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After quarantining for 30 days when they moved to Australia, Hannah Barker and her beloved spaniel ecstatically reunite.
Missouri leads the nation in “problem” dog breeders for the 13th consecutive year, according to Humane World for Animals.
Twenty-six Missouri breeders are included in the “Horrible Hundred” list, which details violations at commercial breeding operations.
Advocates urge consumers to avoid purchasing puppies from pet stores or unvetted breeders to combat puppy mill cruelty.
For the 13th year in a row, Missouri tops the list as home of the most “problem” dog breeders, according to advocacy group Humane World for Animals — formerly the Humane Society of the United States. The list includes commercial breeding organizations in West Plains, Springfield, Bolivar and Cabool, with one being listed for a tenth time.
The list, called the “Horrible Hundred,” details violations or concerns at 100 commercial breeding operations across the country, based on inspection reports from state agencies and the United States Department of Agriculture.
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Of the establishments included, 26 were in Missouri. The state with the next most is Ohio, with 16 operations listed. Missouri has topped the list since HWA began publishing it in 2010. The HWA notes that a state’s lack of inclusion on the list does not mean it does not have problematic breeding operations there, but that records or information were unavailable.
“It’s time to break this cycle of abuse that we continue to see year after year in Missouri puppy mills. Despite appalling conditions and suffering documented by inspectors, these operations continue to churn out puppies for profit,” said Cody Atkinson, Missouri state director for Humane World for Animals, in a press release. “We’re pleased with how well the Missouri Department of Agriculture is inspecting and documenting conditions at puppy mills, and we encourage the state Attorney General’s office to ensure that meaningful penalties are applied. In the meantime, we as consumers can take a stand against puppy mill cruelty by refusing to buy a puppy from a pet store or any breeder they haven’t personally visited and vetted.”
In addition to USDA and state violations, dog breeders are also included in the list if they sell puppies to Petland or affiliated pet stores, which is the only national chain of pet stores in the United States that continues to sell puppies, said the HWA.
The HWA defines puppy mills as dog breeding operations offering dogs for monetary compensation, in which the “physical, psychological and/or behavioral needs of all or some of the dogs are not being consistently fulfilled due to inadequate housing, shelter, staffing, nutrition, socialization, sanitation, exercise, veterinary care and/or inappropriate breeding.”
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In Missouri, the Department of Agriculture requires an Animal Care Facilities Acts license for any person or organization that breeds dogs or cats or sells their offspring and harbors more than three intact females at a time. All licensed facilities are inspected at least once per year or upon complaint, according to the Missouri Animal Health Division website, and 18 field staff “ensure all covered facilities meet” Missouri’s standards for animal care and husbandry. The department also says that, in some instances, Missouri’s regulations on space, veterinary care and husbandry exceed that of the USDA.
The USDA requires anyone breeding pets for sale to be licensed, and inspects those licensees.
Which southwest Missouri breeders are listed?
The Horrible Hundred lists 26 Missouri breeders. Of those, 14 are based in southwest Missouri:
B&H Kennels in Dora was listed for “dodging” state inspections. This is the second time the business has been listed in the report;
PugPekinPoo-Tzu in West Plains was listed for repeated violations including lice and fleas on dogs, failure to remove a growing mass from a dog and a “decade-long history of sick and injured dogs.” This is the fifth time the business has been in the report;
Culver Lane Kennel in Hartville was listed for not taking a French bulldog with “crusty bumps with yellow fluid” and hair loss to get care and for selling to Petland. This is the second time the business has been in the report;
Indian Ridge Kennel LLC and I-R Kennels in Pleasant Hope was listed for not treating bulldogs with oozing eyes, not providing adequate veterinary care and for selling to Petland. Additionally, in October 2024, the USDA license under Indian Ridge Kennel was cancelled and a new license was issued at the same address. This is the first time the business has been in the report;
C&J’s Happy Tails Kennel in Joplin was listed for repeated reports of poor conditions, revocation of USDA license and for being listed as a breeder for Petland. This is the first time the business has been in the report;
Missouri White Tail Labradors in Springfield and Mount Vernon was listed for being an unlicensed facility; violations of dogs in the cold, without drinkable water, excessive fecal accumulation and more at a facility previously denied a license. The owner, Angela Kostron, was also found to be bringing pregnant dogs to a children’s daycare facility that she operates and having them give birth there. This is the first time the business has been in the report;
