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WASHINGTON – A panel of policymakers and educators, including author Dave Eggers and former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, gathered at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to promote the American Teacher Act. The bill, if passed, would authorize the federal government to create four-year grants for states to enact and enforce minimum school teacher […]

The post Teachers would get $60K minimum salary under bill in Congress making grants to states appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Nearly 80 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to the White House expressing their “great concern” that the Biden administration is walking back on its promise to restore migrants’ access to asylum. In the letter, they also condemned the administration’s expansion of a controversial policy that immediately turns away migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, […]

The post Democrats in Congress condemn Biden administration expansion of Title 42 appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Growing up in West Texas, our family tells a story about a lightning strike that either hit, or nearly hit, a billboard in our neighborhood. It said: “Gas Cooks Better Than Electricity.” In our contemporary era where anything can be an outrage, our latest political spat happens to be about whether or not Biden is […]

The post A lot of hot air from the gas stove debate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Missouri House committee approved four versions of proposals to overhaul the initiative petition process Thursday on party-line votes, despite warnings of well-funded opposition if lawmakers put one on the ballot. The differences among the competing proposals were enough that House Elections Committee Chairwoman Peggy McGaugh, R-Carrollton, said she didn’t feel comfortable combining them. “I […]

The post Four bills making initiative petition process harder passed by Missouri House committee appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The director of Missouri’s child welfare agency told lawmakers this week that the state has “effectively legally orphanized” around 1,500 children. Those children have had their legal ties to their biological parents severed — by a court, in what’s called termination of parental rights — but the social services agency had no adoptive parents ready […]

The post Missouri child welfare agency pitches plan to ‘rebuild’ overburdened foster care system appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Cole County judge has concluded that a rule implemented by the Missouri House in 2019 allowing lawmakers to withhold certain information from public records does not violate the state constitution.  The lawsuit was filed by Mark Pedroli, founder of the Sunshine and Government Accountability Project. He challenged a rule adopted by the Missouri House […]

The post Judge says Missouri House rule limiting access to public records is constitutional appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — New Hampshire and Georgia will have a bit longer to implement key changes to when and how they hold Democratic presidential primaries, under an extension a Democratic National Committee panel approved Wednesday. Election officials will have until June 3 to move New Hampshire’s 2024 Democratic presidential primary to Feb. 13 and Georgia’s to […]

The post National Dems give New Hampshire, Georgia more time to change 2024 primary dates appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — On a June 2020 morning, Amy Neville entered her son’s bedroom to wake him for an orthodontist appointment. Fourteen-year-old Alex didn’t wake up. He died of fentanyl poisoning after taking a counterfeit pill he bought from someone he met on Snapchat, Neville told GOP lawmakers Wednesday during a roundtable discussion of the role […]

The post U.S. House GOP takes aim at fake pills containing deadly fentanyl sold on social media appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Kansas City is the only major city in the country where the city’s elected leaders don’t control the local police department — a state-appointed police board does. Up until 2013, St. Louis was in the same boat.  However, the city gained local control of its police department after a 2012 statewide referendum.  Now 10 years […]

The post Missouri Republicans push for state to take over control of St. Louis police department appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Neiss family drove from St. Louis to Jefferson City on Tuesday, a trip they’ve made many times over the past four years. The reason is always the same: Legislation they fear will harm their transgender son. On the agenda Tuesday night in the House General Laws Committee were a litany of bills aimed at […]

The post Missouri committee debates transgender sports, healthcare, drag shows for nine hours appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Requiring business owners to install electric vehicle chargers is an infringement on their freedoms and a mandate they can’t afford, members of a Missouri House committee argued Wednesday.  Primarily Republican lawmakers voiced support during a committee hearing on legislation that would require cities and counties to pay for electric vehicle chargers in order to mandate […]

The post GOP renews push to block Missouri cities, counties from mandating EV charging stations appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Following a mass shooting on the eve of Lunar New Year in which 11 people in a predominantly Asian neighborhood in California were killed, President Joe Biden again urged Congress to pass legislation banning assault weapons. Communities across America “have been struck by tragedy after tragedy, including mass shootings from Colorado Springs to […]

The post Wave of mass shootings prompts Biden to call yet again for assault weapons ban appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Association of Realtors, an organization that spent millions in recent years on two successful initiative petition campaigns, is warning lawmakers it will oppose anything more than tinkering with the way the constitution is amended by voters. During testimony Tuesday before the House Elections and Elected Officials Committee, Sam Licklider, lobbyist for the realtors, […]

The post Missouri realtors vow to fight GOP push to make it harder to amend state constitution appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Senate committee removed a controversial proposal targeting transgender athletes from a wide-ranging education bill Tuesday, but the committee’s chair indicated more debate to come on the issue. On a six to three vote along party lines, the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee approved legislation that would dictate how history and race are taught […]

The post Sweeping education bill clears Missouri Senate committee without anti-transgender provision appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday from the state’s attorney general opposing yet another local prosecutor’s attempt to argue the innocence of a man convicted of murder. This time the case was for Michael Politte, a man who was charged with murdering his mother in 1999 when he was 15.  In May, former Washington […]

The post Missouri Supreme Court hears AG’s opposition to prosecutor’s jurisdiction in innocence claim appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Over the course of two nights in early December, Gov. Mike Parson hosted a holiday gala for individuals and corporations who donated money to the nonprofit that helps maintain the Missouri Governor’s Mansion.  Who were the big donors who cut a check and got to dine with Parson and his taxpayer-funded staff? The Governor’s office […]

The post Donor privacy law being used by Missouri agencies to conceal public records appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Fifty years ago, a very different U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. Radical right-wing extremists control the Supreme Court and serve in elective office. We have fewer freedoms than we did a generation ago. We suffer, and women die because of it. When the Supreme Court ruled last June to strip away our rights to […]

The post Fifty years later, our lives still at risk appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A drag performance last week at a diversity event attended by Columbia middle schoolers was “high-brow and innocent,” not the salacious sexual display alleged by Missouri Republicans, the marketing director for the group behind the performance said Sunday. At the annual Columbia Values Diversity Breakfast, timed to be near the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, […]

The post Drag performers at Columbia event push back against Missouri Republican attack appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A breakdown in the federal aviation system earlier this month threw a spotlight on the absence of a Senate-confirmed leader of the Federal Aviation Administration, prompting Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to push for the chamber to confirm President Joe Biden’s choice to lead the agency. But key Senate Republicans have raised concerns about that nominee, […]

The post Aviation turmoil shifts attention to stalled confirmation of FAA chief appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A Texas judge could decide as soon as next month whether to force the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pull its two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill, which accounts for more than half of pregnancy terminations in the United States. A nationwide injunction in the case, as requested by anti-abortion groups, would […]

The post Federal judge could decide as soon as February to yank abortion pill nationwide appeared first on Missouri Independent.