Latest news with #Missouri-based
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
100-year-old Gulfstream Hotel reopening in Lake Worth Beach. When?
After decades of waiting, the long-shuttered Gulfstream Hotel in downtown Lake Worth Beach will reopen its doors to patrons this fall, and would-be guests will be able to book reservations starting on June 19, 2025, for summer 2026, hotel representatives said in a press release. The Gulfstream Hotel, at One Lake Avenue, will open 90 rooms to customers when it opens this year, with 50 more rooms coming in 2026, the hotel said in a news release. It also will have 50 apartments, a rooftop restaurant, bar, spa, gym and a 273-space parking garage once fully opened. Nightly rates have not yet been published. The Gulfstream, built a few minutes' walk from The Intracoastal Waterway on Lake Worth Beach's easternmost city block, opened its doors in 1925. It has been closed since 2005. But even before then, it had gone through several closings, remodelings and reopenings. More: Shovels go in the ground as Gulfstream Hotel restoration gets underway in Lake Worth Beach The hotel first closed its doors following the infamously devastating 1928 hurricane. The storm's 145 mph winds blew the roof off the hotel, damaged its fifth and sixth floors and filled its lobby with 7 feet of sand. The crippled hotel opened again briefly but closed following bankruptcy brought about in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash. The hotel closed and reopened again in the 1980s and 1990s. It struggled financially as customers booked rooms in newer hotels along eastern Palm Beach County and its waterfront. The Gulfstream last booked customers from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s. The vacant hotel was bought and sold several times since then, before coming under ownership of Amy Gill and her husband, Amrit Gill, who head Missouri-based real estate development company Restoration St. Louis. They appealed to city voters in 2020 to approve a measure allowing them to build up the hotel's neighboring property to match the hotel's 87-foot height. Voters overwhelmingly approved that. 'We're thrilled to welcome the Gulfstream Hotel back into the fabric of Lake Worth Beach," Mayor Betty Resch said in the news release. "This project shows what's possible when history, vision, and community come together. I look forward to seeing residents and visitors alike enjoy this jewel of our city once again.' Anyone who has booking inquiries or wants to know other information about the hotel can email info@ Chris Persaud is a reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at cpersaud@ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Historic Gulfstream Hotel in Lake Worth Beach reopening fall 2025
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Morrisey approves $738K in emergency spending on out-of-state vendors to fix WV foster care
The West Virginia Department of Human Resources, located at One Davis Square in Charleston, (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch) Under Gov. Patrick Morrisey, the state has spent more than $700,000 in emergency purchases in an effort to fix glaring issues in West Virginia's foster care crisis. The money was spent on out-of-state vendors to help with urgent needs that included licensing new foster families and delays in placing children in homes. The state— which is the fastest in the nation to remove children from homes — doesn't have enough traditional foster homes, leading to some children being sent to out-of-state facilities or sleeping in hotels. About half of the money was spent on a foster care 'listening tour,' where Chicago-based Guidehouse advisory firm facilitated meetings around the state that brought together foster families, Child Protective Services workers, biological parents and more to air grievances and offer solutions for a laundry list of issues in the child welfare system. 'Without immediate intervention, West Virginia risks further deterioration of its child welfare system, placing countless children at greater risk of harm. The crisis demands urgent attention from agencies and community stakeholders to ensure that every child in the state receives the protection and care they deserve,' the state Department of Human Services wrote in an emergency purchasing request earlier this year requesting $348,000 for the listening session facilitator. Emergency purchases permit state agencies to bypass the usual bidding process required in state government. DoHS said in its request that the traditional procurement process 'would take too long and not align with the urgency required to address the crisis.' 'The CPS crisis has escalated to a level that demands swift intervention,' the request continued. The listening tour wrapped up last month, and Guidehouse will produce a report this summer with its findings. Morrisey, through an executive order, is requiring his office to review any purchasing requests over $100,000 as he looks to reduce government spending and root out waste. Along with approving the funds for the listening tour, Morrisey also approved a $390,000 emergency purchase request in March from DoHS for a vendor 'to provide solutions-driven approach' to improve the state's foster care licensing and placement issue. 'Governor Morrisey is committed to reforming the Child Welfare System and supports creative solutions to the many longstanding, inherited challenges,' Morrisey's spokesperson told West Virginia Watch. The one-year contract was awarded to Change & Innovation Agency, according to DoHS. The agency is a Missouri-based consulting firm that specializes in child welfare, child care and more. The agency will be tasked with helping DoHS improve its process for licensing foster families as the state has a backlog of families who have applied to foster. They'll also work on ensuring the state is in compliance with state and federal foster care guidelines. 