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With the state budget finally out of the way, Missouri Republicans are ready to turn their attention to a priority they’ve pursued since day one of legislative session: making it harder to amend the state constitution through an initiative petition. Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin told reporters Thursday that Republicans intend to bring the initiative […]

The post Senate braces for showdown over push to make it harder to amend Missouri Constitution appeared first on Missouri Independent.

T’Montez Hurt had just started working at a Price Chopper in Grain Valley to save money after a semester away from Missouri Western State University. Then in the early hours of Feb. 1, the 19-year-old placed an anxious phone call to his grandmother, Tecona Donald-Sullivan, saying he thought he’d been drugged. The day before he’d […]

The post KC police jump-started missing persons unit. Now they need to build trust with Black families appeared first on Missouri Independent.

With passage of a $51.7 billion budget Thursday, the Missouri Senate beat the constitutional deadline by 24 hours after a debate that left Republican leaders exhausted but satisfied. A 41-hour filibuster stalled all work last week – including planned budget debates on a committee-passed spending plan. To make the deadline, Senate Appropriations Chairman Lincoln Hough […]

The post Missouri Senate avoids impasse over budget to make constitutional deadline appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri House Ethics Committee voted unanimously Thursday to dismiss a complaint filed against the Republican lawmaker who led the investigation of Speaker Dean Plocher.  State Rep. Hannah Kelly of Mountain View was appointed to lead the ethics committee by Plocher last year.  But the speaker soured on Kelly as she oversaw the panel’s months-long […]

The post Ethics committee dismisses complaint against lawmaker who investigated Dean Plocher  appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A federal judge ruled Thursday that Missouri’s social services agency violated the law in the way it has administered its food assistance program.  U.S. District Court Judge M. Douglas Harpool ruled that the state’s practices — including long call center wait times and a lack of accommodations for those with disabilities — violate the laws […]

The post Federal court rules Missourians were illegally denied food aid by the state appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Thursday it’s proposing changes to the asylum system that would allow immigration officials to reject asylum seekers who have a criminal record that poses a threat to national security or public safety and quickly remove them. Those changes will occur during the initial screening stages, a senior U.S. Department […]

The post Asylum seekers with criminal records would be more quickly removed under Biden proposal appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s Planned Parenthood clinics say they will continue serving patients on Medicaid, even after Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation Thursday blocking state and federal funds from going to the organization.  The new law, which goes into effect Aug. 28, is the third — and Republicans hope final — attempt to end Medicaid reimbursements to any […]

The post Missouri Planned Parenthood clinics remain ‘open to all’ despite new Medicaid restrictions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Inez Bordeaux had heard horror stories about the St. Louis jail commonly known as the Workhouse — named so for prisoners held there in the 1800s who were forced to labor for their freedom — but it was only once she was sent there herself in 2016 that she realized: “Everything I’ve heard about the […]

The post How do you repurpose a closed jail? Competing visions clash in St. Louis appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans passed a bill Wednesday to add a citizenship question to the census and exclude noncitizens from the official headcount when determining population for representation in Congress and electoral votes. The legislation, which passed on a 206-202 party-line vote, is part of a trend of House GOP bills relating to immigration as the […]

The post U.S. House Republicans pass bill to stop census from counting noncitizens appeared first on Missouri Independent.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has proposed loosening the illegal status of marijuana at the federal level – but that doesn’t mean the federal government now condones recreational or medicinal use in the many states that have legalized the drug. Moving marijuana from the government’s list of the most dangerous and least useful substances to a less […]

The post Still much unknown on how marijuana policies would change in states under Biden plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The most difficult Missouri budget process in years entered the final 48 hours before the constitutional deadline for spending bills with no final agreement on how much the state should spend in the coming year. Missouri House Republicans, who hold an overwhelming majority in the lower chamber, caucused behind closed doors Wednesday afternoon for about […]

The post Key lawmakers say Missouri budget talks close to completion as deadline approaches appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Efforts by a small group of far-right U.S. House Republicans to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from his leadership role failed Wednesday night, ending weeks of infighting about whether the Louisianan should remain the head of that chamber. Republican lawmakers joined by Democrats voted 359-43 to table, or set aside, the so-called motion to vacate that […]

The post U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene fails in attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said at a congressional hearing Wednesday the agency is preparing for the possibility the strain of avian influenza affecting dairy cattle could jump to humans, though he cautioned the probability is low. Robert Califf told senators on the panel in charge of his agency’s funding that […]

The post FDA chief says feds are preparing for low probability of bird flu moving to humans appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson Wednesday unveiled a bill that would require states to verify proof of citizenship to prevent noncitizens from voting in federal elections, something already barred under the law. Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who played a key role through legal challenges in defending the former president’s efforts to overturn the […]

The post U.S. House GOP targets noncitizen voting, even though it’s rare appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has announced he will sign legislation limiting Planned Parenthood’s ability to serve low-income patients at a ceremony in his Capitol office Thursday.  The new law, which will go into effect Aug. 28, will end Medicaid reimbursements to any health centers affiliated with abortion providers. In Missouri, the law would apply to […]

The post Missouri governor to sign bill ending Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood appeared first on Missouri Independent.

James Lemons, 39, wants the bullet removed from his thigh so he can go back to work. Sarai Holguin, a 71-year-old woman originally from Mexico, has accepted the bullet lodged near her knee as her “compa” — a close friend. Mireya Nelson, 15, was hit by a bullet that went through her jaw and broke […]

The post They were shot at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade. They may have bullets in their bodies forever appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A wide-ranging women's health care bill that stalled in the House for months over concerns about expanding coverage for birth control is a step away from the governor's desk.

The post Fate of ‘game changer’ women’s health care bill in hands of Missouri Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation Tuesday that boosts the minimum salary for teachers, changes the formula for funding public schools and expands a tax-credit scholarship for private schools. It also allows charter schools in Boone County and requires a public vote for districts seeking to go to a four-day school week. When fully implemented, […]

The post Missouri governor signs $468M education bill that boosts teacher pay, expands charters appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Meatpacking sludge storage lagoons that have drawn the ire of rural neighbors because of their foul stench would face stricter state regulations under legislation that passed the Missouri Senate Tuesday.  Senators voted 30-1 to require the facilities to obtain water pollution permits, be set back from nearby homes, follow certain design requirements and monitor groundwater […]

The post Missouri bill protecting rural neighbors from meatpacking sludge nears passage appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on Tuesday filed a lawsuit with five other states, including Missouri, against the U.S. Department of Education’s change to Title IX that codifies protections for LGBTQ students. The federal rule, announced in April, protects students and employees from sex-based discrimination, requires schools to offer support for people who make complaints, […]

The post Missouri joins five other states in federal lawsuit over Title IX transgender protections appeared first on Missouri Independent.