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Differences over a new map for Missouri’s eight congressional districts have narrowed to how to design three districts in the St. Louis area, Republican leaders of the Missouri Senate said Thursday. During a news conference that capped a week of continuing rancor in GOP ranks, Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz and Majority Leader Caleb […]

The post Missouri congressional redistricting battle shifts focus to bolstering GOP seat in St. Louis area appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer formally announced his retirement Thursday, giving President Joe Biden his first, and possibly only, opportunity to make a nomination for the lifetime appointment. At the White House, Biden said he will make his decision by the end of February and recommitted to nominating the court’s first Black female […]

The post Biden vows to nominate first Black woman to Supreme Court by end of February appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A pair of Missouri counties is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn a 2019 law that stripped them of their ability to set their own rules for concentrated animal feeding operations.   Under the law, county commissioners are prohibited from setting policies that are “inconsistent with or more stringent than” state rules for CAFOs. The […]

The post Counties ask Missouri Supreme Court to strike down law restricting local CAFO rules appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s initiative petition system has been in place for 115 years. It allows citizens to put an issue on the ballot for a statewide vote. This critical tool, used through the years by citizens from all political persuasions is now under attack by lawmakers who want to curtail the people’s power. Thirty years ago, when […]

The post The initiative petition is a Missouri treasure | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In a rare move, a Missouri commission granted a medical marijuana license to an applicant after discovering irregularities with how state regulators evaluated applications. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) decided to forgo appealing the ruling, announcing Tuesday that it had reached a settlement with the jilted applicant to end the litigation.   […]

The post Reversing state’s decision, Missouri panel awards marijuana license to jilted applicant appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This column is prompted by a question from a long-time statehouse observer as to why Missouri’s legislature has become so divided. My answer involved the number of changes in the statehouse over the decades. A major cause has been the deep and growing ideological divide for the public and elected public officials. Years ago, a […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: The profound change in Missouri’s legislature appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A new Congressional map won the approval of a Missouri Senate committee on Tuesday, setting the stage for a debate that promises to be among the most contentious of the 2022 legislative session. After two hours of public testimony, a pair of Democrats joined with seven Republicans Tuesday to advance a map that keeps the […]

The post Senate committee advances ‘6-2’ Missouri Congressional map appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News. ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Jamie Smith, a staffing agency nurse who loves end-of-life care, said she has been warmly welcomed by staffers and residents at Frontier Health & Rehabilitation in this conservative St. Louis suburb. That’s even though she has not been vaccinated against covid-19. But […]

The post With a vaccine mandate looming, Missouri nursing homes face more staffing problems appeared first on Missouri Independent.

On Friday, I had to work from home because my son’s school district canceled classes due to a COVID-related staff shortage. While working between interruptions from him, I saw the news that Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued our school district — and nearly three dozen others — for having the audacity to reimplement a […]

The post Eric Schmitt fails a moral test on school masks | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri state employees counting on seeing a big raise in their February paychecks may be disappointed, as lawmakers fiddle with a $5.4 billion spending bill pushed by Gov. Mike Parson. When the Republican governor in December proposed a 5.5 percent pay raise for all state workers, he said he wanted it in effect by Feb. […]

The post Parson pay raise plan in limbo as $5.4 billion spending bill awaits vote appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by the Kansas City Beacon. A wide expanse of plastic netting sits partially buried by dirt and vegetation in Parkville’s Platte Landing Park. Intended as the base of an ongoing wetlands restoration project, the netting has instead become an expensive — and dangerous — nuisance. The City of Parkville in […]

The post Dry ground and unmet promises: Platte County wetlands project is dead in the water appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The push to legalize recreational marijuana use in Missouri is coming from multiple directions, with a handful of proposed initiative petitions and at least one bill, and potentially more, backed by Republican lawmakers.  Each hopes to place the issue on the 2022 ballot for voter approval. And each proposal also includes a provision that, while […]

The post As Missouri looks to legalize recreational marijuana, expungement gets renewed attention appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Critical Race Theory. Uncritical Race Theory. Factual Race Theory. Call it what you will. But as the saying goes, “A rose called by any other name is still a rose.” Racism called by any other name is still racism. So, let’s step away from the naming, and name calling, and try to find some common […]

The post No matter what we call it, let’s find common understanding about race and racism | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators is exploring legislation to overhaul how Congress counts Electoral College votes, but backers of stalled voting rights legislation are lukewarm on the effort as a substitute. The Electoral Count Act is an obscure law that has come under recent scrutiny, a year after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol […]

The post With voting rights stalled, some senators mull an update to the Electoral Count Act appeared first on Missouri Independent.

St. Louis hospitals straining to keep up with a record-breaking number of COVID-19 cases will get some relief in the form of a military medical team. A 40-member team will begin arriving at BJC-Christian Hospital in North St. Louis County on Wednesday, a news release from BJC HealthCare stated. The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task […]

The post Military medical team heads to St. Louis to support COVID care at Christian Hospital appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Many of us heard of the passing of Sarah Weddington, the fearless attorney who represented Jane Roe in the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case 49  years ago this month. As I reflect on her accomplishment, I’m met with deep frustration, fear, and hope for what this day represents. Frustration that nearly five decades […]

The post ‘Roe’ never guaranteed abortion access. It’s time to build something better | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

University of Missouri Health Care will require nurses who don’t usually care directly for patients to take four 12-hour hospital shifts during the next two weeks as it struggles under a record COVID-19 caseload. Notice went out Jan. 14 for “licensed nurses and other licensed health care professionals at the School of Medicine currently working […]

The post Crush of COVID cases force Missouri hospitals to scramble for staffing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Tracie Engelmeyer was among hundreds of bus drivers who were furloughed in St. Louis County in March 2020 because of the pandemic. School-district authorities told them that even though drivers are contracted labor, they would qualify for unemployment benefits and urged them to apply. Engelmeyer recalled the conversation she had with a school district representative […]

The post Missouri Senate hears bipartisan push to forgive mistakenly overpaid unemployment benefits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Cole County judge heard arguments Thursday over whether Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wrote a misleading ballot summary for an initiative petition seeking to prohibit public tax dollars from going to private schools. The lawsuit was filed by Sherri Talbott, the treasurer of the political action committee Taxpayers for Accountability and a school board […]

The post Missouri judge asked to toss Ashcroft summary of education funding initiative petition appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As the Missouri House finalized its version of a new Congressional map Wednesday, a panel of 20 Republicans and Democrats agreed on a new map for the chamber’s 163 seats. The House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission voted unanimously to approve the plan, which needed support from 14 members to pass before Sunday’s deadline. The successful […]

The post Bipartisan commission approves new Missouri House districts appeared first on Missouri Independent.