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Read the thousands of documents journalists used to investigate St. Louis radioactive waste
“Atomic Fallout” is a historical re-investigation of the St. Louis region’s 75-year history with nuclear waste, conducted by a consortium of newsrooms, including The Missouri Independent, MuckRock and The Associated Press. It relies on thousands of pages of federal government documents, most of which were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Many of the […]
Missouri child care deserts include nearly half of kids 5 and under, new data shows
At five months pregnant, Kayla Marmaud started putting her name on waiting lists for child care. But when her son was born in late 2021, she still hadn’t heard from any daycares. As her maternity leave drew to a close, Marmaud found herself in waitlist limbo. Leaving the workforce was not an option financially for […]
Five things we learned about Missouri’s child care crisis
MuckRock and The Missouri Independent analyzed the supply and demand of Missouri child care programs since 2019, drawing from public records and data provided by the advocacy group Child Care Aware. Reporters sought to find what areas of the state have the least child care availability, how availability changed during the pandemic and whether several […]
Missouri child care providers say their industry is in crisis. We want to hear from parents and providers
We want to hear from families and providers about Missouri’s child care crisis, so we’re launching a form that you can use to tell us about your experiences working in or sending your children to child care programs in the state.
Missouri coroner training commission can’t convene due to lack of action by governor
In July 2020, Gov. Mike Parson signed into law a potentially sweeping change for coroners across the state of Missouri, many of whom lack medical or forensic training. The law, which creates a governor-appointed commission to write new standards and training for coroners, was written in response to the botched investigation into the 2011 death […]
Uncounted: Inaccurate death certificates across the country hide the true toll of COVID-19
In Cape Girardeau County, the coroner hasn’t pronounced a single person dead of COVID-19 in 2021. Wavis Jordan, a Republican who was elected last year to serve as coroner of the 80,000-person county, says his office “doesn’t do COVID deaths.” He does not investigate deaths himself, and requires families to provide proof of a positive […]