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After two years of record-breaking heat that brought a surge of deaths and health emergencies, several states have enacted or are considering measures designed to protect residents — with a new focus on younger people whose vulnerability is rising with the temperatures. Nationally, heat-related deaths rose from about 1,000 in 2018 to 1,722 in 2022 […]

The post Some states act to protect residents from extreme heat — with a new focus on young people appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When Trish Mitchell got an abortion three decades ago in Missouri, she didn’t tell the doctor her pregnancy was a result of sexual assault. She couldn’t bring herself to. It would be years before she told anyone that she had been raped. “Speaking for myself, it was literally almost impossible,” said Mitchell, who was 21 […]

The post Missouri rape hotline reporting requirement in abortion-rights petition draws criticism appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Electric reliability has been a hot topic lately — from congressional hearings to regulatory agencies and at the regional transmission organizations that run the electric grid in much of the country. The American electric grid is undergoing a major change, prodded by state and federal decarbonization policies, market forces pushing cheaper and cleaner forms of electricity […]

The post Reliability v. sustainability: Inside the debate over the EPA’s proposed carbon rules appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Shrouded in hypocrisy, entangled by complexity and ensnarled in a battle for control, the abortion issue will be a real test of the structure of our democratic form of government. Will there be a new overarching federal law along with specific state laws governing abortion? It is a central focus in the 2024 presidential election, […]

The post Resolution of the abortion issue will be a seminal test for our democracy appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Republican from St. Louis County is trying to derail 71 proposed initiative petitions with a lawsuit that claims they were improperly certified by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. The court case filed in Jefferson City by Paul Berry III argues that campaign finance filings are wrong or missing for petitions to reinstate abortion rights, […]

The post Republican LG hopeful files lawsuit seeking to toss out 71 Missouri initiative petitions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

There’s a popular meme which reads: “I just saved a ton of money on Christmas gifts discussing politics during Thanksgiving Dinner.” Polls show most Americans don’t want to talk politics during the holidays, and others offer suggests for dodge the topic at Thanksgiving. But research shows that political conversations matter for our country, for bettering […]

The post Why discussing politics at Thanksgiving is good for democracy — and your family appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Most of the candidates in this year’s 2024 Republican race for the presidential nomination mirror hard-line immigration policies set by the front-runner, former President Donald Trump. What were once considered far-right policies are now common talking points among the GOP candidates. That includes support for building a wall along the Southern U.S.-Mexico border […]

The post Trump immigration policies set the tone for most of the GOP presidential field appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Before Russia invaded her country, Yuliana Bezlysiuk was making plans. She had studied business and accounting in Ukraine, earned three degrees and found a job as a clerk at a Ukrainian university. Early one morning in February 2022, all of her plans and dreams disappeared. “In one day, all of my plans go,” she said. […]

The post Ukrainians find warm welcome in Sedalia after fleeing their war-torn country appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This column is prompted by the problems plaguing Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher who is facing calls by his colleagues to resign because of financial double-dipping by seeking reimbursement from the House for travel expenses that had been paid by his campaign. His troubles continue a pattern of House speakers who have run into trouble […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Does power corrupt in the Missouri House? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Back in July, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. A federal court had recently granted a temporary injunction, in Missouri v. Biden, finding that the Biden administration had violated the First Amendment by coercing social media companies to remove content, related both to elections and the COVID-19 vaccine, that it […]

The post How U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson helped derail a fight against election lies appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In a matter of months, the union representing maintenance, custodial and cafeteria workers at Kansas City Public Schools went from a cordial relationship with the district to filing seven class-action grievances. The grievances include allegations that the district hasn’t delivered all raises laid out in the latest labor contract, has disciplined workers for using leave […]

The post Kansas City Public Schools face grievances from maintenance and cafeteria workers’ union appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When students returned to classrooms around Missouri in August, only 601 had secured a scholarship through the MOScholars program as a returning recipient — half as many as were in the program in May.  There were also 247 first-time participants.  Three months into the school year, MOScholars has ballooned to 829 returning students and 675 […]

The post Funding lag creates barrier for Missouri private school tax credit program appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson clearly doesn’t know what to do about Eric DeValkenaere, the former Kansas City police officer convicted of killing a 26-year-old Black man, Cameron Lamb. Parson, forever a county sheriff at heart, hates the thought of a cop sitting in prison and he’s under pressure from the extended brotherhood of law enforcement […]

The post A jailed ex-KC cop is a problem for Mike Parson. Blaming the prosecutor won’t solve it appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Almost one out of every 10 voters who cast ballots in Missouri’s two largest jurisdictions during recent elections lacked the identification now required at polls in the state, an expert testified Monday at a trial over the voter ID requirement. Kenneth Mayer, a political scientist from the University of Wisconsin, estimated that about 175,000 votes […]

The post Missouri voter ID trial digs into purpose, results of strict 2022 law appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lisa Boccetti is horrified by the restrictive covenant that is in the deed to her 1950s ranch house in Raleigh, North Carolina: It states that the land cannot be sold or occupied by Black people. The property “shall not be sold to negroes or to any person or persons of negro blood, and said premises shall […]

The post States across the country grapple with racist language in real estate deeds appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Nearly a year ago, a Christmas weekend storm blasted across the country, forcing utilities to cut electricity to hundreds of thousands of people in parts of the southeastern U.S. after temperatures plunged, demand spiked, large numbers of power plants failed and natural gas supply was strained. As the anniversary approaches of Winter Storm Elliott, a pair […]

The post A year after devastating winter storm, power plant problems ‘still likely’ in extreme weather appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The board overseeing Missouri’s state employee pension plan voted down a proposal by state Treasurer Vivek Malek to sell off any investments in Chinese stocks and other securities.  On a voice vote last week, the 11-member board of the Missouri State Employees Retirement System rejected Malek’s call to punish the Asian economic powerhouse for COVID-19, […]

The post Missouri pension board rejects push by Vivek Malek for China divestment appeared first on Missouri Independent.

It was a Christmas party at the Trump White House, and despite the festive decorations, the trees and the wreaths and the red-and-green bunting, the mood must have been grim. A few days earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had firmly rejected a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas seeking the overthrow of election results […]

The post Unholy night – A Trump White House Christmas coup caper appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri could be the first state with a near-total abortion ban to use the initiative petition process to restore access.   But time is running short, with a May deadline to collect enough signatures looming and court battles over ballot summaries still plodding along.  And while voters in Ohio became just the latest to overwhelmingly back […]

The post Abortion rights won big on the ballot in Ohio. But in Missouri, advocates remain divided appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft will try again to salvage the ballot summary he wrote for abortion rights initiative petitions with an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court. Ashcroft’s language has been savaged in opinions from two courts, most recently when the Western District Court of Appeals ruled his summaries are “replete with politically partisan […]

The post Jay Ashcroft to appeal abortion ballot summary ruling to Missouri Supreme Court appeared first on Missouri Independent.