National News

EPA releases 2023 update to equity action plan, outlines new commitments to advance equity

LENEXA, Kan.– The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday released the 2023 update to its Equity Action Plan, as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government equity agenda. This Equity Action Plan is part of EPA’s efforts to implement the President’s Executive Order on “Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through The Federal Government,” […]

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EPA expands program to bring wastewater sanitation services to 150 more underserved communities across Rural America as part of Investing in America Agenda

LENEXA, Kan. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the expansion of its successful Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap Community Initiative to 150 additional communities as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. Originally launched in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the initiative partners with underserved communities to provide technical assistance on

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SBA trains 200,000th Boots to Business Entrepreneurship Course graduate

WASHINGTON – On Monday, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the 200,000th graduate of the Boots to Business (B2B) program. This milestone re-emphasizes the long-standing importance of military-connected entrepreneurs to the nation’s economy and celebrates 11 years of B2B instructor achievements nationwide and overseas. “SBA’s Boots to Business program is about strengthening our aspiring military entrepreneurs, especially now as

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EPA outlines implementation approaches for Endangered Species Act Pesticide Policies

LENEXA, Kan. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the latest steps to incorporate stakeholder feedback and collaboration with federal partners, ensuring the Agency’s work to protect endangered species from pesticides is practical, flexible, and supports the agricultural community. Assistant Administrator Michal Freedhoff described these steps in a speech to the National Association of

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Ashcroft defends voters’ right to make decision not partisan officials or bureaucrats

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft attended oral arguments at the United States Supreme Court in the case Donald J. Trump v. Norma Anderson. Ashcroft leads a coalition of 10 other secretaries of state who signed on to the amicus brief Ashcroft filed with the court.   This unprecedented case centers on whether

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EPA finalizes stronger standards for harmful soot pollution

LENEXA, Kan. – The Biden-Harris Administration on Wednesday finalized a significantly stronger air quality standard that will better protect America’s families, workers, and communities from the dangerous and costly health effects of fine particle pollution, also known as soot. By strengthening the annual health-based national ambient air quality standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from

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Make a lifelong friend – open your home to a foreign exchange student

CLOVER, South Carolina – World Heritage International Student Exchange Program (WH), a Non-Profit, Public Benefit Organization, is seeking local families to host foreign exchange students this coming school year.   World Heritage students come from a variety of countries worldwide: Italy, Denmark, Spain, France, Germany, Ukraine, Japan, Australia, to name just a few. They are between

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EPA Region 7 invites public to attend virtual Environmental justice Community Stakeholder Meeting

LENEXA, Kan. – EPA Region 7’s Environmental Justice (EJ) Program invites the public to join a new quarterly Community Stakeholder Meeting that is open to all community members in Region 7, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and nine tribal nations. EPA will hold the virtual meeting on Thursday, Feb. 22, from 6:30 to 8

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service releases draft recovery plan for four imperiled freshwater mussels

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – They have quirky names and are often mistaken for stones, but freshwater mussels are very much alive and perform critical ecological functions in rivers and streams. We at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have drafted a plan to save four imperiled mussels protected under the Endangered Species Act: the rayed bean,

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Letter to the Editor from locally-supported Christmas project

Dear Editor, Generosity throughout ​​​​​​ contributed to a successful shoebox gift collection season at drop-off locations for the Samaritan’s Purse project Operation Christmas Child. Across the U.S., the project collected 10 million shoebox gifts in 2023. Combined with those collected from partnering countries in 2023, the ministry is now sending over 11.3 million shoebox gifts

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