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Dairy farmers throughout the country are on guard and the federal government is mobilizing after an outbreak among cattle herds of highly pathogenic avian influenza — once thought to be confined to poultry flocks. What’s more, the virus, also known as H5N1 or bird flu, was diagnosed in a third dairy farmworker last week, marking […]

The post Bird flu’s spread from poultry to cattle to humans provokes worry among feds, states appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Emboldened by the mainstreaming of hard-right politics ahead of a presidential election cycle, white nationalist and anti-LGBTQ groups increased to record levels in the United States last year, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest annual report on hate and extremism released Tuesday. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has published the annual […]

The post White nationalist, anti-LGBTQ activity on the rise, annual hate report shows appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Kansas Senate president and House speaker said Tuesday they were intrigued by the potential of putting together an incentive package capable of attracting the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs to a new stadium complex in Kansas. The Kansas Legislature will be in Topeka starting June 18 to consider a tax relief bill after […]

The post Kansas legislative leaders draw up play to lure Kansas City Chiefs away from Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday turned back an effort by Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas to push an election on Kansas City police funding to November. The court on April 30 overturned the results of a 2022 election on the issue, agreeing with Lucas that the fiscal note summary printed on the ballot was […]

The post Missouri Supreme Court backs August election on Kansas City police funding appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After a decade-long legal battle, a transgender man and former student of the Blue Springs School District should receive over $4 million in damages for discrimination that occurred when he was an adolescent, the Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. Judge Anthony Gabbert wrote the court’s unanimous decision, ruling that the school district […]

The post Missouri appeals court sides with transgender student in $4 million discrimination case appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Tuesday that will allow him to partly suspend asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border when daily unauthorized crossings reach a threshold of 2,500 migrants. “We do expect the authority would be in effect immediately,” a senior administration official said on a Tuesday call with reporters […]

The post Executive order limiting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to be signed by Biden appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Medical students and residents increasingly come to Dr. Colleen McNicholas with the same concern: will their training in Missouri prepare them to competently care for pregnant patients?  McNicholas, who for years was among the few doctors performing elective abortions in Missouri, said that fear is reflected in a report released in May by the Association […]

The post After Missouri banned abortion, the state saw 25% drop in OB-GYN residency applicants appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s Constitution has banned noncitizens from voting since 1924. And state law requires individuals to verify they are a U.S. citizen in order to register to vote.  But GOP lawmakers contend the constitutional and statutory language isn’t strong enough. Instead of saying that “all citizens” can vote, Republicans argue the state constitution should be changed […]

The post Already outlawed in Missouri, noncitizen voting ban will appear on statewide ballot appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture would eliminate pay deductions for chicken producers, Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday. Under the current poultry payment system, an incentive-based arrangement known within the industry as a tournament system, farmers who raise poultry earn a base payment from the companies that buy the product and bring it to […]

The post USDA aims to aid small farmers by barring pay deductions from poultry companies appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci defended his decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday, testifying before Congress about his work on the virus as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during two presidencies. House Republicans who called the hearing grilled Fauci during the contentious three-hour session about the origins of […]

The post Fauci defends his work on COVID-19, says he has an ‘open mind’ on its origins appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A state law requiring secrecy in court filings violates the Missouri Constitution’s requirement for open courts and imposes steep new costs on litigants, especially those pursuing appeals, a lawsuit filed last week argues. The lawsuit, filed in Cole County by the Missouri Broadcasters Association, two attorneys and William Freivogel, editor of the Gateway Journalism Review, […]

The post Lawsuit claims new Missouri court secrecy law is unconstitutional appeared first on Missouri Independent.

MARIETTA, Ga. — Just after 3 p.m. on the third Tuesday of May, Lamont Hart began his shift outside a suburban precinct as a scorching Georgia sun reflected heat off the white-bricked Worship with Wonders Church. Tall, thin, wearing a backward flat cap and holding a notebook, Hart introduced himself to exiting voters and asked […]

The post Election monitors nervously practice for the ‘big dance in November’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A United States District Court judge in St. Louis heard arguments Monday morning on whether the federal government can continue with a student-debt-forgiveness plan due to begin next month. The lawsuit, filed last month by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, seeks to block an income-driven repayment plan for borrowers proposed by President Joe Biden’s administration.  […]

The post Missouri AG argues to block Biden administration’s second student loan forgiveness plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers gave counties a dose of much-needed clarity in May when they passed a bill aimed at clarifying a 2023 law that lets counties pass a senior property tax freeze, aimed at those 62 and older. The law passed last year gave counties the power to freeze property tax rates for Missourians who were […]

The post Missouri lawmakers clarify confusion to let more counties freeze property taxes for seniors appeared first on Missouri Independent.

During Missouri’s 2024 legislative session, 338 bills addressing education were filed: a mix of proposals to change curriculum, increase funding, boost oversight and others. The House appeared poised to expedite more K-12 legislation by forming a Special Committee on Education Reform in addition to its usual Elementary and Secondary Education Committee. Chair of the existing […]

The post Missouri education package establishes long-time priorities, stomping smaller bills appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Not voting in the presidential primary and general election is tantamount to an act of dereliction of duty, even desertion when it comes to defending and protecting our democratic republic. At a bare minimum, it certainly can be considered cowardice and laziness. Offended? We should be. Being disappointed or disgusted with the candidates seeking our […]

The post Will you be AWOL in the upcoming elections? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

More than half of the nation’s jobs created in the past five years have come in two states: Texas and Florida. They’re at the forefront of a job creation revolution in which states with lower wages and a lower cost of living are gaining the highest share of new jobs, according to a new Stateline […]

The post Low-wage states with cheap housing dominated the post-pandemic jobs boom appeared first on Missouri Independent.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Former Marion Councilwoman Ruth Herbel alleges in federal court that city officials orchestrated an illegal raid of her home — alongside the raid of the Marion County Record — as part of a conspiracy to silence criticism. The Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based law firm that says it represents “everyday people” in […]

The post Former Kansas councilwoman files federal lawsuit over ‘conspiracy’ to silence her and newspaper appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Facing ongoing concerns about rural hospital closures, Capitol Hill lawmakers have introduced a spate of proposals to fix a federal program created to keep lifesaving services in small towns nationwide. In Anamosa, Iowa — a town of fewer than 6,000 residents located more than 900 miles from the nation’s capital — rural hospital leader Eric […]

The post An obscure drug discount program stifles use of federal lifeline by rural hospitals appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Natasha Jackson was four months pregnant when she told her supervisor she was expecting. It was 2008, and Jackson was an account executive at a rental furniture store in Charleston, South Carolina — the only female employee there. “I actually hid my pregnancy as long as I could because I was scared about what could […]

The post New rules protect pregnant workers, but red states sue over abortion provisions appeared first on Missouri Independent.