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Missouri man sues Louisiana DA over $18,000 fee to access records of son’s death

2 years 1 month ago

A Missouri man investigating his son’s death filed a lawsuit this week against a Louisiana district attorney who’s demanding more than $18,000 for copies of investigation records related to the case. Since his son’s death nearly seven years ago, Bob Arthur has pursued justice with little to no help from police or prosecutors. He has […]

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Greg LaRose

U.S. Senate Republicans insist they won’t bow to Trump demands to quit immigration talks

2 years 1 month ago

WASHINGTON — Top U.S. Senate negotiators said Thursday that final details on an immigration policy deal remain under debate in the U.S. Senate, despite outside pressure from GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump to sink any agreement as he makes immigration his central campaign message. The No. 2 Senate Republican and GOP whip, Sen. John Thune, […]

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Ariana Figueroa

Missouri Senate GOP warfare escalates with suggestion of expelling Freedom Caucus leader

2 years 1 month ago

The factional fights making the Missouri Senate a public spectacle are bad enough that Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin told reporters Thursday that she’d vote to expel the leader of the Freedom Caucus from the chamber. Speaking to the assembled editors and publishers from the Missouri Press Association during their annual visit to the Capitol, […]

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Rudi Keller

U.S. Senate panel examines quality, costs of assisted living centers

2 years 1 month ago

  WASHINGTON — Bipartisan U.S. senators are sounding the alarm on cost, workforce shortages and dangerous incidents at assisted living facilities across the country as the needs of aging Americans areĀ forecastĀ to sharply increase. Sen. Bob Casey, chair of the Senate Committee on Aging, led a hearing Thursday to highlight the panel’s fact finding mission. Unlike […]

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Ashley Murray

Major changes in federal flood insurance program urged by U.S. Senate panel

2 years 1 month ago

  WASHINGTON — Congress has spent more than six years avoiding its responsibility to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program, using a series of stopgap bills to extend the life of the program that has issued nearly 5 million policies. The lackadaisical approach to brokering a five-year reauthorization of the program was one of several […]

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Jennifer Shutt

One of nation’s only aluminum smelters set to close in Missouri Bootheel

2 years 1 month ago

One of the nation’s last primary aluminum smelters, which employs more than 400 workers in the Missouri Bootheel, will reportedly close its doors. The Magnitude 7 Metals plant, in the southeast Missouri town of Marston, announced Wednesday it would curtail operations, according to Industrious Labs, an industry analysis group. In a press release, Industrious Labs […]

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Allison Kite

Missouri Republicans push bill to defund Planned Parenthood after years of legal fights

2 years 1 month ago

After years of court losses and legislative stalemates, Republicans and anti-abortion advocates in Missouri are once again trying to block Planned Parenthood from receiving money through Medicaid. A Senate committee debated legislation Wednesday that would change Missouri law to make Planned Parenthood ineligible to receive reimbursements from MO HealthNet, the state’s Medicaid program. Though the […]

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Anna Spoerre

On to November: Trump win in New Hampshire sets up 2024 rematch with Biden

2 years 1 month ago

WASHINGTON — Leading Republicans — and the Biden presidential campaign — on Wednesday rushed to identify former President Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee after he won decisively in New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary. TrumpĀ bestedĀ Nikki Haley, his former United Nations ambassador, by more than 10 percentage points in a moderate state with an open primary that […]

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Jacob Fischler

Missouri governor’s final State of State touts abortion ban, infrastructure spending

2 years 1 month ago

In his final address to a joint session of the Missouri General Assembly, Gov. Mike Parson on Wednesday pointed to outlawing abortion, increasing infrastructure spending and appointing five statewide office holders as the legacy of his six years in office. ā€œI’ll be leaving here with my head held high,ā€ Parson told lawmakers during his annual […]

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Jason Hancock

Gov. Mike Parson proposes record $52.7 billion Missouri state budget

2 years 1 month ago

Spending from large federal grants and a shrinking but substantial state surplus will propel Missouri to record spending in the coming year if lawmakers adopt the $52.7 billion budget proposal from Gov. Mike Parson. Unlike last year’s budget proposal, which included nearly $900 million from general revenue to improve Interstate 70, Parson has no large […]

