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The first education debate of the 2022 legislative session featured hours of discussion on Tuesday of a proposed “parents’ bill of rights” — and whether it would give parents more say in the classroom or instead have a chilling effect on how certain subjects are taught.  In a sign of where legislative priorities may fall, […]

The post Missouri education committee puts early focus on parental rights, critical race theory appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Republican leaders in the Missouri Senate took a step Monday night towards healing lingering tension with the chamber’s Democratic minority. But in doing so, they also likely exacerbated the festering intra-party divide that has plagued Senate Republicans for most of the last year.  On a 22-11 vote, all 10 Senate Democrats and 12 of the […]

The post GOP leaders, Democrats agree to make it harder to stop a filibuster in Missouri Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Patrick recalled the horror he felt as a small child integrating a suburban school district. He rode the bus to school early in the school year with an armed law enforcement officer standing near his seat. He often stared at the officer’s holstered gun. Through his window, Patrick saw crowds of angry faces, signs declaring […]

The post Does CRT make white students feel bad? Try being a Black student | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Gov. Mike Parson is in a hurry to get a $5.3 billion spending bill passed by Feb. 1, but exactly when the bill will reach the House floor for debate is uncertain. The House Budget Committee spent about five hours Monday digging through the details of the bill that will fund Medicaid for the remainder […]

The post Timing unclear for $5.3B bill to support Missouri Medicaid expansion, state pay raises appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As lawmakers officially kicked off the process of redrawing the state’s congressional districts on Monday, the continued divide among Republicans over whether to go after Kansas City’s Democratic seat was on display. GOP legislative leadership has proposed a map that preserves the congressional delegation’s current partisan breakdown, with two Democratic seats — centered on Kansas […]

The post Missouri redistricting begins with divide over tilting map more heavily in GOP’s favor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

North Carolina’s voter rolls are like a refrigerator that needs to be cleared periodically of rotting milk and other items past their expiration date, according to Jason Snead, director of the pro-Trump Honest Elections Project. Snead is an elections advocate supporting Republican plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to force the state to more regularly maintain […]

The post Conservative groups target state, local voter registration rolls with multiple lawsuits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Coming off of last year’s success passing a tax credit to fund scholarships to pay for private school tuition, school choice advocates hope lawmakers will expand the program before it’s even gotten off the ground. But even with support from key legislative leaders, the idea faces long odds. Senate Bill 841, sponsored by Sen. Rick […]

The post Lawmakers eye expansion of Missouri school choice program. But can it get the votes? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Amending Missouri’s open records law to permit government agencies to withhold more information from the public — and charge more for any records that are turned over — is among Gov. Mike Parson’s priorities for the 2022 legislative session. The changes, which were outlined in a presentation to Parson’s cabinet that was obtained by The […]

The post Governor looks to target Missouri Sunshine Law during legislative session appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Like it or not, we all are members of a larger family. America. As residents of a community, city and state, we are kin folk. Whether by blood or as neighbors; nearby or afar; friends or strangers; we all are related, by circumstances, in one way or another. So what sane, sensible, rational and caring […]

The post What if we regarded and treated America as our family? | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missourians are scrambling to find coronavirus tests amid surging cases of COVID-19 caused by the omicron variant, and politicians are scrambling to find someone to blame for the shortage. The state is rationing the tests it is buying for residents. No one will be able to order a free at-home test from the state Department […]

The post As Missourians seek COVID tests, politicians seek to lay blame for long lines and shortages appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared unconvinced Friday of the Biden administration’s authority to impose a vaccine-or-test mandate on private businesses, casting doubt on a key piece of the White House COVID-19 response. The justices seemed potentially more comfortable with another Biden administration rule to fight the virus that requires certain health care workers […]

The post Supreme Court appears wary of Biden vaccine-or-test employer mandate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri set pandemic peaks for COVID-19 hospitalizations and daily net new admissions this week. The Department of Health and Senior Services reported there were 2,933 inpatients, a number that grew an average of 91 per day over the previous seven days. The previous peaks were 2,862 inpatients on Dec. 22, 2020, before vaccines were widely […]

The post Missouri COVID hospitalizations set new record as omicron variant spread accelerates appeared first on Missouri Independent.

With Gov. Mike Parson promising state employees a pay raise by Feb. 1 and the state’s Medicaid program likely to run short of money sometime next month, one of the first items on the legislature’s agenda this year is a supplemental $5.3 billion spending bill. The House Budget Committee will meet at 11 a.m. Monday […]

The post Deadlines loom on $5.3B spending bill for Missouri Medicaid, federal COVID aid for schools appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A version of this commentary originally appeared in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. One year ago on this day, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle was at his desk at the Longworth House Office Building, near the U.S. Capitol, when he heard an enraged mob, fueled by a former president’s false claims of fraud, making its way up Independence Avenue. Boyle, a […]

The post The next Jan. 6 should worry us more | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A panel of experts on election security hosted a conversation on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. Their goal was to provide an update on how election security had been updated or improved since the 2020 election. But really, their hope was to not let history repeat itself. The four […]

The post Election experts: Still more to be done on state, federal elections before 2022 midterms appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Kansas City will reinstate a mask mandate for K-12 schools as COVID-19 cases reach record figures driven by the omicron variant. Council members voted 10-2 on Thursday to require that students and staff in school buildings wear masks starting next week and running until Feb. 3. Its previous mask mandate expired late last year.  Mayor Quinton […]

The post Kansas City reinstates mask mandate for K-12 schools amid COVID surge appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday warned of the dangers of a collapse of American democracy, standing in a historic chamber in the U.S. Capitol that was besieged by an angry mob of pro-Trump supporters who attempted to halt the certification of the 2020 presidential election. “We are in the battle for the soul […]

The post Biden in Jan. 6 speech decries ‘web of lies’ created by Trump about 2020 election appeared first on Missouri Independent.

At the west end of the Missouri Capitol on Wednesday, the state House opened the annual legislative session in the traditional way, with routine business and a quick adjournment. At the east end, in the state Senate, bitter divisions exposed last year resurfaced, as members of the conservative caucus aired their grievances and Democrats brooded […]

The post Missouri Senate opens annual session with bitter divisions on display appeared first on Missouri Independent.

St. Louis area hospitals are getting “crushed” by the highest number of COVID patients they’ve seen yet in the pandemic, hospital leaders said in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. And those patients are on track to double in the next couple weeks, according to projections from the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, which […]

The post ‘We’re quite frightened’: Missouri hospitals sound alarm over latest COVID wave appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Evergy will build a 10-megawatt solar farm near its coal-fired power plant in northeast Kansas City, the company announced on Wednesday.  The electric utility serves 1.6 million customers in Kansas and Missouri. Half of the energy produced at the solar farm will go to serve that entire base. The other half will be reserved for […]

The post Evergy announces plan for large solar farm near coal plant in Kansas City appeared first on Missouri Independent.