Every child who starts at Lemay Child and Family Center in St. Louis County receives a developmental screening during their first month of attendance. Based on these screenings, kids can receive speech or occupational therapy at the center, and staff can connect families with community support like help sourcing healthy food. “The economy right now […]
There are 32 attorneys, investigators and specialists in the Missouri State Public Defender Office dedicated to preventing the wrongful execution of innocent people on death row. The agency spends almost $3 million each year on salaries for these personnel, said Matthew Crowell, director of Missouri’s public defender system. “We’re also using 16 of my best […]
Recent murders in Kansas City and St. Louis — one at a nightclub, the other at a coffeeshop — have people asking why the assailants, both with histories of violent crime, were out on the streets in the first place. When violence strikes, anger is natural. It often translates into demands for harsher sentences. The […]
The Missouri Senate unanimously approved legislation Tuesday clarifying that pregnant women can get divorced, making it the first non-budget bill to be sent to Gov. Mike Kehoe this year.  The bill, filed by state Reps. Cecelie Williams, a Republican from Dittmer, and Raychel Proudie, a Democrat from Ferguson, also received unanimous approval in the House […]
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats tasked with overseeing defense left a classified briefing Tuesday incensed about President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, as the United States and Israel continue their joint bombardment and families prepare to bury seven American service members killed in the conflict. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who sits on the Senate Armed Services […]
A proposed constitutional amendment that would give lawmakers broad authority to expand the state sales tax and use the revenue to eliminate the income tax won initial approval in the Missouri House Tuesday. The bill needs another vote in the House before it heads to the Senate. If it wins approval there, it would go […]
Thousands of low-income people living with HIV could be losing drug coverage as states impose limitations on HIV assistance programs amid constrained budgets — raising alarms over consistent access to lifesaving medications. Many factors are putting budget constraints on state programs, including federal funding — which has remained flat for years and hasn’t been adjusted […]
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans during a Tuesday hearing laid the groundwork for legislation that would prevent state and local governments from making decisions on whether to limit cooperation with the federal government on immigration enforcement. Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham of South Carolina argued that sanctuary cities — a term used by critics — […]
The first case challenging Missouri’s gerrymandered redistricting plan to reach the state Supreme Court questions whether lawmakers had the power to enact the plan at all. The court’s seven judges on Tuesday spent nearly an hour discussing the definition of a single word — “when” — and what it means in the constitutional directive to […]
The first warning sign that all was not well with Miranda Malone’s mom was that she had lost a lot of weight. It was June 2020, and Malone, of St. Charles County, hadn’t been able to visit the nursing home where her mom was receiving care for Parkinson’s disease since the beginning of the COVID-19 […]
A bill simplifying licensing for food trucks in Jackson County ahead of this summer’s FIFA World Cup was discussed by a Missouri Senate committee on Monday. Under the bill, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Joe Nicola of Grain Valley, a license or permit issued by Jackson County would be valid for a mobile food business […]
President Donald Trump demanded that Republican-led states redraw their congressional districts mid-decade because he expects he’s in trouble for the midterms. Missouri Republicans obliged, gerrymandering Kansas City to dilute the voting power of Black voters and get representation of Missouri’s 40% Democratic voters down to 12.5% of congressional seats. And yet, Republicans face a serious […]
President Donald Trump on Monday told House Republicans, who were gathered in Florida for a policy retreat, that he expects the war in Iran will wrap up “quickly,” though he didn’t give a specific date or detail exactly what he wants to do before ending the hostilities. “We took a little excursion because we felt […]
A push to shift hundreds of millions of dollars among Missouri state colleges and universities ran into bipartisan skepticism Monday during a hearing of the House Budget Committee. State Rep. Dirk Deaton, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said he wants to overhaul state support for community colleges and universities by reallocating funding based on […]
Former Missouri House Speaker John Diehl was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison Monday after pleading guilty last year to misusing federal loans meant to help businesses withstand the COVID-19 pandemic. Diehl, a St. Louis-area attorney, admitted defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration out of $379,900 through an Economic Injury Disaster Loan and a […]
Over the past year, GOP leaders and the Trump administration have used a law known as the Congressional Review Act to push for coal mining in Montana, oil drilling in Alaska and copper mining in Minnesota, while also attempting to reverse protections for a national monument in Utah. The rarely used act gives Congress a […]
WASHINGTON — Americans are paying more for gas Monday as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran chokes off a significant route for roughly one-fifth of the world’s petroleum products. Global prices for Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed over $100 a barrel. Prices were just above $70 a barrel in the days before the U.S. […]
There is nothing promoters of legal video lottery games can say that will convince Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin that promised new revenue offsets the social damage of expanded gambling, she told The Independent last week. That opposition, she said, doesn’t mean Capitol hallway rumors that the Senate Select Committee on Gaming — […]
A few years ago, Krystle Armstrong walked into Planned Parenthood in Rolla for a routine well-woman exam — the kind of appointment people make and forget about. Instead, her pap smear came back abnormal. Her doctor found pre-cancerous cells, and not long after, Armstrong had an ovary removed. Now 38 and living in Lake Ozark, […]
There is a familiar Washington magic trick, and Missouri’s U.S. senators perform it with unusual confidence: Spend years denouncing the bipartisan cult of stupid wars, then salute smartly when your own president lights the fuse. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt have both marketed themselves as realists, skeptics of permanent intervention and the old foreign-policy catechism. […]
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