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For the second year in a row, a Missouri House committee debated GOP-backed legislation that would face the same limits on drag performances as govern “sexually oriented businesses.” The bill, sponsored by Bethany Republican Rep. Mazzie Christensen, would also create penalties for engaging in an adult cabaret performance in a location where it could be […]

The post Restrictions on drag performances debated by Missouri House committee appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jack Maritz was working at Delta Extraction, a marijuana manufacturing facility in Robertsville, in February 2023 when the company’s regular state compliance officer stopped by unannounced.  The officer, Heather Bilyeu, wanted to make sure Delta had “accurate counts” in the state’s tracking database of how much THC distillate, or concentrated THC oil, they had in […]

The post Three-day hearing reveals behind-the-scenes details of Missouri marijuana recall appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Our government deceived us.  We were both handpicked by city leaders to join a civilian jail oversight board after chaos ensued at St. Louis’ jail.  Chaos is too vague. Let’s be clear. Hell has broken loose. People are dying in cells right across from St. Louis City Hall. City leaders respond with negligence, indifference and […]

The post We left the St. Louis mayor’s jail board, but not the fight for the oppressed  appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Speaker Dean Plocher’s attorney sought to attend a closed-door hearing of the Missouri House Ethics Committee on Wednesday night, arguing he should be allowed to stay in order to listen to the panel review a report detailing the investigation of his client.  Lowell Pearson, a veteran Republican attorney, was informed by the committee’s chair — […]

The post Ethics chair decries ‘theatrics’ after Dean Plocher’s lawyer seeks to attend closed meeting appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House lawmakers cast a broadly bipartisan vote Wednesday to approve a six-bill government funding package, marking one of the few consequential votes on major legislation that chamber has taken since Republicans took the majority more than a year ago. The $468 billion package includes half of the annual spending bills for the […]

The post U.S. House passes $468 billion spending package that would stave off shutdown appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A bill to protect politicians from “deepfake” images and recordings received broad bipartisan support Wednesday in the Missouri House. State Rep. Ben Baker’s bill would prohibit the distribution of digitally created or manipulated messages that “create a realistic but false image” without labeling it as being created using artificial intelligence. The penalty would be up […]

The post Missouri House gives initial approval to bill banning political deepfakes appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Despite facing 91 felony counts, hefty civil penalties and a packed 2024 legal calendar, Donald Trump emerged on Super Tuesday as the Republican Party’s presumptive choice as its presidential candidate in November. The former president has secured 995 of the necessary 1,215 GOP delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination, and likely will […]

The post Trump, Biden close in on clinching nominations after broad Super Tuesday victories appeared first on Missouri Independent.

More than 30% of workers at a Troy-based Toyota manufacturing plant have signed union cards, prompting them to go public with their campaign on Wednesday to join the United Auto Workers union. Troy is the first Toyota plant nationally where workers have gone public with a union drive — and the latest in a string […]

The post Troy-based Toyota plant workers launch campaign to unionize appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s leading agriculture groups are pushing legislation environmentalists and state regulators warn could jeopardize thousands of miles of streams and drinking water for 3.6 million people. Members of a Missouri Senate committee on Tuesday heard testimony on a bill that would narrow the definition of “waters of the state,” slashing the state’s authority over small […]

The post Missouri bill would slash state regulations over small streams and major aquifers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri legislature is looking at setting minimum training standards for coroners following allegations that the Cape Girardeau County coroner stole money at death scenes and botched numerous death investigations. Wavis Jordan, elected coroner of Cape Girardeau County in 2020, is scheduled to be in court on Friday for arraignment on a misdemeanor stealing charge […]

The post Lawmakers consider bill to raise training standards for Missouri coroners appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON —  Top White House economic officials said Tuesday that President Joe Biden will announce how his administration is tackling economic issues — from the housing crisis to restoring the expansion of the child tax credit — during this week’s State of the Union address to Congress and the nation. “Providing more breathing room to […]

The post Biden to push for return of expanded child tax credit in State of the Union speech appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lawmakers must change a “broken process that unfairly hurts Missourians” to keep a landfill from moving into south Kansas City without residents’ input, state Rep. Mike Haffner told his colleagues Tuesday. Speaking on the floor of the Missouri House, Haffner argued that a landfill proposed for a site at Kansas City’s southern border would devastate […]

The post Bill targeting controversial Kansas City landfill clears initial Missouri House vote appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A St. Louis County attorney challenging Missouri House rules hiding the names of constituents who communicate with lawmakers lost an appeal Tuesday — but not for the same reason he lost the case at the trial level. As a result, the House can continue to use its rules to limit disclosures despite a 2018 constitutional […]

The post Appeals court tosses suit challenging Missouri House rule hiding constituent information appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Congress is on track to approve a staggering $468 billion in government spending this week, finishing part of the work it was supposed to complete by Oct. 1 — including a big boost intended to shore up the federal WIC nutrition program for women, infants and children. Other agencies will see cuts, including […]

The post Five months late, Congress is poised to pass a huge chunk of federal spending appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The proposed extension of Jackson County’s sales tax won’t be enough to pay for a new downtown Kansas City Royals stadium. So the team is in conversation with city officials and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to fill a $700 million funding gap with taxpayer dollars from Kansas City and the state. On April 2, Jackson […]

The post If voters OK taxes for a ballpark, Royals will ask city and state for up to $700M more appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Federal officials are investigating whether residents of a small subdivision in the St. Louis suburbs are living on top of contamination dating back to World War II after finding radioactive material in their backyards. The Cades Cove subdivision, a small enclave in Florissant, was built on top of where Coldwater Creek once meandered. The creek, […]

The post Florissant homes built on Coldwater Creek may sit on radioactive contamination appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Leaders of a bipartisan Missouri House committee investigating Speaker Dean Plocher over allegations of misconduct said Monday that there is no timetable for when the inquiry will conclude.  State Rep. Hannah Kelly, a Republican from Mountain Grove and chair of the House Ethics Committee, spoke to reporters following a roughly three-hour closed-door meeting of the […]

The post ‘Due process takes time’: No timetable for completion of Dean Plocher ethics investigation appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jason Sparks is an Oklahoma man who almost single-handedly created the distillate that led to Missouri regulators’ decision to pull more than 60,000 marijuana products off the shelves in August and revoke the license of Robertsville-based Delta Extraction. Now, he’s the star witness in a hearing scheduled to begin Monday morning, where Delta will try […]

The post Hearing on recall of 60,000 Missouri marijuana products set to begin appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson drew condemnation from across the political spectrum over the weekend after he reduced the sentence of former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid for a drunken driving crash that permanently injured a 5-year-old girl. Reid, the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, was drunk in February 2021 when he […]

The post Gov. Mike Parson faces bipartisan scorn for reducing DWI sentence of ex-Chiefs coach appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Kansas City’s downtown took on a campus-like feel in early February as 8,000 visitors congregated at the downtown convention center and fanned out to nearby bars, coffee shops and tourist sites. The guests included students, immigrants, people of color and people who identified as LGBTQ, in town for the annual conference of the Association of […]

The post Apologizing for Missouri’s legislature is routine in Kansas City appeared first on Missouri Independent.