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This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. A higher prevalence of gun ownership in rural America has contributed to increased suicides, raising the overall gun-death rate in rural areas above that of urban communities. Experts say some legal interventions that have broad public support could […]

The post Rural gun deaths exceed urban rates by 28% because of increased suicide rates appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who became the first woman in history to hold the gavel, shepherding landmark bills across four presidencies, announced Thursday she’ll step aside from leadership though she’ll remain in Congress. “With great confidence in our caucus, I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” she […]

The post Nancy Pelosi, first woman to serve as speaker of the U.S. House, steps down from leadership appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Longtime cannabis activist Brennan England has gotten lots of undeserved praise since Missourians approved a constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana on Nov. 8. As the owner of a private cannabis consumption lounge in St. Louis, England understood why people thought he’d have a “go weed or go home” stance.  But it wasn’t that simple for […]

The post Marijuana vote divided Missouri social-justice leaders. Can an equity officer be a bridge? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The cliché about the Kansas City airport used to go like this: People who live in Kansas City love it, while people from out of town hate it. At this moment, it seems that the group of people who hate the outgoing airport is, well, everyone. For years, Kansas Citians debated whether to replace the […]

The post Glimpses of the new Kansas City airport make visiting current terminals a chore appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON —  The U.S. Senate cleared a key hurdle to passing a marriage equality bill Wednesday, garnering even more than the 60 senators from both political parties needed to move past a legislative filibuster. The bill, which could win final passage in the Senate as soon as this week, would ensure same-sex and interracial couples […]

The post Bill protecting same-sex marriage gains bipartisan support in U.S. Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON —  Democratic U.S. senators have set a December deadline for passing bipartisan legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for more than 600,000 undocumented people who were brought into the country as children — but they don’t yet have enough Senate Republican votes to make it a reality. During a Wednesday press conference […]

The post U.S. Senate Democrats make a last-ditch push for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

An Edgar Springs woman won a partial victory Tuesday in her long-running dispute with her city when a judge ruled local officials violated her constitutional rights and the state’s Sunshine Law. The small Phelps County city must pay Rebecca Varney a fine of $600 plus her legal costs for “knowing and purposeful” violations of the […]

The post ‘Not a new or novel policy’: Judge rules Missouri town cannot ban woman seeking records appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When she was 13, Dakota Hommes felt scared and alone. She was having a crisis, didn’t feel she could talk to her parents about it and worried about her future. “At 13, I wasn’t sure that I would make it,” she said. Then, at a library, she found the novels “Parrot Fish” by Ellen Wittlinger […]

The post Opposition growing to Missouri Secretary of State rules on library materials for children appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Senate on an investigation panel on Tuesday grilled federal immigration officials about a bipartisan report that detailed how migrant women at an immigration detention center in Georgia underwent questionable gynecological procedures. The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Permanent Investigations released an 18-month bipartisan report that found migrant women who were detained at Irwin […]

The post Migrant women endured medical mistreatment at Georgia ICE facility, U.S. Senate report finds appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Former President Donald Trump, whose lies about his reelection loss in 2020 precipitated an insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol, said Tuesday he will make another run for the White House in 2024. His announcement came only a week after a disappointing showing by Republicans — especially those who endorsed his false claims about 2020 […]

The post Trump announces a third bid for the presidency, even as GOP reels from midterm setback appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Missouri judge on Monday ruled staff in the attorney general’s office, while it was being run by now-U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, used private email accounts to “knowingly and purposefully” subvert the state’s open records law.  Cole County Judge Jon Beetem determined the attorney general’s office violated the Sunshine Law by taking steps to conceal […]

The post Missouri judge rules AG’s office under Josh Hawley ‘knowingly’ violated transparency laws appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Missouri judge Monday dismissed the City of St. Louis’ effort to block a 2021 law bolstering protections for police under investigation for misconduct.  The city sued in December asking Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem to toss out the “Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights,” a list of new requirements that includes giving officers […]

The post St. Louis challenge to police ‘bill of rights’ dismissed by Missouri judge appeared first on Missouri Independent.

MEMPHIS, Missouri – In March, Scotland County Hospital’s auditors delivered a stark warning. After five consecutive years of losses, only federal COVID-19 payments received over the previous year had kept the 25-bed hospital’s bank account solvent. In the fiscal years covered by the audit, accounting firm BKD reported, the hospital lost $7.9 million — $2.3 […]

The post Ten rural Missouri hospitals closed since 2012. Scotland County hopes to avoid that fate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When pro-Trump extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,  they probably weren’t thinking about the next election. But maybe they should have. Because the long shadow of former President Donald Trump, and the behavior of the rioters, may have helped contribute to a relatively good night for the Democrats. Historically, the party in […]

The post How the GOP’s expected red wave crashed on the rocks of the insurrection appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Monday issued a nationwide injunction indefinitely blocking the Biden administration’s student debt relief program in response to a challenge by six GOP-led states. The unanimous ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis came after the six states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina […]

The post Six GOP-led states win national injunction against Biden student debt relief plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

MEMPHIS, Missouri – Joni Lloyd was in her pajamas when the call came. Lori Fulk, chair of the Scotland County Hospital District Board of Directors, was calling. She asked Lloyd, the vice-chair, to come to her house to talk. When Lloyd arrived the evening of Aug. 15, she found Fulk was not alone. An emergency […]

The post Firings, corruption accusations create turmoil at struggling north Missouri hospital appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When a country’s sovereignty or well-being is threatened, it mobilizes to protect itself even if means going to war. Defeating the threats, dangers and possible annihilation of the earth and life as we know it will require the same. This past week, more than 100 world leaders gathered for the Climate Summit to continue their […]

The post We must wage war on climate change to save the Earth appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada will win reelection, according to Associated Press projections late Saturday, ensuring Democrats will remain in the majority next year no matter what happens in a runoff election in Georgia next month. After days of vote counting, U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Cortez Masto were both […]

The post Democrats projected to retain U.S. Senate control after winning Nevada seat appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Congress returns to Capitol Hill and a lengthy to-do list next week, following a six-week midterm elections break that saw Democrats outperform expectations and Republicans barely inch toward the U.S. House majority. On the agenda are same-sex marriage legislation, a huge defense bill, changes in how presidential electoral votes are counted and more. […]

The post Congress heads back to D.C. for a hectic lame-duck session appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Late Thursday a federal judge in Texas struck down the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan, ruling that the program is unlawful, in a blow to 16 million student debt borrowers already approved for relief. The U.S. Department of Education now is no longer accepting applications for the program, according to the student […]

The post Biden student debt relief plan thrown out by Texas judge; new applications halted appeared first on Missouri Independent.