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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday in his first televised interview since the presidential debate defended his reelection bid and rejected calls that he should step aside amid growing anxiety among some Democrats about his mental and physical state. The 22-minute interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos came as some lawmakers and other prominent Democrats have […]

The post Biden in first TV interview since debate denies medical condition: ‘It was a bad episode’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The largest donors to a tax credit program supporting private school tuition scholarships in Missouri are a Fortune 500 health care corporation, a cable company and the founding family of the Kansas City Chiefs. UnitedHealth Group Inc. has given the most since 2023 to the state’s K-12 tax-credit scholarship program, dubbed MOScholars, with a $2 […]

The post Major corporations, wealthy donors fuel growth of Missouri private school scholarship program appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When Tanya Gillespie-Lambert goes to an event in a local park in Camden, New Jersey, she takes a handful of brochures about free preschool with her. She has no hesitation about approaching strangers — moms with kids especially — to plug the service in the local public school district, where she’s director of community and […]

The post When ‘universal’ pre-K really isn’t: Barriers to participating abound appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The cost of holding someone in a Missouri county jail for those days and months before and after a conviction ultimately falls to the state. In 2024, the state spent about $50 million to reimburse counties for the cost. But it’s had trouble keeping up with that tab. That’s left counties stuck with most of […]

The post Missouri counties say they lose money housing people headed to state prison appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In the days following the Biden-Trump debate, news stories and Facebook posts introduced a new term for many — Gish Gallop — defined roughly as throwing out numerous arguments that are typically unsupported by facts making it difficult to respond. The debate strategy was named in 1994 for Duane Gish, a creationist advocate who was known […]

The post The Biden-Trump presidential debate was a disaster, but not just for obvious reasons appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This spring, the state of Missouri owed Kimberly Luong Nichols $5,000 in backlogged payments for children at her Kansas City daycare who were part of a state subsidy program. For four years, she’s operated a licensed daycare inside her home, where she currently serves 10 children. Luong Nichols stopped drawing a salary last summer to […]

The post Payment backlog leaves Missouri child care providers desperate, on the brink of closing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The stalemate over the current farm bill may be solidifying a new era in farm politics as it joins the last three farm bills in a trend of delays and partisan division — a contrast from the legislation’s history of bipartisanship. Every five years, Congress is tasked with drafting a new federal farm […]

The post ‘Frustrating’ partisan stalemate: the new normal for farm bills? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

You can’t understand the scope of 122,000 names until you see them on a wall. Stand at the foot of the National Monument to Freedom, recently dedicated by the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, and you’ll see all of them, soaring three or four stories above your head. Each name, taken from the 1870 census, […]

The post Freedom isn’t free appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Facetime calls. Blaring music. Video games. “You name it, it was happening” during class at DeLaSalle High School, said Breona Ward, director of college and career progressions. Students’ cellphone use got in the way of learning at the Kansas City charter school. The difference Ward saw in her English classroom was “night and day” after […]

The post Kansas City charter school found locking up students’ phones left more time for learning appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Public health officials have diagnosed a Colorado farm worker with the country’s fourth human case of highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state’s department of health reported Wednesday. The Colorado case, the state’s first this year related to spread from dairy cattle to humans, was reported […]

The post Fourth human case of bird flu diagnosed in Colorado dairy farm worker appeared first on Missouri Independent.

An “honorary KKK member” will lead the list of Republicans on the ballot for Missouri governor in the Aug. 6  primary, in part because it is too late for an appeal court to hear a case seeking to remove his name. And eight candidates for county office in Vernon County will also be on the […]

The post Appeals court dashes Missouri GOP hopes of blocking ‘honorary KKK member’ from ballot appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A landmark Supreme Court decision that reins in federal agencies’ authority is expected to hold dramatic consequences for the nation’s health care system, calling into question government rules on anything from consumer protections for patients to drug safety to nursing home care. The June 28 decision overturns a 1984 precedent that said courts should give […]

The post The Supreme Court limited federal power. Health care is feeling the shockwaves appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The last time faculty of the University of Missouri-Columbia weighed in on their campus leader, they said he “fostered a general culture of helplessness and submission” and that morale had been “irreparably damaged.” Only 26% of those surveyed in 2022 supported retaining Mun Choi as chancellor of the university, a position he took over in […]

The post Mizzou faculty opinion of Mun Choi vastly improves 2 years after scathing report appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missourians stand to lose their ethics watchdog due to the lack of a functioning commission that is charged with holding elected officials and candidates accountable. The stalled Missouri Ethics Commission is at a historic point of inaction, waiting for the governor to appoint new commission members. Missourians rely on the commission to hold candidates and […]

The post Lack of action by the governor has hobbled Missouri’s campaign ethics watchdog appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A New York judge agreed Tuesday to delay the criminal sentencing of former President Donald Trump in the state hush money case after Trump claimed the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision absolves him. New York Justice Juan Merchan, who oversaw the case, ordered the delay until Sept. 18 so the court could hear arguments […]

The post Trump NY sentencing delayed after U.S. Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Missouri man scheduled to be executed in September will get a chance to present a court with DNA evidence he believes will exonerate him. Marcellus Williams will get a hearing on Aug. 21, at the request of St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell. The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to vacate the conviction […]

The post Court sets hearing for Marcellus Williams to present DNA evidence before execution date appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The 2026 World Cup will squeeze Kansas City’s already tight housing market in ways that could make shelter particularly scarce for homeless people. Many thousands of soccer fans flocking to the region will need places to stay. But some housing experts say that the World Cup’s short-term impact on the housing market could prod the […]

The post 2026 World Cup in Kansas City could strain housing market and displace homeless people appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Public health officials are concerned about bird flu, which so far has been detected in three dairy farmworkers — two in Michigan and one in Texas — as well as in cattle in a dozen states. The farmworkers’ symptoms were mild, and researchers have not found that the H5N1 virus, also known as bird flu, […]

The post As bird flu spreads on dairy farms, an ‘abysmal’ few workers are tested appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After months of polls showing Bill Eigel in a distant third place in the GOP primary for Missouri governor, a new survey suggests he may be within striking distance of the frontrunners.  And the poll giving Eigel a boost was paid for by one of his campaign rivals, though it doesn’t appear to be intended […]

The post Internal poll by pro-Kehoe PAC suggests three-way GOP race for Missouri governor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON – Senior Biden administration officials announced a proposed rule Tuesday to prevent heat-related illness in the workplace, as climate change brings hotter temperatures around the nation. In a call to reporters Monday, officials spoke on background about the new rule, which the administration sent to the Federal Register Tuesday for review. Depending on the […]

The post Biden administration announces new rule to protect workers from heat-related illnesses appeared first on Missouri Independent.