Monarch Kennel in Bolivar was listed for having issues during six different USDA inspections over 15 months, including dogs outside without shade, dogs in the cold and a dog’s outdoor shelter not being tall enough for the dog to stand up in. This is the third time the business has been in the report;
Orchard Kennel in Cabool was cited for violations it had in previous years, such as not providing clean water, animals in enclosures that were too small and dirty conditions. This is the second time the business has been in the report;
Ratepa Kennels in Bolivar was listed for “hiding dogs” at an unlicensed location, a repeat violation of a dog with untreated dental disease, performing procedures like tail docking without veterinary oversight and selling to Petland. This is the second time the business has been in the report;
Rocky Top K-9s and Thunder River Pets in West Plains was listed for repeated issues with very thin nursing mother dogs; puppies being lethargic, thin or sickly; and dropping its USDA license and changing its name but continuing to offer puppies online. This is the 10th time the business has been in the report;
Jet Kennels in Wasola was listed for the USDA finding more than a dozen dogs in need of treatment, the breeder euthanizing two dogs rather than treating them and giving away others, and at least a decade of severe, recurring violations. This is the fifth time the business has been in the report;
Wynter Knights Kennel & Grooming in Stockton was listed due to state photographs showing “disturbing conditions,” dogs that were fed raw deer heads and the owner being referred to Attorney General’s office for potential legal action by the Missouri Department of Agriculture due in part to the fact that she only corrected nine of the 32 violations of the Animal Care Facilities Act the MDA says she accumulated. This is the first time the business has been in the report;
Price’s Pets in Niangua was listed for repeated offenses, with the USDA finding thin puppies with scabs and “large areas of flaky skin” and thin animals found previously. This is the fourth time the business has been in the report;
Weatherly Dachshunds in Hermitage was listed for having a dog with a two-inch open wound in the jaw/throat region due to a suspected snake bite but not taking the dog for veterinary care. This is the first time the business has been on the list.
More on animal rescue: Springfield animal rescue offers tax credits to donors as it raises funds for expansion
What is being done to try to prevent puppy mill violations?
In 2010, Missouri voters passed a ballot measure called the Puppy Mill Cruelty and Prevention Act, which specified living conditions for breeding operations and capped the number of animals a business could use for breeding. However, in 2011, lawmakers passed a bill sponsored by then-state-senator Mike Parson that struck down parts of the law, including the cap on the number of breeding dogs.
A Missouri state representative has filed a bill in the 2025 legislative session that would regulate commercial animal breeders.
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Rep. Doug Clemens, a Democrat from St. Ann, filed HB 185 in January. The bill has been read twice but is not scheduled on a House calendar, according to the Missouri Legislature’s site. He previously filed the bill in 2024, and tried to attach it as an amendment to legislation that would have forbidden municipalities from banning pet stores that sell dogs, according to reporting from the Missouri Independent.
Clemens’ bill requires commercial breeders to maintain healthy breeding practices on all animals used for breeding. They also must complete specific requirements prior to selling any animal.
The bill also forbids dealers and pet shops from obtaining animals from a commercial breeder that has violated any state or federal law or regulation relating to the care or keeping of animals for the previous three years, or that has been found guilty of animal abuse or neglect. It would also make knowingly purchasing animals from a breeder in violation of the requirements a class A misdemeanor, and if a pet shop or dealer has been found guilty of a third offense, it “will have its license revoked and be prohibited from selling animals.”
The bill would also require each animal purchased from a dealer or pet shop to be warranted as free from genetic or major medical conditions for one year from date of purchase.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — To grasp the effects of the rush to redraw America’s congressional districts before the 2026 elections, consider one historically Black neighborhood in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the small town of Boonville, population 7,800.
The 18th and Vine community is known for a museum telling the story of segregated professional baseball in the decades before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier. Its leaders are talking about expanding the city’s streetcar line to lure more visitors to its cultural and historical attractions.
About 100 miles (161 kilometers) east, Boonville leaders want federal help restoring an old railroad bridge to give cyclists a more direct route on a popular cross-state bike trail near the mostly white farming community.
