Democracy is under strain, and the right question to ask is whether anyone cares enough to make a difference, former Gov. Jay Nixon told a crowd Wednesday afternoon at Westminster College in Fulton. “Do we care enough about the principles of our democracy to preserve it? And what can each of us do to rekindle […]
Additional public education experts are joining discussions on the future of the state’s school funding formula as work groups convene for bi-monthly meetings. Gov. Mike Kehoe created the Missouri School Funding Modernization Task Force in an executive order in January and appointed members from a wide swath of backgrounds, including a leader from the Missouri […]
WASHINGTON — Democratic U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Delia Ramirez of Illinois joined advocates Wednesday outside the U.S. Capitol to blast proposed cuts to education spending. The lawmakers and demonstrators rebuked a congressional spending panel’s bill that calls for $12 billion in spending cuts at the Education Department for the coming fiscal year and […]
WASHINGTON — Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez testified before a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday that she was fired after just 29 days because she refused to pre-approve vaccine recommendations or fire career officials for no reason. Monarez, who was nominated by President Donald Trump earlier this year and confirmed by […]
The warden fired from Jefferson City Correctional Center in the aftermath of an inmate’s death is suing the state, alleging she lost her job due to age, gender, racial and disability discrimination. Doris Falkenrath, who was fired on June 13, 2024, filed the lawsuit Aug. 27 in Cole County Circuit Court. When she was fired, […]
Tania Hewett-Mader, who owns Alma Mader Brewing with her husband, believes providing health benefits to her employees is the right thing to do. “That’s part of our values — taking good care of our people,” she said. “Not only for their sake, but to be competitive in the market.” But two years ago, after the […]
For nearly three decades I have been a volunteer constitutional conservative, small government, free market watchdog at the Missouri Capitol, and in all that time I have never seen the level of abuse of power I witnessed during the two special sessions the governor called this summer. Last week the Missouri Senate rammed two monumental […]
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is allowed to access patient health information as part of its investigation into the Washington University Transgender Center, an appeals court ruled Tuesday. The Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals decision, written by Judge Phillip Hess, reverses a ruling last year by a St. Louis judge that allowed the health […]
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republican leaders released a seven-week stopgap government funding bill Tuesday that’s intended to avoid a shutdown when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. But GOP leaders opted not to negotiate the legislation with Democrats, who may be needed to approve the bill in the House and will be required to […]
WASHINGTON — An appeals court late Monday rejected the Trump administration’s request to move ahead with firing Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook, as the president tries to pressure the independent board to lower interest rates. The 2-1 decision will allow Cook to partake in Tuesday’s Federal Reserve meeting, where the board will vote on […]
WASHINGTON — The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office released a report Monday concluding the Federal Emergency Management Agency violated the law “when it withheld or delayed the obligation of” funding Congress approved for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and the Shelter and Services Program. The finding is the sixth time this year the GAO has […]
A Democratic legislator from Springfield faces a Missouri House ethics investigation because of an obscene text message sent to a Republican colleague during debate over the new congressional district map. State Rep. Jeremy Dean of Springfield sent the text message on Sept. 4 to Republican state Rep. Cecelie Williams of Dittmer. Dean and other Democrats […]
MEXICO, Mo. — It’s been more than three years since the closure of Audrain Community Hospital, ending more than a century of continuous local care in the mid-Missouri community. Once a cornerstone of rural health care in the region and the first community cancer center in the state, the hospital shuttered in March 2022 after […]
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday it will redirect $495 million in additional funding to historically Black colleges and universities as well as tribal colleges. The U.S. Education Department’s announcement came just days after the administration decided to gut and reprogram $350 million in discretionary funds that support minority-serving institutions over claims that these […]
Gov. Mike Kehoe called a special session to redraw Missouri’s congressional map without a compelling reason, attorneys for the Missouri NAACP said Monday. Therefore, they contend, the map passed by lawmakers should be declared void. In the first of what promises to be extensive legal wrangling over the new maps, Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher […]
An increasing number of immigrants without legal status — even some who have lived here for decades — are finding it easier to seek opportunities in other countries than to stay in the U.S. amid threats of detention and deportation. “This has never happened in our country before. We have had periods of voluntary departure, […]
Just before 8 a.m. on Jan. 31, an explosion rocked a nondescript one-story office building in an affluent suburb of Detroit. The building was home to The Oxford Center, a health clinic that provided hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat a variety of disorders. Inside the clinic, a spark had ignited the high-pressure, pure-oxygen atmosphere in […]
Almost immediately after Missouri Republicans shut down debate last week to pass a newly gerrymandered congressional map, a pair of lawsuits were filed challenging its constitutionality. Meanwhile, a referendum campaign seeking to repeal the map got a major financial boost over the weekend — a $500,000 donation from a national dark-money organization. And a lawsuit […]
Missouri’s three most recent former attorneys general — all of whom claim to be “constitutional conservatives” — tripped over themselves to out-racism each other while auditioning for Trump. This has not been good for Missouri. But it has worked out for the former AGs who have successfully used the office to get the hell out […]
The Missouri Senate died at 1:42 p.m. Friday afternoon when Republican leaders refused to allow debate on a measure weakening the initiative petition process, GOP state Sen. Lincoln Hough said in an interview with The Independent. A two-week special session to gerrymander Missouri’s congressional map and make it virtually impossible for voters to amend the […]
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