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MoInd šŸ“°

Crowded GOP primary field vying to be Missouriā€™s next lieutenant governor

4 months 1 week ago
When Eric Greitens was forced to resign from the Missouri governorā€™s office in 2018, he was replaced by Lt. Gov. Mike Parson. Two years later, Parson won a full term of his own.Ā  Being next in line for governor is the major constitutional requirement for the lieutenant governor. In Missouri, unlike many other states, the […]
Clara Bates

Biden commends NATO strength, pledges more aid for Ukraine against Russia

4 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON ā€” President Joe Biden said NATO ā€œis more powerful than everā€ in remarks Tuesday to honor the 75th anniversary of the alliance and reaffirm allied support for Ukraine one day after Russian missile strikes on a childrenā€™s hospitalĀ killedĀ dozens in Kyiv. Biden spoke at the annual North American Treaty Organizationā€™s summit happening this week in […]
Ashley Murray

United by their objections to Trump, congressional Dems largely close ranks behind Biden

4 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON ā€” Congressional Democrats appeared to quell some inner tumult over supporting President Joe Bidenā€™s reelection campaign, after highly anticipated internal meetings Tuesday showed the president retained considerable support from the Congressional Black Caucus and other lawmakers in public statements. Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Democrats from both chambers largely declined to detail their […]
Ashley Murray

Missouriā€™s long-awaited I-70 expansion project begins near Columbia

4 months 1 week ago
Construction crews began work Monday night on an ambitious $2.8 billion project that will expand Interstate 70 to three lanes across Missouri. Crews are first tackling a stretch from Route J at Millersburg to Route M at Hatton, 7 miles of a 20-mile section that will ultimately add a third lane in each direction from […]
Grace Burwell

Missouri governor on Kansas City Chiefs: ā€˜Iā€™m not too worried about Kansas at this pointā€™

4 months 1 week ago
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Monday he doesnā€™t think the Kansas City Chiefs want to leave Arrowhead Stadium for Kansas, though he acknowledged he hasnā€™t actually talked to the teamā€™s owners. Speaking to reporters after a bill signing in Kansas City, Parson said he thought the reigning Super Bowl champion wasnā€™t that interested in building […]
Allison Kite

Democratic rivals for Missouri governor see abortion rights as path to victory over GOP

4 months 1 week ago
When Crystal Quade and Mike Hamra traveled to the Democratic Governors Association Conference in Minneapolis last month, they came with their stump speeches ready.Ā  Yet before they could push their own platforms as gubernatorial candidates, they had to convince people that a Democrat from Missouri was worth paying attention to.Ā  ā€œFolks are excited about Missouri […]
Rebecca Rivas

Missouri governor signs tax break for Kansas City nuclear weapons parts manufacturer

4 months 2 weeks ago

Developers planning to expand a Kansas City facility manufacturing nuclear weapons components will get a break on sales tax under legislation Gov. Mike Parson signed Monday. Parson held a signing ceremony at the site, currently a gravel lot across from the National Nuclear Security Administrationā€™s south Kansas City campus. The expansion is expected to cost […]

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Allison Kite

Donald Trump endorses Bob Onder over GOP rivals in Missouriā€™s 3rd Congressional District primary

4 months 2 weeks ago

Former state Sen. Bob Onder, one of the leading Republican candidates in Missouriā€™s 3rd Congressional District, on Monday landed the endorsement of former President Donald Trump in the seven-way contest for the Republican nomination. Trump, via statement on the Truth Social platform, said Onder ā€œis an incredible America First Patriotā€ and a ā€œhighly respected physician […]

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Rudi Keller

Judge rules Missouri AG has no right to medical records of transgender minors at Wash U

4 months 2 weeks ago

A St. Louis judge on Friday determined Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has no right to access unredacted private health information of transgender children treated at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Childrenā€™s Hospital. St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Joseph Whyte ruled that Washington University does not have to provide the unredacted medical […]

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Annelise Hanshaw

Biden tells congressional Dems he is staying in the race, urges end to speculation

4 months 2 weeks ago

President Joe Biden pledged Monday to stay in his race for reelection, even after a weekend in which a growing number of Democrats asked for him to withdraw and a key U.S. House Republican called for an investigation into the presidentā€™s doctor. InĀ a letterĀ to congressional Democrats, Biden argued that the calls for him to drop […]

