The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI -- U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill announced Friday that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development’s Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program will be providing $48,000 in federal grants to the Macon County Sheltered Workshop, Inc. to purchase a new box truck. The new equipment will improve efficiency and effectiveness for its recycling program while lowering operating costs for the organization. The Macon County Sheltered Workshop provides employment opportunities for developmentally challenged Missourians in Macon County.

The USDA Rural Development’s Rural Business Enterprise Grant provides grants to rural projects that finance and facilitate development of small emerging rural business through a broad array of endeavors. These grants assist rural business development through many means, including infrastructure funding, start up loans, and job training.

McCaskill believes that federal grants and loans are a positive alternative to earmarks, which in the past have frequently had too little accountability. Competitive merit and need based federal grants and low-interest government loans bring federal assistance to Missouri in an honest and fiscally responsible manner.