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WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement and cybersecurity officials are warning the nation’s state election administrators that they face serious threats ahead of November’s presidential election. Secretaries of state and state election directors must be ready for potential cyberattacks, both familiar and uncomfortably new, according to the feds. And they must remain vigilant about possible threats […]

The post Feds deliver stark warnings to state election officials ahead of November appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In the months before the Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia was forced to stop providing abortions in 2018, Emily Wales spent long nights calling patients to make back-up plans.  The clinic’s license was in jeopardy as it faced a court battle over hospital admitting privileges. Wales was among the staff calling women across Missouri as […]

The post ‘Uncharted territory’: How would abortion-rights amendment impact Missouri TRAP laws? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Hundreds of pages of recently released documents provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Services affirm what the overwhelming majority of the public has known for decades: Marijuana is therapeutically useful. And its harms are not on par with those of heroin — which federal regulations currently consider it akin to — or even alcohol. […]

The post Will the DEA finally abandon its ‘flat earth’ cannabis policy? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For starters, experts suggest, get the kids back into school. Routines matter in the raw aftermath of trauma. Child health experts say the shooting that killed a mother and wounded several children at the close of Kansas City’s celebration of the Chiefs’ latest championship likely left kids traumatized. Whether they were near Union Station or, […]

The post How to help kids traumatized by Kansas City Super Bowl parade mass shooting appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Age should not preclude either Joe Biden or Donald Trump from serving another four years as president, a group of aging experts said Thursday at a webinar organized by the American Federation for Aging Research. If Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, are the candidates on Election Day, as appears likely right now, they would break […]

The post Worried Biden and Trump are too old to be president? Calm down, experts on aging say appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s days fighting criminal charges in two courts could be arriving soon. Special Counsel Jack Smith urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday not to pause federal election interference proceedings and a New York state judge on Thursday set a late March trial date on charges related to hush money […]

The post Trump’s calendar becoming crowded as legal battles escalate in New York, D.C. appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel told lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday that his agency is “poised to move quickly” on a bipartisan tax bill that would temporarily expand the child tax credit and revive several corporate tax breaks. But, he cautioned, taxpayers should not wait to file. The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act […]

The post Expanded child tax credit could be in place quickly if passed by Congress, IRS chief says appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The case of Christopher Dunn, who has spent over three decades in prison for a murder he consistently claims he did not commit, starkly highlights a critical deficiency in our justice system. Despite persuasive evidence, including alibi witnesses and recanted trial testimonies, Dunn remains behind bars. The core issue stems from a 2016 Missouri Supreme […]

The post The unfinished journey of Missouri’s wrongfully convicted appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Before state Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern left home Wednesday for the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory celebration, she took a marker and wrote her husband’s telephone number on her sons’ arms. A former high school teacher, Nurrenbern said in an interview with The Independent, it was a precaution she learned during active shooter drills. “We’re […]

The post After Kansas City mass shooting, Missouri Democrats demand stricter gun laws appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcies in the United States, and more than 2 in 5 American adults have some. In many cases, the money people owe to health care providers forces them to cut spending on food or utilities, forgo other medical care or take on even more debt. Medical debt can […]

The post Governments can erase your medical debt for pennies on the dollar — and some are appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate is expected to head to trial later this month after House Republicans impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Tuesday in a historic move against a sitting Cabinet member. A special core set of impeachment rules that were last revised in the 1980s requires the body to consider resolutions containing impeachment […]

The post What happens next in the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Biden administration will send close to $1 billion to airports across the country to upgrade terminal facilities, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Thursday. The $970 million in grants will go to 144 airports in 44 states and three territories. Earmarked for terminal improvements, Buttigieg and other administration officials said the grants would fund projects to improve […]

The post Biden administration picks airports for nearly $1 billion in terminal upgrades appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The first contract for reconstruction of Interstate 70, for a 20-mile stretch from Columbia to Kingdom City, was awarded Wednesday by the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. The $405 million contract is part of a planned $2.8 billion project that will add a lane of traffic in both directions from Wentzville in St. Charles County […]

The post First contract for widening I-70 approved by Missouri highways commission appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missourians in need of help accessing public benefits saw wait times for the state’s long-overloaded call center increase in the final months of 2023. The average hold time for the state phone line dealing with food assistance interviews reached 1 hour and 12 minutes in December, more than double what they had been in August, […]

The post Records show rising call center wait times for Missouri Medicaid, food assistance appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Senate Democrats are blocking a vote on setting a higher threshold for passing constitutional amendments, filibustering a bill they see as a pure Republican power grab. For more than five hours Monday and again for almost six hours on Tuesday, Democrats held the floor to discuss their objections to a proposal to require constitutional […]

The post Missouri Senate Democrats stall GOP push to change initiative petition process appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Legislation backed by Missouri agriculture groups could slash the state’s clean water enforcement, jeopardizing millions of dollars in grants and raising the specter of a federal takeover.  A Missouri House committee Monday night considered legislation that would remove “nonpoint sources” from the definition of contamination source in the state’s water laws, which critics say would […]

The post Missouri House bill would jeopardize millions in funding to fight water pollution appeared first on Missouri Independent.

An O’Fallon man who used artificial intelligence to generate almost two dozen fake citations in a legal brief must pay $10,000 in sanctions for wasting the time of his courtroom opponents, the Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. In a case that originated in St. Charles County, Jonathan Karlen was appealing a decision […]

The post Missouri appeals court fines litigant after finding fake, AI-generated cases cited in filings appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly early Tuesday to approve a $95 billion emergency spending package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The measure now goes to the U.S. House, where Speaker Mike Johnson hasn’t committed to putting the bill on the floor for debate and votes amid opposition to the military and humanitarian assistance […]

The post U.S. Senate sends to the House a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Ahmad Haynes and a handful of employees at BeLeaf Medical’s Sinse Cannabis site in St. Louis anxiously waited for the clock to hit 5 p.m. He and his co-workers had gathered outside the St. Louis Public Library’s Barr branch, where they had cast their votes to unionize earlier that afternoon on Feb. 6. The election […]

The post Company continues to argue Missouri cannabis workers can’t unionize appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers have heard hours of heated testimony at two hearings in the last week over bills aiming to regulate intoxicating hemp products that get people high the same as marijuana. Currently there’s no state or federal law saying teenagers or children can’t buy products, such as delta-8 drinks, or that stores can’t sell them […]

The post Push for restrictions on intoxicating hemp products spurs clash over who should regulate appeared first on Missouri Independent.