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For the past 20 years, I have been engaged in efforts to end the opioid epidemic, as a public health official, researcher and clinician. And for every one of those years I have looked on as the number of deaths from drug overdoses has set a new record high. Yet even knowing that trend I was […]

The post How the pandemic helped spread fentanyl, drive opioid overdose deaths to a new high | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The death Sunday of Bob Dole was a potent reminder of what we have lost as a nation. Another member of the Greatest Generation has left us — another of those Depression-era kids who came together to save democracy in the dark days of World War II. The career of the 98-year-old Kansas Republican reminds […]

The post Our political system has withered since Bob Dole’s days | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Sen. Robert J. Dole arrived at the U.S. Capitol for the final time on Thursday, for a Rotunda ceremony in which former colleagues and congressional leaders from both parties honored the life and career of the late Kansas political icon.  President Joe Biden and others remembered Dole — who died Sunday at […]

The post Kansas’ Bob Dole remembered at U.S. Capitol ceremony for public service, sense of humor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

St. Louis County abandoned its effort to maintain a mask mandate Thursday as Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s crusade to crush out all such orders statewide continued. Some school districts said they would not comply with “cease and desist” letters from Schmitt after his office began soliciting complaints about mask rules, citing their legal authority. But […]

The post St. Louis County ends mask rule as school districts resist pressure from Schmitt appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A bipartisan pair of senators on Wednesday called for Congress to approve billions in new funding for states to manage wildlife recovery work.  At a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said a bill they introduced this year would help protect 1,600 threatened species, […]

The post Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt leads push to target billions to state wildlife conservation appeared first on Missouri Independent.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Joe Biden on Wednesday visited the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority to tout the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill he signed into law last month, expected to bring billions in spending on roads and bridges, clean water, public transportation, high speed internet and more to Kansas and Missouri. The president said […]

The post ‘Americans always rebuild’: Biden promotes infrastructure investments in Kansas City speech appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Missouri state lawmaker frustrated by delays receiving records from the Department of Social Services filed a complaint Monday with Attorney General Eric Schmitt. In a Monday letter to the attorney general’s office, Rep. Sarah Unsicker, D-Shrewsbury, detailed a series of Sunshine Law requests she sent to the Department of Social Services, with the oldest […]

The post Lawmaker seeks help from Missouri Attorney General on open records requests appeared first on Missouri Independent.

St. Louis-based Centene, the nation’s largest Medicaid managed care provider, has settled fraud allegations with a fifth state, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Monday. The $27.6 million Kansas settlement comes after Mississippi, Illinois and Arkansas announced settlements totaling $154 million. All of those follow a settlement with Ohio — the only state to sue […]

The post St. Louis-based Medicaid giant Centene settles fraud allegations with Kansas for $27.6M appeared first on Missouri Independent.

“Pacific Ablaze” read Australian papers on December 8 1941, as the world learned about the monumental events that unfolded only hours before. Japan had simultaneously declared war against the United States and Great Britain, then immediately launched stunning attacks spanning 6,400 kilometers (and the international date line) from Singapore to Hong Kong, Malaya, Bangkok, Guam […]

The post 80 years on, the attack on Pearl Harbor offers lessons for today | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Attorney General Eric Schmitt instructed school districts and local public health departments to immediately stop enforcing health orders a judge ruled unconstitutional last month, and warned Tuesday they may face legal action if they fail to do so. In separate letters sent Tuesday to school districts and health departments across the state, Schmitt pointed to […]

The post Missouri Attorney General tells schools, health departments to end COVID orders appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The cheers and ringing bells were deafening at Wesley Bell’s watch party for the August 2018 Democratic primary election in St. Louis County. Shocking the country, Bell had handed a stunning defeat to then-incumbent St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch ― the longtime prosecutor who had been sharply criticized by the Black community for his […]

The post Black Dems say nonpartisan elections in St. Louis County would dilute Black political power appeared first on Missouri Independent.

I begin this column with a confession. We journalists are reluctant to report about ourselves because under journalism ethics, a reporter should avoid covering something in which the reporter has a conflict of interest. But Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s continuing attacks against news organizations and specific reporters are so unprecedented that I feel compelled to […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Missouri Gov. Parson’s unprecedented attacks on journalists appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by The Kansas City Beacon.  It’s been 13 years since Kansas City passed its first climate protection plan. At the top of the list: drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Now the city is preparing a new plan, and emission reductions remains a focus. In 2008, the city set a goal […]

The post Kansas City declared a climate emergency. Now what? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Faced with over a year’s delay from the state social services department on implementing extended mental health care for new moms, a bipartisan effort now aims to expand health care coverage more broadly for low-income pregnant women. Legislation filed last week by Sens. Elaine Gannon, R-De Soto, and Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, would extend health […]

The post Bipartisan Missouri legislation aims to provide a year of health care for new moms appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Gov. Mike Parson wants to tap Missouri’s enormous budget surplus to provide immediate raises to state employees and enact a new $15 an hour minimum pay for all state jobs. In a news release issued Monday, Parson said he will ask lawmakers to speed a supplemental budget bill to his desk to provide a 5.5 […]

The post Missouri Gov. Parson proposes $15 minimum pay for state employees appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — As the Senate works to finalize a major annual defense measure, there is a bipartisan push to include a requirement that all young Americans — including women — for the first time register for the military draft. The $777.9 billion measure, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, also would allocate millions to […]

The post Women would sign up for the military draft under defense bill in Congress appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Two years ago, a company led by an influential Republican businessman faced off with the state’s environmental regulators over whether it needed to do additional testing for a chemical health officials worried could pose a cancer risk to the company’s workers.  The Moberly manufacturing facility, Orscheln Products LLC, is owned by the family of businessman Barry […]

The post Controversial bill would have aided Missouri company under scrutiny for contamination appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In 1984, I was arrested for felony possession of marijuana for a half-pound of marijuana, for which I served five years of probation. In 1991, I was arrested for possession of two ounces of marijuana, for which I served 60 days in county prison. Finally, in 1993, I was arrested as an accessory in a […]

The post Missouri lawmakers must take action to legalize marijuana | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Reverence for U.S. Sen. Bob Dole’s service as a soldier in World War II, a longtime senator and fixture in Washington, D.C., was evident Sunday morning following the announcement of his death. In the hours after the Elizabeth Dole Foundation announced Dole, 98, had died following a battle with lung cancer, […]

The post ‘Statesman,’ ‘hero,’ ‘favorite son’: Well wishes pour out after death of Sen. Bob Dole appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The embattled Spire STL Pipeline serving St. Louis-area natural gas customers will be allowed to keep operating through the winter, federal regulators decided Friday. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order after weeks of building tension as the pipeline’s current temporary authorization to operate came close to expiring. The commission’s order grants Spire STL […]

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