MoInd 📰

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate advanced a catchall spending package Tuesday that would provide billions to aid Ukraine’s war effort, help communities throughout the country recover from natural disasters and keep the federal government funded through mid-December. Democrats and Republicans voted 72-23 to move the measure toward a final vote later this week — a […]

The post Stopgap spending bill advances in U.S. Senate after Manchin pulls his energy plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A nearly 50-year-old federal law backed by Republicans allows the use of federal dollars for abortions in cases of rape, incest or to save a patient’s life. That so-called Hyde Amendment, which is folded into spending bills, is less stringent than new or planned abortion bans in some GOP-led states, where governors and […]

The post Republicans in Congress say they’d keep federal abortion funding in cases of rape, incest appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Congress is on track to approve billions in funding this week to help offset rising home heating and cooling costs as well as boost aid for communities recovering from natural disasters. The package, unveiled overnight, would provide $2.5 billion in assistance for the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire that scorched much of New Mexico […]

The post Billions for natural disasters, home energy included in stopgap spending bill in Congress appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A trial on the state’s restricted Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood will be delayed until December, after the reproductive health care provider was given permission Tuesday to drop five counts in its lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Social Services. Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem Tuesday granted Planned Parenthood’s motion to amend its […]

The post Trial on Missouri’s restricted Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood pushed back appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Hoping to bring awareness to the need to combat hunger, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson officially declared September “Hunger Action Month” — lighting the state Capitol and governor’s mansion in orange to encourage involvement in efforts to end hunger in local communities. “When people think of hunger and food insecurity, they may often think of people […]

The post Missouri governor’s symbolic action on hunger lights up Democrats appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This commentary was originally published by Investigate Midwest. Anybody who has kept an eye on agricultural doings knows that consolidation is occurring at an alarming rate. In the past couple of decades, competition between agricultural giants has become a fading memory. Even this short list is staggering: China’s WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods – the largest producer […]

The post Foreign investors are snapping up U.S. land. But exactly how much, who knows? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Nye County, a rural enclave in Nevada, has positioned itself as the epicenter of a Donald Trump-fueled conspiracy about the security of electronic vote tabulators. The Nye County Commission voted in March to make the county one of the first to act on the false narratives that machines that count votes are rigged. County Clerk Mark Kampf, […]

The post A conspiracy-fueled push to count ballots by hand gains traction appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Passing a package of tax credits for rural economic projects should have been the easy part of Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s special session agenda. A bill with everything he requested passed with big bipartisan majorities during the regular session, the only opposition coming from conservative Republicans who dislike tax credits generally. But when the bill […]

The post Missouri House leaders scramble to save the governor’s agriculture incentives bill appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s highest ranking legislator is asking federal prosecutors to intervene and shut down Agape Boarding School, alleging “undeniable corruption” and “inaction” by local officials who he says “could do the right thing and have consistently chosen not to.” House Speaker Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, made his request last Wednesday in a letter to Teresa Moore, United […]

The post Top Missouri lawmaker urges federal prosecutors to intervene in Agape abuse case appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In his masterful biography The Power Broker, Robert Caro describes how New York City’s “master builder” Robert Moses, became a master destroyer of communities because of a fundamental misunderstanding. Moses thought that if he just blasted enough highways through enough neighborhoods it would end the city’s chronic traffic congestion.  But each time he opened a new […]

The post Fixing Missouri child welfare: Darrell Missey has it backwards appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Sipping “pink pussyhat punch” and “empowerment” cocktails, women leaders from Kansas and Missouri gathered Thursday in downtown Kansas City vowing to “smash the patriarchy” by encouraging more women to run for office. Hundreds of politicians and activists turned out for the 50th anniversary of the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus, where a parade of candidates […]

The post Kansas and Missouri women politicians celebrate history ahead of tough election appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans gathered inside a warehouse in Southwestern Pennsylvania on Friday to outline the legislation they’d try to enact if voters give them back control of that chamber following the November midterm elections. Speaking from an HVAC factory in Monongahela, about an hour south of Pittsburgh, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said […]

The post U.S. House GOP outlines agenda in bid for control in the midterms appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A revamped national hotline that aims to aid people in a mental health crisis saw a 34% increase in calls from Missouri in August from a year prior. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline transitioned nationwide July 16 to the new three-digit 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which aims to assist callers in moments of crisis […]

The post August calls from Missouri to new 988 crisis hotline up 34% from last year appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by the Kansas City Beacon. For years, Kansas City workers and organizers have fought to increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The demand was front and center recently when workers at the Taco Bell fast-food restaurant on Wornall Road in Kansas City’s Waldo neighborhood held a walkout over claims […]

The post The fight for a living wage in Kansas City no longer stops at $15 an hour appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Faith leaders pressed Congress to pass voting rights legislation, a $15 minimum wage and a permanent expansion of the child tax credit during a Thursday briefing on Capitol Hill. “Poverty is a policy choice,” Rev. Dr. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, said to lawmakers. Barber, who is the pastor of Greenleaf […]

The post Faith leaders urge minimum wage hike, expanded child tax credit as Congress nears recess appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A St. Louis ordinance aimed at transforming the way the city investigates allegations of police misconduct went into effect on Sept. 2.  A week later, three police organizations successfully got a preliminary injunction, putting a pause on the city’s expansion of civilian oversight of police work.  In a decision with statewide implications, St. Louis Circuit […]

The post Legal fight over civilian oversight of St. Louis police could have statewide implications appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The news, under Noble Health letterhead, arrived at 5:05 p.m. on a Friday, with the subject line: “Urgent Notice.” Audrain Community Hospital, Paul Huemann’s workplace of 32 years, was letting workers go. Word travels fast in a small town. Huemann’s wife, Kym, first heard the bad news in the car when a friend who’d gotten […]

The post After Platinum Health took control, all workers at two Missouri hospitals were fired appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will send more than $500 million in loans and grants to telecommunications providers to bring high-speed internet to rural areas across 20 states, Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday. The department will spend $360 million in grants and $141 million in loans through its ReConnect Program to benefit sparsely populated communities, including in […]

The post USDA to spend $500 million extending high-speed internet to rural America appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed on Wednesday a bill updating a 19th-century law in an attempt to prevent the subversion of future presidential elections. The Presidential Election Reform Act, which passed 229-203, is meant to deter a repeat of the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, in which the U.S. Capitol was attacked by a mob of […]

The post U.S. House passes bill reforming Electoral Count Act to stop Jan. 6 repeat appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Cedar County judge on Wednesday again delayed ruling on the state’s efforts to close Agape Boarding School, the Stockton-based reform school facing mounting abuse allegations — allowing the school to stay open until at least the next hearing, which is scheduled for Monday.

The post Missouri judge once again delays decision on closing Agape Boarding School appeared first on Missouri Independent.