Clara Bates
Reporter | The Missouri IndependentClara Bates covers social services and poverty for The Missouri Independent. She previously worked for the Nevada Current, where she reported on labor violations in casinos, hurdles facing applicants for unemployment benefits and lax oversight of the funeral industry. She also wrote about vocational education for Democracy Journal. Bates is a graduate of Harvard College and a member of the Report for America Corps.
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Officials previously said the summer emergency food benefits program would be dispersed by the end of the year. Achieving that goal looks increasingly unlikely. -
A former camper alleges that Branson-based Kanakuk, one of the largest Christian summer camps in the country, concealed knowledge of a director's sexual misconduct when it persuaded his family to sign a settlement and non-disclosure agreement. -
Despite a federal lawsuit, callers to the state hotline handling Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program waited on hold an average of an hour and a half in August before being connected to agents. -
A new report found many families earn too little to qualify for the $2,000 federal benefit, which is tied to a family’s earnings and income taxes. Nearly a quarter of the Missouri children who fall into the gap are Black — higher than the state's overall population of Black kids. -
Missouri on average took 41 days to process a Medicaid application in September for the eligibility group which includes low-income children, pregnant people, families and adults. -
During the pandemic, participation in the federal program for low-income women and children dropped more steeply in Missouri than in all but one other state, a new report found. One cause might be Missouri's burdensome administrative system, which requires EBT cards to be physically swiped when loading benefits. -
House Speaker Rob Vescovo is calling for the U.S. attorney’s office to get involved because he believes local officials ‘either turned a blind eye to, or helped to cover up’ abuse at Agape Boarding School. -
Roughly four in every five Medicaid applications in Missouri took longer than 45 days to process from February to April. -
Advocates praised the law, which prevents underaged survivors from being charged with prostitution and requires law enforcement to immediately report suspected cases to the state, as a step in the right direction. -
Difficulty scheduling interviews contributes to a high rejection rate of SNAP applicants, the lawsuit alleges. In September, October, and December of 2021, over half of SNAP applications rejected were due to failure to complete an interview, according to the lawsuit.
