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The Missouri House approved a $4.6 billion supplemental spending bill Wednesday that would give all state workers a pay raise.  But lawmakers refused to go along with Gov. Mike Parson’s plan for a $15 an hour base wage for all state employees, instead offering that salary only to select workers.  The bill would also provide […]

The post Missouri House refuses to accept Gov. Parson plan for $15 base pay for state jobs appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Maria Kendall took a break from her job as a cafe manager in 2020 when she decided to do some house hunting on the real estate website Zillow. She looked for a new home in Marshalltown, a city of about 28,000 in Iowa between Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. It’s where she lived for more […]

The post This family lost ownership of their house without knowing. Here’s the law that allowed it appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Hours before the Southern Poverty Law Center held a virtual panel Tuesday about recent bomb threats made to dozens of historically Black colleges, yet another bomb threat was reported — this one to Spelman College in Georgia. “This was a racist attack that aims to not only disrupt the start of Black History […]

The post HBCU leaders decry waves of bomb threats as federal investigators probe origin appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Ballot drop boxes are so secure they’ve survived getting hit by an SUV and rolled by a school bus — yet much of the battle over voting rights has centered on the big metal boxes. In the November 2020 general election, nearly 40 states had ballot drop boxes available and more voters used drop boxes than in any […]

The post States target ballot drop boxes in fight over voting rights appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A roughly 31-hour filibuster in the Missouri Senate paused early Wednesday morning, when the chamber adjourned without taking action on the state’s new congressional map.  Just after 12:20 a.m., Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, motioned for senators to adjourn until noon Wednesday, when the redistricting debate is expected to resume.  Before the Senate are […]

The post Missouri’s redrawn congressional map remains in limbo after 31-hour Senate filibuster appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In a case that grew out of a law making it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion after eight weeks, the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday said those seeking to force a referendum on new laws can begin collecting signatures as soon as the bill is passed. The ruling threw out statutes […]

The post Missouri Supreme Court tosses laws that blocked 2019 abortion bill referendum appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that a lower court was justified in ordering the state health department to disclose medical marijuana application info that it had argued was confidential. The Department of Health and Senior Services refused to provide applications of businesses who were awarded licenses to grow and sell […]

The post Missouri Supreme Court: Medical marijuana application info must be disclosed in appeals appeared first on Missouri Independent.

While the Missouri Senate is locked in a filibuster over how to draw the state’s congressional districts, the body charged with remaking the map for the chamber’s 34 members is ready to work.  The six judges chosen for the Judicial Redistricting Commission have set a Feb. 17 hearing in Jefferson City for the public to […]

The post Judicial commission begins work on Missouri Senate redistricting appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was first published by Kaiser Health News.  Republican Missouri state Sen. Mike Moon believes that COVID-19 vaccinations, especially among children, should cease until the long-term effects are known. He points to the research of sources of COVID misinformation like America’s Frontline Doctors and Dr. Robert Malone, a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast. He […]

The post Legislature’s rejection of Missouri governor’s health director shows extent of national rift appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Senate voted down a proposed Congressional map that would have carved up a safe Democratic seat in Kansas City to add another in Republicans’ favor, but the redistricting debate stretched into Tuesday morning as the Senate remained deadlocked. After hours of internal caucus discussion that stretched late into the afternoon, the Senate gaveled […]

The post Filibuster continues after Missouri Senate rejects ‘7-1’ redistricting plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Congress passed, and President Biden signed, the American Rescue Plan 10 months ago, creating the most significant infusion of funds for students and local schools in our nation’s history. Nevertheless, the Missouri legislature has yet to move the $1.9 billion to our students who need help overcoming the learning impacts of COVID-19. If lawmakers fail […]

The post Missouri lawmakers need to take swift action on federal education funds | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Hundreds of custodians, clerks and cooks working for state agencies would not get the raises Missouri Gov. Mike Parson promised in December under a spending bill approved Monday by the House Budget Committee. On a party line vote, with Republicans supporting the bill and Democrats opposed, the committee approved a spending bill that sets a […]

The post House committee scales back governor’s pay raise plan for Missouri state workers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A lawyer representing St. Louis told the Missouri Supreme Court on Monday that a state law that forbids the enforcement of federal gun regulations was unconstitutional and an “unintelligible statute” that has confused law enforcement. Robert Dierker, deputy St. Louis city counselor, took issue before the state’s highest court with the Second Amendment Preservation Act, also called SAPA. […]

The post Cities ask Missouri Supreme Court to strike down law targeting federal gun regulations appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Republicans met for hours Monday to come up with a compromise to redraw Missouri’s eight congressional districts. But the divide between GOP leadership and the conservative caucus in the Senate proved to be too much, sparking a filibuster by Republican senators determined to force through a map splitting Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City […]

The post Republican officials rally supporters to push for ‘7-1’ Missouri congressional map appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally publish by Kaiser Health News. A recent lawsuit filed by one Wisconsin health system that temporarily prevented seven workers from starting new jobs at a different health network raised eyebrows, including those of Brock Slabach, chief operations officer of the National Rural Health Association. “To me, that signifies the desperation that […]

The post Bounties and bonuses: Small Missouri hospitals are left behind by COVID staffing wars appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The closure of Save A Lot in Pagedale left a hole in northern St. Louis County.  Beyond Housing, a community building group that serves about two dozen cities in the area, had worked through the Great Recession to bring a grocery store closer to low-income residents in a part of the St. Louis area dotted […]

The post Missouri bills would offer incentives for grocery stores, urban farms to eliminate food deserts appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The distorted misinformation about affirmative action is once again raising its ugly head around the potential nomination of a Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. Before any qualified, likely overqualified, Black woman is nominated for the Supreme Court, her reputation is being tainted by the notion that the only reason she is being considered […]

The post Appointing a Black woman to the Supreme Court is not affirmative action | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

ABILENE, Kansas — The dashboard camera video shows eastbound Interstate 70 traffic whizzing past Dickinson County sheriff’s deputy Kalen Robison’s patrol car, which is parked crosswise in the median about three miles west of Abilene. Robison suddenly pulls out into the left lane, accelerates rapidly and within a couple of miles pulls behind a white […]

The post How a Kansas traffic stop led to a federal lawsuit over $1.2M in seized marijuana profits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Cannabis dispensaries throughout the country came one step closer to using banks the way many other businesses can when the U.S. House on Friday cleared a bill with sweeping changes to banking regulations. Colorado Democrat Ed Perlmutter and Ohio Republican Dave Joyce, co-sponsors of the legislation, said Friday their proposal would allow medical […]

The post U.S. House advances marijuana banking bill, though final passage uncertain appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As a student in Hickory County R-1 school district, state Rep. Ian Mackey often struggled with following the rules of a classroom. “My way to express myself was usually really loud and really invasive,” said Mackey, D-St. Louis. “There were a lot of teachers who wanted to send me home, and in some cases did.” […]

The post Bipartisan Missouri bills aim to ban out-of-school suspensions through the third grade appeared first on Missouri Independent.