'DoHS looks forward to partnering with Change & Innovation Agency to address the time required to license new foster families, placement delays and administrative burdens while developing a sustainable framework for long-term system improvements,' said Angel Hightower, communications director for DoHS. During the recent legislative session, Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha, called for an outside agency to audit the state's foster care system, which is serving more than 6,100 kids with an ongoing shortage of CPS workers, in-state homes and mental health services for children. The state spent nearly $70 million last fiscal year to house foster children in out-of-state facilities because the state doesn't have the capacity to keep children close to home. Stuart also wanted a group to make recommendations for how DoHS could improve its foster care system. DoHS Secretary Alex Mayer pushed back on Stuart's legislation, saying that he wanted to assess the problems himself after taking on the role at the beginning of the year. He also vowed changes to the troubled system. Mayer attended the listening tour sessions, saying that it was imperative he hear from people around the state about their experiences with the child welfare system. Stuart paused his bill mandating the outside audit, and DoHS requested the outside group to help with placements in March before the legislative session adjourned. 'The emergency procurement differs significantly in scope and intent,' Hightower said. 'While Sen. Stuart's bill proposed an external audit and study of the child welfare system, the department's request focused on streamlining and improving foster care licensing and placement.' On Monday, Stuart said bringing in an outside group to help with licensing foster families showed a serious approach under Morrisey in addressing the issues. 'I hope that my efforts have played a role in trying to fix a broken system. I applaud the governor's office's willingness to invest in our kids,' Stuart said. 'I don't care what form it comes in or who gets the credit, but I want to make sure and my focus is the child welfare system — making sure it works for our kids and our families.' He added, 'I think there are a lot of people to blame here — administration after administration that didn't pay proper attention to this issue.' Stuart added that he expected more funding requests to address foster care problems. Lawmakers recently allocated more than $300 million in the upcoming budget for child welfare services; Morrisey cut 75% of lawmakers' allocated funding to West Virginia's Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, a program that helps foster children in the court system, before signing the budget bill. Morrisey recently announced sweeping reforms to the state's child welfare system that he said would end 'years of bureaucratic stonewalling' from within the agency and begin a 'new era of transparency.' The Republican governor attributed some of the changes to the recently-concluded DoHS listening tour. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Missouri continues to lag behind most states in children's health, report finds
(Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent). Missouri ranked in the bottom third of all states for children's health, according to a report released Monday — due in part to a high rate of child and teen deaths. The annual Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which used data from 2023, evaluated all states on four metrics of child well-being: health, economic well-being, education, and family and community. Missouri ranked near the middle of states for overall child well-being, at 27th out of 50, weighed down by poor performance in health and education. Missouri's rankings in the four categories were: 13th in economic well-being, 33rd in education, 35th in health And 25th in family & community. 'Children's health remains an area of concern,' noted a press release Monday from Family and Community Trust, the Missouri-based nonprofit partner to Kids Count. Only nine states had higher rates of child and teen deaths in 2023 than Missouri, one of the factors considered in the health ranking. (Those were: Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alaska, Oklahoma and Montana.) Missouri generally ranks among the states with the highest rate of firearm deaths for kids. Firearms became the leading cause of kids' deaths in the United States in 2020, surpassing car accidents. While the national average in 2023 was 29 child and teen deaths per 100,000, that number was 37 deaths per 100,000 in Missouri. The national average rose overall in 2023. The report notes that while covid deaths contributed to the increase, the rise was largely due to rising firearm deaths and drug overdoses, particularly among teens ages 15 to 19. Also bringing Missouri's health ranking down: Missouri's rate of low-birth weight babies increased in 2023 from 2019 and is above the national average. Other factors helped Missouri's score. For one, Missouri has seen major improvements in children's insurance coverage since the state implemented Medicaid expansion in 2021. The rate of uninsured kids fell from 7% in 2019 to 5% in 2023, which is now on par with the national average. Nationally, Missouri saw among the sharpest declines in uninsured people overall from 2019 to 2023 with the expansion of Medicaid. Those gains could be threatened by Congress' budget proposal to reduce Medicaid spending in part by imposing more barriers to care. Teen births in the state have gone down, in line with national trends — though the state's average is still above the national one. The rate of overweight or obese kids has also improved in Missouri and is down to 31% of kids in 2023, on par with the national average. The rate of kids in poverty declined to 14% in the state in 2023, below the 16% national average. Missouri's education ranking slipped in recent years. In 2023, 77% of Missouri eighth graders were not proficient at math, according to the report, which is nearly 10 percentage points worse than 2019 and is worse than the national average. The press release from Family and Community Trust said the data show a 'continuing need to invest in education in Missouri.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Missouri continues to lag behind most states in children's health, report finds
(Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent). Missouri ranked in the bottom third of all states for children's health, according to a report released Monday — due in part to a high rate of child and teen deaths. The annual Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which used data from 2023, evaluated all states on four metrics of child well-being: health, economic well-being, education, and family and community. Missouri ranked near the middle of states for overall child well-being, at 27th out of 50, weighed down by poor performance in health and education. Missouri's rankings in the four categories were: 13th in economic well-being, 33rd in education, 35th in health And 25th in family & community. 'Children's health remains an area of concern,' noted a press release Monday from Family and Community Trust, the Missouri-based nonprofit partner to Kids Count. Only nine states had higher rates of child and teen deaths in 2023 than Missouri, one of the factors considered in the health ranking. (Those were: Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alaska, Oklahoma and Montana.) Missouri generally ranks among the states with the highest rate of firearm deaths for kids. Firearms became the leading cause of kids' deaths in the United States in 2020, surpassing car accidents. While the national average in 2023 was 29 child and teen deaths per 100,000, that number was 37 deaths per 100,000 in Missouri. The national average rose overall in 2023. The report notes that while covid deaths contributed to the increase, the rise was largely due to rising firearm deaths and drug overdoses, particularly among teens ages 15 to 19. Also bringing Missouri's health ranking down: Missouri's rate of low-birth weight babies increased in 2023 from 2019 and is above the national average. Other factors helped Missouri's score. For one, Missouri has seen major improvements in children's insurance coverage since the state implemented Medicaid expansion in 2021. The rate of uninsured kids fell from 7% in 2019 to 5% in 2023, which is now on par with the national average. Nationally, Missouri saw among the sharpest declines in uninsured people overall from 2019 to 2023 with the expansion of Medicaid. Those gains could be threatened by Congress' budget proposal to reduce Medicaid spending in part by imposing more barriers to care. Teen births in the state have gone down, in line with national trends — though the state's average is still above the national one. The rate of overweight or obese kids has also improved in Missouri and is down to 31% of kids in 2023, on par with the national average. The rate of kids in poverty declined to 14% in the state in 2023, below the 16% national average. Missouri's education ranking slipped in recent years. In 2023, 77% of Missouri eighth graders were not proficient at math, according to the report, which is nearly 10 percentage points worse than 2019 and is worse than the national average. The press release from Family and Community Trust said the data show a 'continuing need to invest in education in Missouri.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Business Wire
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Business Wire
Victims of Chaotic Crowd Stampede at Dallas Cheer Competition File Lawsuit
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lawyers representing hundreds of people who were injured during a chaotic crowd stampede at a March cheerleading competition in Dallas have sued the organizer, Varsity Spirit, and facility management saying they failed to provide proper security at the event. In their court filing, the attorneys say those failures led to parents and children being trampled and suffering broken bones, concussions, brain bleeds, and other physical injuries when participants and attendees went running from the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, following reports of gunshots being fired. Many others, including children, continue to suffer from the emotional trauma they endured. 'This wasn't a little something. This was mass chaos,' said Ashlea Schwarz of Paul LLP in Kansas City, Mo., who represents the victims. 'You had parents separated from their kids for hours. You had a facility that had no plan for reunification in place. People had no idea where they would go to find their children.' Video of attorney Ashlea Schwarz and victim Rachel Meyer 'It was pure chaos,' said Rachel Meyer of St. Louis, who attended the event along with her 9-year-old daughter. 'Nobody knew what was happening. Everybody was screaming, looking every way. There were people pushing other people. And the pure panic in everybody's voices – that's something I'll never forget.' Records show there were approximately 25,000 participants – most under the age of 18 – who attended the 2025 National Cheerleaders Association All-Star National Championship event, from Feb. 28 to March 2. An estimated 38,000 spectators attended. Police and event officials have said the crowd crush was ignited by the sound of metal poles crashing to the concrete floor of the convention center following a fight between two parents. 'It really doesn't matter what started the panic,' said Charla Aldous of Dallas-based Aldous Law. 'What matters is the chaos and crowd crush happened because Varsity and the convention center were not prepared. And that resulted in the injuries these people suffered.' The lawsuit details injuries suffered by attendees from Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia. They include a woman knocked unconscious during the stampede who suffered a series of brain bleeds; a mother who was slammed face-first into the concrete and was so severely hurt that her young daughter thought her mom had been fatally shot; and an event participant suffering from a concussion who sheltered alone under tractor-trailers outside the convention center. Varsity Brands is the parent company of Varsity Spirit, and is headquartered in Farmers Branch, Texas. The lawsuit is Albold, et al. v. Varsity Spirit LLC et al., No. CC-25-04400-C in Dallas County Court at Law No. 3. About Paul LLP Paul LLP is a Kansas City, Missouri-based trial firm focused on complex commercial and consumer litigation involving the prosecution of class and mass actions, frequently leading multi-faceted, nationwide teams of co-counsel in complex litigation. Learn more about the firm at About Aldous Law Aldous Law specializes in high-stakes personal injury litigation, including wrongful death, trucking collisions, medical malpractice, products liability and sexual assault cases. Learn more about the Dallas-based firm at
