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Billy Winters’ childhood in Florissant in the 1960s sounds enviable.  His parents bought a new house as thousands of other families flocked to the growing St. Louis suburbs. Winters’ neighborhood was full of other kids to play with. He spent almost every day splashing in a creek that ran near his home. But Winters didn’t […]

The post ‘We got mad’: Years of pain after a childhood near radioactive Coldwater Creek in Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In the medical industry, the goal is increasingly straightforward: Get bigger. Or else. Consider, for example, the merger of Kansas City’s St. Luke’s Health System with St. Louis-based BJC Health System. When the deal closed Jan. 2, the cross-state neighbors had created one of the country’s largest nonprofit health care systems, with 24 hospitals, 44,000 […]

The post Merger between Kansas City and St. Louis hospital systems could mean bigger medical bills appeared first on Missouri Independent.

More than 70 years after workers first realized barrels of radioactive waste risked contaminating Coldwater Creek, the federal government has started work to put up signs warning residents. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement Monday that it was working with the Environmental Protection Agency to add signs along the creek to […]

The post Coldwater Creek to finally have warning signs after decades of nuclear contamination appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jefferson City police are investigating a false emergency call that on Sunday evening sent more than half a dozen armed officers to the home of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. Ashcroft said in an interview with The Independent that shortly after 9 p.m. he received a call from police saying they were at his home […]

The post Police investigating swatting call against Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — On the cusp of a 2024 election season like none other in U.S. history, former President Donald Trump’s legal and political worlds are set to converge. Trump’s lawyers on Tuesday will argue before a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. that he is immune from prosecution for actions he’s accused of taking while […]

The post Trump legal problems abound as first test of 2024 presidential campaign nears in Iowa appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The biggest plan for expanding the Capitol Building since its construction is still a draft, derailed prior to an approval vote last week over suspicion that Gov. Mike Parson’s administration was moving too fast on a deal for the Missouri Department of Transportation headquarters. Since 2019, the Missouri State Capitol Commission has been working toward […]

The post Future of MoDOT building puts hitch in Missouri Capitol expansion plans appeared first on Missouri Independent.

With more Missouri school districts switching to four-day weeks — including some of the largest — education leaders and state legislators are raising concerns. Four-day weeks have been an option for Missouri schools since 2011, and now over 30% of the state’s districts have adopted this shortened week — serving around 11% of the state’s […]

The post Four-day school week faces scrutiny from Missouri legislature, state education board appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The shocking events of Jan. 6, 2021, signaled a major break from the nonviolent rallies that categorized most major protests over the past few decades. What set Jan. 6 apart was the president of the United States using his cellphone to direct an attack on the Capitol, and those who stormed the Capitol being wired and ready […]

The post Jan. 6 was an example of networked incitement: Political violence orchestrated over social media appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The winner of next year’s presidential election could very well be holding the reins when it comes time to address Social Security’s complicated financial situation. The program, which millions of retirees depend on for income stability, will see benefits cut by nearly a quarter in 2033 if Congress and the White House haven’t […]

The post Presidential candidates largely mum about details on how to ‘save’ Social Security appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Nearly every abortion is illegal in Missouri.  But that hasn’t slowed the pace of anti-abortion legislation in the Missouri statehouse.  As lawmakers return to the Capitol for the 2024 legislation session, Republican lawmakers have already filed numerous bills seeking further restrictions on abortion and abortion providers. Yet even the staunchest anti-abortion activists concede it’s unlikely […]

The post With most abortions illegal in Missouri, few expect new bills will get traction this year appeared first on Missouri Independent.

While reading nursing home complaint reports, the last descriptor that tends to come to mind is “home.” Instead, one resident of a St. Louis skilled nursing facility uses some other words. “Depressing.” “Prison.” The resident wished to remain anonymous but can be vouched for by St. Louis area senior advocates. She described a recent night […]

The post Problems with oversight, staffing contribute to low quality ranking of Missouri nursing homes appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The election-year fiscal agenda for Missouri lawmakers includes big ideas like eliminating the corporate income tax or sales taxes on groceries and targeted proposals like increasing a tax credit used by low-income seniors and the disabled. The stakes in those bills are hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it earmarked for public schools or […]

The post Missouri lawmakers eye litany of tax cut proposals as Medicaid funding debate looms appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s second-longest serving member of Congress announced Thursday he will not seek a ninth term. U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, a Republican who turns 72 this year, said in a social media post that he made the decision to leave Congress “after a lot of thoughtful discussion with my family.” With the announcement, Luetkemeyer joins about […]

The post Blaine Luetkemeyer opts out of another term in Congress appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The 2024 battle for control of Congress is underway in the states, accompanying the accelerating race for the presidency. Republicans are preparing to funnel money and staff into a select few Senate races in an effort to flip that chamber back to their control, while Democrats are looking toward the districts President Joe […]

The post Fight for congressional majorities launches against backdrop of presidential campaigns appeared first on Missouri Independent.

If you drive around Kansas City with an eye to dialysis locations, something becomes clear. They’re clustered near the neighborhoods of people of color. Black people and, to a lesser degree, Hispanics, experience significantly higher rates of kidney failure than the white majority. Black people make up about 13% of the U.S. population, yet they […]

The post Kansas City physicians ditch rules treating white people’s kidney disease more seriously appeared first on Missouri Independent.

On Dec. 15, Michael Hudson became the 127th inmate to die in the custody of the Missouri Department of Corrections during 2023. Hudson, 30, was stabbed to death in a fight in the recreation room of the South Central Correctional Center in Licking, his mother LaShon Hudson said Wednesday. She fought tears and anger as […]

The post Memorial service seeks answers on rapid increase in Missouri inmate deaths appeared first on Missouri Independent.

More than 40% of the owners listed on applications for state’s social-equity marijuana licenses issued in October were from outside Missouri, according to an annual report released by the Division of Cannabis Regulation Wednesday. About half of those owners came from California, Michigan, Louisiana and Arizona collectively.   The microbusiness license program is meant to boost […]

The post Nearly half of Missouri social-equity marijuana license applicants were from out of state  appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson led a delegation of House Republicans on a Wednesday trip to the U.S.-Mexico border to demand hard-line immigration proposals in exchange for passage of President Joe Biden’s emergency global security supplemental request. “If President Biden wants a supplemental spending bill focused on national security, it better begin by […]

The post U.S. House speaker leads GOP lawmakers to the border to slam Biden on immigration appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Senate picked up Wednesday afternoon largely where it left off when it adjourned in May, with a group of Republicans holding court for more than an hour to vent frustrations with the chamber’s leadership.  For the past three years, a group of GOP senators who had previously been aligned under the banner of […]

The post Opening day of Missouri’s 2024 legislative session echoes past divisions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Congress got next to nothing done during the past year and could accomplish even less in 2024 as attention shifts to the November elections. House Republican and Senate Democratic leaders reached agreement on bills and resolutions they sent to the president’s desk just 34 times during the first year of the 118th Congress […]

The post Congress was full of postponements in 2023. Now 2024 could be even less productive appeared first on Missouri Independent.