Feds Release Cost Estimates for MO Health Plans

The federal government is providing a glimpse of what Missouri residents could pay for health insurance when enrollment opens next week for a new online marketplace.

Estimates released by the Department of Health and Human Services show a family of four with a $50,000 income could face average monthly premiums of $798 for a benchmark policy known as the “second-lowest-cost silver plan.” But that cost could decline to $282 a month after federal subsidies.

A similar plan for a 27-year-old individual earning $25,000 could carry an average monthly premium of $220, which could be reduced to $145 with subsidies.

Missouri is one of 36 states that are letting the federal government run their health insurance exchanges. Federal figures show Missourians could have fewer policy choices than residents in most states.

Breaking New Ground? USDA’s Farm Service Agency Provides Cautionary Reminders for Missouri Farmers

Butler Missouri – Sept. 25, 2013 – Mark Cadle, State Executive Director for Missouri’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) cautions agricultural producers to consult with FSA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) before breaking out new ground for production as doing so without prior authorization may put a producer’s federal farm program benefits in jeopardy.

Although checking with USDA anytime ground is cleared or otherwise converted is a good business practice, this is especially true for ground that is considered highly erodible (HEL) or is considered a wetland. Producers participating in federal farm programs and any person or entity considered to be an "affiliated person" of the producer, are subject to regulations pertaining to ground having HEL or wetland determinations.

“Before heading out with a dozer to clear a fence line or hiring a contractor to drain or fill in wet areas in a field, it is extremely important that you have consulted with our staff to ensure these acres are not considered highly erodible or wetland acres,” said Cadle. “I assure you, the hour or so spent working with our staff to make sure your plans won’t impact these fragile lands before you head to the field, will be time well spent.”

USDA enacted Highly Erodible and Wetland Conservation Provisions in 1985 to reduce soil

loss; reduce sedimentation and improve water quality; preserve the nation’s wetland; protect

the nation’s long-term capacity to produce food and fiber; and remove incentive for persons to

produce agricultural commodities on highly erodible land or converted wetlands.

USDA defines highly erodible land as cropland, hay land or pasture that can erode at excessive rates. These lands contain soils that have an erodibility index of eight or more. And, a wetland has a predominance of wet soils types, is inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support water tolerant vegetation and, under normal circumstances, supports a prevalence of such vegetation.

According to FSA policy, to be in compliance with the highly erodible land and wetland conservation provisions, producers must agree, by certifying on FSA’s Form AD-1026, that they will not:

• Produce an agricultural commodity on highly erodible land without a conservation system;
• Plant an agricultural commodity on a converted wetland;
• Convert a wetland to make possible the production of an agricultural commodity.

Any planned deviation to the agreement having the potential to convert HEL or wetland acreage, or even land that may not yet have HEL or wetland determinations, requires that producers update the Form AD-1026. FSA will notify NRCS and NRCS will then provide highly erodible land or wetland technical determinations on the acreage in question.

Cadle warns that producers participating in FSA and NRCS programs who are not in compliance with highly erodible land or wetland conservation compliance provisions are not eligible to receive benefits for most programs administered by both agencies. And, if a producer has received program benefits and is later found to be non-complaint, he/she would be required to refund all payments received and may be assessed liquidated damages.

“We realize that between harvest and planning for the 2014 planting season, producers get busy, but I can’t stress enough the importance of ensuring that all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed before converting land for production – this includes former Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) ground,” said Cadle. “Bottom line… when in doubt, come by our office and you’ll leave with peace of mind knowing that your eligibility for farm program benefits is not at risk.”

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Obituary - Leonamae Stice

Leona Mae Stice, 94, Harrisonville, Missouri died Tuesday, September 24, 2013 at Cass Regional Medical Center in Harrisonville. Memorial services will be 7:00pm Thursday, September 26, 2013 at Saved By Grace Fellowship 519 South Prairie Lane Raymore, Missouri. Leonamae was born February 5, 1919 in Davenport, Iowa, a daughter of John and Berti (Coffman) Bailey. She lived in Springfield, Missouri before moving to Harrisonville. She is survived by two sons, Roy E. Frampton, Harrisonville, and Raymond A. Frampton, Warsaw, Missouri, two daughters, Clara Atchley, Independence, Missouri and Laverna R. Jensen, Deepwater, Missouri, seventeen grandchildren, thirty-two great-grandchildren, and thirteen great-great-grandchildren.

Fall Bates County Community Blood Drive

AMSTERDAM JUBILEE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 27TH AND 28TH

The Amsterdam Jubilee fun starts Friday night September 27^th… the BBQ Dinner sponsored by Welborn’s Thriftway, the  Amsterdam Friendship Club , The White Buffalo and McBee’s  will start at 5 pm. Music will be provided by Beth and Dave Irwin and Friends.

Saturday, a full day is on the schedule. The Pancake breakfast at 7 am,  parade at 10 am, Amsterdam Jubilee Baby Show at 11 am, followed by the Car Show and Sound Off.

The noon meal will be served by the Miami Senior Class and the FCCLA 5K Run will be held at 2 pm at the Amsterdam Baptist Church.

The Saturday Amsterdam Jubilee will crown Royalty at 2 pm, Bessie Bingo at 2:45 and the Greased Pig contest in the park at 3 pm.

It’s a full day of “ Back to the 50’s” Jubilee fun, in Amsterdam Friday and Saturday September 27^th and 28^th.

