Your five-minute catch-up for Wednesday, July 15. Here’s what matters on our stretch of the river today.
Around the Counties
Missouri will start tracking tick-borne illness cases statewide. Gov. Mike Kehoe signed House Bill 2372 on Monday, requiring labs to report confirmed Alpha-Gal Syndrome cases to the state health department, which will send an annual report to the CDC. State health records show more than 34,000 Alpha-Gal cases reported in Missouri since 2021 — the tick-bite allergy that leaves people unable to tolerate red meat and other mammal products, a particular hardship for farming families. “The reporting requirement will give federal lawmakers better data,” Rep. Matthew Overcast told Missourinet. The same bill expands Medicaid-covered doula visits and adds free childbirth classes for families in the Show-Me Healthy Babies program.
Local fire crews are gearing up for flash-flood season. Columbia Fire and the Boone County Fire Protection District have been running water-rescue drills and buying new boats and gear as flash flooding becomes a bigger yearly risk, KBIA reports. “Most flash flooding deaths are preventable,” said KOMU meteorologist Matt Beckwith — most happen in vehicles that drive into rising water. Worth remembering on our creeks and low roads the next time a storm rolls through.
Outdoors & River
The Missouri River at Boonville read 10.57 feet Wednesday and still falling — well under flood stage, with a clear, calm day up and down the valley.
Music returns to the Peers Store porch on the Katy Land Trust’s Country Store Corridor in August. The free Saturday/Sunday shows (noon–3 p.m.) took a break for July and pick back up August through October, with more than 40 regional acts on the season’s roster. The store itself — open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday 10 a.m.–2 p.m., weekends 10 a.m.–4 p.m. — is closed Wednesdays, so plan around that if you’re headed out today.