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WASHINGTON – U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday heard oral arguments in a case that challenges an Alabama redistricting map and could potentially eliminate remaining federal safeguards against racial gerrymandering. Voting rights advocates fear that the high court’s conservative majority will further weaken the Voting Rights Act, with implications for voters in states across the country. […]

The post Alabama case that could limit Voting Rights Act heard at U.S. Supreme Court appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers wrapped up their special session Tuesday when the state Senate overwhelmingly approved a $40 million package of incentives targeting rural economic projects. The bill, passed 26-3, creates tax credits for fuel retailers to sell gas and diesel with higher blends of biofuels and to establish urban farms. It extends the life of incentives […]

The post Missouri lawmakers pass rural incentives bill as special session draws to a close appeared first on Missouri Independent.

It is settled law in Missouri that those seeking to amend the state constitution or law through the initiative petition process must wait a day after the general election to begin collecting signatures. What is uncertain, and what Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem will decide soon, is whether the secretary of state must conduct […]

The post Missouri judge to decide when Jay Ashcroft must begin review of 2024 initiative petitions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A years-long fight over the Grain Belt Express high-voltage transmission line appeared to end earlier this year when lawmakers signed off on compromise legislation requiring future transmission lines to bring more benefit to Missouri.  It also required electrical transmission line developers to pay farmers more for easements to build future projects on their land.  Grain […]

The post Missouri agriculture groups renew criticism of Grain Belt Express over new extension appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Election Day is just over a month away and a lot has changed for voters since the last time they cast a ballot. A new elections law went into effect after the August primary election and, as local election authorities, we have an obligation to educate voters about what to expect when they vote this […]

The post Missouri election law has changed. Here’s what voters need to know to cast a ballot appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday landed in Ponce, Puerto Rico to survey the damage from Hurricane Fiona and announce $60 million in funding to help the island prepare for future hurricanes. The visit came after the Category 1 hurricane in late September damaged the power grid, leaving millions in Puerto Rico without power. […]

The post Puerto Rico to get $60M to prep for future hurricanes, Biden announces appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A pair of polls in recent weeks found voters closely divided over the question of whether Missouri should legalize recreational marijuana use.  Meanwhile, a third poll expects legalization will cruise to a double-digit victory.  Five weeks before Election Day, despite public polling all over the place, proponents of the marijuana initiative petition — which will […]

The post Scattershot polling leaves both sides of Missouri marijuana campaign optimistic appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In an effort to fortify access to abortion throughout the Midwest and in Missouri, where the procedure is almost entirely banned, Planned Parenthood is launching a mobile clinic across the state line in southern Illinois.  The mobile clinic will be part of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, and will provide […]

The post Planned Parenthood launching mobile abortion clinic in Illinois to boost access in Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Two of Donald Trump’s most prominent allies in his fight to overturn the 2020 election are leading a coordinated, multi-state effort to probe local election officials in battlegrounds such as Michigan, Arizona and Texas ahead of the November election. The America Project, an organization founded by Michael Flynn, a retired three-star general and former national […]

The post Trump allies have interviewed nearly 200 election officials to probe for weaknesses appeared first on Missouri Independent.

If you have ignored or had doubts about whether the concern that democracy is in danger in America, just look at the growing movement to ban books in our schools and libraries. There is a history of books being banned in the United States for their subject matter and content. Most notably during the colonial […]

The post Did you ever think you would see book bans in 21st century America? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden addressed the nation Friday afternoon, focusing on uniting the country as Florida begins to survey the damage left by a Category 4 hurricane, while states further up the coast prepare for the impact from Hurricane Ian. “As you all know, the situation in Florida is far more devastating,” Biden said. […]

The post Biden to battered Florida: ‘We’re going to do everything we can for you’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by the Kansas City Beacon.  April Shabazz began driving for Uber full time this summer. The job wasn’t new for her. Rideshare driving had been her side gig for three years, along with work as a tax preparer. Shabazz, a member of Stand Up KC and the Missouri Workers Center, likes Uber’s flexible […]

The post Rideshare drivers in Kansas City’s gig market want more protections from companies appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In the late 1970s, inflation pushed wages into higher tax brackets and squeezed homeowners as property tax bills rose with the value of their residences. A southwest Missouri businessman named Mel Hancock, inspired by the California tax limitation ballot measure known as Proposition 13, enlisted the Missouri Farm Bureau and put his own plan for […]

The post After four decades, Hancock Amendment continues to shape Missouri tax policy appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in a Thursday hearing grilled the top leader of federal prisons on how the agency would address staffing shortages and reports of abuse of incarcerated people. “The Bureau (of Prisons) has been riddled with mismanagement and, sadly, with scandal,” said the chair of the committee, Illinois […]

The post Federal prisons ‘riddled with mismanagement’ probed by U.S. Senate panel appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The eldest grandson of President Harry Truman pulled down a black cloak to unveil a towering bronze statue of his late grandfather during a Thursday ceremony at the U.S. Capitol to dedicate the sculpture honoring the 33rd president. “My grandfather was a modest man,” Clifton Truman Daniel said. “And, frankly, slightly embarrassed by […]

The post Statue of Missouri’s Harry Truman dedicated at the U.S. Capitol appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri House on Thursday abandoned its attempt to cut corporate income taxes after Gov. Mike Parson signaled his opposition to the move. Instead, House Republican leaders put a Senate-passed tax cut plan up for a vote, but not before one Democrat called “shenanigans” because the move blocked plans to offer amendments. By a 98-32 […]

The post Legislature sends $764 million income tax cut to Missouri governor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Massachusetts has become the latest state to settle with health insurance giant Centene Corp. over allegations that it overbilled the state’s Medicaid program for pharmacy services, KHN has learned. St. Louis-based Centene, the nation’s largest Medicaid managed-care insurer, will pay $14.2 million, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. An official announcement is expected later […]

The post Centene agrees to pay Massachusetts $14 million over Medicaid prescription claims appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Eighteenth-century French diplomat Joseph de Maistre famously articulated, “In a democracy, people get the leaders they deserve.” In light of The New York Times’ recent coverage and Business Insider’s ongoing “Conflicted Congress” investigation into violations of 2012’s STOCK Act, electing better leaders can start with requiring greater financial transparency to quickly reveal potential conflicts of […]

The post Electing better leaders can start with requiring greater financial transparency appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators from both parties said Wednesday they hope to negotiate an energy permitting reform bill yet this year, reviving efforts to streamline the process after West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III had to pull back his plan amid broad opposition. The Manchin proposal was attached to a must-pass government funding bill […]

The post Manchin seeks bipartisan ‘sweet spot’ for a new try at his energy permitting bill appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri House will debate a tax cut bill Thursday that goes far beyond the special session agenda set by Gov. Mike Parson after the Budget Committee on Wednesday added an amendment repealing the corporate income tax to a Senate-passed measure. The committee approved the legislation, which has a total cost approaching $2 billion, on […]

The post Cost of tax cut swells as Missouri House committee seeks to eliminate corporate tax appeared first on Missouri Independent.