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Missouri’s leading agriculture groups are pushing legislation environmentalists and state regulators warn could jeopardize thousands of miles of streams and drinking water for 3.6 million people. Members of a Missouri Senate committee on Tuesday heard testimony on a bill that would narrow the definition of “waters of the state,” slashing the state’s authority over small […]

The post Missouri bill would slash state regulations over small streams and major aquifers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri legislature is looking at setting minimum training standards for coroners following allegations that the Cape Girardeau County coroner stole money at death scenes and botched numerous death investigations. Wavis Jordan, elected coroner of Cape Girardeau County in 2020, is scheduled to be in court on Friday for arraignment on a misdemeanor stealing charge […]

The post Lawmakers consider bill to raise training standards for Missouri coroners appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON —  Top White House economic officials said Tuesday that President Joe Biden will announce how his administration is tackling economic issues — from the housing crisis to restoring the expansion of the child tax credit — during this week’s State of the Union address to Congress and the nation. “Providing more breathing room to […]

The post Biden to push for return of expanded child tax credit in State of the Union speech appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lawmakers must change a “broken process that unfairly hurts Missourians” to keep a landfill from moving into south Kansas City without residents’ input, state Rep. Mike Haffner told his colleagues Tuesday. Speaking on the floor of the Missouri House, Haffner argued that a landfill proposed for a site at Kansas City’s southern border would devastate […]

The post Bill targeting controversial Kansas City landfill clears initial Missouri House vote appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A St. Louis County attorney challenging Missouri House rules hiding the names of constituents who communicate with lawmakers lost an appeal Tuesday — but not for the same reason he lost the case at the trial level. As a result, the House can continue to use its rules to limit disclosures despite a 2018 constitutional […]

The post Appeals court tosses suit challenging Missouri House rule hiding constituent information appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Congress is on track to approve a staggering $468 billion in government spending this week, finishing part of the work it was supposed to complete by Oct. 1 — including a big boost intended to shore up the federal WIC nutrition program for women, infants and children. Other agencies will see cuts, including […]

The post Five months late, Congress is poised to pass a huge chunk of federal spending appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The proposed extension of Jackson County’s sales tax won’t be enough to pay for a new downtown Kansas City Royals stadium. So the team is in conversation with city officials and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to fill a $700 million funding gap with taxpayer dollars from Kansas City and the state. On April 2, Jackson […]

The post If voters OK taxes for a ballpark, Royals will ask city and state for up to $700M more appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Federal officials are investigating whether residents of a small subdivision in the St. Louis suburbs are living on top of contamination dating back to World War II after finding radioactive material in their backyards. The Cades Cove subdivision, a small enclave in Florissant, was built on top of where Coldwater Creek once meandered. The creek, […]

The post Florissant homes built on Coldwater Creek may sit on radioactive contamination appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Leaders of a bipartisan Missouri House committee investigating Speaker Dean Plocher over allegations of misconduct said Monday that there is no timetable for when the inquiry will conclude.  State Rep. Hannah Kelly, a Republican from Mountain Grove and chair of the House Ethics Committee, spoke to reporters following a roughly three-hour closed-door meeting of the […]

The post ‘Due process takes time’: No timetable for completion of Dean Plocher ethics investigation appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jason Sparks is an Oklahoma man who almost single-handedly created the distillate that led to Missouri regulators’ decision to pull more than 60,000 marijuana products off the shelves in August and revoke the license of Robertsville-based Delta Extraction. Now, he’s the star witness in a hearing scheduled to begin Monday morning, where Delta will try […]

The post Hearing on recall of 60,000 Missouri marijuana products set to begin appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson drew condemnation from across the political spectrum over the weekend after he reduced the sentence of former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid for a drunken driving crash that permanently injured a 5-year-old girl. Reid, the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, was drunk in February 2021 when he […]

The post Gov. Mike Parson faces bipartisan scorn for reducing DWI sentence of ex-Chiefs coach appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Kansas City’s downtown took on a campus-like feel in early February as 8,000 visitors congregated at the downtown convention center and fanned out to nearby bars, coffee shops and tourist sites. The guests included students, immigrants, people of color and people who identified as LGBTQ, in town for the annual conference of the Association of […]

The post Apologizing for Missouri’s legislature is routine in Kansas City appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As Republican strength in Missouri has grown – no non-incumbent Democrat has won election statewide since 2008 – Republicans increasingly view a primary nomination as the ticket to victory in November. And on Thursday night, candidates from across the state traveled to Columbia for the Boone County Republican Lincoln Day dinner for a chance to […]

The post GOP contenders vie for attention at Boone County Lincoln Days appeared first on Missouri Independent.

State Sen. Bill Eigel promised Thursday that if elected governor he’d invoke a provision in the Missouri Constitution allowing him to call out the militia to round up and deport undocumented immigrants. That means mobilizing sheriffs, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the National Guard, Eigel told a crowd of about 175 party faithful at […]

The post Bill Eigel vows mass jailing, removal of undocumented immigrants from Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Anti-abortion groups, attorneys general from 25 states and more than 140 members of Congress have signed on to dozens of briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court during the past two weeks, encouraging the justices to revert use and prescribing of the medication abortion pill mifepristone to what was in place prior to 2016. […]

The post Who wants the U.S. Supreme Court to limit abortion pill access? Here’s the list appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Brenna Dwyer was in a race to buy her first home. When she and her sister decided to purchase a house together in 2020, they didn’t realize how steep the competition would be — or who they were up against. “If we would find a house we liked and needed to think about it, by […]

The post 5 companies own 8,000 Kansas City area homes, creating intense competition for residents appeared first on Missouri Independent.

During a recent debate in the Missouri Senate over a proposal to create rape and incest exemptions to Missouri’s abortion ban, one lawmaker argued against such exceptions by defaming God. Republican Sen. Sandy Crawford, who called herself “a woman of faith,” argued that while rape can be “mentally taxing,” women should be required to give […]

The post When bad theology leads to bad laws appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on a bipartisan vote passed a short-term funding extension Thursday intended to give lawmakers a bit more time to wrap up work on the annual spending bills — trying to dodge a shutdown despite election year politics and narrow margins. The stopgap spending bill, sometimes called a continuing resolution, or […]

The post A day ahead of shutdown, Congress works on advancing stopgap spending bills appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed a lawsuit Thursday against Planned Parenthood, relying on a staged, edited video from a right-wing group to accuse the organization of illegally transporting minors out of state for abortions. The lawsuit is against Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which has clinics in the Kansas City region and Columbia. Bailey is […]

The post Missouri AG sues Planned Parenthood over Project Veritas video involving fictional girl appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Between Vallerie Steele, her seven siblings and their children, there’s always a birthday or anniversary to celebrate on the family’s southwest Missouri farm. The summer months are typically a parade of pool parties and barbecues. Until last year.  The stench coming from the lagoon across the road from Steele’s home has become unbearable. It holds […]

The post Missouri House bill takes aim at ‘cesspool’ of meatpacking sludge appeared first on Missouri Independent.