Vice President Kamala Harris faced questions about whether sexism is a factor in the presidential race during a Tuesday interview on NBC News, and said she makes no assumptions about whether voters will make their choices based on race or gender. Polls depict Harris, the Democratic nominee, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, […]
On Nov. 5, Missourians have the opportunity to vote on whether to enshrine abortion in the state constitution. Currently, abortion is only allowed in Missouri if the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother. Activists on both sides agree on one thing: even if the measure passes, this issue is not going away. This is […]
A reporter for a Kansas City television station was struck by a bullet fragment Tuesday while covering a shooting range campaign event for Democrat Lucas Kunce. Kunce, a Marine veteran hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, provided first aid to KSHB reporter Ryan Gamboa after a bullet fragment ricocheted off a target and struck […]
Public anxiety about crime is fueling interest in the campaign to succeed longtime Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker Republican Tracey Chappell and Democrat Melesa Johnson are on the Nov. 5 ballot. The candidates have attacked each other’s qualifications on social media and in person in the final stretch of the campaign. That political drama […]
WASHINGTON — With exactly two weeks until Election Day, millions of Americans have already cast their ballots via the mail or in person as Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump pursue voters through the battleground states. Early in-person absentee voting kicked off Tuesday in Wisconsin, adding to the list of swing states where voters […]
A massive backlog of payments to Missouri child care providers will continue beyond October despite a previous pledge that the state will be caught up by the end of this month. Pam Thomas, assistant commissioner for Missouri’s Office of Childhood, told the State Board of Education Tuesday that the department would not meet its October […]
The U.S. Department of Labor released a list of artificial intelligence best practices for developers and employers this week, aiming to help employers benefit from potential time and cost savings of AI, while protecting workers from discrimination and job displacement. The voluntary guidelines come about a year after President Joe Biden signed an executive order to assess […]
Missouri’s attorney general has renewed a push to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, arguing in a lawsuit filed this month that its availability hurt the state by decreasing teenage pregnancy. The revised lawsuit was filed by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, alongside GOP attorneys general in Kansas and Idaho. It asks a judge […]
Legislative momentum against PFAS has surged this year, as at least 11 states enacted laws to restrict the use of “forever chemicals” in everyday consumer products or professional firefighting foam. The legislation includes bans on PFAS in apparel, cleaning products, cookware, and cosmetic and menstrual products. Meanwhile, lawmakers in some states also passed measures that […]
Ranked-choice voting is on the rise in the U.S., with two U.S. states and 45 U.S. cities now using some version of it. This November, Missourians will have the opportunity to ban it. Advocates of ranked-choice voting argue that it solves the problems of other voting methods, while detractors counter that it makes elections unnecessarily complicated. Here […]
A federal judge on Monday dismissed defamation lawsuits against three Missouri state senators who made social media posts incorrectly identifying a Kansas man as an undocumented immigrant and the shooter at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory celebration. Denton Loudermill, the plaintiff in the case, had not shown that the Kansas federal court where […]
The largest electric utility in Kansas and western Missouri will add two natural gas plants by the end of 2030, the company announced Monday. Evergy, which serves 1.6 million customers in the two states, plans to build combined-cycle natural gas plants — each with a 705-megawatt capacity — in two Kansas counties in 2029 and […]
WASHINGTON — A new poll released Monday by a civic engagement group found that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris continues to grow her support with Latinos in critical battleground states. In a tight presidential race, both campaigns have tried to court the Latino vote — one of the fastest-growing voting blocs. The poll for Voto […]
Registered nurses at two HCA-owned Kansas City hospitals get “substantial” pay raises under new three-year contracts ratified in October. National Nurses United, the union representing registered nurses at Research Medical Center in Kansas City and Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, said in a press release that the pay bump will make it easier to […]
In a tight, historically expensive presidential election, both candidates are seeking the support of powerful business interests. That’s raising fears that newly robust antitrust enforcement under President Joe Biden will be short lived. A huge, bipartisan majority of Americans supports the enforcement of laws meant to curb anticompetitive abuses. But the candidates aren’t saying whether they’ll keep […]
The head of Missouri’s child welfare division will resign effective Nov. 1, a spokesperson for the agency told The Independent on Monday. Darrell Missey has served as director of the Children’s Division since January 2022. Housed in the Department of Social Services, the agency oversees the foster care system and investigates child abuse and neglect. […]
Missourians are set to vote on whether to unravel the state’s abortion ban or keep it intact. And as the debate rages across the state, access to reproductive health care has become a major flashpoint in the race for U.S. Senate between Republican Josh Hawley and Democrat Lucas Kunce Hawley, who is seeking re-election after […]
As the population ages, how prepared is our state and nation to meet their needs? The economy, immigration, abortion and many issues dominate public policy debates, but what about the needs of one of the fastest growing segments of the population? What about their right to live as independently as they can for as long […]
WASHINGTON — A mass shooting at a Georgia high school in September thrust the issue of gun violence to the forefront of the presidential race. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump agree that gun violence is a major problem, but they offer strikingly different views on how to address it. Two 14-year-old […]
WASHINGTON — The presidential debate in early September included just one mention of Social Security and three references to Medicare, making the safety net programs a minuscule part of the policy discussion, despite their importance to tens of millions of Americans. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump have both mentioned the programs […]
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