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WASHINGTON — Congress began moving the bipartisan debt limit package forward Tuesday, though frustrations with provisions in the bill could make for narrow passage in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats both aired their disappointment with the agreement forged over the weekend, but only GOP lawmakers are looking to possibly remove […]

The post Debt limit deal hits turbulence in Congress as leaders prep for vote appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Iowa-based newspaper chain that owns the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that alleges it violated customers’ privacy rights through information sharing with Facebook. Lee Enterprises is facing a potential class-action lawsuit alleging it has shared readers’ personal information with Facebook in violation of federal law. The lawsuit, filed last […]

The post Owner of St. Louis Post-Dispatch seeks dismissal of privacy-violation lawsuit appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri legislators this year rolled back two high-profile laws passed during tough-on-crime crusades of the 1980s and 1990s. One would end the sentencing disparity that imposes the same penalty for selling an ounce of crack cocaine as a pound of powder cocaine. The other would bar the courts from trying children aged 12 or 13 […]

The post Missouri bill ends crack penalty disparity, raises age for trying youths as adults appeared first on Missouri Independent.

If you’re a service member with a family, the military’s got your back. If you’re trying to start one, it can be another story. Active duty service members unable to conceive children naturally can face significant hurdles as the military health plan doesn’t cover reproductive assistance, such as in vitro fertilization, intrauterine insemination, a surrogate or adoption. […]

The post In the military, fertility policies and family building collide appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When a marijuana legalization amendment was being criticized last year over concerns it would calcify the lack of Black participation in the burgeoning industry, Adolphus Pruitt was one of its most vociferous defenders. Pruitt, the president of the St. Louis City NAACP, and other local NAACP leaders insisted the constitutional amendment establish a “microbusiness license” […]

The post New rules stir fear Black Missourians will once again lose out in marijuana licensing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Flash droughts develop fast, and when they hit at the wrong time, they can devastate a region’s agriculture. They’re also becoming increasingly common as the planet warms. In a new study published May 25, 2023, we found that the risk of flash droughts, which can develop in the span of a few weeks, is on pace to rise in every major agriculture […]

The post Farmers face soaring risk of flash droughts in every major food-growing region, new research shows appeared first on Missouri Independent.

At a 2014 gathering of licensed drug counselors at the Tan-Tar-A resort in Osage Beach, Chuck Daugherty delivered a warning.  Marijuana legalization activists in Missouri, he said, were using tactics akin to 1960s radicals to advance their cause.  Daugherty is executive director of ACT Missouri, a nonprofit established in 1991 to promote drug and alcohol awareness. […]

The post Appeals court says government-funded nonprofit not subject to Missouri Sunshine Law appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The closing days of Missouri’s legislature were among the most dysfunctional I’ve covered in more than one half century. Filibusters by Senate Republican conservatives blocked action on a number of issues. Ironically, the issues killed included conservative issues to allow firearms on public transportation and to increase the vote percentage required for approval of a […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: A dysfunctional Missouri Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt lacked any legal authority to order school districts to end COVID-19 mitigation measures, a Jackson County judge ruled Friday.  In his 18-page decision, Judge Marco Roldan concluded that the attorney general’s office did not follow Missouri law when it demanded last year that Lee’s Summit R-7 School District rescind […]

The post Judge rules Missouri AG had no authority to order end of school mask mandates appeared first on Missouri Independent.

One thing opponents and proponents of a recently proposed U.S. Bureau of Land Management rule agree on: It would be a major shift in how the agency manages nearly 250 million acres of federal lands. The rule would allow for conservation leases, similar to how the agency auctions off parcels of land for mining, livestock […]

The post Western lands fight erupts over Bureau of Land Management’s conservation proposal appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Fast-growing Texas and Florida had the biggest increases in the number of births last year, while a dozen other states — half of them in the South — continued to rebound from pandemic lows. In the United States as a whole, however, the number of births has plateaued after a modest increase following the worst […]

The post Births decline in most states, continuing a long-term trend appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri families who were promised emergency pandemic grocery funds last summer are still waiting — even as another summer is beginning.  For more than six months, families have been raising alarm about the delayed benefits owed to around 600,000 kids. There is, in Missouri, no clear end in sight. Pandemic EBT is a federal program […]

The post Around 600,000 Missouri kids still waiting for summer 2022 grocery benefits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

“We are witnessing a lot of suffering on the hotline,” Linda told me. “People are scared out of their minds.” Dr. Linda Prine is the co-founder of the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline. When someone orders pills off the internet because their state has criminalized abortion care or they face other barriers, they can call if […]

The post Abortion initiative wouldn’t just end the cruelty of Missouri ban. It would be a new world appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in the U.S. House passed bipartisan legislation Thursday in an effort to curb staggering overdose deaths from illegal fentanyl substances that are illicitly produced and up to 50 times stronger than heroin. The HALT Fentanyl Act, passed on a 289-133 vote with 74 Democratic votes and support from the Biden administration, would permanently categorize lab-made […]

The post Fentanyl-related drugs permanently made criminal under bill passed by U.S. House appeared first on Missouri Independent.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones on Thursday signed an executive order seeking to insulate transgender Missourians from bills passed by the state legislature restricting access to certain medical procedures for minors and limiting participation in school sports. “The responsibility now falls to local governments to take tangible steps to respond to this state intrusion into […]

The post St. Louis mayor signs executive order seeking to shield trans youth from new state laws appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s social services department is increasingly using a more-efficient method to process Medicaid renewal applications, officials said Thursday during a quarterly meeting of the health care program’s oversight board. Preliminary data shared Thursday shows the state used a streamlined renewal process which doesn’t require enrollee action in 47% of all Medicaid renewal cases it evaluated […]

The post Missouri agency says it’s increasingly utilizing more efficient Medicaid renewal process appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Strengthening federal air pollution rules could force some of the nation’s “deadliest” coal plants to upgrade their facilities or retire them, according to a report released Thursday by the environmental advocacy group Sierra Club.  In some cases, just more stringent enforcement of existing standards could force changes.   The Sierra Club report urged the U.S. Environmental […]

The post Sierra Club calls on EPA to enforce coal plant rules, highlighting Missouri facilities appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House members walked down the steps of the Capitol building Thursday morning to head back to their districts for a Memorial Day recess that began exactly one week before the country could default on the debt. House Democrats took to the floor after the final vote of the week to give a […]

The post With debt default as soon as a week away, U.S. House jets off for holiday break appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a major environmental decision on  Thursday overturned the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of wetlands that fall under the agency’s jurisdiction, siding with an Idaho couple who’d said they should not be required to obtain federal permits to build on their property that lacked any navigable water. All nine justices agreed […]

The post U.S. Supreme Court rejects Joe Biden wetlands regulation appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Across much of the country, the jobs market is as strong as it’s ever been, and Black women, young people and people with disabilities are among the workers benefiting, recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show. Twenty states reported an unemployment rate under 3% in April, while 15 states saw record lows, led by […]

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