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Weeks after his return from a conference in Hawaii, Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher was trying to convince legislative staff to reimburse him for the cost of his trip.  He’d filed an expense report that included $1,199.60 for a plane ticket to represent Missouri at the 2023 Uniform Law Commission conference, but he was informed […]

The post Records show Dean Plocher charged the state for travel already paid for by his campaign appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON –– The eight Republican candidates to be speaker of the U.S. House were set to make their cases to their colleagues Monday evening, as the House Republican Conference restarted its process to choose a candidate. Nine had filed on Sunday to run for speaker but on Monday night Pennsylvania Rep. Dan Meuser dropped out, […]

The post Eight Republicans are running for U.S. House speaker. Here’s your guide to the field appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Across the roughly 1,300 square miles of the White Earth Indian Reservation in northwest Minnesota, tribal members harvest wild rice in waters that have sustained them for generations. They’ve been working for decades to restore sturgeon, a culturally important fish, and they harvest minnows and leeches to supply bait for anglers across the country. But […]

The post Native lands lack clean water protections, but more tribes are taking charge appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A 60-mile pedestrian and cycling trail in Arkansas, an electric street sweeper in Oregon and truck parking facilities in Florida don’t appear to have much in common — let alone any similarity with a conversion of California highways to toll roads or a roundabout in Michigan. But all of the projects will be paid for […]

The post Big federal dollars for small state projects aim to get more cars off the roads appeared first on Missouri Independent.

More than a dozen states now have near-total abortion bans following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, with limited medical exceptions meant to protect the patient’s health or life. But among those states, only Alabama explicitly includes “serious mental illness” as an allowable exception. Meanwhile, 10 states with near-total abortion bans (Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia […]

The post Medical exceptions to abortion bans often exclude mental health conditions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and Democrat Lucas Kunce have something big in common – their campaigns are heavily dependent on money from outside Missouri. Hawley, an Republican incumbent seeking his second term, and Kunce, who narrowly lost the 2022 Democratic primary for Senate, are the best-funded candidates in the race according to campaign finance reports […]

The post Hawley, Kunce draw heavily on donors outside Missouri to fuel U.S. Senate campaigns appeared first on Missouri Independent.

It takes concentration not to see certain realities — the mother holding the handwritten sign at the traffic light; the man sleeping under a bridge; the tent cities on public right of ways. But we make the effort. In downtown Kansas City, developers plan an entertainment district with a Ferris wheel centerpiece. There’s also talk […]

The post Our ‘thing-oriented’ society puts development ahead of human needs. We all suffer the consequences appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Biden administration asked Congress on Friday to approve nearly $106 billion in new funding for military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Israel and other countries and to improve security on the U.S.-Mexico border. The funding request includes $92.2 billion for national security, including $61.4 billion for Ukraine and $14.3 billion for Israel. The administration […]

The post Israel, Ukraine, global aid and border funding would hit $106 billion under Biden request appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Ohio Republican Jim Jordan is no longer the Republican nominee for speaker of the U.S. House. Shortly after a failed floor vote Friday on Jordan’s bid, Republicans held a closed-door meeting where Jordan failed to garner enough votes from his fellow GOP lawmakers to stay in the race as their nominee. “I told […]

The post Jim Jordan’s bid to be U.S. House speaker ends after rejection by GOP in closed meeting appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has completed work on ballot summaries for six proposed amendments to Missouri’s constitution, writing that the petitions would either “allow no excuse abortions” for up to 12 weeks or “nullify Missouri laws protecting the right to life.” And Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued that if any of the amendments were […]

The post Ashcroft says initiatives seek to ‘nullify Missouri laws protecting the right to life’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Until eighth grade, Carter Bremer went to school on a standard five-day schedule. After moving to Harrisburg, he stopped going to class on Mondays. Now a senior at Harrisburg High School, Carter has spent just four days a week in school for the past five years, giving him more time to spend on sports, a […]

The post More school districts in Missouri are switching to a four-day week appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Nebraska GOP Rep. Don Bacon said his wife slept with a gun for protection after she received threatening phone calls demanding that her husband support Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid for U.S. House speaker. Bacon was among a handful of members who reported threats and the targeting of family members after opposing the […]

The post Members of U.S. House GOP describe threats sparked by votes against Jim Jordan for speaker appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A resolution meant to temporarily allow U.S. House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry of North Carolina to move critical legislation won’t be acted on and there is no new floor vote scheduled for speaker nominee Jim Jordan, House Republicans said following a tense, closed-door meeting on Thursday. “We made the pitch to members […]

The post U.S. House gripped by paralysis again after GOP punts proposal for speaker pro tem appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Over the summer, Attorney General Andrew Bailey joined in the effort to try to convince a federal court to move a lead-poisoning lawsuit against a St. Louis company out of Missouri.  The litigation in question was filed by thousands of people from Peru suing Doe Run Resources Corp. over alleged injuries caused by its lead […]

The post Donation to Missouri AG riles plaintiffs in lead-poisoning suit against St. Louis company appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The effects of immigration and crime on national parks took center stage Wednesday during a U.S. House hearing led by Republicans. Members of the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations discussed trash accumulation, the destruction of wildlife habitats and the illegal marijuana growing operations tied to cartels as environmental consequences […]

The post U.S. House panel explores impact of immigration, crime on national parks appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Read more Stateline coverage of how communities across the country are trying to create more affordable housing. An unprecedented surge in the nationwide construction of new housing — mostly apartments — may finally be making a dent in fast-rising rents that have been making life harder for tenants. More than 1.65 million housing units were under […]

The post A historic housing construction boom may finally moderate rent hikes appeared first on Missouri Independent.

There is a new member of the legal team defending the ballot language Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wrote for proposed initiatives that would add abortion rights to the Missouri Constitution – Ashcroft himself. Ashcroft, who was an engineer by trade until earning his law degree in 2008, rarely appeared in court on behalf of […]

The post Jay Ashcroft joins legal team defending his summary of Missouri abortion amendment appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Two St. Louis-area school districts will return to full local governance after years of state education officials overseeing their boards. The Missouri State Board of Education decided Tuesday that Riverview Gardens School District and Normandy Schools Collaborative had shown enough progress to return to traditional school-board elections. The state currently has appointed board members at […]

The post Missouri education board returns St. Louis-area school districts to local control appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden assured Israel that the U.S. will replenish defense stockpiles and also announced new humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza during his historic visit Wednesday to the war-torn region where thousands have died in just a dozen days, including 31 Americans. Biden plans to ask Congress later this week for an […]

The post Biden in Tel Aviv pledges U.S. support for Israel, humanitarian aid for Gaza appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan in his second bid for U.S. House speaker on Wednesday failed to win enough support from his fellow Republicans, leaving the party deadlocked with no clear path to govern the chamber. Jordan’s 200 votes on a first ballot on Tuesday dropped Wednesday to 199, a signal from centrist Republicans […]

The post U.S. House stalled again after rejecting Jim Jordan as speaker a second time appeared first on Missouri Independent.