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Callie House walked out of the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City on August 1, 1918, and headed back to her five children and job as a “washerwoman” in Tennessee.  Her crime – mail fraud.  The federal government claimed that the organization she’d helped lead since 1894 – the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and […]

The post Reparations for Black Americans seeing unprecedented national support, advocates say appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Under the threat of a lawsuit, the state education department late Thursday reversed plans to close the doors on the first meeting of a commission appointed to study teacher recruitment and retention. The initial closing raised concerns from some lawmakers who serve on the commission and the Missouri National Education Association, worried the plan to […]

The post Lawsuit threat forces open teacher retention commission meeting appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The private and public conflict between Donald Trump and Mike Pence over certifying the 2020 election results put the vice president within steps of the Jan. 6 attackers, the U.S. House committee investigating the insurrection said Thursday. As the mob approached the U.S. Senate chamber in the Capitol, the vice president’s Secret Service retinue hustled […]

The post Pence was within 40 feet of mob inflamed by Trump, Jan. 6 committee reveals appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Thursday lost on almost every point raised to prevent dismissal of his office’s lawsuit against Columbia Public Schools over its mask mandate. Circuit Judge Josh Devine, in a ruling in one of the highest-profile mask cases, wrote that the district had not required students to wear masks for more than […]

The post ‘No live controversy exists’: Judge rules against Schmitt in Columbia schools mask case appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A proposal that would bring ranked-choice voting to Missouri as part of the biggest change in state elections since the introduction of the partisan primary may not have enough signatures to make the November ballot. The constitutional amendment proposed by Better Elections needed at least 171,592 signatures, properly distributed among six of the state’s eight […]

The post Ranked-choice voting proposal may miss Missouri ballot, campaign says appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. soldiers deployed to bases in Afghanistan and Iraq often lived and worked alongside large pits where batteries, plastics, rubber, chemicals and other garbage would be lit on fire with jet fuel.  The legacy of those burn pits followed thousands of military members back to the United States, where they have suffered from […]

The post U.S. Senate passes landmark legislation to aid veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange appeared first on Missouri Independent.

More than four dozen Republican state lawmakers – including nine seeking higher office – want U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt to reverse his position and oppose the U.S. Senate gun control deal he helped negotiate. Blunt was part of a bipartisan group of 20 senators who crafted a bill that would give incentives to states to […]

The post Group of Missouri Republican state lawmakers push Blunt to oppose Senate gun deal appeared first on Missouri Independent.

It turns out, they are – they are just not leading yet. They are taking a bus to grade school instead of driving to the statehouse. In 2020, 6.1 million U.S. children (about the population of Missouri) lived in households where both adults and children struggled to keep food on the table. Since early 2020, […]

The post What if our leaders were hungry? | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Parents of children under 5 are one step closer to vaccinating their young kids against COVID-19 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s outside vaccine panel recommended emergency use authorizations of two COVID-19 vaccines Wednesday. The 21-person Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted unanimously to recommend the FDA approve emergency use […]

The post FDA outside advisers recommend Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccines for kids under 5 appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This article was originally published by Kaiser Health News. MEXICO, Mo. — When the new corporate owners of two rural hospitals suddenly announced they would stop admitting patients one Friday in March, Kayla Schudel, a nurse, stood resolute in the nearly empty lobby of Audrain Community Hospital: “You’ll be seen; the ER is open.” The […]

The post Buy and Bust: When private equity comes for rural hospitals appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said he is comfortable with the bipartisan deal Senate Democrats and Republicans struck on gun control legislation, signaling that he will join in passing a bill when it comes to a vote. “For myself, I’m comfortable with the framework,” the Kentucky Republican said during a […]

The post U.S. Senate GOP leader McConnell ‘comfortable’ with framework for gun control bill appeared first on Missouri Independent.

St. Louis has become the first Missouri city to completely ban no-knock search warrants, or warrants that allow police officers to enter a property without announcing their presence. Surrounded by family members whose loved ones were killed during no-knock raids, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones signed an executive order Tuesday banning the practice that has […]

The post St. Louis mayor signs executive order banning no-knock search warrants appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Lacy Mason was a 21-year-old graduate student in Atlanta when she started rationing her insulin. As a Type 1 diabetic, she needs to take insulin every day for survival. But when the cost surged to $960 a month, Mason could no longer afford it. She had aged out of Medicaid and her student […]

The post As insulin costs soar, diabetics say a $35 cap on co-pays is not enough appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Former President Donald Trump planted the seeds for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by continually promoting theories that he lost the 2020 election through fraud, even though top advisers and officials told him there was no evidence to support the claim, according to testimony a U.S. House committee presented Monday. In its […]

The post Trump spread claims of election fraud debunked by his own legal team, Jan. 6 panel says appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The White House and Democratic leaders expressed support Monday for a framework on gun control legislation that 10 Senate Democrats and 10 Senate Republicans, including U.S. Roy Blunt of Missouri, agreed to over the weekend.  The second-deadliest school shooting in a decade in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were murdered […]

The post Bipartisan U.S. Senate deal on gun control met with praise from Biden, Democrats appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s largest and most influential anti-abortion organization is backing primary challengers to several incumbent GOP state senators, citing votes against stripping funding from Planned Parenthood through state law. In letters sent last week to candidates, the Missouri Right to Life Political Action Committee informed some they were selected “as the only candidate in your race […]

The post Missouri Right to Life backs primary challengers to some incumbent GOP state senators appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — State and local health departments remain in limbo over whether they’ll need to single-handedly fund their own COVID-19 vaccines and treatments as a stalemate in Congress drags into its fourth month. The Biden administration has raised alarm bells about the risk of inaction after sending Congress a request for $22.5 billion in early […]

The post Will it be ‘every state for themselves’ as the federal COVID cash dries up? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

You know Eric and Eric and David and Billy, Mark and Lucas and Trudy and Vicky. But do you recall the rest of the field at all? If not, it might be surprising to find out that Missouri’s Senate race this year drew 34 entrants. Only four will make it to the general election, including […]

The post Lesser-known candidates struggle for spotlight in Missouri Senate primaries appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Amazon and its lobbyists are claiming that passing Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s Big Tech bill would lead to the end of Prime, or at the very least, significantly impair the service. This is such an absurd, desperate lie. What the bill actually does is force Amazon to compete in ways that will benefit consumers and small […]

The post If competition would kill Amazon Prime, maybe it’s not that great | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The opening U.S. House hearing in a series on the Jan. 6 attack included some eye-opening new details about the events of the day and the broader plot to halt the peaceful transfer of presidential power. The nine-member investigative committee put former President Donald Trump at the center of the plot, while accusing leaders of two […]

The post 5 things we learned about Jan. 6 and Trump from the first hearing appeared first on Missouri Independent.