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The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission has authority to add workers, increase pay and ignore appropriation bill limits if no changes are made to a court ruling issued in October, Department of Transportation director Patrick McKenna told lawmakers on Wednesday. Facing  pointed questioning during a hearing of a House appropriations subcommittee, McKenna said the commission […]

The post State asks judge to reverse decision on Missouri highways commission pay raise plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The massive annual defense policy package cleared Congress ahead of the holiday recess, despite protests about attaching a foreign surveillance extension and criticism that the bill did not block a Pentagon abortion policy. U.S. House lawmakers approved the package on Thursday 310-118, under a suspension of the chamber’s rules, meaning a two-thirds majority was […]

The post Shipbuilding, bombers, military pay raise: Congress sends massive defense bill to Biden appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For about as long as passengers have stepped onto buses, public transportation in most of Missouri has meant fixed routes and schedules. The idea of on-demand, point-to-point service as a public amenity was unheard of. Today, those rides are being offered in Kansas City and St. Louis. Smaller Missouri cities are mulling whether microtransit — […]

The post Uber-style rides seen as a tool for public transit in rural and urban Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Negotiations over immigration policy made small progress Wednesday, but not enough to strike a deal and ease the passage of billions in global security aid before Congress leaves for a three-week recess. Meanwhile, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said they are frustrated that some proposals under discussion would make major changes in […]

The post Immigration talks in Congress lag as Latino lawmakers urge rejection of GOP proposals appeared first on Missouri Independent.

It’s been four months since the police raid on the Marion County Record, but new revelations are deepening our understanding of what may come to be regarded as a signal moment in the history of American journalism. The more we know about the newspaper raid, the more alarmed we should be, because the stench just […]

The post Kansas newspaper raid exposed a shameful abuse of power. It’s not just the press in danger appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This year will end on a major cliffhanger for abortion access. Last November, anti-abortion activists via a powerful conservative Christian law firm asked a federal court to effectively ban or widely restrict the abortion drug mifepristone. Finally on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take the case, making Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug […]

The post Fear and confusion over abortion access persists as SCOTUS takes its first post-Dobbs case appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri University of Science and Technology will grant K-12 scholarships through the state’s tax-credit-based program MOScholars beginning in the 2024-2025 school year. A nonprofit within Missouri S&T will become the seventh educational assistance organization, or EAO, in the MOScholars program. EAOs receive donations through a process overseen by the state treasurer and remit the money […]

The post Missouri S&T to distribute K-12 scholarships for private, homeschool students appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Three years after taking the dual role of MU chancellor and UM System president, Mun Choi’s pay package has quietly approached $1 million through decisions made in a series of closed-door curators meetings. An attorney who works with Missouri open meetings law argued decisions on Choi’s salary should be made in public. In 2020, the […]

The post University of Missouri curators keep Mun Choi’s salary increases under the radar appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON —  The U.S. Supreme Court announced Wednesday it will hear oral arguments and decide whether broad access to the abortion pill can remain legal across the United States. The justices’ decision to hear the case this term will put abortion access and the politics that comes with it back in front of the nation’s highest court […]

The post US Supreme Court to decide fate of medication abortion access nationwide appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate took an important step Tuesday toward passing the nation’s annual defense policy bill, but the legislation did not include provisions aimed at compensating victims of radioactive contamination in St. Louis and around the country. The reliably bipartisan legislation is expected to hit the same hard-right opposition in the U.S. House […]

The post Federal defense bill advances without compensation for St. Louis victims of nuclear waste appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The board overseeing Missouri’s largest state employee pension fund voted Tuesday to  sell most of its investments in Chinese-owned companies, reversing a decision it made last month. The divestment by the Missouri State Employees Retirement Fund will take place over the next 12 months, with an allowance to stretch that to 36 months to avoid […]

The post State board votes to divest Missouri pension fund from China appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy struggled Tuesday to convince members of Congress to approve billions in additional aid to his country at a crucial moment in the nearly two-year war with Russia. But the outlook was grim as lawmakers remained deadlocked on another piece of a supplemental spending bill under debate in the Senate […]

The post Zelenskyy pitches Congress on Ukraine military aid, but it’s tied to stalled border talks appeared first on Missouri Independent.

There are 285 people in Missouri jails waiting to be moved to state psychiatric hospitals for treatment, the Department of Mental Health told lawmakers Monday. There were 229 people waiting for treatment in March, 253 in September, 260 in October and 272 in November. These individuals were arrested, deemed unfit to stand trial and ordered […]

The post 285 Missourians waiting in jails to be moved to hospitals for mental health services appeared first on Missouri Independent.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. — After an Orange County resident flushes her toilet, the water flows through the Southern California community’s sewer system, meanders its way to the sanitation plant, has its solids removed, is piped to a wastewater recycling facility next door and undergoes three different purification processes until it is clean enough to drink. […]

The post From flush to faucet: More places look to turn sewage into tap water appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The overturning of Roe vs Wade last year has created massive fallout, with abortion-rights advocates scrambling to react. Voters in states like Kansas, Michigan and most recently Ohio have resoundingly supported ballot initiatives to protect abortion rights in their constitutions. Similar initiatives are being pursued in Florida, Arizona and my home state of Missouri. However […]

The post Any abortion initiative on Missouri ballot must end political interference in medical care appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Several states this year have reported lower rates of recidivism, showing that fewer convicted criminals are being re-arrested after leaving prison. But those statistics hardly tell the full story. Recidivism rates across the country can vary greatly because of how they’re defined, how the data is collected and how it’s presented to the public. So […]

The post How many inmates return to prison? Inconsistent reporting makes it hard to tell appeared first on Missouri Independent.

While he was in the Missouri Senate, Bob Onder earned a reputation as one of the most vocal members of the self-styled conservative caucus, upending the chamber by filibustering a litany of bills, including congressional redistricting, needle exchanges for addicts and Medicaid financing. As he left the Senate in 2022 due to term limits, Onder, […]

The post Former state Sen. Bob Onder officially joins race for Missouri lieutenant governor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The proposed takeover of Liberty Hospital in Missouri by the University of Kansas Health System is being greeted with scorn by lawmakers from both sides of the state line and both political parties. Leading the charge against the takeover in Missouri is Kansas City Democratic state Sen. Greg Razer, who said the idea of KU […]

The post University of Kansas deal with Missouri hospital feels ‘terribly wrong’ to lawmakers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade believes abortion can win on the ballot in Missouri. And Planned Parenthood, which announced its endorsement of the Springfield Democrat’s campaign for governor on Monday, believes Quade can win, too. Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes is endorsing Quade, who announced a campaign for governor in July. In a state where […]

The post Planned Parenthood backs Crystal Quade with abortion a focus of Missouri governor race appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As the year draws to a close and a new legislative session dawns, what presents do you hope Santa will leave under the Christmas tree at the Missouri Capitol? Each of us can help Santa out as he is making his list and checking it twice. What do you hope legislators will find when they […]

The post What Christmas presents does the Missouri legislature need this season? appeared first on Missouri Independent.