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WASHINGTON — U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Tuesday defended access to health care for transgender people, as well as his agency’s actions in connection with unaccompanied migrant children. Republicans at a U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing grilled Becerra about gender-affirming care for transgender minors, including puberty […]

The post U.S. House Republicans spar with HHS secretary over transgender youth, child labor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lawmakers “invaded” the authority of the Missouri Conservation Commission when they tried to limit the use of its dedicated funds, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. In the long-anticipated decision, the court split 4-3 over whether appropriation bills could bar the commission from spending money on land acquisition or for payments to replace lost property […]

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Gov. Mike Parson could soon make Missouri one of the first states to establish 50/50 shared parenting time as the standard in child custody cases.  But the bill on his desk, passed in the final hour of the legislative session, did not include changes that some family law attorneys and domestic violence advocates worked on […]

The post Missouri moves toward 50/50 child custody law, raising concerns about abuse victims appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Every year, Kansas City residents spend nearly 5% of their income on electricity, ranking the city among the most energy-cost-burdened in the nation. And the cost doesn’t only affect the wallet — energy consumption within buildings and homes causes nearly two-thirds of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. For years, Kansas City has focused on reducing energy […]

The post Kansas City is trying to reduce energy use, but building owners won’t comply appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When Andrew Bailey took over the Missouri attorney general’s office from Eric Schmitt in January, he inherited more than 200 unfulfilled records requests submitted by members of the public.  Six months later, that backlog continues to grow. The result: Missourians seeking public records from Bailey’s office face delays that can stretch up to a year.  It’s […]

The post ‘Black hole’: Public faces long delays obtaining records from Missouri attorney general appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A question that I overheard this week seemed innocent enough: Should a business owner use artificial intelligence to create photographic-looking images of himself for publicity? Imagine the image he is aiming for. Portraits of our friendly business owner — let’s call him Albert — presenting his project plan in a trendy sun-drenched conference room. Pixels arrange to […]

The post AI has transformed the ethics around deceptive images from a slippery slope into a trap door appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Donald Trump has been indicted by a federal grand jury, making him the first former president to face federal criminal charges. The 37-count indictment in the Southern District of Florida, handed up by a grand jury there, was unsealed Friday. According to the indictment, Trump schemed with an aide to keep possession of top secret […]

The post The indictment is unsealed: Trump faces 37 felony counts in classified documents probe appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The state has collected more than 73,000 survey responses that reflect details such as who is substitute teaching in Missouri public schools, what they’re paid and where they work. The data, released Wednesday by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, may not offer a clear reason why some school districts struggle to recruit […]

The post Some Missouri school districts still struggle to recruit substitute teachers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

To address the harmful effects of pornography and social media on children, states are passing laws meant to keep kids off certain sites and to block them from adult content. But the efforts face major hurdles — and real questions about whether the proposed solutions would even work. Some of the measures would require parental permission for […]

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As smoke from Canadian wildfires caused the most hazardous air conditions on record in the Washington, D.C., area on Thursday, members of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said that Congress should lift federal firefighter pay and encourage logging to reduce the risk of future blazes. “Smoke from the wildfires burning right now […]

The post On a record day in D.C. for smoke pollution, U.S. Senate panel debates wildfire strategy appeared first on Missouri Independent.

CIUDAD JUÁREZ – It was well before dawn Sunday morning, when Olga Maldonado, her nieces Yulisa, Marcela Maldonado and Kevin Hernandez and the children, ages 3 to 10-years old, rose to prepare for their asylum meeting with the U.S. Customs and Border Protections. “Nervous, but excited,” was how Olga described her feelings, slipping on plain […]

The post U.S. continues to take DNA samples from asylum seekers at the border appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators agreed during a hearing Thursday the country’s children are going through a youth mental health crisis, though some of the committee’s members disagreed about what role Congress has to play. Senators detailed a complicated patchwork of issues that contribute to youth mental health challenges, including violence and trauma within schools and […]

The post Social media, trauma, hate speech add to youth mental health crisis, U.S. Senate panel told appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Inside pension bills with provisions to encourage retired teachers to return to the classroom and protect the finances of the Missouri Sheriffs Retirement System are provisions that could boost the incomes of Gov. Mike Parson, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and at least three legislators. But the idea’s biggest legislative proponents, who actually don’t stand to […]

The post Missouri pension bills include benefits for lawmakers, officials while in office appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators on the Budget Committee dug into the impacts of climate change on farming during a Wednesday hearing, raising concerns about what the next few decades hold for food production and the way of life. But Republicans and representatives of farm groups pushed back against increased government regulation. Brent Johnson, president of […]

The post Effects of climate change on farming, federal spending explored by U.S. Senate panel appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s attempt to increase the cost of an abortion-rights initiative petition was unprecedented and illegal, lawyers for the Missouri ACLU and state auditor’s office argued Wednesday in Cole County Court.  ”No attorney general has ever attempted to exercise this level of discretion,” said Robert Tillman, deputy general counsel for Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick.  […]

The post Judge hears arguments over Missouri AG push to inflate cost of abortion initiative petition appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Wesley Bell, who shocked the Missouri political establishment in 2018 by defeating a seven-term incumbent to become St. Louis County prosecutor, announced Wednesday he was running for U.S. Senate.  Bell, 48, served as a judge and public defender before being elected to the Ferguson City Council in 2015 — just months after a police officer […]

The post St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell enters Missouri’s U.S. Senate race appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The ability to obtain a drivers license has for a long time been a rite of passage and a doorway to freedom for young adults and parents alike. As we get closer to this time where a visit to the DMV will leave our children driving to and from school, church and sporting events, Black […]

The post More worry for Black parents in Missouri: ‘The talk’ for new drivers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee on Tuesday passed several bills that are a rebuke of not only the Biden administration’s policies on immigration, child nutrition and health care, but regulations from the Obama era. The committee passed a resolution that condemns the use of public schools to shelter undocumented people, a […]

The post U.S. House committee approves bills on whole milk, condemns sheltering migrants in schools appeared first on Missouri Independent.

U.S. worker productivity has dropped significantly, including in key large states, leaving some economists alarmed by the decrease in a measure that could mean trillions of dollars to the economy. Labor productivity — the value of the goods and services produced on average by an hour’s work — ranged from $58.80 in Mississippi to $120.67 […]

The post Workers are less productive in key states. What it means for the economy appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After a blue ribbon commission spent much of 2022 crafting possible solutions for Missouri’s teacher shortage, education advocates entered the legislative session optimistic. And when Rep. Ed Lewis’ legislation raising the minimum teacher salary and creating a scholarship to incentivize teachers to work in hard-staff areas cleared the House in early April with only five […]

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