a surreal gathering that violated COVID-19 safety [...]
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Thousands of Missouri farmers have applied for federal coronavirus relief Todd Hays’ family has been farming in Monroe City for seven generations. But the COVID-19 pandemic is causing problems in the farming industry that he says his family has never faced.Hays, who is also vice president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, is one of tens of thousands of Missouri farmers who have applied for federal relief funding to offset the enormous financial losses caused by the pandemic.According to [...]
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University of Missouri preps for COVID as students arrive If University of Missouri projections hold and enrollment doesn’t slump because of the COVID-19 pandemic, some 30,000 University of Missouri students will begin arriving in town this week.They are coming to a county that saw its count of coronavirus infections more than triple in July and, while daily averages are down slightly, has seen 24.4 new cases per day since August began.The return of students is producing anxiety among some and is one factor causing the [...]
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