support@semo.net
1573 686-9114​​​​

29-year old Brittany Maynard was living on borrowed breath. She was told that the days that stretched out before her were going to be few and fraught with debilitating illness and agony. On New Year’s Day of this year, just fifteen months after her wedding, Brittany was diagnosed with stage IV terminal brain cancer. With no hope in her heart for a cure, only a plan for dying on her own terms, she placed a lethal dose of pills upon her tongue and chose which remaining breaths would be her last. On Saturday, surrounded by her most-loved ones, she said goodbye and went to sleep never to awaken again. What should have been a first year of marriage filled with

For months I’ve been telling you about how detrimental the new Waters of the United States Environmental Protection Agency regulation would be to our way of life, and now there’s something we can do to stop it. The federal government is accepting comments on this new proposed rule through Friday, Nov. 14. As your congressman, I am submitting comments to explain just how damaging this federal overreach would be to our area, and I encourage you to submit comments as well. This new rule would expand the Clean Water Act and attempt to regulate every body of water in the United States. This would mean any area of ground that gets wet or has water flow during rainfall would fall

Some have likened America’s educational system to an imperiled ship, buffeted about and taking on water with each so-called reform that blows through like a hurricane. The current ugly storm rocking Missouri’s public schools surrounds the implementation of the Common Core State Standard Initiative (CCSSI) brought into our state by Governor Nixon and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in 2009/10. Multiple laws prohibit federal involvement in the details of education. Missouri law requires that the legislature be responsible for educational standards and that each local school board be allowed to alter as they see fit. But none of that stopped the governor from bypassing the legislature and signing Missouri onto the CCSSI anyway. The CCSSI encompasses hollow

We have heard a lot about partisan gridlock lately, but the truth is that over the past two years the House of Representatives passed hundreds of bills that would improve the lives of Americans. We've passed bills to put Americans to work, get energy costs down, and ease burdens on businesses. But where are those bills now? They’re stuck in the Senate. The 387 bills stuck in the Senate are the solutions America needs to prosper and the solutions Americans have been demanding. Take the American Energy Solutions for Lower Costs and More American Jobs Act. It would help the Keystone XL pipeline move forward by removing the Presidential Permit process and would keep the EPA from implementing even more

The fall season ushers in shorter days, chilly evenings and traditions richly rooted in curious lore. Halloween occurs every year on the 31st day of October but the preparations marketed by retailers begin in late August. Pumpkins, straw bales, corn stalks, fall-colored wreaths and vibrant mums abound to inspire the home décor enthusiasts but it’s the bustling of excited kids rummaging through the crowded racks of crazy costumes and accessories that captures the spirit of Halloween. To most Halloween revelers, the holiday is an opportunity to decorate the house, host themed parties, carve pumpkins, dress up in fun costumes and score on some serious candy by trick-or-treating. Most don’t inquire about the history that spawned the festivities we engage in;