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PACKWOOD, Wash. — Last year, Don Pratt fled from his home as a wildfire swept down the mountainside here in Washington’s Cascade Range. “Heading out, I thought it was the last time I was going to see the house,” he said. As residents evacuated and smoke engulfed the small mountain community, fire crews with bulldozers […]

The post Towns could save themselves from wildfire — if they knew about this money appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When Rebecca Uccello got a call that her daughter’s Medicaid coverage was in jeopardy, she said it “sent me into a tailspin.” Her 13-year-old daughter, Izabella, has been on Medicaid since age two because of severe developmental disabilities, including a birth defect which prevents her spinal cord from properly developing and a neurological condition which […]

The post Paperwork issues meant more than 16,000 Missourians lost Medicaid coverage in July appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri campaign finance laws exist so voters know who is involved in and supports a campaign, as well as how the campaign spends its money. Ballot measures, candidates and committees are regulated by the state’s campaign finance laws  — Missouri Revised Statutes Chapter 130 — which are enforced by the Missouri Ethics Commission. Individuals have been known […]

The post Library tax vote in Cole County shows why Missouri campaign disclosure laws are vital appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As former President Donald Trump faces his fourth indictment in Georgia, his previous running mate former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday disputed Trump’s claims that the Georgia election was “stolen” while still criticizing the federal justice system. Pence is one of many candidates competing against Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination who are […]

The post 2024 Republican candidates weigh in on Trump’s Georgia indictments appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The state of North Carolina and the North Carolina Farm Bureau are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down news-gathering activities that generally have been afforded First Amendment protection. In its writ of certiorari, North Carolina is asking SCOTUS to specifically uphold two paragraphs of its 2015 Property Protection Act: North Carolina maintains that the Fourth […]

The post SCOTUS should take up an ag-gag vs. the First Amendment case appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Finance professor Jocelyn Evans first encountered a cryptocurrency ATM on the way to talk about financial education with students last fall. Evans stopped at a gas station on her way to Sumner Academy in Kansas City, Kansas. She came across the machine with the word “BITCOIN” on the screen. Store staffers weren’t familiar with the […]

The post Kansas City has over 100 high-fee crypto ATMs, mostly in low-income neighborhoods appeared first on Missouri Independent.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore said this week that his office has given “high priority’ to reviewing the 1990 murder conviction of Christopher Dunn — a case that finds the Midwest Innocence Project arguing for Dunn’s release from state prison after two prosecution witnesses recanted their testimony and legal experts have cited a lack […]

The post St. Louis prosecutor says review of Christopher Dunn conviction ongoing, a ‘high priority’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

MARION, Kansas — Marion County Record staff worked through the night to publish the paper’s weekly edition as scheduled Wednesday, days after police raided the newsroom and confiscated computers, cellphones and other items. A single word screamed across the top of the paper in 200-point bold type — “SEIZED” — followed by a defiant statement: […]

The post Kansas newspaper publishes in defiance of police raid — and gets seized property back appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The debt limit law Congress approved earlier this year included a much-publicized provision that would cut all federal spending by 1% if Republicans and Democrats fail to reach agreement on the dozen government funding bills before Jan. 1. That sounds pretty threatening. But, the across-the-board automatic spending cut wouldn’t actually have any real-world […]

The post That 1% cut in federal spending in the debt limit law? It’s complicated appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When Cristian Dubon Solis was getting ready to graduate from a Boston high school in 2020, he started planning to apply to college. It was only then he realized that as an immigrant lacking permanent legal status, he wouldn’t qualify for in-state tuition at Massachusetts state universities, nor for state-sponsored financial aid. With no way to […]

The post Nearly half the states now allow in-state tuition for immigrant students appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Twice this summer, Andrew Mullins emailed state marijuana regulators to make sure they knew about a potential problem. Mullins, the president of the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, feared that licensed Missouri cannabis companies may be tempted to add illegal marijuana products brought in from other states to their own products in order to keep their […]

The post State faces pushback from Missouri marijuana industry over product recall appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri State Board of Education unanimously approved an exemption for 19 districts and one charter school to measure student achievement using alternative assessments instead of the state’s prescribed methods. Students in these districts will begin to see changes this fall as districts in the Success Ready Students Network implement their plan. “Progress monitoring during […]

The post Missouri education board approves ‘innovation waivers’ for districts to opt out of state tests appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The roundtables, listening sessions and appearances at farm shows have largely wrapped up and lawmakers tasked with reauthorizing the nation’s agriculture and nutrition programs are comparing notes and beginning to draft the massive, multi-year farm bill. The 2018 version expires Sept. 30, just as many urgent priorities compete for floor time in Congress […]

The post Farm bill timeline in flux as a messy September for Congress nears appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After months of complaints from St. Charles County residents, riled up at a rumor that a librarian dressed in drag on the job, the county council on Monday approved a resolution scolding the library and seeking to limit employees’ online political speech. Decried as a bullying tactic by its critics, the move won praise from […]

The post Community uproar leads St. Charles County to admonish library to be ‘non-political’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick has begun an investigation into the state’s marijuana program, vowing to assess whether regulators are operating “in a manner that is efficient, accountable and transparent.” The audit is not a routine, scheduled review. It was initiated by Fitzpatrick after he pledged last year during his campaign to look into how Missouri […]

The post State auditor launches inquiry into Missouri marijuana program appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Three years ago, Brian Haimowitz slept behind buildings and under bridges because he couldn’t afford a place to stay with the money from his job as a cashier at a local Wendy’s. He said he tried to get help through Kansas City’s shelter system, but he was quickly turned off by roadblocks he encountered. One […]

The post Kansas City’s homeless residents want low-barrier shelter appeared first on Missouri Independent.

TOPEKA, Kansas — The Society of Professional Journalists’ board unanimously offered $20,000 to the family-owned Marion County Record for legal costs in wake of the seizure of newspaper and personal property by local law enforcement investigating allegations of identity theft and illegal use of a computer. The raid undermining operation of the weekly newspaper alarmed […]

The post National journalism group offers $20,000 to defend Kansas newspaper raided by police appeared first on Missouri Independent.

“How much is the ice cream?” A simple enough question, featured on a new TV and online advertisement, posed by a man who just wants something cold. A woman behind the counter responds with a smile: “Prices? No, we don’t have those anymore. We have estimates.” The satirical ad pretends to be a news report […]

The post Proposed rule would make hospital prices even more transparent appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For a generation, Missouri politicians who played between the 40-yard lines reigned supreme. From the 1980s through the mid-2010s, in race after race, center-right Republicans like Jack Danforth, Kit Bond and Roy Blunt were elected to the U.S. senate, and John Ashcroft and Matt Blunt captured the governor’s mansion.   After Ashcroft veered further right in […]

The post Missouri general elections used to matter. Now primaries reign — and extremists have the edge appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A network of 20 Missouri school districts is asking the state to implement a more responsive assessment system in order to personalize student learning. The state Board of Education is considering the districts’ proposal to change testing at its Aug. 15 meeting. If approved, it would be the inception of a shift in Missouri’s education […]

The post 20 Missouri school districts seek ‘innovation waivers’ to move away from state tests appeared first on Missouri Independent.