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A bipartisan bill to ban child marriage in Missouri won initial approval in the state Senate Wednesday afternoon. Under current law, 16 and 17-year-olds are allowed to get married with parental consent. Marriage between a minor and anyone 21 or older is prohibited. The legislation discussed Wednesday would prohibit issuing a marriage license to anyone […]

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger sought to ease concerns from the lawmakers in charge of his agency’s budget on Wednesday, saying the department is preparing for major upcoming events — including another potential Jan. 6 — by trying to grow the size of its force and overhauling its intelligence gathering activities. […]

The post U.S. Capitol Police chief describes preparations for possible post-election turmoil appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri House members on Wednesday took a step toward prohibiting exports of water, arguing the state’s “most precious resource” should be protected and reserved for residents. The bill, which prohibits water exports without a state permit, cleared an initial Missouri House vote 115-25. It needs second approval before it moves to the Missouri Senate, where […]

The post ‘The water wars are coming’: Missouri looks to limit exports from rivers, lakes appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans will delay until next week their delivery to the Senate of the two articles of impeachment against Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday. “To ensure the Senate has adequate time to perform its constitutional duty, the House will transmit the articles of impeachment […]

The post Republicans in Congress delay Mayorkas impeachment proceedings appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As the Republican National Committee ramps up plans to monitor the polls for illegal voting this fall, the national party is increasingly working with a loose network of anti-fraud extremists who have been found to routinely spread election lies. The extremists also have close ties to the prominent far-right conspiracy theorists who tried to overturn […]

The post Republican National Committee courts election conspiracy theorists to help watch polls appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A bill that would make Planned Parenthood ineligible to receive reimbursements from the state’s Medicaid program passed out of the Missouri Senate early Wednesday morning after an 11-hour Democratic filibuster. The bill now returns to the House, where it can be sent to Gov. Mike Parson to sign into law. This legislation, originally filed by […]

The post Bill ending Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood clears Missouri Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lawmakers are raising concerns about what they believe is a lack of transparency in Missouri’s nearly two-year old private school tax credit program. The administrator of the MOScholars program, State Treasurer Vivek Malek, says the criticism is misplaced, arguing lawmakers are making overly broad requests for data in a manner that is taxing the small […]

The post Missouri treasurer pushes back on legislative criticism of MoScholars data transparency appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Senate Judiciary Committee briefly debated a House crime bill Monday that mirrors legislation vetoed by Gov. Mike Parson last year. The sponsor of the bill, Republican state Rep. Lane Roberts of Joplin, said he crafted the bill to update Missouri criminal law in multiple ways while avoiding the veto that befell last session’s […]

The post Missouri Senate committee debates wide-ranging crime legislation appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is seeking to squash a nearly eight-month-old program that has waived $1.2 billion in student loans for 153,000 borrowers and limited the payment amounts for 8 million others.  He is joined by the attorneys general from Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in […]

The post Missouri Attorney General leads coalition challenging Biden student debt relief appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri thinks he’s found a path for stalled tax legislation that would temporarily expand the child tax credit and restore business tax breaks that are expired or have sunset under the 2017 tax law. Hawley’s idea is to attach the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to the tax bill […]

The post U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley proposes adding radiation exposure bill to stalled tax package appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Countless times, Kenda Sutton-El, a Virginia doula, has witnessed her Black pregnant clients being dismissed or ignored by clinicians. One woman was told by doctors that swelling, pain and warmth in her leg was normal, despite warning the clinicians that she had a history of blood clots. Sutton-El urged her to visit the emergency room. […]

The post To close racial gap in maternal health, some states take aim at ‘implicit bias’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans are returning from a two-week recess Tuesday with an even slimmer majority and the potential looming chaos of a second speaker fight in less than a year. Hours before recess began on March 22, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia filed a motion to vacate the U.S. House speaker’s office, threatening to […]

The post Republicans return to D.C. amid dwindling majority, suspense over House speaker post appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A St. Charles County judge found no “compelling justification” to seal a congressional candidate’s lawsuit against a political opponent who published 14-year-old court records of a domestic violence incident. On Friday, Circuit Judge Christopher McDonough unsealed state Rep. Justin Hicks’ lawsuit against Max Calfo, who is running for Hicks’ seat in the Missouri House, and […]

The post Judge unseals GOP legislator’s lawsuit against rival who published court documents appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment of an occasional States Newsroom series called When and Where: Abortion Access in America, profiling individuals who have needed abortion care in the U.S. before and after Dobbs. The first installment can be found here, the second installment is here, and the third is here. Kelly Shannon was […]

The post Fatal anomaly exception didn’t spare Alabama mom who needed an abortion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Donald Trump’s view of absolute immunity for actions he took as president would radically change U.S. democracy and give presidents unprecedented power akin to monarchs rather than elected leaders, U.S. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith wrote in a reply brief to the U.S. Supreme Court late Monday. Smith’s 66-page brief, answering Trump’s argument to […]

The post Trump immunity claim a ‘radical’ departure from democracy, special counsel Jack Smith says appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — During a speech in Madison, Wisconsin on Monday, President Joe Biden touted his administration’s efforts to provide student debt relief through several new proposals, such as canceling accrued interest. “While (a) college degree still is a ticket to the middle class, that ticket is becoming much too expensive,” Biden said. “Things are a […]

The post In Wisconsin, Biden underlines plans to help college students with ‘unsustainable debts’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced a shift in his views on abortion laws Monday, releasing a video advocating for state legislatures to make those decisions, not Congress — and was immediately met with strong criticism from an influential anti-abortion group that said it should remain a national debate. “My view is now […]

The post Trump says abortion policy should be left to the states, backing away from national ban appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Veterans John and Kara Grady received a Facebook message last week from a man who was, “looking for a female veteran to be part of our dispensary license.”  Being a veteran is one of the seven categories that makes people eligible to win one of the state’s social-equity marijuana licenses, called “microbusiness licenses.” The other […]

The post State warns social-equity marijuana license applicants of ‘predatory practices’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Farm Bureau would be allowed to sell health insurance plans that skirt certain federal regulations under legislation critics worry could leave consumers without proper protections or adequate coverage. The bill, which has already cleared the Missouri House and is awaiting a committee hearing in the Senate, allows health plans that don’t follow the […]

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday will announce the rollout of a student debt forgiveness proposal that the White House believes is narrowly targeted enough to survive legal challenges. The plan, if finalized, would include a one-time cancellation of all accrued interest for 23 million borrowers. It would also cancel the full amount of […]

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