Courtesy of Fm. 92

 

Butler Junior High Volleyball Results

Butler VS Clinton 9/19/13

A team walked away with a win in two sets. The scores were Butler 25-13 and Butler 25-11.

B team fell to Clinton in 2 sets. The scores were Clinton 25 Butler 21 and Clinton 25 Butler 20.

Cass Midway VS Butler 9/23/13

A team fell to Midway in two sets. The scores were Midway 25 Butler 16 and Midway 25 Butler 18

B team won against Midway in three sets. The scores were Midway 25 Butler 22, Butler 25 Midway 19, and Butler 25 Midway 22.

Butler VS Appleton City 9/24/13

A team won in three sets. It was a very intense game and the girls played really well. The scores were Butler 25 Appleton City 20, Appleton City 26 Butler 24, and Butler 25 Appleton City 23.

B team walked away with a win in two sets. The scores were Butler 25 Appleton City 5 and Butler 25 Appleton City 14.

Great Job Ladies!

Barton County Sheriffs Office : Be aware. They could make their way here.

One of the asphault fraud groups have shown up in Lamar. The operation works somewhat similar to this. They show up unannounced to the door wanting to reseal driveways. Usually starts with they had some extra material and can do it cheap. The material used is substandard, usually mixed with diesel fuel, or kerosene. 

The price will start and go up to ridiculous levels if you allow them to work. Their goal is to find elderly people and bully them into letting them do the work. Then they will find their way into the house and steal credit cards or checks.

The current crew is using a blue/gray Dodge pickup. There will be at least two individuals. One will keep the resident busy while the other enters the rear of the house and steals valuables.

The crews could shhow up here please If anyone shows up to do unsolicited work, do not talk to them and call your local police.

Paying More to Stay Warm This Winter

Those really cheap natural-gas prices have left the stage. As a result, it’s a good bet you will pay more to heat your home this winter.
   
Although two of the Kansas City area’s gas companies predict minimal price increases, it still may put a little chill into customers who enjoyed a big drop in prices last winter. Last year, a surge in U.S. natural-gas production and a surplus of the fuel from a warmer-than-normal winter caused wholesale prices to collapse. At their low in April 2012, a thousand cubic feet of natural gas could be bought wholesale in April 2012 for less than $2, about the price of a 20-ounce bottle of Coke at a convenience store.

Eventually the surplus was worked off, and producers pulled back some. That combination more than doubled the wholesale price a year later, and, although it has dropped back around $3.60 lately, it still is clear that natural gas prices have turned up. So get ready for a modest bump in prices. Estimates peg a seasonal increase of up to $60 for the average residential customer.

Missouri Gas Energy and Kansas Gas Energy expect minimal increases for customers. Atmos Energy, which has customers in Olathe and other parts of Johnson County, already has passed along some higher prices to its customers. Atmos in recent years has done especially well keeping down its “cost of gas” charge to customers. The charge covers the wholesale gas price plus transportation and storage fees. Last year, that charge averaged $4.07 for each 1,000 cubic feet of gas a customer used, but “this year it’s going to be more than that,” said Jim Bartling, an Atmos spokesman.

Last winter’s natural-gas prices, the lowest in more than a decade, capped four straight years of price declines. Compared with 2008, prices last year were low enough to save $500 on an average residential customer’s annual gas bill. But those extra-low prices weren’t expected to last, and they haven’t. The average wholesale price of natural gas in 2012 was $2.75 per 1,000 cubic feet, and the Energy Information Administration expects it to be $3.71 this year and $3.95 in 2014. Still, because of the boom in U.S. production, the previous decade’s price spikes, which sometimes topped $13, seem likely to remain just a memory.

“I don’t think we’re going to see that kind of volatility anytime soon,” said Richard Schuck, one of the founders of Energy Support Providers in Leawood, which helps large users buy natural gas. Wholesale natural-gas prices in 2008 averaged $8.69 per 1,000 cubic feet before supplies from underground shale formations surged. Prices dropped more than 50 percent the next year and traded around $4 until they declined to last year’s $2.75 average. It still is early for consumers to figure how much the uptick in gas prices could affect their bills this winter, especially because the weather also will also affect how much gas they use. But this summer, electric utilities reacted by doing less switching from coal to natural gas when they could. “That’s due to the moderate increase in natural-gas prices,” said Peter Abt, the managing director of the consulting arm of the engineering firm Black & Veatch. Abt said that natural gas, even with the recent price rebound, would continue to be very competitive when it came to building new electric power plants because of environmental regulations that favor the cleaner burning fuel and the higher cost of building a coal-fired plant from scratch.

Black & Veatch, based in Overland Park, forecasts that average natural-gas prices will be in the $4 to $4.25 range over the next several years.What could be occurring is a natural-gas market that will have enough to meet demand to keep prices from going too high, but not so awash in the fuel for them to plummet to the lows seen last year, said James Williams, an analyst for WTRG Economics, which tracks energy prices. Producers have cut back on drilling, although existing wells are still delivering natural gas. U.S. production increased from 63 billion cubic feet of gas per day in January 2011 to 69 billion a year later. It has been essentially flat since then and is now at 70 billion cubic feet per day. Even at current prices, natural gas costs one-fifth what oil does, based on their energy output. “Supply and demand are becoming more in line and that’s going to affect prices a little bit, but they’re still competitive,” Williams said.