Tagged: American burying beetle

Nixon to return to Joplin to announce school funding

Mo. Gov. Jay Nixon is returning to Joplin to discuss funding for schools in the tornado-ravaged city.

Thursday afternoon, Nixon is scheduled to visit the Joplin 11th and 12th Grade Center - an empty big-box store that will house the two grades while the high school is rebuilt. He'll be joined by superintendent C.J. Huff and members of the Joplin Board of Education in touring the building and making the announcement on funding for the upcoming school year.

Updated 11:52 a.m.

The endangered American burying beetle could be making its way to a southwestern Missouri prairie.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to work with the St. Louis Zoo to reintroduce the colorful beetle to Wah-Kon-Tah Prairie in St. Clair and Cedar counties.

The Zoo has a population of the beetles. Zoo officials say they have not been seen in Missouri in more than two decades.

(You might remember this earlier feature from our own Véronique LaCapra on the about some dedicated supporters in St. Louis joining a nationwide effort to save the insect).