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Births continued a historic slide in all but two states last year, making it clear that a brief post-pandemic uptick in the nation’s birth numbers was all about planned pregnancies that had been delayed temporarily by COVID-19. Only Tennessee and North Dakota had small increases in births from 2022 to 2023, according to a Stateline […]

The post The number of births continues to fall, despite abortion bans appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Time is running out for legislation that would make it harder to sue pesticide manufacturers over claims their products cause cancer, with an unusual coalition of opponents working to ensure they’ve stalled the bill’s progress.  The bill, critics argue, shields large corporations at the expense of everyday Missourians who have developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma they attribute […]

The post Bill to shield pesticide makers from cancer lawsuits faces long odds in Missouri Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

School districts in Jackson County saw home property assessments leap by nearly a third — and add more heft to their tax bases. They set their property tax rates lower to reflect the beefier assessments — amid a furor from homeowners and politicians contending the numbers inflated the real value of properties in the county. […]

The post Schools say a lawsuit targeting Jackson County property assessments would be ‘catastrophic’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers are taking turns supporting former president and presumed 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in his trial in Manhattan criminal court, where he is charged with covering up payments intended to silence porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Dressed alike in navy blue suits and red ties, North […]

The post GOP politicians rush to Manhattan to line up behind Trump as hush money trial continues appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A filibuster in the Missouri Senate set a new record Wednesday morning, as Democrats continued to demand “ballot candy” about non-citizen voting and foreign fundraising be removed from an initiative petition bill before it goes to voters. The previous modern record for longest filibuster was set earlier this year by the Senate Freedom Caucus, who […]

The post Democratic filibuster of initiative petition bill exceeds 41 hours, sets new record appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education anticipates asking lawmakers for more money later this year in order to meet the demands of a massive new education law and make up for reduced federal funding. “My gut is… because you have a lot of federal authority deleted… ​​you’ll see the mother of all supplemental […]

The post Missouri education department prepares for ‘mother of all supplemental budgets’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick were the most bipartisan members of Congress last year, according to a newly released analysis from the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. The least bipartisan House lawmaker was Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, while Alabama’s Katie […]

The post New list rates the most bipartisan members of Congress — and the least appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is doubling and in some cases tripling tariffs on Chinese-made products, like steel and electric vehicles, in a move aimed at easing economic pain in battleground states, though senior administration officials say it isn’t political. National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard told reporters on a call Monday ahead of the announcement […]

The post Tariffs to be sharply hiked by Biden administration on Chinese-made products appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Democratic filibuster of legislation making it harder for Missourians to amend the state constitution through citizen-led initiatives stretched through the night and into its 15th hour Tuesday morning.  Though Democrats oppose the changes to the initiative petition process, their filibuster was focused on GOP efforts to include “ballot candy” that would add unrelated issues […]

The post Democrats pull all-night filibuster of bill making it harder to amend Missouri Constitution appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey will oppose efforts by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore to vacate the murder conviction of Christopher Dunn, who Gore believes has spent 33 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. In February, St.  Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore announced he filed a motion with the court to […]

The post Missouri attorney general opposes St. Louis prosecutor’s push to free Christopher Dunn appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s former fixer took the stand in a Manhattan courtroom Monday and told jurors that Trump was well aware of a scheme to hide the repayment of money intended to silence porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Michael Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, told the jury that he […]

The post Star witness in Trump trial tells of plot to conceal porn star hush money payments appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When the U.S. Department of Education announced last summer that federal Pell Grants would become available to incarcerated college students, lawmakers and state corrections agencies scrambled to adjust statutes and step up potential partnerships with universities. But nearly a year later, colleges and agencies are recognizing the steep administrative challenge to winning approval from the […]

The post ‘Transformative’: More college programs are slowly coming into prisons appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Matt Haney’s home in San Francisco isn’t far from a methadone clinic. The 42-year-old state lawmaker has watched people line up early each morning outside the clinic in the Tenderloin, a community long considered the epicenter of the city’s substance use epidemic. His neighbors wait for the daily dose of methadone that relieves their cravings […]

The post More addiction patients can take methadone at home, but some states lag behind appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For the second year in a row, the fate of a bill creating new child care tax credits — one of Gov. Mike Parson’s top legislative priorities — is in the hands of a faction of Republicans in the Missouri Senate.  Designed to help improve access and affordability of child care, the package of child […]

The post Child care tax credits, a top priority for Missouri governor, face uphill battle in the Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lawmakers trying to ban child marriage in Missouri hope a last-minute push in the legislative session’s final days can overcome opposition from some Republicans that put the bill’s chances in doubt.  A bill outlawing 16 and 17 years old from getting married stalled in a House committee when a handful of Republicans voiced opposition. There […]

The post Last-ditch push to ban child marriage in Missouri must overcome resistance in House appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Immigrant baiting is now official business for Missouri officeholders. That’s the message from Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who says his office will represent three state senators who are being sued for defamation over social media posts they filed after the Feb. 14 shooting in Kansas City at a rally to celebrate the Chiefs Super Bowl […]

The post In Missouri, defaming immigrants is an elected official’s privilege and duty appeared first on Missouri Independent.

There’s been a steady push by Republicans this legislative session to regulate voting laws in Missouri. It isn’t new, but it’s been gaining steam. The bills seek to regulate — or restrict — provisions around who can vote and how, the way votes are counted and other matters related to election security. Almost all aim […]

The post Republican lawmakers push litany of changes to Missouri voting laws appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When the final budget votes were over Friday and the constitutional deadline was met, Missouri House Republicans crowed about holding the line on spending while Democrats accused the GOP of failing the state’s most vulnerable citizens. A budget process that had the least public input in years — with just a pro-forma public hearing in […]

The post Democrats say final Missouri budget pads special interests with state cash appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Sriha Srinivasan remembers how surprised her mom was two years ago when she learned that birth control pills weren’t sold in stores without a prescription in the United States. “My parents are immigrants from India, and it’s been over the counter there since my mom can remember,” said Srinivasan, a recent graduate of University of […]

The post One year after FDA approves over-the-counter birth control pill, advocates push for more access appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — After hours of uncertainty Thursday, the U.S. Senate struck a deal to reauthorize several Federal Aviation Authority programs for the next five years, though Maryland and Virginia senators were vehemently opposed and lawmakers hoping to attach unrelated provisions lost out. The bill heads to the House next week for final approval. Lawmakers from […]

The post U.S. Senate in FAA bill adds flights at Washington National, bucking local opponents appeared first on Missouri Independent.