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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Lobby Day for Homeless in Jefferson City

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Wednesday, April 27, 2016   

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A group of homeless people in Missouri was to visit the state Capitol today to remind lawmakers that the homeless need legislation passed to help them get back on their feet.

The annual advocacy trip to the Capitol is put together by the nonprofit group ReStart. Evelyn Craig, its director and chief executive, said the group wants to encourage Missouri lawmakers to pass reforms in the state's landlord/tenant laws.

She said legislation approved in St. Louis and neighboring states gives people more time before they're evicted if they fall behind on rent. Programs such as ReStart could then serve as a middleman between a family and the landlord, she said.

"We could come in and say, 'Can this relationship be fixed? Do you just need rent paid?' We can do that and work with the family over a period of time," she said. "If it is such that the tenants can no longer stay, we will negotiate to say, 'Can they stay 30 more days while we will find them another place?'"

The group of homeless residents is touring the Capitol and meeting with lawmakers and staff from the Veterans Commission, Department of Corrections and Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Craig said more needs to be done in Missouri to make sure families don't get evicted, because once that happens it's hard for them to find another place to live, and sometimes they end up on the street. She said just one eviction starts the ball rolling.

"If you have an eviction on your record, it makes it harder, obviously, to get re-housed," she said, "and then you're usually in substandard housing, so it perpetuates landlords who aren't in compliance. They know folks are desperate to get into their units, and quite frankly, it's just a matter of what happens in life before you're going to be behind on rent again."

There are around 6,500 people homeless on any given night in Missouri, according to a 2015 report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Across the nation, that number is around 565,000. Nearly a quarter of those homeless people are children.


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