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This story was originally published by ProPublica. As soon as Lisa Casteel learned her 78-year-old mother had agreed to sell her Kansas City home to a “We Buy Ugly Houses” franchise for far below its market value, she contacted the buyer to halt the deal. In her letter to the company, she invoked a Kansas […]

The post Homeowners trying to escape ‘We Buy Ugly Houses’ deals find little relief in state, federal laws appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Weeks after former President Donald Trump lost his bid for a second term, the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election found its way to Missouri.  Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and one of Trump’s lawyers, appeared via Zoom before a Missouri House oversight committee in December 2020 to […]

The post False fraud claims a focus of Rudy Giuliani’s 2020 Missouri testimony, St. Louis defamation suit appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The top priority of many Missouri parents and educators is school safety, according to a survey presented at the latest State Board of Education meeting. But statewide safety improvements for schools didn’t garner much traction during the legislative session that ended in May, with most proposals dying without ever making it to the full House […]

The post Missouri takes steps to address school safety largely through its budget appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer” has focused new attention on the legacies of the Manhattan Project – the World War II program to develop nuclear weapons. As the anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945, approach, it’s a timely moment to look further at dilemmas wrought by the […]

The post The nuclear arms race’s legacy: Contamination, staggering cleanup costs and a culture of secrecy appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to four felony charges in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., after a federal grand jury handed up an indictment against the former chief executive related to the 2020 election. Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, was released under the conditions that […]

The post Trump pleads not guilty to charges he sought to subvert 2020 election appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A deadline for a year’s worth of backdated benefits is fast approaching for U.S. veterans suffering illnesses after exposure to open burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxins. Nearly a year ago, President Joe Biden signed the PACT Act, a law supporters describe as the largest expansion of veteran benefits in U.S. history. The law […]

The post Veterans exposed to burn pits, toxins urged to apply for retroactive benefits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Cole County judge promised Thursday he would rule quickly after a Sept. 11 trial over the language voters will see when they consider an initiative petition to reinstate the right to an abortion. At a hearing on challenges to the ballot titles written for six proposed petitions, Circuit Judge Jon Beetem told attorneys that […]

The post Trial set for Sept. 11 on ballot title for Missouri abortion rights amendment appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Faced with growing calls for the public release of police disciplinary records, lawmakers in almost every state have grappled with how to balance revealing law enforcement misdeeds and protecting officers’ privacy and safety. Fueled by public outrage over the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and other high-profile incidents of police […]

The post After George Floyd’s murder, more states require release of police disciplinary records appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri has begun checking the eligibility of everyone on its Medicaid rolls — a review process that was paused for three years because of pandemic-era federal protections.  Many advocates hope continuing to get the word out about how to navigate what is, for many, an unfamiliar process, will help those who are eligible retain coverage. […]

The post Navigating your Medicaid renewal? Missouri advocates offer advice appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The federal indictment accusing Donald Trump of trying to stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election includes detailed accusations of Trump and his alleged co-conspirators’ pressure on individual state officials. The central plot to overturn the election, as described in the indictment a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., handed up […]

The post How the fake electors in seven states are central to the Trump Jan. 6 indictment appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Pharmaceutical sciences professor Chris Adkins was perusing news on his computer in December when he came across an item that fascinated him: Anti-abortion groups had sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to force a recall on a commonly used abortion drug. Adkins teaches future pharmacists at South University School of Pharmacy* in Savannah, Georgia. […]

The post Study cited by Texas judge in abortion-pill case under investigation appeared first on Missouri Independent.

CLEVELAND — Ohioans over the last century have used the state’s ballot initiative process to pass constitutional amendments that raised the minimum wage, integrated the National Guard and removed the phrase “white male” from the constitution’s list of voter eligibility requirements. Now, lawmakers want to make it much tougher for an initiative to be approved. […]

The post Ohio voters are deciding if it’s too easy to pass ballot measures. Other states are watching appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As heat waves sweep across the Midwest, incarcerated people in Missouri are increasingly afraid of the rising temperatures inside prisons. They live in concrete buildings that retain heat. People share close quarters, making cooling all the more difficult. As Earth’s temperatures reach their hottest recorded numbers this summer, people incarcerated in Missouri’s prisons describe conditions […]

The post ‘We’ve got hell coming’: Missourians in state prisons fear consequences of summertime heat appeared first on Missouri Independent.

AUSTIN, Texas — A lawsuit in Texas asserting that the state’s abortion ban imperils women by dissuading doctors from ending dangerous pregnancies could provide a template for similar challenges across the country. Texas is one of 14 states, including Missouri, that banned abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. The Texas […]

The post Lawsuit over Texas abortion ban could be a model in other states appeared first on Missouri Independent.

THE OLD PLANTATION — Here in Florida, we’re teaching our young ’uns the God’s own truth about history. Not what a bunch of book-reading, degree-holding, data-citing, socialist, so-called professors say. The Indians were glad to go live on reservations. The change of scenery inspired them to make a good living crafting souvenir jewelry and decorative […]

The post On slavery: Gov. DeSantis and his crack education team are all about facts appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress and Republicans competing against Donald Trump in the presidential primary quickly reacted Tuesday to the latest indictment against the former president, falling largely along party lines. This one, by a federal grand jury, stems from Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election after Election Day and leading up to […]

The post Congress, GOP presidential candidates split along party lines over Trump indictment appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Republican efforts to change the rules for initiatives and administrative delays that force petitioners to go to court spurred former Gov. Jay Nixon to return to political action, he said Tuesday. During an online town hall for the No Labels organization, Nixon referred repeatedly to legislation that would make it more difficult to gather signatures […]

The post ‘Off the bench’: Jay Nixon says No Labels post is reaction to initiative limits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted Donald Trump on Tuesday, alleging that Trump and co-conspirators attempted to subvert the 2020 election to keep the former president in power through a series of illegal actions that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The former president faces four […]

The post ‘Fueled by lies,’ Trump charged with seeking to overturn 2020 election appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The ACLU of Missouri is suing the Platte County School District for banning transgender students from using restrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity. The lawsuit, filed Monday in Platte County Circuit Court, says the district’s policy discriminates on the basis of sex, transgender status and disability — violating the Missouri Human Rights […]

The post ACLU sues Missouri school district for transgender bathroom policy appeared first on Missouri Independent.

One of Missouri’s top Democratic officials asked the governor on Monday to call a special legislative session in response to news reports of the “unacceptable mismanagement” of radioactive waste in the St. Louis area.  “The problems related with this waste have festered for nearly 80 years,” House Minority Leader Crystal Quade said in a letter […]

The post Missouri Democrat calls for special session on St. Louis nuclear waste, Parson says no appeared first on Missouri Independent.