The two areas are thrust together under a new map Missouri Republicans passed in September in response to President Donald Trump’s push to give the GOP another winnable seat ahead of next year’s elections. Texas answered Trump’s call first, tilting five seats toward Republicans, but lawmakers in both major political parties are fighting a mid-decade, state-by-state battle to squeeze extra territory out of states they control. In California, voters approved a new House map to boost Democrats.
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Missouri Republicans targeted Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, shaving off portions of his Kansas City district and stretching it into Republican-heavy rural areas.
Congressional districts often mix rural and urban areas, but redoing boundaries can alter priorities and change which federal projects representatives pursue and how they pursue things like health care, housing and education funding. When Congress debates a farm bill, is protecting food assistance benefits more important than preserving crop insurance? It often depends on who’s being represented.
That might explain why Robert Sylvan, an 81-year-old Kansas City resident who attends Cleaver’s church, worries “the whole set of dynamics that impact us” could be upended.
People walk between downtown shops Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Boonville, Mo. Credit: AP/Charlie Riedel
Voters fear being forgotten
Even with U.S. politics deeply polarized, there’s bipartisan agreement on Sylvan’s point.
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Republican state Rep. Tim Taylor, who represents the Boonville area in the Legislature, said farmers Cleaver previously represented didn’t feel he understood them or came around much.
“Where he lives, things are different than they are here,” said Taylor, who voted for the redistricting plan despite misgivings about it.
It’s unclear how any Republican challenging Cleaver in the redrawn district would balance the needs of the two communities. So far, no likely contender is from Kansas City.
Troost Avenue, the city’s traditional racial dividing line, now marks a boundry for redrawn congressional districts in an attempt to flip a seat from Democrat to Republican, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. Credit: AP/Charlie Riedel
Some Kansas City residents don’t expect people around 18th and Vine to get much attention if Cleaver loses. Cleaver was raised in public housing in Texas and preached about social justice as a Methodist pastor in a predominantly African American congregation.
“Naturally, 18th and Vine is kind of his baby,” said Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. “I don’t want it to be forgotten.”
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Not just urban vs. rural
Fewer than 11% of Boonville’s residents are Black, while more than 64% are in 18th and Vine. The new Missouri map could have the state going from having people of color hold two of its eight House seats to one. Non-Hispanic white people are 62% of Missouri’s population but would hold 88% of its seats.
“We could potentially have folk representing us who have no interaction and have never had any interaction with people of color and have no idea of what goes on in the urban context,” said Cleaver’s son, Emanuel Cleaver III.
The areas often see common needs differently. Is the pressing problem with health care cuts that they cause rural hospitals to struggle or that millions of Americans don’t have insurance? An 18th and Vine resident is nearly twice as likely as a Boonville resident to have no health insurance. Boonville has been without a hospital since 2020.
Other differences: Buses stop every 15 minutes in 18th and Vine but must be prescheduled in Boonville. Kansas City leaders want more gun laws to combat violence while Republicans like Taylor have fought to expand gun rights. Trump won 67% of Boonville’s vote, compared with 14% of 18th and Vine’s.
The Kansas City neighborhood, celebrated for barbecue and jazz joints, hosted a 1920 meeting that founded the Negro National League, where Robinson got his start. Later, the area fell into disrepair.
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Cleaver helped change that, seeking taxpayer dollars for 18th and Vine since 1989, first as a city councilman and then mayor before his two decades in Congress. The city’s spending has exceeded $100 million, helped by federal grants. Most recently, Cleaver helped obtain $15.5 million in federal money to renovate the nation’s oldest Black-owned housing cooperative, which he called “one of the citadels for the African American community.”
That project followed Cleaver’s efforts to bring money to neighborhoods on the historically Black side of Troost Avenue, long known as the city’s unofficial racial dividing line. It’s now one of his new district’s borders, which he finds outrageous.
“I feel more skeptical about the society’s direction than I did when I was a kid growing up in public housing,” Cleaver lamented during an interview at the church his son now leads.
Now, 18th and Vine also is home to all-night jazz jam sessions, a dance company, an arts center and an MLB Urban Youth Academy. Kendrick’s museum hopes to raise $35 million to triple exhibit space.
If there’s unease among locals, it’s that they might be priced out as taxpayer money helps transform the area. The city is working on a pedestrian plaza and a parking garage. Local officials are studying a streetcar line extension. There’s no cost estimate yet, but the latest streetcar extension got $174 million in federal funds.
