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WASHINGTON — Just like teens, members of Congress are setting up TikTok accounts — even as the popular app is increasingly barred from government devices and heads of federal intelligence agencies raise concerns about data collection and surveillance obtained by a Chinese-owned company.  At least 32 members of Congress — all Democrats, including U.S. Rep. […]

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A nationwide comparison of electric utility performance by an Illinois consumer advocacy group found that customers in states that are heavily reliant on fuel oil and natural gas, as in the Northeast and South, tend to pay more than those with larger amounts of carbon-free generation, among other findings.  The report by the Illinois-based Citizens […]

The post Affordable, reliable and sustainable: report compares utility performance appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Imagine for just one second that this was you. In the center of my town of De Soto, more than 200 of my neighbors are living in a flood plain – and many are looking for a way to get out. It wasn’t always a dangerous area to live. In fact, for decades and decades […]

The post In De Soto, we need a way out of repeated flooding appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Early in his annual State of the State address on Wednesday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson sang the praises of an income tax cut enacted by the Republican-dominated General Assembly late last year.  Closer to the end of his nearly one-hour speech to a joint session of the legislature, Parson vowed to “support and defend our […]

The post Missouri Democrats praise Parson’s speech — and four other State of the State takeaways appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Gov. Mike Parson wants to spend nearly $1 billion to widen Interstate 70 in congested areas while seeking federal funding to complete the job statewide. In his budget proposal delivered to lawmakers Wednesday, Parson asked for $859 million from the more than $5 billion in surplus general revenue to widen the highway in suburban areas […]

The post Parson makes I-70 a focus for Missouri budget heavy on infrastructure, education spending appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lawmakers debated critical race theory for two hours Wednesday, as the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee heard public testimony on a pair of bills that both seek to create a so-called “Parents Bill of Rights.” The two bills would establish a statewide transparency portal for public schools and enshrine parental rights, like a right […]

The post Critical race theory dominates Missouri Senate committee hearing on education bills appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lawmakers debated on Wednesday a bipartisan push to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage for low-income Missourians from 60 days to one year — among the first public hearings of the 2023 legislative session.

The post Missouri lawmakers make bipartisan push to extend postpartum care for new moms appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A major area of bipartisan agreement among Missouri lawmakers this year is improving access to affordable child care.  And on Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Mike Parson is expected to lay out his vision for addressing what some legislators have framed as a child care crisis in Missouri.  Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, told reporters […]

The post Missouri lawmakers vow to expand child care access. Governor’s speech may lay out the plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday defended sitting on information about Obama administration classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s private residence and a think tank, saying officials are attempting to balance working with the Justice Department and sharing information publicly. “We understand that there’s a tension between the need to be cooperative with […]

The post White House defends delay in revealing classified documents at Biden private office, home appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Vivek Malek began his tenure as Missouri State Treasurer on Tuesday surrounded by hundreds of friends, including some he helped become Americans. Malek, a Republican appointed by Gov. Mike Parson to replace Scott Fitzpatrick, elected state auditor last year, said the turnout that filled the Missouri House chamber to watch him take the oath of […]

The post Vivek Malek takes office as Missouri Treasurer during ceremony in House chamber appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Parental access to school records – and how history and race are taught in Missouri classrooms – will be among the first topics considered by lawmakers this legislative session. During the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee’s first meeting Wednesday afternoon, committee members will hear testimony on a pair of bills dubbed the “Parents’ Bill […]

The post Missouri Republicans renew early focus on parental rights, critical race theory appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Audra Youmans says most people living on the streets of St. Louis have nowhere else to go. As a volunteer and advocate with St. Louis Winter Outreach, she made over 40 calls to the city’s referral service for homeless shelters last year — recording and compiling a video to demonstrate the problem.  “Every single time […]

The post Advocates, providers scramble as Missouri’s new homelessness law goes into effect appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri regulators handed a setback to a proposed silica sand mine south of St. Louis earlier this month when they revoked a pivotal permit. But the fight isn’t over for opponents of the mine.  While state regulators denied one permit to NexGen, the would-be owners of the proposed mine, they almost simultaneously granted the company […]

The post Despite setback for Missouri silica sand mine, the fight isn’t over for neighbors appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Some historians mark the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder as the end of the civil rights movement. Over an arc of 14 years — from the 1954 Brown Decision to King’s death in 1968 — the nation attempted to address its racial caste system. The same nation that launched a war on hunger and […]

The post On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, no one should settle for ‘a piece of freedom’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

U.S. House Republicans included in the new rules for the chamber they passed this month a provision meant to make it easier for Congress to give away public lands. The provision is a fairly technical piece of the 55-page rules package. It affects internal House accounting and requires that anytime Congress were to give any federal […]

The post U.S. House GOP would make it easier for feds to give public lands away to states appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government will hit its borrowing limit next week, forcing the new, divided Congress into negotiations over the debt limit much sooner than expected, though a potential date for the nation to default isn’t expected until this summer. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to Congress on Friday afternoon, telling leaders the United […]

The post U.S. to hit debt limit much sooner than expected, thrusting Congress into showdown appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana in Missouri won voter approval in November but created a schism among social-justice activists over the question of racial and economic equity.  Some believe the new law will empower minority marijuana business owners, while others worry it will cement an already distrusted, inequitable business licensing system in place. Much […]

The post Missouri regulators say they’re close to naming marijuana chief equity officer appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For better than half a lifetime, I’ve studied media and its effects on the public psyche. Teaching broadcast history and directing a student radio station, the larger picture seemed pretty clear. But one question always frustrated and perplexed me: How did AM talk radio, in particular, come to program such venomous, outrageous programming? Why do […]

The post How venomous voices from right-wing radio radicalized America appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Republican state policymakers’ efforts to boost fossil fuels by prohibiting their governments from doing business with companies that take sustainability into consideration has the potential to cost states millions, according to a study released Thursday. Researchers looked specifically at the possible effects on Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and West Virginia if they passed Texas-like legislation limiting […]

The post States that limit business with banks that ‘boycott’ fossil fuels could pay high cost, study says appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The White House revealed Thursday morning that more classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president were discovered outside of secure government facilities, this time in the garage at his Wilmington, Delaware home. The files have since been turned over to the U.S. Justice Department, which opened a special counsel investigation into […]

The post U.S. attorney general names special counsel for classified docs found in Biden’s garage appeared first on Missouri Independent.