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A top Republican priority – making it harder to amend the Missouri Constitution by initiative petition – is in the best position to be this year’s first bill to pass through both legislative chambers. On Monday, the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee heard testimony on the House-passed measure that would increase the threshold needed […]

The post GOP fast tracks bill making it harder to amend Missouri Constitution by initiative petition appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Military posts in Midwestern and Western states played key roles in the unprecedented downings of multiple unmanned aerial objects over the North American continent this weekend. Members of Congress and governors from the states involved and from both parties have shared information about the downings on Twitter and in statements, in some cases […]

The post Midwestern, Western states in spotlight after mystery flying objects shot down by military appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Ste. Genevieve County residents who fear a proposed silica sand mine will drain their drinking water wells and light up the night sky with its 24-hour schedule asked a Missouri House committee on Monday to halt the project.  “We (do) not deserve to have our futures ruined because a handful of people want to make […]

The post Residents ask Missouri legislators to halt silica mine, don’t want ‘our futures ruined’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A “massive” methane cloud forming over Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. Noxious air pollution fouling Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Herds of mule deer and pronghorn at risk of decimation at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Environmental problems like these are already resulting from fossil fuel extraction near four […]

The post Fossil fuel drilling threatens air and wildlife in national parks, advocacy group finds appeared first on Missouri Independent.

FAYETTE — Tears ran down Torrance Evans Sr.’s face, as he watched the freezing January rain pour down outside the Howard County Courthouse. “This isn’t justice,” he said, pausing to catch his breath, “for killing my son.” Moments before, a judge had allowed his son’s killer to get out on bond and leave town while […]

The post Family wants new prosecutor after man who killed their son in Fayette released on bond appeared first on Missouri Independent.

President Joe Biden devoted 19 sentences of his State of the Union speech to “junk fees,” which includes credit card late fees, service fees for concert tickets and airplane seating preferences that he said strain families’ budgets. Biden did not mention the numerous and opaque fees faced by prisoners and their families every day. But […]

The post Advocacy groups ask FTC to expand Biden administration efforts to rein in junk fees appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Attorneys general representing nearly two dozen Republican states are backing a lawsuit that would remove the abortion pill from throughout the United States after more than two decades, eliminating the option even in states where abortion access remains legal. The state of Missouri filed its own brief in the case Friday while Mississippi […]

The post Attorneys general from 23 GOP-led states back suit seeking to block abortion pill appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Indigent defendants facing imprisonment must be represented by a public defender no later than two weeks after they qualify, a judge ruled this week in a case over waiting lists in thousands of criminal cases across Missouri. Phelps County Circuit Judge William Hickle, overruling the state’s attempt to dismiss the case as moot because waiting […]

The post Missouri judge orders steps to avoid waiting lists for public defenders appeared first on Missouri Independent.

With nearly every statewide office up for grabs next year, Missouri Republicans are jockeying for position in what promises to be crowded primary campaigns.  Gov. Mike Parson will leave office because of term limits. Two Republicans have already jumped into the race to replace him, with a third waiting in the wings and expected to […]

The post As Missouri Republicans gather in Springfield, 2024 primary fights begin piling up appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As they prep for the Super Bowl on Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs have a phenomenon at quarterback. He threw for thousands of yards in high school, earning scholarship offers from universities that would compete on the national stage. His talents playing baseball and basketball in high school still earn mentions when the news media profile him. In […]

The post Behold the Kansas City Chiefs’ elite quarterback — and the other one, too appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Members of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee quibbled Thursday over spending on crop insurance and ad-hoc disaster relief, previewing potential fights in the 2023 farm bill. Legislators of both parties emphasized their support at a Thursday hearing for better funding programs that protect underserved producers, and accounting for future natural disasters […]

The post U.S. Senate panel debates safety net spending in upcoming farm bill appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Democrats on Thursday urged the GOP lawmakers running the new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government to work with them on genuine oversight investigations that weren’t political or focused on leveling grievances. Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin said during the panel’s first hearing that the subcommittee “could conceivably […]

The post New U.S. House weaponization panel to probe FBI, IRS, ATF appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The state of our health care is improving, but as President Joe Biden might say, we need to “finish the job!” In his State of the Union speech, Biden recounted the significant list of America’s health care accomplishments under his administration. Here are some highlights: More Americans have health insurance than ever. A record-setting 16.3 […]

The post The state of our health care appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Three Missouri agencies are investigating a multidisciplinary care center in St. Louis catering to transgender children and adolescents after a former employee detailed her experience as a case manager. The whistleblower, Jamie Reed, provided a sworn affidavit about her time at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital earlier this week to […]

The post Missouri agencies launch investigation into health center for transgender youth appeared first on Missouri Independent.

State employees are one step closer to receiving their biggest raise in years — perhaps ever — after the Missouri House gave first-round approval Thursday to a $627 million supplemental appropriations bill. The nearly unanimous vote, with only two Republicans voting against the bill, shows the plan for across-the-board 8.7% raises has broad support. The […]

The post Missouri state employee pay raise advances with vote on spending bill appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers advanced a proposal Thursday that would give the governor the ability to strip the authority of any elected prosecutor to handle violent crime cases. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Lane Roberts, R-Joplin, would allow the governor to appoint a special prosecutor for five years if the number of homicide cases in any prosecuting […]

The post House passes bill to allow for state takeover of Missouri prosecutor offices appeared first on Missouri Independent.

It would be harder — and more expensive — for the public to get access to some taxpayer-funded government records under legislation debated Thursday by a Missouri Senate committee. The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Andrew Koenig of Manchester, would permit government agencies to withhold more information from the public by creating new exemptions to […]

The post Missouri lawmakers debate limiting access to some public government records appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A U.S. House panel renewed the decades-long fight Wednesday over how standing waters on farmland and other private property should be defined and regulated by federal authorities, with Republicans calling for a pause until the U.S. Supreme Court can provide more clarity. The definition of so-called Waters of the United States, or WOTUS — wetlands […]

The post Longtime tensions over federal wetlands rule return in U.S. House WOTUS hearing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

There were more than 1,500 disappointed people at Arrowhead Stadium on Jan. 29, not including visitors from Ohio. On the day the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Cincinnati Bengals to earn their third trip to the Super Bowl in the past four years, 1,550 people tried and failed 4,571 times to place a bet on […]

The post Lawmakers renew push to legalize sports wagering in Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After days of behind-the-scenes negotiations, the Missouri Senate gave initial approval Wednesday to legislation that included a watered-down version of the GOP-backed ban on so-called “critical race theory.” But the changes weren’t enough to win over Democrats, who allege the bill still runs the risk of being a “tool to bludgeon public schools that are […]

The post Missouri Senate advances ‘Parents Bill of Rights’ with less focus on critical race theory appeared first on Missouri Independent.