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A bipartisan bill aimed at improving student literacy morphed into an omnibus education package after it was passed out of the House Monday night with amendments dealing with open enrollment, school protection officers and school board meetings. Senate Bill 681, sponsored by Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, initially aimed to boost students’ reading comprehension by requiring […]

The post Bipartisan literacy bill grows to include open enrollment after Missouri House passage appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Republican lawmaker pushing legislation to legalize recreational marijuana in Missouri says his bill is in jeopardy because of stall tactics by his GOP colleagues and the insistence of the House floor leader that it include license caps. Rep. Ron Hicks, R-Defiance, said he was initially told his marijuana legalization bill would come up for debate […]

The post Lawmaker says GOP resistance may doom Missouri marijuana legalization bill appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Opponents of a new cross-state recreation trail along the old Rock Island Railroad corridor have the upper hand in the General Assembly after the state Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday cut the funds needed to develop it for use. The committee approved four spending bills for the coming year to pay for new construction, repair […]

The post Missouri Senate committee slashes funds for building Rock Island Trail appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House committee looking into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol sent letters Monday to Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Ronny Jackson of Texas, asking them to share information about meetings and conversations they had in the days and weeks leading up to the insurrection. “The […]

The post Jan. 6 panel asks three GOP members of the U.S. House to cooperate in probe appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s legislature enters its final days of the 2022 legislative session facing an unusually large pile of partisan and ideological divisive issues. In an election year, it is not unusual that some legislators seek to highlight issues that will inspire their party’s loyalists to vote. This year’s partisan issues include requiring a photo ID to […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Divisive ideological fights in Missouri’s legislature appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For almost a half hour Thursday afternoon, the Missouri Capitol hallways echoed with the familiar tones and gently stated voice calling state senators to the floor: “The absence of a quorum has been noted.” Inside the chamber, Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, waited. His top priority bill, to ban transgender youth from participating on sports […]

The post Fractured Missouri Senate enters final two weeks of the legislative session appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Three months after Attorney General Eric Schmitt launched a legal blitz against 47 school districts across the state, nearly all the cases have petered out as COVID infection rates plummeted and mask mandates were lifted. But four cases live on. While he’s moved to drop nearly every lawsuit he filed, Schmitt has opposed attempts by […]

The post Few mask lawsuits remain as Missouri AG asks legislature to clarify law behind legal blitz appeared first on Missouri Independent.

With higher gas prices, rising food costs and near record inflation as we emerge from the worst pandemic in a 100 years, many of us may be struggling to make ends meet or move forward in any way — finding it difficult to see what government is doing to make our lives better. But as […]

The post Now is the time to remember the good our government does for us | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The odds are growing longer on whether Missourians will be able to bet on Kansas City Chiefs games from within the state this year.  And if Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signs a sports wagering bill passed early Friday, the odds of the Chiefs jumping the state line to a new stadium will grow shorter. Wednesday […]

The post Hopes fading for Missouri sports wagering bill to pass this year appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The “machinery of death” is back to work in Missouri as the Missouri Supreme Court has issued an execution date of May 3 for Carman Deck.  James and Zelma Long were fatally shot during a robbery in their home in Desoto in 1997. Deck and his sister went to the Long home with the intent […]

The post Missouri should end the death penalty and spare Carman Deck | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to use the framework of a World War II-era program to allow the federal government to lend and lease military equipment to Ukraine as it resists Russian troops. The legislation, called the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act, would remove red tape and require the White House to […]

The post U.S. to lend and lease military supplies to Ukraine under bill cleared by Congress appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation pushed nationwide, the Missouri House passed a pair of bills Thursday that would limit transgender students from participating on the sports teams that match the gender they identify with. One bill, which originally dealt with school transportation, would restrict transgender students to only participating on high school sports teams […]

The post Missouri House passes pair of bills that would limit trans students’ sports participation appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The record profits for meatpackers in the past two years were the result of market conditions during the coronavirus pandemic, along with increased consumer demand, according to leaders of the country’s four large meatpacking companies. The meatpacking executives defended their business practices during a lengthy congressional committee hearing on Wednesday. U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Georgia, […]

The post Meatpackers deny price fixing for beef during U.S. House agriculture committee hearing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers are pushing to ease state regulations on so-called “advanced recycling,” a process proponents say diverts hard-to-recycle plastics from landfills and makes them into new products.  The bill’s sponsor hopes to bring the massive facilities into the state to create jobs while saving the environment from plastic.  But the promise made by advanced recycling […]

The post Preventing pollution or creating more greenhouse gases? Missouri debates ‘advanced recycling’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When state Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder was 18 and struggling to raise a baby, she applied for federal food assistance to help her get back on her feet.  “I can cook a pot of beans and cornbread and make that last a couple of days,” Rehder, R-Sikeston, said during Monday’s Senate debate.  But some people […]

The post Republicans tussle over bill to provide warm meals to some Missouri SNAP recipients appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Kansas City Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation of the Friday ride-along by former Gov. Eric Greitens as a possible violation of a 1940s law enacted to root out political corruption linked to notorious political boss Tom Pendergast. All the department’s records surrounding the ride-along are closed because they are now part of […]

The post KC police investigating whether officers violated law by allowing Greitens ride-along appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Deep into Missouri’s feverish summer, a St. Louis hardware store owner found his customers clamoring for something surprising: Electric space heaters.  “The weather was warm and it was strange that people were worried about it,” said Don Heberer, owner of Rathbone Hardware. He estimates he sold about 20% more space heaters than normal for that […]

The post Documents show Spire scrambling for survival of St. Louis pipeline after court ruling appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The U.S. House cleared a bill Tuesday that would expand the Kansas site honoring the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning school segregation, adding National Park Service sites in other states to commemorate their roles in the decision as well. The bill would designate sites related to school desegregation cases in Virginia, Delaware, South Carolina and the District […]

The post Congress expands Brown v. Board of Education historic site beyond Kansas appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Supporters of the only attempt to add money to the state’s record operating budget during Senate debate Tuesday also complained loudest that the state is spending too much. As the chamber worked through 13 bills spending $45.1 billion in the coming fiscal year, members of the conservative caucus often voted against the bills but offered […]

The post Missouri Senate approves record budget, adds $1.2B to House spending appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Boone County judge will rule soon, perhaps by this week, whether former Gov. Eric Greitens will get access to his ex-wife Sheena Greitens’ telephone records as he attempts to prove his political enemies are behind explosive allegations of spousal and child abuse. Associate Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider said at the end of a hearing […]

The post Attorney calls Eric Greitens subpoenas ‘a fishing expedition’ during Boone County hearing appeared first on Missouri Independent.