Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate Tuesday in a move meant to boost the Democratic ticket’s appeal in key Midwestern states and with blue-collar voters. Walz, a former social studies teacher and Army National Guard veteran who won challenging elections in a rural U.S. House district before running […]
The Missouri Housing Development Commission awarded millions of dollars in public funds and tax credits without notice or public votes, a former employee alleged in a lawsuit filed last week. The lawsuit, filed in Jackson County, claims the commission regularly violated the state’s Sunshine Law and the law governing its actions, which requires an “affirmative […]
As Jess Bray pulled up to a 21-acre farm nestled in an eastern Oklahoma valley, she instantly got a warm feeling. “This is the place,” she thought. After attempting to buy two other properties before being outbid by cash buyers, Bray and her husband Jon began to wonder whether their dream of owning and operating […]
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s efforts to delay sentencing in former President Donald Trump’s hush money case in New York were rejected Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision came a day before Bailey won the Aug. 6 primary election against Will Scharf, a member of Trump’s legal team. In a one-page order, the court […]
Federal wildlife officials on Monday proposed listing a large butterfly once prevalent in the grasslands of Kansas and Missouri as threatened. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would seek protections for the regal fritillary, large non-migratory butterfly with orange and black markings. It exists in an eastern and western subspecies. The service is […]
When Missourians head to the polls in November, they may get to vote on whether to overturn their state’s near-total abortion ban and legalize abortions up to the point of fetal viability. But one lawmaker says the results of that vote may not matter if his colleagues approve his bill declaring that fetuses are people. […]
Months of campaigning and TV ad wars will come to a close Tuesday, as Missouri voters head to the polls to pick their party’s nominee for Congress, the state legislature and nearly every statewide office. The Independent tried to answer some of the questions you may have about voting in Missouri’s primary. Polls across the […]
Missouri in the last year has significantly reduced its backlog of overdue nursing home inspections, recent federal data shows, though it still stands out for how low nursing staff is at many facilities. Around this time last year, a quarter of nursing homes hadn’t been inspected in at least two years. Now the number is […]
TOPEKA, Kan. — The magistrate who authorized last year’s police raid on the Marion County Record escaped discipline from a state panel by making claims that contradict statements in federal lawsuits about how the search warrants arrived in front of her and whether the police chief swore they were true before she signed them. Magistrate […]
A company registered in Delaware that uses a Jefferson City mailbox and an Oklahoma telephone number this month added nearly half a million dollars to outside spending against state Sen. Bill Eigel in the Missouri Republican governor’s primary. The Heartland Conservative Coalition LLC spent $438,259 since July 1, including $360,000 on television advertising, according to […]
WASHINGTON — Enough Democratic delegates selected Kamala Harris to make her the party’s presidential nominee by Friday, during an ongoing virtual vote that began less than two weeks after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign. The vote, which will not officially close until Monday evening, was held in advance of the Democratic National Convention, […]
The Democratic National Committee will unveil a confrontational digital ad campaign in battleground states, starting Friday in Atlanta, to press Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee, States Newsroom has learned. Trump has not committed to debating Harris, who has said she is eager to keep a […]
For decades, academic research has been clear: Taxpayers almost never get their money back on subsidized sports stadiums. And yet, over and over again, U.S. cities and states find themselves locked in lopsided negotiations with beloved football, baseball and basketball teams, hoping to keep them from jumping to a new market. In the newest bidding […]
Free internet? It sounds like a nice dream. We’d all love to ditch the $80 a month we pay for the ability to stream movies, do doctor’s appointments from home or check in on our cousin’s latest Facebook post. But in North Kansas City, residents get a steady online connection with no monthly bill. Anyone […]
A national political group is pouring millions into Missouri to boost Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in the Republican primary for governor, stepping in when his campaign was running out of cash and drawing howls from the backers of his rivals. The Stand for US PAC began ordering television and radio time in the state […]
With less than a week before Tuesday’s primaries, statewide elected officials are doing what they can to use their jobs to grab last-minute headlines. On Thursday in Jefferson City, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft went first, holding a news conference to announce he is suing President Joe Biden and 15 federal department heads over a […]
A group of men exonerated after years on death row gathered at the Missouri Capitol Thursday to call on Attorney General Andrew Bailey to stop blocking efforts to vacate the conviction of Marcellus Williams. Williams was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1998 stabbing death of Lisha Gayle during a robbery of her suburban St. […]
WASHINGTON — The United States and Russia completed a multi-country prisoner swap Thursday that brought home several Americans, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. The exchange included a total of 16 people from several countries who were detained by Russia, including seven of its own citizens held as […]
WASHINGTON — Though the Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX extending federal protections for LGBTQ students went into effect nationwide Thursday, a slew of legal challenges has temporarily blocked over half of all states from enforcing the updated regulations. After the Department of Education released the final rule in April, 26 states — all with GOP attorneys general […]
Danielle and Grace Perkowitz packed up and left Chicago two years ago for Houghton, Michigan, to start a career in goat farming. “I had a joke for years — I’m going to start a goat farm,” Danielle Perkowitz said, co-owner of BigGoat Farm. “What are we waiting for? Let’s do it.” As beginner farmers, they […]
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