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This story was originally published by the Kansas City Beacon. In February, Missouri was awarded $458 million in a settlement from the nation’s top opioid producers. Now, as lawmakers and state departments prepare to receive and distribute those funds, advocates hope Missouri will use the money wisely to respond to an opioid crisis that has […]

The post As Missouri’s opioid crisis rages, $458 million in settlement money arrives appeared first on Missouri Independent.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner will likely face a reprimand, but not lose her license to practice law, as a result of alleged misconduct during the investigation of former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.  In an agreement between Gardner and the Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel unveiled Monday during a hearing in St. Louis County, […]

The post Kim Gardner unlikely to lose law license over claims stemming from Eric Greitens probe appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When the pediatrician recommended Lisa Pascoe have her then-toddler tested for lead poisoning, she thought there was no way he could be at risk. Everything in her South St. Louis home had been remodeled. But then the nurse called to say her son’s blood lead level was dangerously high — five times the level federal […]

The post Known to be toxic for a century, lead still poisons thousands of Midwestern kids appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A years-long impasse over increased funding for charter schools was finally broken in the Missouri Senate, leaving proponents optimistic the legislation could finally make its way to the governor’s desk. Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, unveiled a new funding mechanism last week to close a discrepancy in the amount that charter schools are funded versus traditional […]

The post Funding increase for charter schools poised to clear Missouri Senate after compromise appeared first on Missouri Independent.

COLUMBIA – A smattering of giggles greeted the name of former Gov. Eric Greitens Friday evening when emcee Branden Rathert called for the U.S. Senate candidates invited to speak at Boone County Republican Lincoln Days to come forward. Up to that point, there had been no trace of Greitens or his campaign at the most […]

The post No signs of support for Greitens in Missouri county where abuse charges will be heard appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Jon Zang walks his dog several times a day in his mobile home community in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania. It’s quiet, as most of his neighbors are at work. But he often wonders how many more walks he and his bulldog mix, Ladybug, will have down the streets of the place he’s called […]

The post ‘Sitting on a time bomb’: Mobile home residents at risk in red-hot housing market appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Three years ago this month, a dozen police officers raided the office of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. They were executing a search warrant connected to the ongoing investigation of William Tisaby, an ex-FBI agent Gardner had hired to assist her in the 2018 investigation of former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.  Tisaby would eventually […]

The post Kim Gardner to face disciplinary panel Monday over claims stemming from Greitens probe appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As restrictions on accessing an abortion in Missouri have steadily tightened, nearly 9,800 Missourians travelled to Kansas and Illinois to receive abortions in 2020, compared to only 167 procedures that occurred within state lines that year. That number could drop even further if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that […]

The post With few in-state abortions, Missouri lawmakers look toward a post-Roe v. Wade future appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee panel on Thursday examined why thousands of books, predominantly written by marginalized authors, have been banned from public schools, and the impact of those actions on students and teachers. “Most books being targeted for censorship are books that introduce ideas about diversity or our common humanity, […]

The post More than 1,500 books have been banned in public schools, and a U.S. House panel asks why appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The biggest state budget in Missouri history could also leave the biggest surplus in state history when the next fiscal year ends. The Missouri House on Thursday sent 15 appropriation bills to the state Senate, one supplemental spending bill for the current fiscal year and 14 spending $46.5 billion in the coming year. The budget […]

The post Record Missouri surplus likely to grow under $46.5B House budget plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Ketanji Brown Jackson will make history by becoming the first Black woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, after Democratic and Republican senators voted Thursday to confirm her to the lifetime appointment. The 53-47 vote comes just six weeks after President Joe Biden announced his  nomination of Jackson from the White House, fulfilling a […]

The post U.S. Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson, ‘America at its best,’ to Supreme Court appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Voters got a preview this week of a possible 2024 showdown between Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft for the governor’s office, with supporters for both men making the case for their chosen candidate two years before any ballots are cast.  Kehoe, 60, declared his intentions to run for the GOP […]

The post Mike Kehoe is running hard for Missouri governor while Jay Ashcroft waits in the wings appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Democrats blamed the oil industry, Republicans blamed President Joe Biden and oil executives blamed global market forces at a U.S. House hearing Wednesday on how to reverse a dramatic increase in gas prices. Over nearly six hours, members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and executives from six oil companies […]

The post U.S. House panel grills oil executives at hearing on soaring gas prices appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration Wednesday announced its plans to extend the pause on federal student loan repayments until the end of August. “I recognized in recently extending the COVID-19 national emergency, we are still recovering from the pandemic and the unprecedented economic disruption it caused,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.  “If loan payments […]

The post Pause on federal student loan repayments extended by Biden through Aug. 31 appeared first on Missouri Independent.

If the Missouri Senate debates a sports wagering bill that passed the House last month, it will likely include a higher tax rate and more money to combat problem gambling. At the close of a hearing on the bill Wednesday, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Dan Hegeman didn’t specify what tax rate on sports wagering profits […]

The post Senators seek higher tax on profits at hearing for bill to legalize sports wagering in Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request by five counties and health departments to quickly hear arguments and review a case that they say “upended the longstanding public health framework” in Missouri. The decision means an appeal of a Cole County judge’s November ruling will have to first go through the Western District […]

The post Missouri Supreme Court declines to immediately hear appeal of COVID ruling appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has food safety inspectors in every large meatpacking plant in the country. Just like the industry’s workers, the government’s inspectors entered the high-risk work spaces almost every day during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sonny Perdue, USDA’s leader during the […]

The post Watchdog says OSHA, USDA should have done more to protect meatpacking workers from COVID appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri House gave first round approval Tuesday to a package of budget bills spending $46.2 billion, with Republicans defeating repeated Democratic efforts to tap the state’s record surplus. The budget includes boosts to higher education funding, both for institutions and scholarships, as well as funding one of last year’s most controversial issues, Medicaid expansion. […]

The post Missouri House signs off on $46.2 billion budget, leaves most of huge state surplus untouched appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Senate is poised to take up a long-running effort to stymie the Grain Belt Express, a massive transmission line meant to carry wind energy from southwest Kansas across three states.  The $2 billion project would carry 4,000 megawatts of energy, dropping some off in Missouri before ending at the Illinois-Indiana border. It’s been […]

The post Missouri Senate committee takes up bill targeting Grain Belt Express transmission line appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The new director of the Department of Social Services’ Children’s Division painted a grim picture Tuesday of an atrophying child welfare department that is facing severe staffing shortages and leaving remaining caseworkers overwhelmed. Darrell Missey, the director of the Children’s Division, told lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, that there are […]

The post Missouri caseworkers ‘drowning’ as Children’s Division plagued by staff shortages appeared first on Missouri Independent.