Santa Fe Times News

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reminds hunters that Missouri youth, archery, and firearms turkey hunters can apply online for 2026 spring turkey managed hunts during February at mdc.mo.gov/ springturkeyhunts.

Care Connection for Aging Services is soliciting public comment on its Area Plan for July 2026 – June 2027. The plan includes detailed data, specific goals, and actionable strategies designed to expand and sustain the agency’s services, ensuring the agency meets the needs of the growing older adult population. The plan also ensures compliance with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) guidelines and the Older Americans Act, while prioritizing those with the greatest social and economic needs.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is now accepting nominations for Regional Teacher of the Year. This is the first step for an educator to become the 2027 Missouri Teacher of the Year.

The Santa Fe Board of Education met in regular session on Thursday, January 22nd. Mr. Lark shared that school resource office, David Cobb, would be attending a safety workshop sponsored by Missouri School Board Association’s Center for Educational Safety. The training will provide best practices for SRO’s as well as account for mandated training for school districts as a result of legislation passed last session. Additionally, he shared that members of the districts Threat Assessment Team would be undergoing refresher training, which will focus on assessing the validity of threats in schools, such as general threats of violence towards the school as a whole, individual threats, self-harm, bullying, etcetera. The threat assessment process provides a platform that provides a concrete structure for trained individuals to make informed decisions. “Discerning the validity and seriousness of the various and numerous types of threats that are made in all venues of a school district can be very, very challenging. Having a standard process with trained individuals enables us to make decisions that are more informed and consistent,” stated Mr. Lark. He then focused on the Governor’s State of the State Address. Summarizing the educational issues discussed, Mr. Lark noted that Governor Kehoe emphasized his intent to support school choice through legislation involving open enrollment and school voucher systems (MO Scholars). Lark shared that in fiscal year 2026, the state approved $51 million for the MO Scholars funding. He went on to share that more importantly, the major shift is that this funding is

To the Citizens of Lafayette County: As Presiding Commissioner, I would like to thank my fellow Commissioners, Monica Ritter (Northern District) and Michael Brown (Southern District) for their service to Lafayette County. We welcomed Michael Brown to the Commission in November 2025 when he replaced Brad MacLaughlin as Southern District Commissioner. Brad resigned on October 8, 2025. Michael Brown subsequently received Governor Mike Kehoe’s appointment to fill that vacancy. He was sworn in on November 26, 2025.