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The House Ethics Committee investigation of Speaker Dean Plocher reminds me of the recent history of speakers who ended their time in office under a legal or ethical cloud. As The Independent has reported, Plocher sought House reimbursement for travel that had been covered by campaign funds. And he pressured House staff to go around the normal contract bidding process in […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Recognizing when it’s time to go appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This month, Wisconsin joined 27 other states that have banned or restricted local governments’ use of private donations to run cash-strapped election offices, buy voting equipment or hire poll workers for Election Day. All of the state laws came in the past four years, pushed by conservative lawmakers and activists who claim that Democratic voters […]

The post Cash-strapped election offices have fewer resources after bans on private grants appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released a sweeping set of rules aimed at cutting air, water and land pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Environmental and clean energy groups celebrated the announcement as long overdue, particularly for coal-burning power plants, which have saddled hundreds of communities across the country with dirty air and hundreds of […]

The post New EPA rules will force fossil fuel power plants to cut pollution appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For generations, federal housing subsidies have provided a lifeline to families struggling to afford rent. But the maximum amount families got for rent stayed the same regardless of which neighborhood best suited their needs — effectively segregating them into low-income areas. Come this fall, the rent cap for a standard apartment will vary from one […]

The post New Kansas City housing subsidies set by ZIP code could avoid segregating renters appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The saga of Dean Plocher took yet another twist this week, with the House speaker’s leadership team circumventing the chamber’s rules to try to force the ethics committee to hold a hearing. Plocher has been under investigation by the committee for months, and recently he and his allies have started demanding it convene and dismiss […]

The post Amid Dean Plocher obstruction allegations, talk turns to fixes for House ethics rules appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court appeared skeptical Thursday of former President Donald Trump’s argument he is immune from criminal charges that he tried to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. But conservatives who dominate the court appeared open to returning key questions to a trial court, possibly delaying Trump’s prosecution beyond the November […]

The post U.S. Supreme Court floats return to trial court for Trump in presidential immunity case appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Senate’s budget plan approved in a committee Wednesday has more money for workers who help people with developmental disabilities, more to help low-income families afford child care and more for counties to defray the cost of holding people convicted of felonies. There are also big new road projects and a boost to higher […]

The post With time running short, Missouri Senate set to debate $50 billion state budget next week appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Legislation seeking to make it harder to change Missouri’s constitution through the initiative petition process was approved by the Missouri House on Thursday, sending it back to the Senate for a possible showdown between Republicans and Democrats over “ballot candy.”  The bill was initially approved earlier this year after Democrats ended their 21-hour filibuster in […]

The post Missouri House sends initiative petition bill back to Senate with ‘ballot candy’ reinstated appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Republican state Senate candidate with a history of obscene and insulting social media posts said Thursday that he will withdraw from the race after receiving a cancer diagnosis. Former state Rep. Chuck Basye of Rocheport made the announcement during an interview on the Wake Up Mid-Missouri show on KSSZ-FM in Columbia. “I received a […]

The post Cancer diagnosis forces candidate to withdraw from Missouri state Senate race appeared first on Missouri Independent.

An effort to create a program for St. Louis-area residents affected by radioactive waste nearly derailed a Missouri Senate bill backed by the Kansas City delegation to help expand a facility manufacturing components of nuclear weapons.  But after defeating the proposed amendment pertaining to St. Louis on Tuesday, senators approved the bill on a first-round […]

The post Missouri Senate advances KC weapons facility tax break without aid for nuclear waste victims appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Republican lawmakers are seeking to target Kansas City with heavy sanctions if it moves ahead with stated plans by Mayor Quinton Lucas to welcome immigrants with legal clearance to work while in the United States. The last item added to the state budget Wednesday during deliberations of the Senate Appropriations Committee was language that […]

The post Senate committee adds anti-immigration sanctions targeting Kansas City to Missouri budget appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A bill that would make Missouri the fourth state to ban Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood is on its way to the governor.  On Wednesday, the Missouri House in a vote down party lines approved legislation that would end Medicaid reimbursements to any health centers affiliated with abortion providers. Republicans are confident they’ve landed on […]

The post Bill ending Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood heads to Missouri governor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

U.S. Supreme Court justices spent two hours Wednesday debating whether a federal law about emergency treatment encompasses abortion care even in states with strict abortion bans, with no clear indication of how they may ultimately rule. A decision could come as soon as the end of June to decide whether Idaho’s near-total abortion ban means […]

The post Supreme Court justices appear split over whether to protect abortion care during emergencies appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan emergency spending law Wednesday to provide an additional $95 billion in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, ending months of behind-the-scenes maneuvering and public pleas for Congress to approve the funding. The package also included a measure requiring the popular app TikTok be sold by its Chinese […]

The post Biden signs $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan into law appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Kansas City officials are hoping to overturn an arbitrator’s decision that a firefighter who crashed a fire truck and killed three people could only receive a three-day suspension. On Tuesday, the city of Kansas City filed a motion in Jackson County Circuit Court to vacate an arbitration decision that determined Dominic Biscari could only be […]

The post Kansas City seeks stiffer punishment for firefighter who killed three people in crash appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Rep. Aaron McMullen is fighting an uphill battle — and he knows it. McMullen, a Republican from Independence, is pushing legislation that would require Missouri’s members of Congress to reside in the district they represent. But there’s one problem: His proposal conflicts with the U.S. Constitution. Article 1 Section 2 of the Constitution states that […]

The post Missouri lawmaker wants congressional members to live in their districts appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Department of Corrections must pay more than $60,000 for refusing to give records to a mother trying to find out how her son died in 2021 while in state custody. And that amount could grow, both because the department lost an appeal of an order finding it violated the Sunshine Law and because […]

The post Missouri prison agency to pay $60K for Sunshine Law violations over inmate death records appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Thursday over former President Donald Trump’s pursuit of absolute immunity from criminal charges alleging that he schemed and knowingly fed lies to subvert the 2020 presidential election, eventually leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. In the final argument of this term, the justices […]

The post Trump’s claims of presidential immunity to be probed at U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case in New York appeared to strongly disagree Tuesday with the former president’s lawyers’ explanation for why he should be considered in compliance with a gag order in the case. In a Tuesday morning hearing to determine whether to fine Trump for violating the order, Judge Juan Merchan warned […]

The post NY judge spars with Trump lawyers over gag order in criminal trial appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — An additional $95 billion in military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is on a glide path to passage in the U.S. Senate after a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voted Tuesday to limit debate on the package. The 80-19 procedural vote sets up a final passage vote as soon as Tuesday evening, […]

The post Foreign aid bill advances in U.S. Senate as McConnell chides GOP ‘isolationist movement’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.