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After being imprisoned for nearly 30 years, Lamar Johnson finally got to tell his story to a courtroom on Thursday, when he testified that he didn’t kill his friend Marcus Boyd in 1995. “To this day, I don’t know why people suspect that I killed him,” said Johnson, who had been roommates with Boyd at […]

The post Lamar Johnson takes the stand to argue his innocence of 1994 murder appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The U.S. Senate late Wednesday unanimously passed a bill to ban federal employees from downloading TikTok on their work phones. Critics of TikTok, a widely popular social media platform, say the app creates national security concerns because of its ability to track users’ data — and because the Chinese government can compel that data from […]

The post U.S. Senate votes to bar TikTok from government devices as state bans multiply appeared first on Missouri Independent.

With the right to same-sex marriage now protected by federal statute, a Jackson County Republican lawmaker believes it is time for Missouri to retire a portion of the state constitution that says the only valid marriages are “between a man and a woman.” Rep. Chris Sander, R-Lone Jack, for the second year has introduced a […]

The post Missouri Republican pushes for constitutional change to recognize same-sex marriages appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Survivors of a deadly attack at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs and other advocates told a U.S. House panel Wednesday that political rhetoric and policy fights dehumanize LGBTQ people and contribute to such violence. Democrats and Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee largely sympathized with the survivors, but drew different conclusions […]

The post Club Q survivors at U.S. House hearing denounce anti-LGBTQ rhetoric appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Housing Development Commission has approved over $40 million worth of federal and state tax credits to help developers build 1,791 low-income housing units around the state.  In a meeting last week, the commission agreed to issue half the credits on an accelerated basis — the second year they’ve adopted the approach, which proponents […]

The post Missouri awards over $40 million in low-income housing tax credits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The prosecutor in Lamar Johnson’s 1995 murder trial told a St. Louis courtroom on Wednesday that he would have never brought the case in the first place without the testimony of an eyewitness who has since recanted. “I didn’t have any evidence,” said then-assistant St. Louis Circuit Attorney Dwight Warren.  Wednesday was the third day […]

The post Former St. Louis prosecutor says Lamar Johnson conviction relied on recanted witness appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Congress is trying to wrap up its remaining must-pass bills before leaving for the holidays — but a split between Senate Republican and House GOP leaders could hamstring the all-important task of funding government operations and averting a partial shutdown. Senate Republicans are working with Democrats in both chambers to negotiate a major […]

The post U.S. House and Senate GOP at odds over massive government spending deal appeared first on Missouri Independent.

All y’all know I love to read, I always have and one of the joys of owning a bookstore was recommending books to customers of all ages. Once someone discovers the pleasure of escaping mentally with a great book, that wanting to read never goes away. This grandmother is stunned to learn that some of […]

The post The angry grandmother’s ‘Twelve Banned Books of Christmas’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Members of a U.S. House committee disagreed at a Tuesday hearing about whether more aggressive federal regulation would have protected customers from the collapse of cryptocurrency firm FTX and the alleged fraud of its founder, Samuel Bankman-Fried. Lawmakers at the four-hour House Financial Services Committee hearing appeared to view the unfolding scandal around Bankman-Fried, arrested […]

The post FTX failure divides lawmakers on how tough to get with crypto regulation appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Same-sex and interracial couples had many of their marriage rights codified Tuesday when President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan marriage equality bill during a ceremony attended by thousands outside the White House. In a brief speech, Biden told supporters on the South Lawn that “marriage is a simple proposition — who do you […]

The post Biden signs law extending marriage protections to same-sex and interracial couples appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Federal regulators have issued warnings repeatedly over the life of the Keystone Pipeline that operators aren’t doing enough to prevent corrosion and don’t follow proper construction procedures. But despite a history of warnings and large spills, the Keystone Pipeline failed again last week, dumping 14,000 barrels — or 588,000 gallons — of oil in northern […]

The post Keystone Pipeline has history of spills, warnings and fines. Kansas spill is largest yet appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Shoppers hoping for a little relief at the grocery store for their holiday meals will be disappointed by the Consumer Price Index released Tuesday. The CPI shows inflation cooling but food prices — particularly for some holiday staples — remain high. The CPI increased 0.1% in November, which was lower than some economists expected. Over […]

The post Here’s why food prices remain stubbornly high even as inflation cools appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Scientists at a U.S. national laboratory announced Tuesday that they achieved fusion ignition, a breakthrough decades in the making that could have major implications for clean energy. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco said that on Dec. 5, for the first time anywhere in the world, they managed to produce more energy from […]

The post Scientists announce a fusion breakthrough with big implications for clean energy appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The former director of Agape Boarding School pleaded with a Cole County judge on Monday to keep himself off the state’s central registry of child abuse and neglect so he can keep working with children. Bryan Clemensen was the long-time director of the Stockton-based reform school for troubled boys until last month, he testified Monday.  […]

The post Longtime Agape director testifies in Missouri court to stay off child abuse registry appeared first on Missouri Independent.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner has waited more than three years for the chance to argue the innocence of Lamar Johnson, who was convicted of murder in 1995.  She finally got the hearing to set aside Johnson’s murder conviction on Monday, day one of a trial expected to last all week. “This is a […]

The post ‘Historic moment’: Lamar Johnson wrongful conviction case goes before a St. Louis judge appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Citing concerns about the environment, food security and the fate of family farmers, Missouri legislators have filed several bills that would restrict foreign ownership of agricultural land. Both Democratic and Republican senators have pre-filed bills ahead of the January start of the 2023 Missouri General Assembly session to halt foreign purchases of Missouri farmland.  “Just […]

The post Bipartisan group of lawmakers push to restrict foreign ownership of Missouri farmland appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The ongoing focus in the public square should not be on former President Donald Trump’s pronouncement that all rules, regulations, laws and articles found in the Constitution of the United States be terminated so he can be reinstated as president. Instead, the concern should be more about what long-term impact such a statement has on […]

The post Civic education and engagement must become higher priorities appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Last weekend, the team representing the United States at the World Cup in Qatar crashed out of the tournament following a 3-1 loss against the Netherlands. As a fan, I have tracked this team from qualifying in CONCACAF to pre-tournament friendlies, from the group stage into the knockout round, monitoring the pre-match lineups and coaching decisions. […]

The post When the World Cup comes to Kansas City, tough questions will follow appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Housing development Commission has delivered $445 million of the roughly $593 million total, MHDC Director Kip Stetzler said Friday. 

The post Missouri has roughly $150 million left to distribute in federal housing assistance appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The issue of how far legislators can go when they change a bill with amendments will be debated again Tuesday afternoon in a Cole County courtroom. Overland, a city in St. Louis County, is asking Circuit Judge Daniel Green to throw out a 2021 law used as a hammer by Attorney General Eric Schmitt in […]

The post Lawsuit seeks to toss Missouri law used by AG to sue schools over COVID policies appeared first on Missouri Independent.