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Treasure Dowell has called Missouri’s social services department three times a day for nearly a month and has yet to speak to a human being. Sometimes she is automatically disconnected hours before the call center closes because it has reached capacity for the day. Other times she waits hours, her phone on speaker atop the […]

The post ‘Broken system’: Call center backlogs impede Missouri families seeking food assistance appeared first on Missouri Independent.

State and local election officials face threats and intimidation, driving experienced workers out of the profession, a panel of election officials told a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday. Conspiracy theories have fueled a more hostile environment for election workers, which has led many to quit, creating more challenges for the inexperienced new leaders, the top election […]

The post State and local election workers quitting amid abuse, officials tell U.S. Senate panel appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission can give employees big raises to cut job turnover and attract new workers, a Cole County judge ruled Tuesday. In a long-awaited decision, Circuit Judge Cotton Walker decided that the commission’s plan for a “market adjustment” is authorized by constitutional language controlling the State Road Fund. In his ruling, […]

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Justin Brown, a father of a 2-year-old who lives with his wife in the St. Louis area, has $20,000 in student loan debt. Before the pause on loan payments at the start of the pandemic in 2020, he paid $300 a month. But now that Brown has a family, his financial responsibilities have grown — […]

The post Borrowers weigh personal, professional options as student loan payments resume appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The state rolled back its recall of nearly 15,000 cannabis products last week and allowed them to return to the dispensary shelves, after requiring Missouri companies to keep them in storage since early August.  The Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation said in an Oct. 20 notice that after a review of product-tracking records, regulators can […]

The post Missouri rolls back part of its cannabis product recall appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Residents of some Midwestern and Mountain states gained the most income per capita during the past four years, a Stateline analysis shows, as competition for workers drove up wages in relatively affordable places to live. With the COVID-19 pandemic now in the nation’s rearview mirror, Stateline’s analysis offers a more complete understanding of how some […]

The post Residents of Midwest, Mountain West see biggest pay bumps appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wrote ballot titles for six proposals to restore abortion rights that were “replete with politically partisan language,” a Missouri appeals court unanimously ruled Tuesday. In an expedited decision issued a day after hearing arguments, a three-judge panel of the Western District Court of Appeals upheld, with only minor revisions, the […]

The post Appeals court swats down Ashcroft arguments on Missouri abortion rights petitions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Congress must approve funding for both Israel and Ukraine if it wants to avoid being dragged into a direct conflict with Russia or emboldening terrorist organizations, two top Biden administration officials told senators Tuesday. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken both testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee that there […]

The post Ukraine and Israel aid must be bound together, two Cabinet secretaries tell U.S. Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri education leaders knew establishing social-emotional learning guidelines for public schools would draw controversy, with some celebrating the idea and others decrying it as government overreach. So when the Missouri State Board of Education decided earlier this month to change course and pursue social-emotional learning as an optional framework instead of a statewide standard, the […]

The post Missouri education leaders say social-emotional learning guidelines an ‘ongoing discussion’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The United Auto Workers on Monday reached a tentative contract agreement with General Motors on day 46 of the strike. The announcement follows previous UAW tentative pacts with the other Detroit Three automakers, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis, which were announced on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively. The union went on strike on Sept.15. “Once again, […]

The post UAW reaches tentative pact with General Motors, the last Detroit Three holdout appeared first on Missouri Independent.

CANEY, Kansas — It’s hardly a question of whether the water will run out for one town on the Kansas-Oklahoma border. It’s a matter of when. The stubborn drought that has hung over southeast Kansas for close to two years has brought Caney, a town of less than 2,000 people, within weeks of reaching the […]

The post Southeast Kansas town is almost out of water, and signs of crisis are everywhere appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jaqueline Yalda, who has been a campus police officer at El Paso Community College in Texas for a decade, sought a promotion earlier this year. But first, the department required her to complete a college-level course in criminal justice. It had been many years since Yalda had taken any college classes. And at age 38, […]

The post No more attending classes: These community colleges let students learn at their own pace appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Since losing her first pregnancy four months ago, 32-year-old Lulu has struggled to return to her body’s old rhythms. Lulu, who asked to be identified by her first name to protect her privacy, bled for six full weeks after her miscarriage and hasn’t had a normal menstrual cycle since. Such disruptions aren’t uncommon after miscarriage, […]

The post State, federal abortion rules prevent many women from accessing crucial miscarriage drug appeared first on Missouri Independent.

KANSAS CITY – Abortion rights initiatives proposed for the 2024 Missouri ballot would make it impossible for the state to protect women from unsanitary conditions at clinics, attorneys representing Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft argued to  a panel of judges on Monday. The restrictions on government regulation of abortions contained in the petitions would make […]

The post Appeals court hears arguments over ballot title for Missouri abortion amendment appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A St. Louis lawmaker is demanding that Missouri regulators investigate what she called an “egregious exploitation” of social cannabis equity licenses, following a report by The Independent last week about a company that recruited out-of-state license applicants on Craigslist.  State Sen. Karla May, a St. Louis Democrat, sent a letter on Thursday to the state’s […]

The post Missouri lawmaker calls for investigation into ‘fraudulent activities’ in cannabis program appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Piper Molins, a junior Latina student at the University of Missouri, remembers bursting into tears at her summer internship upon learning that the university would no longer offer race-based scholarships. “There’s no way I would have been here or any college, to be honest, without race-based scholarships, and that’s a simple fact,” she said. Molins, […]

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In today’s political environment, one could easily conclude that America is in the midst of a metamorphosis, where its character and identity are undergoing radical change. When you consider the major shifts and developments in the public square that have occurred during these first decades of the 21st century, some disturbing trends cannot be ignored. […]

The post With a new normal emerging in America, lessons from our past could serve us well appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri House Ethics Committee met Friday for more than four hours on a personnel matter. Officially, the subject of the meeting is confidential. But sources confirmed that members discussed the issues surrounding embattled House Speaker Dean Plocher. When it was over, state Rep. Hannah Kelly, a Republican from Mountain Grove and chair of the […]

The post Missouri House Ethics Committee begins inquiry into personnel moves by Dean Plocher appeared first on Missouri Independent.

NOEL, Mo. — On a Sunday afternoon in rural southwest Missouri, dozens of friends and family gather at a modest one-story home to sing and celebrate in the language of their homeland, more than 8,000 miles away.  Some arrive from church, crowding into a living room to celebrate two brothers — one turning 7 and […]

The post Refugees came to Noel for opportunity. Tyson’s plant closure leaves their futures uncertain appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Newly elected U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has three weeks to broker an agreement with Democrats to avoid a partial government shutdown when a short-term spending law expires on Nov. 17. The Louisiana Republican, who has leaped from relative obscurity to one of the four congressional leaders, has already spoken with his Senate […]

The post Next for a new U.S. House speaker: Three-week deadline to dodge a government shutdown appeared first on Missouri Independent.