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I love farming and have been doing it all my life, but I told my kids not to come back to the farm, because there’s no future in it. That’s the sad truth. Over the last year on Capitol Hill, there have been multiple hearings and bills and even an executive order to address what […]

The post The elephant in the room is destroying family farms, rural communities and our democracy | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by ProPublica. In the final days of Missouri’s legislative session in May 2019, lawmakers turned their focus to a bill that would outlaw abortion in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade. The abortion ban passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Mike […]

The post How Missouri helps abortion opponents divert state taxes to crisis pregnancy centers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by Investigate Midwest. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is requiring JBS, one of the largest meatpacking companies in the country, to take steps to prevent future disease outbreaks at seven of its plants. The settlement announced Friday signals the resolution of two OSHA citations issued to JBS for failing to protect […]

The post OSHA requires JBS to implement disease preparedness measures at seven plants appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In 2017, in two different state government agencies, Missouri’s Sunshine Law was put to the test. Just weeks after Josh Hawley was sworn in as attorney general that year, his staff began using private email accounts — instead of government-issued addresses that are automatically subject to the Sunshine Law — to discuss public business with […]

The post Pair of lawsuits expose a potentially massive hole in Missouri’s Sunshine Law appeared first on Missouri Independent.

HIAWATHA, Iowa – A walk-in freezer about two stories high sits in one corner of a warehouse owned by a food bank called Hawkeye Area Community Action Program Inc.   Chris Ackman, the food bank’s communication manager, points to the shelving racks where any donated venison the organization receives is typically stored. Known as the Help […]

The post Midwest states vary in how they handle risk of lead in venison donated to food banks appeared first on Missouri Independent.

America’s form of democracy supposed to be one where the consent of the majority rules. But is it? This question could not resonate any louder than when it comes to passing sensible gun control measures to stop the mass killing of unsuspecting citizens with military style weapons. The devastating tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, where the […]

The post A democracy where the minority often rules | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

On Friday morning, stones quarried more than 100 years ago performed one last service for Missouri. Until recently, the dense white Burlington limestone pieces were part of the state Capitol Building completed in 1917. They provided surfaces for sidewalks and staircases, and formed rims for the three fountains that have attracted thousands of art students […]

The post ‘A piece of history for your house’: Missouri auctions stone salvaged from Capitol Building appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In 2020, amid the worst wave of violent crime in almost 15 years, Missouri lawmakers set up a new witness protection program proponents said would break down barriers of silence that left perpetrators unpunished. But since its creation, the program has gone almost unused. Despite being authorized to spend $2 million annually, only $14,647 has […]

The post $2M Missouri witness protection fund finds few takers in second year of operation appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass gun control legislation in a speech at the White House Thursday evening, following mass shootings in New York, Texas and Oklahoma during the last three weeks. “This isn’t about taking away anyone’s rights. This is about protecting children,” Biden said. “How much more carnage are […]

The post Biden urges assault weapons ban, as U.S. House Democrats advance gun control bills appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A federal grand jury indicted three St. Louis aldermen, including the board’s president and longest-serving member, on charges of accepting bribes in exchange for the aldermen’s support on property tax abatements. Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed, Ward 22 Alderman Jeffrey Boyd and former Ward 21 Alderman John Collins-Muhammad, who resigned last month, were indicted […]

The post St. Louis Board President Lewis Reed and two aldermen indicted on federal bribery charges appeared first on Missouri Independent.

If all of Missouri’s adults were vaccinated against COVID-19, more than half of the over 14,000 deaths attributed to the virus since January 2021 may have been prevented, a new analysis concluded. The analysis, performed by researchers at the Brown School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health […]

The post Study finds 8,500 COVID deaths may have been prevented if more Missourians were vaccinated appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri corrections officers would receive a back pay settlement and future payments worth more than $100 million under an agreement to end a long-running claim the Department of Corrections was underpaying officers.  Under the proposed settlement, the corrections department does not admit any wrongdoing but accepts that the payments are reasonable considering the likely result […]

The post Missouri to spend more than $100M settling pay claims for corrections officers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Biden administration has set aside billions of dollars to help the nation’s food supply chain recover from the coronavirus pandemic — and, more recently, the looming global effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and on Wednesday, it announced new funding and a comprehensive overview of how those initiatives mesh. “A transformed food system […]

The post U.S. ag secretary lays out Biden administration vision for ‘transformed food system’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri officials vowed again Wednesday to lower the number of days it takes to process Medicaid applications – which was an average of 101 days in April — and come into federal compliance with the maximum of 45 days.  “We’ll get to a place where we should be processing in under 45 days by the […]

The post Missouri hopes to finally shrink months-long wait times for Medicaid coverage appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Democratic Senate hopeful Trudy Busch Valentine says she convinced the board she serves on that oversees her family’s St. Louis estate to cancel a fundraiser for the National Rifle Association scheduled for September. News of the fundraiser was first revealed Tuesday by The Intercept and drew intense backlash from Democrats, coming so soon after a […]

The post Democrat Senate hopeful in Missouri faces backlash over NRA fundraiser at family estate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

SPRINGFIELD – At the end of Tuesday night’s Republican Senate debate, which was skipped by the three candidates leading in the polls, U.S. Rep. Billy Long asked the audience of Greene County Republicans to remember who was absent when they vote. Long, state Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz and St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey […]

The post Leading Republican candidates in Missouri U.S. Senate race skip Springfield debate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Bad blood bedeviled the Missouri Senate for much of the last two years. And now it’s about to spill out onto the campaign trail.  GOP primaries around the state will be the battleground to determine who steers the fate of a chamber coming off its most dysfunctional legislative session in recent memory.  Will it be […]

The post GOP infighting in the Missouri Senate will shape primary battles across the state appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin. Researchers have known that for decades. But the substance stuck around in everyday products like paint and gasoline for decades.  One big reason: The lead industry spent years using racial bias to divert public attention away from the dangers of the toxin and minimized the impact of mounting evidence indicating […]

The post How the lead industry misled the public about its toxic problem for decades appeared first on Missouri Independent.

I was an overachiever big-time growing up. I attended a private, Christian school in Topeka, and I also signed a book contract with a major publisher in Nashville when I was just 15 years old. I also had a baby-sitting business and was involved in track, orchestra, choir and several musicals and plays. Never did […]

The post In my story and those of others, opportunities to demystify mental illness | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In the years following the bitter Civil War, a former Union general took a holiday originated by former Confederates and helped spread it across the entire country. The holiday was Memorial Day, an annual commemoration was born in the former Confederate States in 1866 and adopted by the United States in 1868. It is a […]

The post The forgotten history of Memorial Day grew up in aftermath of Civil War | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.