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WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans tussled with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Democratic committee members over work requirements in federal nutrition programs as well as spending levels for those programs at a Tuesday hearing. Republican members of the House Agriculture Committee charged Vilsack with evading bipartisan oversight in the USDA’s 2021 redesign of the Thrifty Food […]

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As a pandemic policy expires and Missouri begins rechecking eligibility of around 1.6 million people on Medicaid, social services department leadership pledged Tuesday to make the process “as seamless as possible for as many people as we can.” Over the last three years, states have stopped reverifying whether Medicaid recipients on their rolls are still […]

The post Missouri to begin Medicaid renewals, vowing as ‘seamless’ a process as possible appeared first on Missouri Independent.

BRIDGETON — Radioactive waste in the West Lake Landfill is more widespread than previously thought, officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday. The finding is based on two years of testing at the St. Louis County site, which has held thousands of tons of radioactive waste for decades. An underground “fire” in another […]

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WASHINGTON — Election officials on Tuesday detailed to the U.S. Senate Rules Committee how their states countered threats to election workers and worked to combat misinformation and disinformation during the 2022 midterm election. With the 2024 presidential election closely approaching, Senate Rules Committee Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was concerned about threats to election […]

The post State election officials at U.S. Senate hearing discuss threats to workers, call for funding appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Advocates for increasing rates for home care workers fell just two votes short of adding $308 million to the Missouri budget on Tuesday as more than two dozen Republicans joined Democrats on a proposal intended to help dire staffing needs of local agencies. The amendment from Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Manchester, would have increased rates for […]

The post Missouri House defeats effort to boost pay for home health aides for people with disabilities appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Financial regulators promised a full review of Silicon Valley Bank’s massive failure as members of a key U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday interrogated the officials about what led to the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history. Members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs asked if the Federal Reserve could […]

The post Members of U.S. Senate panel press financial regulators on massive bank failures appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday debated if enough has changed to prevent a repeat of the infant formula shortage, more than a year after a nationwide crisis began. The U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services heard from two experts that while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration […]

The post Infant formula crisis could recur, former FDA official tells Congress appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by the Kansas City Beacon.  Nearly one month has passed since the opening of the new terminal at Kansas City International Airport, and visitors still seem dazzled as they browse in shops and admire the art in the airy shopping nodes, with the aromas of barbecue and Brazilian dishes drifting […]

The post One month into the new airport terminal, Kansas City has questions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The State of Missouri is responsible for educating our children. To educate Missouri’s kids, the state created a system that allows citizens to form school districts through an election process, each of which is governed by a locally elected board.  This system is designed to honor our history of ensuring that control of public schools […]

The post It’s time for Missouri lawmakers to respect local control of public schools appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by Investigate Midwest. Amid rising concerns over potentially deadly flea and tick collars, the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to transfer regulation of such products to another agency drew skepticism from animal and environmental advocates at a virtual public meeting last week. The proposal and meeting came two years after a USA TODAY/Investigate Midwest story revealed the […]

The post EPA plan to transfer Seresto and other pet pesticides to FDA draws concern from advocates appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Natalie Bell was thinking about a career in art after college when a welding class and a delivery of four pizzas changed her career trajectory. “I was taking a delivery out to a construction site and I met an ironworker who I was taking the delivery to,” said Bell, who lives in Columbus, Ohio. “I […]

The post Help wanted: Women needed for U.S. chips manufacturing plan to succeed appeared first on Missouri Independent.

High employee turnover has plagued Missouri’s Department of Social Services for years. The department’s staffing woes have contributed to a range of problems — from foster children languishing in state care for longer than they should be to disabled residents waiting months to receive federal food benefits to investigators unable to keep up with child […]

The post Diversity initiatives within Missouri agencies run into GOP attack on ‘woke’ government appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When I moved from open country to the lush Missouri landscape, I quickly became aware of the many species of birds living in the tangle of green behind my home.  Pulled into the ebb and flow of their presence and their migrations, I became fascinated by the instinct that drives them, the adaptation processes of […]

The post Protecting migratory birds in Missouri can be as easy as flipping a switch appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A roundtable of Native American agricultural leaders at a recent U.S. Senate hearing lobbied for increased sovereignty and social justice in the coming farm bill by expanding tribes’ jurisdiction over U.S. Department of Agriculture programs. It’s called “638” authority and refers to Public Law 93-638, which gives tribes the power to manage certain federal […]

The post Native American agricultural leaders detail farm bill priorities at U.S. Senate hearing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by the Kansas City Beacon.  In a vote watched closely in Kansas City, Missourians approved a statewide ballot measure in 2012 to return control of the St. Louis Police Department to the city itself. Just over a decade later, the Missouri legislature is debating multiple pieces of legislation to reverse […]

The post What state control could mean for the St. Louis Police Department appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Thursday continued to press accusations that a “woke agenda” is deteriorating parents’ rights in their local school districts. The first hearing this Congress of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government convened to examine whether a 2021 Department of Justice memo played a role in […]

The post DOJ memo on threats to local school boards lambasted by Republicans at U.S. House hearing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A U.S. House panel grilled TikTok’s CEO for more than five hours Thursday over the social media giant’s ties to China, and indicated there may be bipartisan consensus for a national ban on the platform. Members of both parties showed an unusual level of agreement during tough questioning of TikTok CEO Shou Chew. Several members […]

The post Members of Congress blast TikTok CEO as bipartisan support for U.S. ban looks possible appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Republican lawmakers rejected an effort Thursday evening to spend $900 million to assist hundreds of Missourians with developmental disabilities who lack proper residential support, including dozens languishing in hospitals, jails and homeless shelters. State Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Manchester, asked the House Budget Committee for $910 million, all from federal tax dollars, to push base pay […]

The post Push to spend $900M to help Missourians with developmental disabilities voted down appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A bill that would stop physicians from providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors who have not already begun treatment passed Missouri’s Senate Thursday in a party-line vote. The legislation originally sought to ban all gender-affirming care, but after negotiations was amended to allow transgender youth to continue their treatment if they started before Aug. 28, […]

The post Missouri Senate advances bill banning transgender care for minors appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Congress’ Joint Economic Committee released a report Thursday detailing the economic repercussions of defaulting on the nation’s debt, adding fuel to the fire as Democrats pressed Republicans to address the nation’s borrowing limit without tying action to spending cuts. The report, from Democratic staff on the bipartisan Joint Economic Committee, says that a […]

The post Democratic report on U.S. debt default predicts disrupted benefits for seniors, veterans appeared first on Missouri Independent.