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WASHINGTON — A U.S. Senate committee approved legislation Thursday that would update how the federal government prepares for and then responds to pandemics and natural disasters. The broadly bipartisan legislation moved through the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee following a 17-3 vote after members adopted two bipartisan amendments. Republican Sens. Rand Paul of […]

The post Preparation for pandemics, natural disasters updated in bill passed by U.S. Senate panel appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s efforts to inflate the cost of an abortion-rights initiative petition were unanimously rejected by the state Supreme Court Thursday, just two days after judges heard arguments in the case.  The quick verdict, which was written by Judge Paul Wilson, was scathing in its opinion of Bailey’s refusal to sign off […]

The post Missouri Supreme Court rejects AG’s push to inflate cost of abortion-rights amendment appeared first on Missouri Independent.

News that the Missouri legislature has authorized $500,000 for urban farming grants ought to be welcomed by small growers like Darian and Nicolette Davis, who run an orchard in Kansas City’s Swope Park to provide fresh fruit to their community. The couple hatched the idea of the Kansas City Urban Farm Co-op during the unrest […]

The post Missouri has a $500k incentive for urban farmers — if growers can figure out how to get it appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday night passed a bill to bar the use of public K-12 school facilities to provide shelter for migrants seeking asylum. The bill, approved 222-201, is known as the “Schools Not Shelters Act” and is a rebuke of the Biden administration’s immigration policy. If enacted into law, public schools […]

The post Public schools banned from sheltering migrants under bill passed by U.S. House appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When Gov. Mike Parson announced his appointment of Gabe Gore as St. Louis circuit attorney, he declared that “crime anywhere affects Missourians everywhere, and for too long, dysfunction has plagued the circuit attorney’s office.” Now six weeks into the job, Gore says the office has taken steps that will make St. Louis safer and that […]

The post Gabe Gore touts his first six weeks as St. Louis prosecutor after taking over for Kim Gardner appeared first on Missouri Independent.

“Atomic Fallout” is a historical re-investigation of the St. Louis region’s 75-year history with nuclear waste, conducted by a consortium of newsrooms, including The Missouri Independent, MuckRock and The Associated Press. It relies on thousands of pages of federal government documents, most of which were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Many of the […]

The post Read the thousands of documents journalists used to investigate St. Louis radioactive waste appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After fears of a “she-cession” during the pandemic, women have returned to the workforce at unprecedented rates. Much of the gain reflects a boom in jobs traditionally held by women, including nursing and teaching.  Many good-paying jobs in fields such as construction and tech management are still dominated by men, a continuing challenge for states […]

The post A ‘she-cession’ no more: After COVID dip, women’s employment hits all-time high appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A panel on the U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Tuesday grilled a Biden administration official about the White House’s decision to allow undocumented people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to enroll in Medicaid or private insurance provided under the Affordable Care Act. The chair of the subcommittee, Republican […]

The post DACA recipients’ Medicaid eligibility slammed by U.S. House Republicans appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A legal showdown between a pair of Republican statewide elected officials found its way to the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday, as the judges heard arguments over whether a behind-the-scenes push to increase the cost of an abortion-rights initiative petition was illegal.  Attorney General Andrew Bailey is defending his unprecedented decision to reject a fiscal […]

The post Fight over cost of abortion-rights initiative petition reaches Missouri Supreme Court appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Millions of American workers have breathed in dangerous levels of air pollution this year as smoke from Canada’s record wildfire season blankets cities across the Northeast. Now experts are calling on federal regulators to adopt standards protecting outdoor workers from worsening air quality, potentially modeled after the few states that have such standards, including California […]

The post Workers lack protections when wildfire smoke makes the air dangerous appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri environmental regulators warned the federal government in 2021 that radioactive contamination of groundwater from a uranium processing site near St. Louis wasn’t improving despite cleanup efforts, according to documents reviewed by The Independent and MuckRock. Officials with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy in May […]

The post Missouri warned feds in 2021 radioactive contamination of groundwater wasn’t improving appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The popular Seresto flea and tick collar will remain on the market, but with new mitigation measures, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last week. The EPA announced the measures on the collar after a multi-year analysis of the product’s safety. The agency limited the approval of the collar to five years and required Elanco — […]

The post EPA rules popular Seresto flea collar stays on the market, with more reporting requirements appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As artificial intelligence finds its way into aspects of everyday life and becomes increasingly advanced, some state legislators feel a new urgency to create regulations for its use in the hiring process. Artificial intelligence, commonly known as AI, has been adopted by a quarter of businesses in the United States, according to the 2022 IBM […]

The post As employers expand artificial intelligence in hiring, few states have rules appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Over the objections of Evergy Missouri, staff with the Missouri Public Service Commission last year pushed for power prices to be based on the time of day when the electricity was consumed, with a small premium for use at peak times. The commission, known as the PSC, adopted the concept but not the particulars, opting […]

The post Missouri utility regulators plan for peak pricing prompts pushback from top Republican appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Days after meeting with high-level White House officials, the family of an American teacher imprisoned in Russia walked the halls of the U.S. Capitol complex Thursday, pleading with U.S. leaders to remember that Marc Fogel is staring down a 14-year sentence in a penal colony on a marijuana charge. Fogel, 61, an international […]

The post Family pleads for U.S. teacher imprisoned in Russia: ‘We’re not forgetting my brother’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

With all necessary information in-hand, the process of completing the FAFSA form may only take 20 minutes. However, for us, the children of immigrants dealing with the federal student aid system for the first time, it took hours to understand the form’s questions and requirements. Our search histories were filled with seemingly stupid questions about […]

The post Student loan debt unfairly burdens immigrant families appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After struggling for nearly a year to get federal food assistance to qualified low-income families, Missouri has decided not to participate in this summer’s program — forgoing tens of millions of dollars in federal aid. The problems administering the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer program, or P-EBT, played a major role in the decision not to […]

The post Missouri has decided to turn down millions in federal food aid for low-income children appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Time has run out for Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to appeal a judge’s decision limiting his authority over school districts and clarifying that school boards can establish disease mitigation methods, such as mask mandates. Bailey had 40 days from Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Marco Roldan’s May 27 ruling to ask for a new […]

The post Time runs out for Missouri AG to appeal ruling in school mask mandate lawsuit appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — On a party-line vote, the U.S. Committee on House Administration on Thursday night passed a bill that would enact strict new voting laws for states, such as requiring copies of IDs for voting by mail, and set penalties for states that allow voting by noncitizens in local elections. The 224-page bill, H.R. 4563, was […]

The post U.S. House Republicans pass overhaul of federal elections system out of committee appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For the first time, a state official has publicly vowed to push for a demographics survey of cannabis business owners — addressing a key criticism of the medical marijuana program that the Black community was left out of the burgeoning billion-dollar industry. At a June 22 outreach event in St. Louis, Abigail Vivas, chief equity […]

The post Missouri official vows to conduct survey on cannabis business demographics appeared first on Missouri Independent.