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There is an issue on Missouri’s statewide general election ballot that I will be watching to see if Missourians continue a trend of rejecting the decisions of their elected officials. It is the initiative petition proposal to legalize possession and sale of marijuana. That’s an idea that has made no headway in the legislature. In […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Missouri voters vs. their elected officials appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic intensified economic hardship and unemployment, Missouri saw one of the nation’s sharpest drops in participation in WIC, a federal benefits program for low-income women and children, according to a report released last week. The steep decline, the report found, was associated with Missouri’s burdensome system of dispersing benefits. Missouri began transitioning […]

The post Missouri participation in public benefits program WIC fell sharply during pandemic appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Mizzou student asked me last month how I was able to succeed as a Latina journalist in a white-dominated industry. The question followed a similar theme of those asked by other members of the Latin American Student Association, which had invited me to the university’s Columbia campus to speak as part of Hispanic Heritage […]

The post The ‘Adelante method’ helped me succeed as a Latina journalist appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress are fanning out to every district in the country, leaving the wonky floor debates on Capitol Hill behind for the campaign trail in advance of the crucial Nov. 8 midterm elections. Democrats are fighting to hold their razor-thin majorities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, citing two years of […]

The post The battle for control of Congress: Abortion, inflation, crime and Biden appeared first on Missouri Independent.

FULTON – The invasion of Ukraine awakened free countries to the threat posed by Russia and Vladimir Putin, but whether they will sustain that resistance to dictators is an open question, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov said Friday during a speech at Westminster College. On the Missouri campus where Winston Churchill warned in 1946 […]

The post ‘Winter is here’: Chess champion Kasparov warns that Ukraine war is a test for democracies appeared first on Missouri Independent.

I started writing this post from the comfort of a coffee shop, my mug steaming over with warming liquid, the fancy acai bowl with peanut butter I ordered filling my belly. It’s a scene I was once familiar with as a city dweller and one I gravitate to when I want to write. Coffee shops […]

The post Farm life teaches lessons I didn’t want to learn appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced executive actions that would pardon thousands of people with prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. Biden then called on governors to follow suit with state offenses for simple marijuana possession, saying that “just as no one should be in a Federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, […]

The post Biden to pardon all federal offenses for simple marijuana possession, review criminalization appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Up until last year, if elected prosecutors believed a person was wrongfully convicted, there wasn’t anything they could do about it.  A state law, passed in May 2021, changed that, giving them a pathway to present evidence of innocence to a judge. And since then, three prosecutors have filed motions to set people free from […]

The post Prosecutors’ biggest roadblock in wrongful conviction cases? Missouri’s attorney general appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s legislative special session dealing with tax cuts is a reminder of how often in past decades tax-cut bills have become food fights for getting tax burdens reduced for a variety of special interests. The governor’s original proposal was to cut state income tax rates and extend the expiration of existing tax breaks for various […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Legislative food fights appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Women running in governors’ races throughout the country are potentially set to break records if elected this November. In total there are 25 women governor candidates nominated by the two major political parties this election cycle, sharply up from 16 in 2018. Democrats hold 16 of those nominations, with nine GOP women candidates […]

The post Women could claim the most governors’ seats in U.S. history in November appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Kansas and Missouri’s largest utilities earned nearly failing grades for their progress transitioning to renewable sources of energy, according to a new report from a national environmental group.  The Sierra Club’s “Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges” report gave Evergy an 18% for its investments in clean energy and moves to retire coal plants. Ameren […]

The post Environmental group gives Kansas, Missouri utilities low marks for clean energy transition appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Every child deserves to live safely in a home in their community. Too many Missouri children enter the child welfare system and leave their families and communities for reasons unrelated to harm or neglect, but due to misdirected responses to family and community hardship. This flawed approach not only harms children, families and communities, but […]

The post Missouri is failing our children. The solution is right there in our communities appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Most Missouri state employees are “at-will” workers not entitled to seniority protections or grievance rights when they are fired, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. In an opinion that overturned a Cole County Circuit Court decision, the high court declared that a 2018 law repealing the merit system for most state workers is constitutional. Three […]

The post Missouri Supreme Court upholds law stripping state workers of merit system protections appeared first on Missouri Independent.

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.