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St. Joseph School Board President Latonya Williams will retain her after an effort to oust her failed at a special meeting on Aug. 11th. Turmoil has rocked the seven-member board this summer board members trade accusations of harassment, in-fighting, and outside influence from conservative political groups.

Iowa educators are pushing back on an what they see as an effort by the state to limit academic freedom and unfettered speech in university classrooms. State lawmakers are working to limit what they call liberal indoctrination in Iowa's institutes of higher education. The state's three public universities, the the Iowa Federation of Labor and a graduate student union have formed the Iowa Higher Education Coalition to defend free speech. University of Northern Iowa journalism professor Chris Martin says there has been a strong effort by the Iowa Legislature to insert political influence into the classroom.

Maximize NW Missouri, a regional non-profit group, is seeking out local alumni and resident perspectives to guide community development in the coming years. The survey serves as a way for the organization to best serve the communities in its 18 county service region. It focuses on why residents have chosen to stay in the region, or relocate here.

Late last week, the Missouri politician Billy Long was removed from his post leading the Internal Revenue Service and assigned by President Trump to be the US Ambassador to Iceland.

All eight of Missouri's metropolitan areas saw rising unemployment rates in June.