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The state rolled back its recall of nearly 15,000 cannabis products last week and allowed them to return to the dispensary shelves, after requiring Missouri companies to keep them in storage since early August.  The Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation said in an Oct. 20 notice that after a review of product-tracking records, regulators can […]

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Residents of some Midwestern and Mountain states gained the most income per capita during the past four years, a Stateline analysis shows, as competition for workers drove up wages in relatively affordable places to live. With the COVID-19 pandemic now in the nation’s rearview mirror, Stateline’s analysis offers a more complete understanding of how some […]

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Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wrote ballot titles for six proposals to restore abortion rights that were “replete with politically partisan language,” a Missouri appeals court unanimously ruled Tuesday. In an expedited decision issued a day after hearing arguments, a three-judge panel of the Western District Court of Appeals upheld, with only minor revisions, the […]

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WASHINGTON — Congress must approve funding for both Israel and Ukraine if it wants to avoid being dragged into a direct conflict with Russia or emboldening terrorist organizations, two top Biden administration officials told senators Tuesday. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken both testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee that there […]

The post Ukraine and Israel aid must be bound together, two Cabinet secretaries tell U.S. Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri education leaders knew establishing social-emotional learning guidelines for public schools would draw controversy, with some celebrating the idea and others decrying it as government overreach. So when the Missouri State Board of Education decided earlier this month to change course and pursue social-emotional learning as an optional framework instead of a statewide standard, the […]

The post Missouri education leaders say social-emotional learning guidelines an ‘ongoing discussion’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The United Auto Workers on Monday reached a tentative contract agreement with General Motors on day 46 of the strike. The announcement follows previous UAW tentative pacts with the other Detroit Three automakers, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis, which were announced on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively. The union went on strike on Sept.15. “Once again, […]

The post UAW reaches tentative pact with General Motors, the last Detroit Three holdout appeared first on Missouri Independent.

CANEY, Kansas — It’s hardly a question of whether the water will run out for one town on the Kansas-Oklahoma border. It’s a matter of when. The stubborn drought that has hung over southeast Kansas for close to two years has brought Caney, a town of less than 2,000 people, within weeks of reaching the […]

The post Southeast Kansas town is almost out of water, and signs of crisis are everywhere appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jaqueline Yalda, who has been a campus police officer at El Paso Community College in Texas for a decade, sought a promotion earlier this year. But first, the department required her to complete a college-level course in criminal justice. It had been many years since Yalda had taken any college classes. And at age 38, […]

The post No more attending classes: These community colleges let students learn at their own pace appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Since losing her first pregnancy four months ago, 32-year-old Lulu has struggled to return to her body’s old rhythms. Lulu, who asked to be identified by her first name to protect her privacy, bled for six full weeks after her miscarriage and hasn’t had a normal menstrual cycle since. Such disruptions aren’t uncommon after miscarriage, […]

The post State, federal abortion rules prevent many women from accessing crucial miscarriage drug appeared first on Missouri Independent.

KANSAS CITY – Abortion rights initiatives proposed for the 2024 Missouri ballot would make it impossible for the state to protect women from unsanitary conditions at clinics, attorneys representing Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft argued to  a panel of judges on Monday. The restrictions on government regulation of abortions contained in the petitions would make […]

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A St. Louis lawmaker is demanding that Missouri regulators investigate what she called an “egregious exploitation” of social cannabis equity licenses, following a report by The Independent last week about a company that recruited out-of-state license applicants on Craigslist.  State Sen. Karla May, a St. Louis Democrat, sent a letter on Thursday to the state’s […]

The post Missouri lawmaker calls for investigation into ‘fraudulent activities’ in cannabis program appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Piper Molins, a junior Latina student at the University of Missouri, remembers bursting into tears at her summer internship upon learning that the university would no longer offer race-based scholarships. “There’s no way I would have been here or any college, to be honest, without race-based scholarships, and that’s a simple fact,” she said. Molins, […]

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In today’s political environment, one could easily conclude that America is in the midst of a metamorphosis, where its character and identity are undergoing radical change. When you consider the major shifts and developments in the public square that have occurred during these first decades of the 21st century, some disturbing trends cannot be ignored. […]

The post With a new normal emerging in America, lessons from our past could serve us well appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri House Ethics Committee met Friday for more than four hours on a personnel matter. Officially, the subject of the meeting is confidential. But sources confirmed that members discussed the issues surrounding embattled House Speaker Dean Plocher. When it was over, state Rep. Hannah Kelly, a Republican from Mountain Grove and chair of the […]

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NOEL, Mo. — On a Sunday afternoon in rural southwest Missouri, dozens of friends and family gather at a modest one-story home to sing and celebrate in the language of their homeland, more than 8,000 miles away.  Some arrive from church, crowding into a living room to celebrate two brothers — one turning 7 and […]

The post Refugees came to Noel for opportunity. Tyson’s plant closure leaves their futures uncertain appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Newly elected U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has three weeks to broker an agreement with Democrats to avoid a partial government shutdown when a short-term spending law expires on Nov. 17. The Louisiana Republican, who has leaped from relative obscurity to one of the four congressional leaders, has already spoken with his Senate […]

The post Next for a new U.S. House speaker: Three-week deadline to dodge a government shutdown appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A political newcomer joined the Democratic race for Missouri governor on Thursday, bringing a big checkbook and a message that he can stop “partisan food fights” that plague state government. Mike Hamra Springfield, CEO of Hamra Enterprises, said in an interview with The Independent that he’s jumping into the race that already includes another Springfield […]

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Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher said he would “absolutely not” consider resigning over allegations of wrongdoing that have engulfed him in recent weeks, joining one of his most vocal supporters on Thursday in painting the saga as a conspiracy whipped up by “leftist” media, Democrats and disgruntled staff.   Plocher, a Republican from Des Peres who […]

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James Harnden has been a longtime activist for cannabis legalization, ever since he got slapped with a low-level felony possession charge for having an ounce of weed. The 56-year old Rockford, Ill., resident says that charge has cost him job opportunities for 30 years. Earlier this year, he saw an advertisement in the Craigslist “gigs” […]

The post Applicants recruited on Craigslist competed for Missouri social equity cannabis licenses appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Before a relatively short time in elected office, new U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana was a constitutional lawyer deeply involved in religious causes. Prior to a short stint in the Louisiana Legislature, Johnson spent two decades as a public interest lawyer mainly representing clients in so-called religious liberty litigation, he said in an interview […]

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