Foundation Journal

Orchard operation near Waverly, Mo On a recent trip to Columbia to visit my daughter attending the University of Missouri my wife and I took a scenic route through the historic town of Lexington, then went north on highway 65 out of Waverly. The hilly area is home to many fruit orchards, some of which line the roads. Fruit stands and orchard stores are common to the area. North out of Waverly across the Missouri River the landscape changes to flat bottomland containing expansive row crop farms covering thousands of acres. This abundant farmland stretches 65 miles east from Carrollton to Moberly on highway 63. Orchard near Waverly, Mo. From the look of the farm size and large quantities of orchards you would think this provides a satisfactory quality of life for people in the nation's breadbasket, but a story about a food assistance program in the Kansas City Star revealed a different side to this area. The two schools in Carrollton, county seat of Carroll County, ...

Comcast announced the expansion of a low-cost broadband Internet service for low-income families yesterday. The service, labeled "Internet Essentials," provides a five-megabit per second high-speed connection for $9.95 per month, the option to purchase a $149.99 computer, and free training classes. The service is available to families with at least one child eligible for the National School Lunch Program , which provides free or low-cost school lunches. Comcast was required to develop this low-cost Internet service as a result of it's acquisition of NBC. A similar "Starter Internet" offering from Time Warner discussed on this blog  was announced with much fanfare from KCK and KCMO mayors last November. The $10 Time Warner offering expired in January 2013, but provided the service and a low-cost computer to eligible families participating in the same school lunch program. Comcast has some additional requirements which may limit eligibility for the service li...