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An initiative petition campaign that seeks to raise Missouri’s minimum wage delivered over 210,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office Wednesday afternoon — nearly double the amount needed to make the statewide ballot.  It is the first of five initiative petitions the Secretary of State’s office expects to deliver signatures this week. Petitioners need […]

The post Group turns in signatures to put minimum wage hike, paid sick leave on Missouri ballot appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A filibuster blocking renewal of taxes essential to funding Medicaid passed 39 hours early this morning as a small group of Republicans held the Missouri Senate floor demanding action on other bills. Five members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus have tried four times to amend the bill, failing each time when their proposals were tabled […]

The post Senate filibuster of taxes that fund Missouri Medicaid approaches record at 39-hour mark appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. House Republicans, aggrieved by Speaker Mike Johnson’s bipartisanship amid divided government, said Wednesday they plan to force a vote next week on removing him from the leadership office — despite the extremely long odds of success. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie held a press conference just […]

The post Marjorie Taylor Greene to force vote next week on ousting U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Internal Revenue Service saw a successful tax filing season, providing high levels of customer service, enforcing collection from the wealthy and launching a free filing option for taxpayers, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told tax writers on Capitol Hill Tuesday. The agency “met or exceeded” goals for the filing season and “successfully” […]

The post Yellen touts success of IRS pilot program that allowed direct free filing of tax returns appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Kansas City charter school for at-risk students will be allowed to stay open after an appeal of the state’s decision to revoke its charter. In a ruling issued last week, the presiding judge of Missouri’s western district court of appeals ruled a charter school has the right to judicial review if the state attempts […]

The post Appeals court sides with KC charter school in its fight with state to remain open appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Families gathered outside the U.S. Capitol Tuesday to “make a fuss for babies,” who they believe are being left behind by lawmakers who direct only a fraction of U.S. resources to young children. Parents and kids representing 50 states and the District of Columbia convened for the eighth annual “Strolling Thunder.” Moms and […]

The post Parents tote toddlers to D.C. to press for expanded child tax credit, child care funds appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Biden administration plans to remove marijuana from a list of the most dangerous and highly regulated drugs, the Department of Justice said Tuesday night. The Drug Enforcement Administration will propose moving the drug from a Schedule I substance, which also includes heroin and methamphetamine, to Schedule III, which is the category for regulated-but-legal drugs […]

The post Biden administration to greatly ease marijuana regulations appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON —  Former President Donald Trump in his second term would carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants by utilizing local law enforcement, the National Guard and potentially the U.S. military, according to a lengthy interview he conducted with Time magazine. “When we talk military, generally speaking, I talk National Guard,” the presumptive 2024 GOP […]

The post Trump says he’d use police, National Guard and possibly the military to expel immigrants appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Legislation that could expand the number of college credits universally transferable between Missouri’s public two-year and four-year institutions took another step towards becoming law on Tuesday as time runs short before lawmakers adjourn for the year. A Senate committee, in its last scheduled meeting of the legislative session, debated and passed a bill Tuesday morning […]

The post Missouri Senate committee approves bill to expand college core curriculum appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Democratic Leaders on Tuesday killed efforts by a small group of far-right House Republicans to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from his leadership post. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar released a joint statement saying their members would vote against efforts to oust […]

The post U.S. House Democrats vow to back Speaker Johnson if Republicans try to oust him appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Former President Donald Trump defied a gag order in his New York state hush-money trial by posting attacks on likely witnesses on his social media platform and campaign website, the judge in the case ruled Tuesday. Judge Juan M. Merchan fined Trump $9,000 for nine violations of an order barring him from making public statements about “reasonably […]

The post Trump fined $9,000 for violating gag order in NY hush-money trial appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas has essentially invited immigrants to come and fill the local labor pool. He’s offering officials in New York and Denver help from the crush of immigrants in those cities and welcoming foreign workers to Kansas City. That quickly sparked accusations that Lucas appeared bent on making Kansas City a sanctuary […]

The post Missouri won’t let Kansas City become sanctuary city, but mayor wants more immigrant workers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Two Missouri social-equity licensees connected to a Michigan company that used Craigslist to recruit applicants have appealed the state’s decision to revoke their dispensary licenses.  The Michigan company, Canna Zoned, was behind two of the 16 microbusiness dispensary licenses issued by lottery in October — Frankenstein Enemy LLC in Columbia and Seashore Rhythm LLC in […]

The post Companies tied to out-of-state firms appeal revocation of social-equity cannabis licenses appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Key members of Congress announced an agreement Monday on a $105 billion bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for five years ahead of a May 10 deadline. The 1,000-page bill would raise hiring targets for air traffic control and would codify in law a rule the Biden administration introduced this month requiring airlines to offer refunds for canceled […]

The post Congress to add flights at Washington National, require new air refund rule in FAA deal appeared first on Missouri Independent.

An investigation into accusations of misconduct by Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher was dismissed Monday at the end of a tense hearing where members of the ethics committee blocked the chair from reading an email about how Plocher’s office had allegedly intimidated possible witnesses. The email, obtained by The Independent through an open records request, […]

The post Missouri House ethics panel drops probe of Dean Plocher after blocking push to release evidence appeared first on Missouri Independent.

South Dakota state Sen. John Wiik likes to think of himself as a lookout of sorts — keeping an eye on new laws, programs and ideas brewing across the states. “I don’t bring a ton of legislation,” said Wiik, a Republican. “The main thing I like to do is try and stay ahead of trends […]

The post Red states fight growing efforts to give ‘basic income’ cash to residents appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Private Medicaid health plans lost millions of members in the past year as pandemic protections that prohibited states from dropping anyone from the government program expired. But despite Medicaid’s unwinding, as it’s known, at least two of the five largest publicly traded companies selling plans have continued to increase revenue from the program, according to […]

The post Millions were booted from Medicaid. Insurers that run it gained Medicaid revenue anyway appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A push to eliminate Missouri’s requirement for children under 16 to obtain official work permits before they can begin a job could be debated by the House this week.  In order to work in Missouri, 14 and 15 year olds must obtain a certificate issued by their school, with information from their prospective employer about […]

The post Missouri bill would loosen child labor law by removing work permit requirements appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In late 2020, Archer-Daniels-Midland, one of America’s oldest and most profitable food companies, predicted customers’ preference for foods with “bright and exciting” colors and “familiar, nostalgic” flavors would “shape the food industry.” ADM seemed poised to capitalize. Over the next few years, it purchased two companies specializing in crafting tastes. One creates savory dairy flavors […]

The post Archer Daniels Midland touted nutrition, flavor business. Now the government’s investigating appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The House Ethics Committee investigation of Speaker Dean Plocher reminds me of the recent history of speakers who ended their time in office under a legal or ethical cloud. As The Independent has reported, Plocher sought House reimbursement for travel that had been covered by campaign funds. And he pressured House staff to go around the normal contract bidding process in […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Recognizing when it’s time to go appeared first on Missouri Independent.