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Federal court rules Missourians were illegally denied food aid by the state

1 year 4 months ago

A federal judge ruled Thursday that Missouri’s social services agency violated the law in the way it has administered its food assistance program.  U.S. District Court Judge M. Douglas Harpool ruled that the state’s practices — including long call center wait times and a lack of accommodations for those with disabilities — violate the laws […]

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Clara Bates

Asylum seekers with criminal records would be more quickly removed under Biden proposal

1 year 4 months ago

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Thursday it’s proposing changes to the asylum system that would allow immigration officials to reject asylum seekers who have a criminal record that poses a threat to national security or public safety and quickly remove them. Those changes will occur during the initial screening stages, a senior U.S. Department […]

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Ariana Figueroa

Missouri Planned Parenthood clinics remain ‘open to all’ despite new Medicaid restrictions

1 year 4 months ago

Missouri’s Planned Parenthood clinics say they will continue serving patients on Medicaid, even after Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation Thursday blocking state and federal funds from going to the organization.  The new law, which goes into effect Aug. 28, is the third — and Republicans hope final — attempt to end Medicaid reimbursements to any […]

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Anna Spoerre

How do you repurpose a closed jail? Competing visions clash in St. Louis

1 year 4 months ago

Inez Bordeaux had heard horror stories about the St. Louis jail commonly known as the Workhouse — named so for prisoners held there in the 1800s who were forced to labor for their freedom — but it was only once she was sent there herself in 2016 that she realized: “Everything I’ve heard about the […]

The post How do you repurpose a closed jail? Competing visions clash in St. Louis appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Piper French

U.S. House Republicans pass bill to stop census from counting noncitizens

1 year 4 months ago

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans passed a bill Wednesday to add a citizenship question to the census and exclude noncitizens from the official headcount when determining population for representation in Congress and electoral votes. The legislation, which passed on a 206-202 party-line vote, is part of a trend of House GOP bills relating to immigration as the […]

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Ariana Figueroa

Still much unknown on how marijuana policies would change in states under Biden plan

1 year 4 months ago

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has proposed loosening the illegal status of marijuana at the federal level – but that doesn’t mean the federal government now condones recreational or medicinal use in the many states that have legalized the drug. Moving marijuana from the government’s list of the most dangerous and least useful substances to a less […]

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Jacob Fischler

Key lawmakers say Missouri budget talks close to completion as deadline approaches

1 year 4 months ago

The most difficult Missouri budget process in years entered the final 48 hours before the constitutional deadline for spending bills with no final agreement on how much the state should spend in the coming year. Missouri House Republicans, who hold an overwhelming majority in the lower chamber, caucused behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon for about […]

The post Key lawmakers say Missouri budget talks close to completion as deadline approaches appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Rudi Keller

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene fails in attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson

1 year 4 months ago

WASHINGTON — Efforts by a small group of far-right U.S. House Republicans to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from his leadership role failed Wednesday night, ending weeks of infighting about whether the Louisianan should remain the head of that chamber. Republican lawmakers joined by Democrats voted 359-43 to table, or set aside, the so-called motion to vacate that […]

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Jennifer Shutt

FDA chief says feds are preparing for low probability of bird flu moving to humans

1 year 4 months ago

WASHINGTON — The commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said at a congressional hearing Wednesday the agency is preparing for the possibility the strain of avian influenza affecting dairy cattle could jump to humans, though he cautioned the probability is low. Robert Califf told senators on the panel in charge of his agency’s funding that […]

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Jennifer Shutt

U.S. House GOP targets noncitizen voting, even though it’s rare

1 year 4 months ago

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson Wednesday unveiled a bill that would require states to verify proof of citizenship to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections, something already barred under the law. Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who played a key role through legal challenges in defending the former president’s efforts to overturn the […]

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Ariana Figueroa

Missouri governor to sign bill ending Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood

1 year 4 months ago

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has announced he will sign legislation limiting Planned Parenthood’s ability to serve low-income patients at a ceremony in his Capitol office Thursday.  The new law, which will go into effect Aug. 28, will end Medicaid reimbursements to any health centers affiliated with abortion providers. In Missouri, the law would apply to […]

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Anna Spoerre

They were shot at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade. They may have bullets in their bodies forever

1 year 4 months ago

James Lemons, 39, wants the bullet removed from his thigh so he can go back to work. Sarai Holguin, a 71-year-old woman originally from Mexico, has accepted the bullet lodged near her knee as her “compa” — a close friend. Mireya Nelson, 15, was hit by a bullet that went through her jaw and broke […]

The post They were shot at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade. They may have bullets in their bodies forever appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Bram Sable-Smith

Missouri governor signs $468M education bill that boosts teacher pay, expands charters

1 year 4 months ago

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation Tuesday that boosts the minimum salary for teachers, changes the formula for funding public schools and expands a tax-credit scholarship for private schools. It also allows charter schools in Boone County and requires a public vote for districts seeking to go to a four-day school week. When fully implemented, […]

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Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri bill protecting rural neighbors from meatpacking sludge nears passage

1 year 4 months ago

Meatpacking sludge storage lagoons that have drawn the ire of rural neighbors because of their foul stench would face stricter state regulations under legislation that passed the Missouri Senate Tuesday.  Senators voted 30-1 to require the facilities to obtain water pollution permits, be set back from nearby homes, follow certain design requirements and monitor groundwater […]

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Allison Kite

Missouri joins five other states in federal lawsuit over Title IX transgender protections

1 year 4 months ago

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on Tuesday filed a lawsuit with five other states, including Missouri, against the U.S. Department of Education’s change to Title IX that codifies protections for LGBTQ students. The federal rule, announced in April, protects students and employees from sex-based discrimination, requires schools to offer support for people who make complaints, […]

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Mary Hennigan

Biden decries campus antisemitism in Holocaust remembrance speech

1 year 4 months ago

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden warned Tuesday of rising antisemitism in the U.S. and said too many are forgetting the attack on Israel in October. During a Holocaust memorial speech at the U.S. Capitol, Biden stressed the importance of honoring the 6 million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, and the victims of Hamas’ […]

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Ariana Figueroa

The Missouri legislature is cutting local governments’ power to pass their own laws

1 year 4 months ago

If Kansas City had its way, the local minimum wage would run $17 per hour, grocery stores would only use paper bags and you’d need to pass a background check to buy a gun in town. But politicians and businesses that see these policy ideas as threats to their authority or their bottom lines, shut […]

The post The Missouri legislature is cutting local governments’ power to pass their own laws appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Josh Merchant

Black homeowners start to close gap in property values

1 year 4 months ago

Black homeowners’ property values are on the rise across the country, with some of the biggest upswings in Midwestern and Southern states. The boon to Black homeowners, after decades of lagging property values, could help them close a racial wealth gap that has kept the American dream out of reach. Home values increased on average […]

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Tim Henderson

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene huddles with U.S. House speaker she’s trying to oust

1 year 4 months ago

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plan to meet privately Tuesday amid her calls for him to resign or face a floor vote that could, but likely won’t, remove the Louisiana Republican from leadership. Greene announced the meeting Monday evening after she and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie met […]

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Jennifer Shutt