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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.

WASHINGTON — A congressional watchdog in a new report called on the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to improve its enforcement of Title IX compliance in college athletics. The U.S. Government Accountability Office in the report issued Thursday appeared critical of the OCR’s oversight in expanding opportunities for women in college athletics, saying the […]

The post Even as interest in women’s college sports rises, report finds big gap in participation appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Timothy Bundren must have heard wrong. The sun wasn’t up yet. He was still groggy from starting his morning routine of walking through chicken barns. His phone rang and his contact with the global meat company headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, just two hours south of his farm, started telling him he would no longer be […]

The post Chicken farmers stuck with uncertainty, massive loans in wake of Tyson Foods closures appeared first on Missouri Independent.

With the state budget finally out of the way, Missouri Republicans are ready to turn their attention to a priority they’ve pursued since day one of legislative session: making it harder to amend the state constitution through an initiative petition. Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin told reporters Thursday that Republicans intend to bring the initiative […]

The post Senate braces for showdown over push to make it harder to amend Missouri Constitution appeared first on Missouri Independent.

T’Montez Hurt had just started working at a Price Chopper in Grain Valley to save money after a semester away from Missouri Western State University. Then in the early hours of Feb. 1, the 19-year-old placed an anxious phone call to his grandmother, Tecona Donald-Sullivan, saying he thought he’d been drugged. The day before he’d […]

The post KC police jump-started missing persons unit. Now they need to build trust with Black families appeared first on Missouri Independent.

With passage of a $51.7 billion budget Thursday, the Missouri Senate beat the constitutional deadline by 24 hours after a debate that left Republican leaders exhausted but satisfied. A 41-hour filibuster stalled all work last week – including planned budget debates on a committee-passed spending plan. To make the deadline, Senate Appropriations Chairman Lincoln Hough […]

The post Missouri Senate avoids impasse over budget to make constitutional deadline appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri House Ethics Committee voted unanimously Thursday to dismiss a complaint filed against the Republican lawmaker who led the investigation of Speaker Dean Plocher.  State Rep. Hannah Kelly of Mountain View was appointed to lead the ethics committee by Plocher last year.  But the speaker soured on Kelly as she oversaw the panel’s months-long […]

The post Ethics committee dismisses complaint against lawmaker who investigated Dean Plocher  appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A federal judge ruled Thursday that Missouri’s social services agency violated the law in the way it has administered its food assistance program.  U.S. District Court Judge M. Douglas Harpool ruled that the state’s practices — including long call center wait times and a lack of accommodations for those with disabilities — violate the laws […]

The post Federal court rules Missourians were illegally denied food aid by the state appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Thursday it’s proposing changes to the asylum system that would allow immigration officials to reject asylum seekers who have a criminal record that poses a threat to national security or public safety and quickly remove them. Those changes will occur during the initial screening stages, a senior U.S. Department […]

The post Asylum seekers with criminal records would be more quickly removed under Biden proposal appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s Planned Parenthood clinics say they will continue serving patients on Medicaid, even after Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation Thursday blocking state and federal funds from going to the organization.  The new law, which goes into effect Aug. 28, is the third — and Republicans hope final — attempt to end Medicaid reimbursements to any […]

The post Missouri Planned Parenthood clinics remain ‘open to all’ despite new Medicaid restrictions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Inez Bordeaux had heard horror stories about the St. Louis jail commonly known as the Workhouse — named so for prisoners held there in the 1800s who were forced to labor for their freedom — but it was only once she was sent there herself in 2016 that she realized: “Everything I’ve heard about the […]

The post How do you repurpose a closed jail? Competing visions clash in St. Louis appeared first on Missouri Independent.