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  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 are forecast 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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  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 […]

The post Major changes in federal flood insurance program urged by U.S. Senate panel appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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 […]

The post One of nation’s only aluminum smelters set to close in Missouri Bootheel appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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 […]

The post Missouri Republicans push bill to defund Planned Parenthood after years of legal fights appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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. Trump bested Nikki Haley, his former United Nations ambassador, by more than 10 percentage points in a moderate state with an open primary that […]

The post On to November: Trump win in New Hampshire sets up 2024 rematch with Biden appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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. “I’ll be leaving here with my head held high,” Parson told lawmakers during his annual […]

The post Missouri governor’s final State of State touts abortion ban, infrastructure spending appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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 […]

The post Gov. Mike Parson proposes record $52.7 billion Missouri state budget appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Legislation seeking to create a “parents bill of rights” 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 […]

The post Bathroom restrictions for transgender kids added to Missouri ‘parents bill of rights’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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 […]

The post Jay Ashcroft seeks $1.2 million to defend anti-ESG investing rules in federal court appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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 “a small group of swamp creatures.” The action toward members of the newly formed Freedom Caucus took away traditional prerogatives […]

The post Missouri ‘Freedom Caucus’ leaders ousted from Senate chairmanships over stall tactics appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Republican lawmakers’ latest attempt to change Missouri’s century-old initiative petition process was met with widespread opposition Tuesday.  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.  One of the campaigns has already […]

The post GOP renews push to make it harder to amend Missouri constitution by initiative petition appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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 […]

The post Funding seen as a last hurdle to final U.S. Senate immigration deal appeared first on Missouri Independent.

An audit accusing his office of illegally withholding information and failing to document withdrawal from a national elections clearinghouse is a “deep state” 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 […]

The post Jay Ashcroft accuses Missouri auditor of political attack over criticism in new report appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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 […]

The post ‘Perfect storm’: Missouri advocates decry Medicaid application delays, coverage losses appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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 […]

The post Federal audit: More information on foreign-owned agriculture land needed appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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 “of the people, by the people, for the people” — in […]

The post My best advice to voters in 2024: Focus on policy and the stakes, not the political circus appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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 — which it defines as including such things […]

The post Critics say public universities are spending too much outside the classroom appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Young people may be digital natives, but many of them aren’t equipped to deal with the increasing onslaught of disinformation and deepfakes appearing in their social media feeds. A growing number of states think they have an antidote: media literacy education. The goal of media literacy, sometimes called digital citizenship or information literacy, is to […]

The post Kids are flooded with social media and news. Some states want to help them question it appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers are pushing legislation this year requiring pornographic websites and online dating services to verify the ages of all users. Proponents say the goal is to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content online.  However, civil liberties advocates are raising red flags, arguing that the purveyors of adult entertainment content want to prevent minors from […]

The post Missouri legislature weighs age-verification mandates for adult websites appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The next few weeks of legislative action are primed for debate over opening up access for Missouri students to leave their neighborhood schools — though escalating dysfunction in the Senate may change those plans. Proposals to allow open enrollment between school districts and expand tax-credit scholarships for private schools are among the first bills to […]

The post Missouri lawmakers poised for debate over open enrollment, private school scholarships appeared first on Missouri Independent.