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Jacob Fischler

ā€˜Compoundedā€™ weight-loss drugs are a growing problem for state regulators

4 months 2 weeks ago

Anna Wysockā€™s ā€œahaā€ moment arrived in an Ohio amusement park, as she got ready to ride a roller coaster with her 7-year-old son: The safety bar across her lap would only click into place once. The attendant told her it had to click twice, or she couldnā€™t ride. She was mortified. ā€œI had to do […]

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Anna Claire Vollers

Missouri attorney general still working through 2023 Sunshine Law backlogĀ 

4 months 2 weeks ago

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has nearly completed work on a backlog of requests for records submitted to his office by the public last year.Ā  That means work can finally begin processing requests submitted this year.Ā  The 2023 requests were initially supposed to be completed by May. But a spokeswoman for the attorney general said […]

The post Missouri attorney general still working through 2023 Sunshine Law backlogĀ  appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jason Hancock

Strike up the band: Missouri moves to the front of the MAGA parade

4 months 2 weeks ago

A recent national poll asked prospective voters in some states how Donald Trumpā€™s conviction on 34 felony charges would impact their choice in this yearā€™s presidential race. In Missouri, 31% of the respondents said that Trumpā€™s new status as a convicted felon would make them more likely to vote for him. I had to read […]

The post Strike up the band: Missouri moves to the front of the MAGA parade appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Barbara Shelly

Missouri GOP snubs state convention results in new presidential delegate selections

4 months 2 weeks ago

All of Missouriā€™s votes at the Republican National Convention are pledged to the nomination of former President Donald Trump, but the fight over who will cast those votes is putting new rips in the fabric of the state GOP. On Wednesday, the executive committee of the Missouri Republican Party chose 27 at-large delegates and 26 […]

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Rudi Keller

Biden in first TV interview since debate denies medical condition: ā€˜It was a bad episodeā€™

4 months 2 weeks ago

WASHINGTON ā€” President Joe Biden on Friday in his first televised interview since the presidential debate defended his reelection bid and rejected calls that he should step aside amid growing anxiety among some Democrats about his mental and physical state. The 22-minuteĀ interviewĀ with ABC Newsā€™ George Stephanopoulos came as some lawmakers and other prominent Democrats have […]

The post Biden in first TV interview since debate denies medical condition: ā€˜It was a bad episodeā€™ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jennifer Shutt

Major corporations, wealthy donors fuel growth of Missouri private school scholarship program

4 months 2 weeks ago

The largest donors to a tax credit program supporting private school tuition scholarships in Missouri are a Fortune 500 health care corporation, a cable company and the founding family of the Kansas City Chiefs. UnitedHealth Group Inc. has given the most since 2023 to the stateā€™s K-12 tax-credit scholarship program, dubbed MOScholars, with a $2 […]

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Annelise Hanshaw

When ā€˜universalā€™ pre-K really isnā€™t: Barriers to participating abound

4 months 2 weeks ago

When Tanya Gillespie-Lambert goes to an event in a local park in Camden, New Jersey, she takes a handful of brochures about free preschool with her. She has no hesitation about approaching strangers ā€” moms with kids especially ā€” to plug the service in the local public school district, where sheā€™s director of community and […]

The post When ā€˜universalā€™ pre-K really isnā€™t: Barriers to participating abound appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Elaine Povich

Missouri counties say they lose money housing people headed to state prison

4 months 2 weeks ago

The cost of holding someone in a Missouri county jail for those days and months before and after a conviction ultimately falls to the state. In 2024, the state spent about $50 million to reimburse counties for the cost. But itā€™s had trouble keeping up with that tab. Thatā€™s left counties stuck with most of […]

The post Missouri counties say they lose money housing people headed to state prison appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Meg Cunningham

The Biden-Trump presidential debate was a disaster, but not just for obvious reasons

4 months 2 weeks ago

In the days following the Biden-Trump debate, news stories and Facebook posts introduced a new term for many ā€” Gish Gallop ā€” defined roughly as throwing out numerous arguments that are typically unsupported by facts making it difficult to respond. The debate strategyĀ was named in 1994 for Duane Gish, a creationist advocate who was known […]

The post The Biden-Trump presidential debate was a disaster, but not just for obvious reasons appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Diana B. Carlin

Payment backlog leaves Missouri child care providers desperate, on the brink of closing

4 months 2 weeks ago

This spring, the state of Missouri owed Kimberly Luong Nichols $5,000 in backlogged payments for children at her Kansas City daycare who were part of a state subsidy program. For four years, sheā€™s operated a licensed daycare inside her home, where she currently serves 10 children. Luong Nichols stopped drawing a salary last summer to […]

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Anna Spoerre