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Carmaletta Williams, executive director of the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City, an area museum, wonders about a new representative: “Will they see the value in what’s going on?”
A bike trail lures tourists to Boonville
Boonville is surrounded by row crops and cattle ranches. One local school district graduates fewer than 10 students a year.
Yet it lures tourists with the Katy Trail. At 240 miles (386 kilometers), it’s the longest trail built on former rail lines in the U.S., and work on it began at nearly the same time as the rebuilding in 18th and Vine.
Taylor said after the trail’s first section opened in 1990 it was instrumental in reviving a town that was “pretty much dying” when he was a teenager in the 1980s. His wife runs Taylor’s Bake Shop & Espresso downtown.
Heading into Boonville, bikers detour off the railroad’s original path, crossing the Missouri River on a highway bridge that includes a designated bike path. The path leads them away from a 1932 railroad bridge, which trail riders would love to see refurbished. The city applied unsuccessfully last year for a $236,000 federal planning grant.
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“The Katy Bridge is like the Eiffel Tower of Missouri if it would only be fixed,” said Annie Harmon, who runs a store in downtown Boonville called Celestial Body that sells essential oils, herbs, tie-dyed clothing and crystals.
Missouri has received $30 million in federal funds over the years for the Katy Trail and a related trail-building effort that cycling enthusiasts hope will loop almost 450 miles (724 kilometers), said Brandi Horton, a spokeswoman for the Rails to Trails Conservancy, a Washington-based nonprofit.
“You can’t do trail development at this scale,” Horton said, “without the dollars and the investment that the federal government can uniquely provide.”
There are some significant questions that’ll need to be answered before we have a good idea about what’s going to happen Saturday night in Columbia, Mo.
Most of those questions are centered around who will and who won’t be playing for Mississippi State against Missouri.
The initial Student-Athlete Availability Report listed quarterback Blake Shapen as probable, which is a good sign that he’ll be available for Saturday’s game. Offensive tackle Albert Reese IV was also listed as probable, but safety Isaac Smith was listed as out.
All three of those players are hugely important to the Bulldogs who are down to their final two chances at reaching bowl eligibility. We’ll know more later in the week about their availabilities, but they were available in our latest EA College Football 26 simulation.
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Fair warning, though, to Mississippi State fans who have already experienced enough heartbreak in overtime losses to Tennessee and Texas and what happened at the end of the Florida game, this one beats all of them.
LAKE OZARK — A proposal for a $100 million casino at the Lake of the Ozarks is just steps away from becoming reality.
The Lake Ozark Board of Aldermen met Wednesday for a special meeting to vote on whether to approve agreements with the Osage Nation for the construction for a hotel-casino in the city.
The board unanimously approved the agreements, authorizing the Lake Ozark mayor to send the Missouri Gaming Commission a letter of intent supporting the project.
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The deal would align city leaders and the Osage Nation on building the casino on a piece of land the Nation bought in 2021 at Bagnell Dam Boulevard and Business U.S. 54/Osage Beach Parkway. The piece of land covers approximately 27.6 acres of land, and the Osage Nation has clearance to build under the U.S. Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
The agreements outline the benefits that the city would receive from the casino’s construction. According to the document, the Osage Nation will pay the city of Lake Ozark a fee of 2.5% of all adjusted gross receipts from gaming winnings on a quarterly basis. The Osage Nation will also collect a 1% resort fee for paid hotel transactions, which will then be paid to the city, along with a $100,000 annual payment for around-the-clock services from the Lake Ozark Police Department. Lake Ozark city leaders said at a previous board meeting that the city could make an annual revenue of $1.9 million once operations commence.
In turn, Lake Ozark will provide water and sewer services to the casino, which the Osage Nation will pay the city rate for. The agreement also prohibits the Osage Nation from conducting fuel sales or constructing buildings such as a gas station or convenience store at the site.
The Osage Nation announced in a report its preferred plan to build at the site in August. That report revealed the casino would include a 40,000-square-foot gaming floor with a 150-room hotel tower and 435 parking spaces.
The report also revealed that the casino would operate 750 Class II gaming machines, similar to video slot machines or other video-game-style games of chance. This is allowed without making agreements with the state under the IGRA. However, the casino will not operate Class III gaming systems, such as true slots and table gaming, unless the Osage Nation makes a separate agreement with the state of Missouri.
