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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden touched on a flood of criticism of his debate performance during a rally on Friday, while Democrats interviewed on Capitol Hill said the party must figure out a way to reassure voters after what they described as a “terrible” showing and a “bad night.” Biden, speaking from Raleigh, North Carolina, […]

The post Democrats reel from ‘terrible’ Biden debate performance as he defends candidacy appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A former Pennsylvania police officer who joined the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that delayed the certification of the 2020 presidential election results cannot be charged with obstructing an official proceeding unless a lower court finds otherwise, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday. The ruling throws into question the cases […]

The post U.S. Supreme Court ruling on obstruction law helps cases of Jan. 6 defendants appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The right-wing conspiracy website Gateway Pundit is accused of abusing the bankruptcy process to escape accountability in defamation lawsuits stemming from its false claims about the 2020 election.  Gateway Pundit, founded in St. Louis by brothers Jim and Joe Hoft, filed for bankruptcy in April as it was facing defamation lawsuits in Missouri and Colorado. […]

The post St. Louis-based Gateway Pundit accused of using bankruptcy to derail defamation suits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a precedent Friday that had for decades limited judicial power to strike executive branch regulations, in a decision immediately criticized for potentially undermining decisions by scientists and agency experts. The 6-3 and 6-2 decisions in two cases brought by fishing operators in New Jersey and Rhode Island challenged a […]

The post U.S. Supreme Court flips precedent that empowered federal agencies appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Friday sided with a local ordinance in Oregon that effectively bans homeless people from sleeping outdoors, and local governments will be allowed to enforce those laws. In a 6-3 decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the opinion that the enforcement of those local laws that regulate camping on public property does […]

The post U.S. Supreme Court sides with Oregon city, allows ban on homeless people sleeping outdoors appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Michael Mullen donates blood plasma every Tuesday and Thursday. He has for 12 years. The money it brings in — a little over $100 a week — augments what he makes as a chef. He’s come to rely on it. “It helps supplement bill paying,” he said recently, smoking a cigarette outside the Biomat USA […]

The post Plasma donors in Kansas City are helping fuel a $34 billion industry appeared first on Missouri Independent.

It is not every day that a prosecutor takes the extraordinary step of asking a court to vacate a criminal conviction, let alone one carrying a death sentence. In the case of Marcellus Williams, St Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell did so after he reviewed the case and found “clear and convincing evidence” that […]

The post St. Louis County prosecutor thinks Marcellus Williams is innocent. He’s still set to be executed appeared first on Missouri Independent.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump pitched to undecided voters Thursday night during the first debate of the presidential campaign — trading insults over their policy differences, immigration and who represents a threat to democracy. During the debate from CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, the two men argued over who can do better for […]

The post Biden and Trump trade insults, accusations of lying in acrimonious presidential debate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Hundreds of earmarked items in the $51.7 billion budget passed by lawmakers this year will be vetoed, Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday, just days before the new fiscal year begins. Speaking with reporters after groundbreaking for a new multi-agency state laboratory, Parson had two criticisms for the budget plan — it goes overboard on earmarks […]

The post Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says he plans to veto hundreds of earmarked spending items appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Prominent members of the GOP on Wednesday strongly criticized the Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX, including U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. As the fate of a key Biden administration effort to protect LGBTQ students from discrimination […]

The post House Speaker Johnson, Betsy DeVos lead attack on Title IX rule that protects LGBTQ+ kids appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As expected after the court said it inadvertently uploaded the opinion prematurely on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision Thursday remanding a case about emergency abortions in Idaho back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for now. The decision was 6-3, with conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissenting. It was issued […]

The post U.S. Supreme Court sends Idaho abortion case back down to lower courts appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON – Despite policies the Biden administration has championed to target climate change, recent findings show carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at an all-time high, raising the stakes for November’s presidential election among advocates for aggressive climate action. Recent data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicate that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been […]

The post Presidential election seen as climate turning point as CO2 hits record appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Attorneys representing transgender minors and health care providers squabbled with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office Wednesday over thousands of documents both sides say are being wrongfully withheld. At its core, the case seeks to determine whether the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors is lawful. The lawsuit was filed by the families of three […]

The post Hearing over Missouri’s ban on gender-affirming care focuses on withheld documents appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For years, state Sen. Mike Moon has railed against the unfairness of businesses being told they owe money when the Missouri Department of Revenue revises the list of things covered by the state sales tax. That happened after 2008, when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that fitness clubs were places of “amusement, entertainment or recreation” […]

The post State budget loaded with earmarks nears deadline for action by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to rule on whether presidents enjoy total criminal immunity, delaying one of the most consequential legal decisions in U.S. history and likely closing the door on former President Donald Trump facing his federal election interference trial before November. Trump, the presumed Republican presidential nominee who is entangled […]

The post Delayed Supreme Court ruling makes Trump trial on 2020 charges unlikely before election appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected arguments by Missouri and Louisiana that the federal government violated the First Amendment in its efforts to combat false, misleading and dangerous information online. In a 6-3 decision written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the court held that neither the states nor seven individuals who were co-plaintiffs in […]

The post SCOTUS rejects Missouri lawsuit alleging feds bullied social media into censoring content appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Republican Will Scharf and Democrat Elad Gross disagreed on almost every issue Monday night during a forum of attorney general candidates in St. Louis.  They aren’t on the same page on dealing with violent crime or protecting speech on campus. They crossed swords over abortion rights and access to contraception. And they couldn’t agree on […]

The post Missouri GOP and Democrat AG rivals agree on one thing: state government is ‘viciously corrupt’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will get a crucial opportunity to reach undecided voters and set the terms for the 2024 presidential campaign at Thursday night’s debate in Atlanta. Partisans on either side have already made up their minds about which candidate they’ll support. And with this year’s race serving as a […]

The post Undecided voters are the prize for both Biden and Trump in Thursday presidential debate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will pardon U.S. military veterans who were discharged or convicted under military law for consensual same-sex relations, the administration announced Wednesday. The White House could not provide an exact number of veterans who will be pardoned, but the administration estimates thousands were convicted over several decades and may be eligible. […]

The post Biden to pardon vets discharged for same-sex relationships appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Missouri House committee began a new phase Tuesday of a years-long process to create a formula to fund the state’s higher education institutions. Led by state Rep. Brenda Shields, a Republican from St. Joseph, the Special Interim Committee on Higher Education Performance Funding is hoping to pick a performance-based formula that would determine funding […]

The post Missouri committee sets goal to enact performance funding formula for higher education appeared first on Missouri Independent.