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A major area of bipartisan agreement among Missouri lawmakers this year is improving access to affordable child care.  And on Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Mike Parson is expected to lay out his vision for addressing what some legislators have framed as a child care crisis in Missouri.  Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, told reporters […]

The post Missouri lawmakers vow to expand child care access. Governor’s speech may lay out the plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday defended sitting on information about Obama administration classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s private residence and a think tank, saying officials are attempting to balance working with the Justice Department and sharing information publicly. “We understand that there’s a tension between the need to be cooperative with […]

The post White House defends delay in revealing classified documents at Biden private office, home appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Vivek Malek began his tenure as Missouri State Treasurer on Tuesday surrounded by hundreds of friends, including some he helped become Americans. Malek, a Republican appointed by Gov. Mike Parson to replace Scott Fitzpatrick, elected state auditor last year, said the turnout that filled the Missouri House chamber to watch him take the oath of […]

The post Vivek Malek takes office as Missouri Treasurer during ceremony in House chamber appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Parental access to school records – and how history and race are taught in Missouri classrooms – will be among the first topics considered by lawmakers this legislative session. During the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee’s first meeting Wednesday afternoon, committee members will hear testimony on a pair of bills dubbed the “Parents’ Bill […]

The post Missouri Republicans renew early focus on parental rights, critical race theory appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Audra Youmans says most people living on the streets of St. Louis have nowhere else to go. As a volunteer and advocate with St. Louis Winter Outreach, she made over 40 calls to the city’s referral service for homeless shelters last year — recording and compiling a video to demonstrate the problem.  “Every single time […]

The post Advocates, providers scramble as Missouri’s new homelessness law goes into effect appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri regulators handed a setback to a proposed silica sand mine south of St. Louis earlier this month when they revoked a pivotal permit. But the fight isn’t over for opponents of the mine.  While state regulators denied one permit to NexGen, the would-be owners of the proposed mine, they almost simultaneously granted the company […]

The post Despite setback for Missouri silica sand mine, the fight isn’t over for neighbors appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Some historians mark the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder as the end of the civil rights movement. Over an arc of 14 years — from the 1954 Brown Decision to King’s death in 1968 — the nation attempted to address its racial caste system. The same nation that launched a war on hunger and […]

The post On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, no one should settle for ‘a piece of freedom’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

U.S. House Republicans included in the new rules for the chamber they passed this month a provision meant to make it easier for Congress to give away public lands. The provision is a fairly technical piece of the 55-page rules package. It affects internal House accounting and requires that anytime Congress were to give any federal […]

The post U.S. House GOP would make it easier for feds to give public lands away to states appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government will hit its borrowing limit next week, forcing the new, divided Congress into negotiations over the debt limit much sooner than expected, though a potential date for the nation to default isn’t expected until this summer. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to Congress on Friday afternoon, telling leaders the United […]

The post U.S. to hit debt limit much sooner than expected, thrusting Congress into showdown appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana in Missouri won voter approval in November but created a schism among social-justice activists over the question of racial and economic equity.  Some believe the new law will empower minority marijuana business owners, while others worry it will cement an already distrusted, inequitable business licensing system in place. Much […]

The post Missouri regulators say they’re close to naming marijuana chief equity officer appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For better than half a lifetime, I’ve studied media and its effects on the public psyche. Teaching broadcast history and directing a student radio station, the larger picture seemed pretty clear. But one question always frustrated and perplexed me: How did AM talk radio, in particular, come to program such venomous, outrageous programming? Why do […]

The post How venomous voices from right-wing radio radicalized America appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Republican state policymakers’ efforts to boost fossil fuels by prohibiting their governments from doing business with companies that take sustainability into consideration has the potential to cost states millions, according to a study released Thursday. Researchers looked specifically at the possible effects on Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and West Virginia if they passed Texas-like legislation limiting […]

The post States that limit business with banks that ‘boycott’ fossil fuels could pay high cost, study says appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The White House revealed Thursday morning that more classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president were discovered outside of secure government facilities, this time in the garage at his Wilmington, Delaware home. The files have since been turned over to the U.S. Justice Department, which opened a special counsel investigation into […]

The post U.S. attorney general names special counsel for classified docs found in Biden’s garage appeared first on Missouri Independent.

U.S. House Republicans wrapped up their first week in the majority Thursday by passing with bipartisan support a bill to prohibit the Energy Department from selling the nation’s stockpile of crude oil to China or affiliated entities. The bill, written by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington, would prevent releases […]

The post U.S. House passes legislation barring sales of strategic reserve oil to China appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Lee’s Summit R-VII School District spent $72,824 last year fighting the Missouri Attorney General’s office. It is the last district standing in an onslaught of civil suits former Attorney General Eric Schmitt brought against school districts who enforced mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly all the lawsuits were dismissed, most at the request […]

The post Lee’s Summit school district’s countersuit against Missouri AG seeks to set a precedent appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday approved its first abortion-related measures under a new Republican majority, eliciting strong support from GOP members and opposition from Democrats, who rejected the legislation as misleading and incomplete. Republicans, who secured a four-seat majority during the November midterm elections, said the bill setting medical standards on a national level […]

The post U.S. House Republicans push through two anti-abortion measures in first work week appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Better grades, improved health and higher lifetime earnings are why Missouri should join the growing list of states that provide universal school meals to all public school students. In 2017, researchers at Syracuse University published a study on the impact of free school lunches on all New York City middle school students. The findings showed […]

The post Missouri should consider the Rocky Mountain road to universal school lunch appeared first on Missouri Independent.

State workers would get their biggest pay raise in living memory under a plan proposed Wednesday by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson. In a news release, Parson said he wants to boost all state workers by 8.7% and to offer a $2 an hour night shift differential to employees in four agencies responsible for people under […]

The post Gov. Parson proposes raise for Missouri state employees, extra pay for night work appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Agape Boarding School, the Stockton-based Christian residential facility under scrutiny for alleged abuse of its students over decades, announced it will shut down Jan. 20. According to a statement provided to The Independent Wednesday afternoon by John Schultz, an attorney for Agape, the school has “made the decision to stop providing services to the boys […]

The post Agape Boarding School will close its doors this month after years of abuse allegations appeared first on Missouri Independent.

One of the largest electric utilities in Kansas and Missouri says inflation and plans to add more renewable energy are to blame for the ever-rising estimated cost of its next few years of infrastructure investments. Evergy’s Kansas capital plan, which outlines investments in the grid and energy production, is more than $1 billion higher than […]

The post Evergy blames renewable plans, inflation for $1 billion rise in infrastructure plans appeared first on Missouri Independent.