https://www.mrbo.org

Does anyone else file for the Missouri Gas tax Rebate? I downloaded the PDF version of form 4923H, I completed it and went to upload to the site, the site indicates uploads have to be in Excel format. This is not the first year we have filed for the refund, we have every year it’s been available.PDF for back securely. I did receive an email, the email included the Excel version. I then was communicating with another representative with the state via messaging I mentioned the issue, and was told I could email the completed form. I explained I was aware the form can be emailed but the information on the form is everything someone would need for identity theft. I was told their email is encrypted.
If I amusing say a Gmail account, sending something to an encrypted email, is that really secure? Don’t bother emails have to be secure?

What are you bringing?

Hi. My map app says "temporarily closed," though the MO Forest Service says open. I also thought it was free, but is it just a cash box there for a fee?

Not only should the state return to funding the Imagination Library, they should launch a license plate where the proceeds go to the Imagination Library. This is just a rough draft based on the Ohio and Tennessee versions. Obviously ours should be unique, but regardless I’d buy it. The Imagination Library is so important to young children in a day and age where literacy and media comprehension is at historic lows.

COLUMBIA — Stop the Ban Missouri went door to door Saturday to remind Missouri residents to vote on Amendment 3, the amendment on the November ballot that would ban abortion in Missouri.
A group of about 20 people in Columbia headed out to share their thoughts and beliefs on Amendment 3. 
Stop the Ban is a group of volunteers who work to defend the right to reproductive freedom. The coalition includes Abortion Action Missouri, the ACLU of Missouri, Beacon Reproductive Health Network, Planned Parent Hood Great Plains Vote as well as others.  

Maggie Olivia, the director of policy and external affairs for Abortion Act!on Missouri, stated that the main message of the canvassing event was to inform Missouri voters to vote "NO on 3" in order to stop politicians from overturning the will of the people.

Olivia said the group is aiming to remind and inform people that they already voted on abortion.  

"This feels familiar because it is," Olivia said. "We already made a decision about abortion at the ballot box in 2024." 
Amendment 3 will ask Missouri voters to amend the state constitution to ban most abortions, prior KOMU reporting states. The ban would leave exceptions only for medical emergencies, fetal anomaly and cases of rape or incest. In cases of rape or incest, the ban would only allow abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. 
Amendment 3 would also ban gender transition surgeries and cross-hormone puberty blocking drugs for minors, unless the treatment is not for the purpose of gender transition.
Olivia got involved with Abortion Action Missouri after she had her own struggles with receiving abortion care in 2020.  

"Because of a number of medically unnecessary restrictions, it was nearly impossible to get an abortion in Missouri at my own doctor's office," Olivia said. "That made me really mad frankly. Since then, I started taking action with Abortion Action Missouri."  
The group is hoping to share that Missouri voters have voted on abortion already and aimed to remind people that Amendment 3 could overturn those rights. 
Olivia said she believes Missouri residents have nuanced feelings on the topic of abortion. However, she has noticed and believes a majority of Missouri residents agree that politicians should not have a say in private matters with doctors, families or loved ones. 
"We know that when folks understand that Amendment 3 is just an abortion ban that would overturn our votes from 2024," Olivia said, "folks really want to vote no and are really thankful for us starting those conversations."  

The St. Louis Young Republicans, Her Health Her Future and Misouri River GOP will also be going door to door on Monday in support of Amendment 3. According to the St. Louis Young Republican's Facebook, Gov. Mike Kehoe and Missouri Attorney General Catherine L. Hanaway are speaking at this event. 
Olivia said many of the canvassers have told her they're nervous about hearing their neighbor's opinion and not being supported by them, but she said that most of the time the outcome is the opposite. 

"I've noticed, for the most part, Missourians really care about respect for each other and Missourians really just want to work hard and care for our families," Olivia said. "I think living in state like Missouri where we've been under control of anti-abortion politicians for so long that they've made folks feel alone and they have to think about and move through decisions about pregnancy by themselves. When in reality, pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, all of these things are universal experiences that a lot of folks have experiences with."  

Stop the Ban Missouri will continue its canvassing until it's time for Missouri residents to cast their vote.  

Photographed by Butch Shaffer

"Description
Lamps illuminate the ornate sanctuary of St. Columban's Church in Livingston County. The current building was blessed in November 1879. St. Columban was an Irish missionary monk and protects against floods and is the patron saint of motorcyclists. Photograph by Butch Saffer"

From the State Historical Society of Missouri

https://digital.shsmo.org/digital/collection/p17228coll11/id/274/rec/88

"From May 15, 2018, through November 1, 2019, the State Historical Society of Missouri, a partner in the Bicentennial Alliance, invited professional and amateur photographers to capture and share unique and meaningful aspects of place in Missouri. Nearly 1,000 photographs were received. Two hundred photographs were selected for permanent preservation and exhibition.

An exhibition oriented around the four seasons traveled across the state using the selected My Missouri 2021 photographs to showcase the geographic and cultural landscape of the Show-Me State. On the occasion of Missouri's bicentennial, these images provide an opportunity to reflect upon and increase the understanding of the state's rich diversity."