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Rudi Keller

Bathroom restrictions for transgender kids added to Missouri ā€˜parents bill of rights’

2 years 1 month ago

Legislation seeking to create a ā€œparents bill of rightsā€ in Missouri was amended in committee Tuesday morning to add prohibitions on transgender students accessing restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. A House hearing on standalone bills that sought to regulate school bathrooms took up the majority of a nearly nine-hour meeting […]

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Annelise Hanshaw

Jay Ashcroft seeks $1.2 million to defend anti-ESG investing rules in federal court

2 years 1 month ago

State lawmakers were informed last week that it will cost taxpayers $1.2 million to defend a rule on investment brokers that Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says is designed to stop “politically motivated” financial advisers who want to “fritter away Missourians’ money.” Ashcroft issued a new rule in July targeting environmental, social and governance, or […]

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Rudi Keller

Missouri ā€˜Freedom Caucus’ leaders ousted from Senate chairmanships over stall tactics

2 years 1 month ago

The Republican civil war in the Missouri Senate reached a new crescendo of strife Tuesday, when Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden stripped four members of their committee chairs and declared he was acting against ā€œa small group of swamp creatures.ā€ The action toward members of the newly formed Freedom Caucus took away traditional prerogatives […]

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Rudi Keller

GOP renews push to make it harder to amend Missouri constitution by initiative petition

2 years 1 month ago

Republican lawmakers’ latest attempt to change Missouri’s century-old initiative petition process was met with widespread opposition Tuesday.Ā  Hanging over the proceedings, though hardly discussed on Tuesday, were a pair of initiative petition campaigns seeking to put an amendment on the statewide ballot rolling back Missouri near-total ban on abortion.Ā  One of the campaigns has already […]

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Anna Spoerre

Funding seen as a last hurdle to final U.S. Senate immigration deal

2 years 1 month ago

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan agreement that would make the most substantial changes to immigration policy in 30 years hinges on funding disputes, key senators said Tuesday. While senators have not finalized the text of the agreement, they are discussing changes to the White House’s use of parole authority to grant temporary protections to migrants by […]

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Ariana Figueroa

Jay Ashcroft accuses Missouri auditor of political attack over criticism in new report

2 years 1 month ago

An audit accusing his office of illegally withholding information and failing to document withdrawal from a national elections clearinghouse is a ā€œdeep stateā€ political attack, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft told reporters Tuesday. Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, who like Ashcroft is a Republican, responded to the accusations Tuesday afternoon, saying those who are the […]

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Rudi Keller

ā€˜Perfect storm’: Missouri advocates decry Medicaid application delays, coverage losses

2 years 1 month ago

Hannah Kaplanis applied to Missouri’s Medicaid program nearly two months ago, but hasn’t received any response from the state. Just shy of 18 weeks pregnant, she’s in need of prenatal care and growing increasingly hopeless. Aside from a free ultrasound in November, she hasn’t been able to access any care. She called Missouri’s Medicaid helpline […]

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Clara Bates

Federal audit: More information on foreign-owned agriculture land needed

2 years 1 month ago

Federal records on foreign-owned agricultural land include errors, lack details on subsidiaries and secondary owners, and are not provided to other government agencies in a timely manner, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in a recent audit. Foreign companies are required to disclose land purchases or leases to the United States Department of Agriculture as […]

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Ben Felder

My best advice to voters in 2024: Focus on policy and the stakes, not the political circus

2 years 1 month ago

Politicians are public servants. That’s it. That is their job description. And every election cycle is a wonderful opportunity for voters to remind elected officials who really has power and who they really work for. It’s our opportunity to hold them accountable. Our government ā€œof the people, by the people, for the peopleā€ — in […]

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David DeWitt

Critics say public universities are spending too much outside the classroom

2 years 1 month ago

Spending on administrative expenses at U.S. public universities has outpaced spending on academic roles in recent years, leading some students and alumni to question how wisely schools are allocating student tuition money and scarce state dollars. A conservative-leaning group that tracks higher education dollars found that administrative spending — whichĀ it defines as including such things […]

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Elaine Povich