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Conservative Cassville Republican Emory Melton, a state senator from 1973 to 1997, didn’t like it when new programs with ongoing costs ended up in Missouri’s budget.  “There’s nothing that approaches eternal life on this earth like a government program,” he told an oral history interviewer in 1996. But when fellow Missouri lawmakers tapped the treasury […]

The post Tending pea patches: Senators add dozens of small items for districts to Missouri state budget appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After former Gov. Eric Greitens used its facilities as a prop for a campaign video, the Kansas City Police Department this weekend tried to blunt criticism it is playing political favoritism. On Friday afternoon, Greitens tweeted a 15-second video telling followers that he was getting ready for a ride along with Kansas City Police Department […]

The post Kansas City police feel heat after Eric Greitens posts campaign video showing ride along appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As a college history major, I have always followed the motto society needs to learn from history lest we are doomed to repeat it. Now, almost 40 years after earning that degree, I find a great deal of the history we need to learn from is not what is recorded in textbooks but things that […]

The post Here’s the new strongmen. The same as the old strongmen. There’s no backing down | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Just under 15 years ago, a group of people banded together hoping to play some music and do some good. Kansas City musician Abigail Henderson, 31, had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. To support her, her friends did what musicians do; they rallied together to play a show. The group put together a three-day […]

The post ‘Think of music as a nutrient:’ How a Kansas City nonprofit helps artists keep playing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Across the country, attitudes toward cannabis are becoming more permissive and accepting, but partisan gridlock in Congress virtually ensures that legislation to decriminalize marijuana will languish and die in the U.S. Senate. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (MORE) by a narrow 220-204 margin.  The […]

The post Federal attempts to legalize marijuana flail, even as public support grows appeared first on Missouri Independent.

President Joe Biden’s climate agenda took a hit this month when the Interior Department said it would open 144,000 acres of federal land up for oil and gas development to comply with a court order to restart fossil fuel development. The announcement marked yet another setback for a presidential climate plan that was once seen […]

The post 3 big reasons why the Biden climate agenda is floundering appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Eviction moratoriums designed to keep people in their homes during the pandemic have drawn the ire of Missouri lawmakers, with Republicans pushing a plan to prohibit them in the future.  State Rep. Chris Brown, R-Kansas City, is sponsoring a measure that would prohibit any county, municipality, or political subdivision from imposing or enforcing a moratorium […]

The post Missouri Republicans push plan to prohibit local eviction moratoriums appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Democratic state Rep. Wiley Price is threatening to sue the Missouri House over a $22,000 penalty incurred as part of his censure last year for allegedly lying about a sexual encounter with an intern and retaliating against the House employee who reported it.  In a Feb. 15 letter to the House clerk — obtained by […]

The post Democrat censured by Missouri House after ethics investigation threatens lawsuit appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security expects to be short on cash for border and immigration operations later this year after the federal government ends a Trump-era policy that prevents migrants from claiming asylum during a health crisis. A halt to the program, known as Title 42, has divided Democrats, some of whom […]

The post U.S. immigration, border agencies face funding shortfall after public health order ends appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Southwest Missouri Republican upset with Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s aggressive campaign of lawsuits against local governments and school districts cut $500,000 from Schmitt’s budget on Wednesday. Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, won committee support for cutting money added by the Missouri House. The extra funds would have allowed Schmitt to hire […]

The post Missouri Senate committee cuts attorney general’s budget over COVID lawsuits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri is offering Department of Corrections employees routinely shorted on their pay a $49.5 million settlement to drop a lawsuit scheduled for trial in June. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the money Tuesday as a budget amendment from Gov. Mike Parson’s administration. The budget will also include ongoing funds to pay officers for the time […]

The post Missouri offering $49.5M to settle overtime claims for corrections officers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri would pay its full share of public school transportation costs for the first time in more than 20 years under a budget proposal approved Tuesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The committee added $214 million for school transportation to the $114 million included in the record-setting $46.5 billion budget plan approved by the Missouri […]

The post Record Missouri budget grows as Senate adds spending, House works on $1B tax credit plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lawmakers in Congress have been promising to tackle rising drug prices for years, but so far there’s been little action. Now, Congress may be running out of time as bigger issues like the war in Ukraine and inflation crowd out long-standing issues with more immediate concerns. The outrageous price of medicines has made prescription drug […]

The post Capping prescription drug costs is not a substitute for lowering prices | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by Investigate Midwest. Foreign investment in U.S. cropland has nearly tripled in the past decade, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. The total cropland controlled by foreign interests in 2020 was 10.9 million acres, up from 4.1 million acres in 2010. This increase has been largely driven by foreign-owned […]

The post Foreign investment in U.S. cropland nearly tripled in past decade, USDA data shows appeared first on Missouri Independent.

What started as a bipartisan effort to improve Missouri’s literacy rates through a children’s book has evolved into legislation that lawmakers hope will boost students’ reading success. A bill heard Tuesday in the House Education Committee would require schools to start assessing students on their reading levels in kindergarten and ensure students who are behind […]

The post Student literacy bill winning bipartisan support among Missouri lawmakers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A year ago, a movement of organizers hoping to curb police violence and transform public safety claimed a major victory – helping Tishaura Jones get elected mayor of St. Louis. In her first week, she signed an executive order to close loopholes in the civilian oversight process of police misconduct investigations and redirected $4 million […]

The post St. Louis mayor vowed to transform public safety. Her first year saw progress, pushback appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Bryant Wilks was a bright and driven 17 year old in Columbia. Already a manager at Dairy Queen, he was on track to graduate high school early and attend college to study business. But he became one of 14 people killed in the central Missouri college town in 2020, a record year for homicides. For […]

The post ‘We are at a standstill’: Columbia residents fed up with little action on gun violence appeared first on Missouri Independent.

With the end of the legislative session only weeks away, and organizers of an initiative petition campaign sounding the alarm about an even more pressing deadline, dueling efforts to legalize marijuana in Missouri face uncertain fates. In the legislature, GOP state Rep. Ron Hicks is sponsoring a bill to legalize possession and use of marijuana for […]

The post Time running short for dueling Missouri marijuana legalization efforts appeared first on Missouri Independent.

On one end of the Missouri Capitol last week, Sen. Greg Razer was making yet another unsuccessful attempt to convince his colleagues to enact legal protections in state law for LGBTQ Missourians. “I’m still perceived as controversial,” Razer, a Kansas City Democrat who is one of just six openly LGBTQ lawmakers in the legislature and […]

The post LGBTQ protections languish while Missouri lawmakers push transgender sports bans appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After 28 hours of labor, Adrianne Blakemore remembers the incredible joy she felt when her first son came into the world in 2017.  But she also felt completely exhausted. She wished she would’ve had a doula – someone dedicated to caring for the mother during and after pregnancy. Last year, Blakemore decided to take doula […]

The post Missouri House advances funds for doula training program named after Cora Faith Walker appeared first on Missouri Independent.