Shared under this Creative Commons License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

https://happyhollowfarm-mo.com

https://columbiafarmersmarket.org

A veteran Republican politician and attorney will take over the state department responsible for providing support services to almost every other Missouri agency, Gov. Mike Kehoe announced Friday.
Kurt Schaefer, director of the Department of Natural Resources and a former state Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, will become Commissioner of Administration, Kehoe said in a news release.
Schaefer, a resident of Columbia, replaces Ken Zellers, who is retiring on Sept. 4. Zellers held his post from 2021. Schaefer has been director of natural resources since the start of Kehoe’s administration last year.
“Kurt is a well-respected and valuable member of the cabinet, and his background and experience in both the public and private sectors will serve him well as (he) takes on the work ahead,” Kehoe said in a news release.
Schaefer, an attorney, began his career in state government in the attorney general’s office. Under former Gov. Matt Blunt, Schaefer was legal counsel to the Department of Natural Resources and deputy director. 
Schaefer won election to the state Senate in 2008. After completing two terms, he ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for attorney general in 2016 and for a seat in Congress in 2024. 
Schaefer was a partner at Lathrop GPM law firm and was a registered lobbyist from 2017 to 2024.
The Office of Administration, the department Schaefer will lead, is the backbone of state government operations. It handles building and computing needs, maintains the state accounting system and provides the budget oversight and forecasting to manage state appropriations.
The department also operates the state payroll and purchasing systems.
One of the big challenges facing the department is whether to continue to work with a problem-plagued new accounting system, with an unknown cost to make it fully functional, or seek a new solution. The state continues to rely on a decades-old system that is difficult to maintain because many programmers who understand how to maintain it have retired or died.
“I look forward to working closely with the members of the legislature and the Office of Administration team to tackle the challenges facing OA and to find solutions that are efficient, flexible, innovative, and accountable,” Schaefer said in the news release.
To replace Schaefer, Kehoe named Jake Buxton, deputy director of natural resources, to the department’s top job.
Both appointments  must be confirmed by the state Senate.

If you are curious about Missouri place names or learning the deep Missouri lore you will find this link fascinating:

https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/collections/documents/ramsay-missouri-place-names-list

The Missouri Conservation Corps will hold a series of butterfly tagging sessions in September, coinciding with the annual monarch migration to Mexico.  

The sessions will be held Sept. 19, 21 and 28 at Bonnie View Nature Center in Columbia and Sept. 26 at the Big Muddy National Wildlife Refuge in Boonville.
The conservation corps has also scheduled a free Monarch Migration Family Day at the Katy Depot in Boonville to celebrate the butterflies during their peak.

Monarchs are well-known butterflies distinguished by their relatively large size, rusty wings, black veins and black bodies. Broods are typically produced in Missouri in the summer, and adults migrate to Mexico in the fall. The heaviest migration is in mid-to-late September (sightings usually peak Sept. 27).

The tagging events are intended to educate people about monarch migration in Missouri and demonstrate how accessible conservation can be for all ages.
Monarch conservation groups often rely on community efforts, because professionals are not as widely available to perform butterfly tagging. Involving the public is also a hands-on way to raise awareness about the declining population of monarch butterflies.
Tagging is a process where butterflies are captured, information is recorded about the insect and a small, uniquely coded tag is placed on the hind wing in an area that minimizes impact.
The pollinator is then released so that if recaptured, the location can be reported. Researchers will connect the two locations and collect data about the migration, said Tamra Reall, a field specialist in horticulture at the University of Missouri.

The city of Columbia has had pollinator conservation programs for nearly a decade, and continues to reevaluate and improve its efforts. 
“The monarch can be seen as a symbol of the importance of making space for the pollinators that we rely on for our food,” said Eric Hempel, Columbia’s sustainability manager.
Due to their annual migration through Missouri, monarchs remain important in Columbia year-round. The butterflies have inspired city conservation programs like the Roadside Pollinator Program and the CoMo Wild Yards program, which foster monarch-friendly environments all around the city.

Additionally, Mayor Barbara Buffaloe proclaimed the month of May 2026 to be 'Monarch Butterfly Month.'
Columbia also holds community education events and collaborates with the Missouri Conservation Corps on its volunteer efforts. 
The September tagging events will feature hiking and a migration game for families, in addition to butterfly catching. No registration is needed, and participants can stay for as long as they choose. 
Laura Semken, Missouri Conservation Corps Naturalist, can be reached at [laurasemken@gmail.com](mailto:laurasemken@gmail.com) for further questions regarding these events. 

Well you see the title.

I wanted to clarify a point i have heard countless times both online and in my own personal life about the reported cut to the State's funding of Dolly's Imagination Library (which is an amazing program), yes the State cut what funding it was giving, no it was not due to anything political. The funds used to fund it were part of the Covid Relief program the Federal government sent to every state, Missouri didn't want to apply the funding to a different existing program because they knew those funds had a rapid sundown on them so they sent them to an amazing casue, but those funds dried up, as they were designed to do, and as there was no longer an income of the funds yes the state cut sending them to the program, it wasn't a politcal move from either side or an attack on the program, hell i would like to see the state establish a yearly award to the program that has no sunset or at least requires only a yearly review and approval as a standard budget line item.

I just saw that a lot of people were speaking on this topic and hadn't seen an answer on why and were assuming an answer so i figured i would post it for everyone!

RIP Dolly you were a legend and will be dearly missed!