There is nothing promoters of legal video lottery games can say that will convince Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin that promised new revenue offsets the social damage of expanded gambling, she told The Independent last week. That opposition, she said, doesn’t mean Capitol hallway rumors that the Senate Select Committee on Gaming — […]
A few years ago, Krystle Armstrong walked into Planned Parenthood in Rolla for a routine well-woman exam — the kind of appointment people make and forget about. Instead, her pap smear came back abnormal. Her doctor found pre-cancerous cells, and not long after, Armstrong had an ovary removed. Now 38 and living in Lake Ozark, […]
There is a familiar Washington magic trick, and Missouri’s U.S. senators perform it with unusual confidence: Spend years denouncing the bipartisan cult of stupid wars, then salute smartly when your own president lights the fuse. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt have both marketed themselves as realists, skeptics of permanent intervention and the old foreign-policy catechism. […]
As communities’ concerns grow over rising electricity prices and the environmental effects of data centers, some local and state officials want to halt development of the facilities. Lawmakers in at least 11 states — Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin — have introduced legislation this […]
Every month, I get a sinking feeling as I walk into the pharmacy. I’m a mom of three looking after kids with complex medical needs, as well as my own, so I’m a familiar face there. I hold my breath as the medicines are rung up, because I never know what price I’ll be paying […]
Online prediction markets allow users to put money on the outcome of almost anything — this weekend’s NBA game between the Warriors and the Thunder, the next supreme leader of Iran, whether the government will confirm the existence of aliens. But those markets have no state oversight and operate even in states that ban gambling. […]
WASHINGTON — The United States lost 92,000 jobs in February, edging unemployment up slightly according to the latest employment figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report showed, for the third time in the last five months, losses among nonfarm jobs and highlighted a continued “trend down” in the information sector and federal […]
The Missouri Senate passed a criminal and juvenile justice bill Thursday on a 20-9 vote after hours of negotiations. Introduced by state Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance, the legislation seeks to classify older juveniles who commit felonies as adults and share fingerprints of juveniles involved in felonies to a central database. The bill […]
FULTON — What is leadership? That was the question Fulton Middle School eighth grader Kendall Acton posed Thursday to Winston Churchill — or at least to actor Randy Otto, who has spent more than 50 years portraying the former British prime minister on stage. The answer, Otto told an audience of about 400 students, could be […]
The bulk of the money Missouri gives to its crisis pregnancy centers comes from federal funds meant to assist families experiencing poverty with basic necessities and child care, Republican Rep. Jason Smith said on the U.S. House floor in January. As many as $3 of every $4 for pregnancy centers in Missouri was from the […]
Nearly one-third of the nation’s private sector workers are covered by paid leave programs as more states require employers to provide medical and family leave, according to a new analysis released this week. Currently, the District of Columbia and 13 states have passed laws requiring paid leave for many workers, according to a report from […]
We often treat Black history as a February retrospective, but the work of rebuilding what was extracted from communities like Mill Creek Valley requires a calendar without an expiration date. Mill Creek Valley was a once-thriving Black community dismantled in the name of urban renewal. Its destruction wasn’t caused by a lack of talent, entrepreneurship, […]
WASHINGTON — House Republicans and a handful of Democrats followed the Senate in blocking a measure Thursday to stop President Donald Trump from furthering the war in Iran without authorization from Congress. The joint war with Israel that began six days ago has already claimed the lives of six U.S. troops and injured and killed […]
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump Thursday said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will be leaving the post for a job as a special envoy, following an appearance before a U.S. Senate panel this week that provoked bipartisan criticism of her handling of the department that is tasked with fulfilling the administration’s mass deportation campaign. Oklahoma […]
A revised property tax overhaul proposes to lower the minimum school levy — the lowest tax a district can impose and still qualify for state aid — by up to 20%, the first cut since Missouri law began mandating a minimum in 1988. Under a bill sent to the Missouri Senate on Thursday by the […]
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s request to grade public schools on an “A” through “F” scale is pushing House lawmakers to approve legislation some think isn’t quite ready. With approval and dissent on both sides of the aisle, the House voted a bill to create a new school accountability system through to the Senate 96-53 Thursday […]
A supplemental spending bill pushing total state appropriations for the fiscal year to almost $55 billion was the first legislation sent to Gov. Mike Kehoe in this year’s session when the Missouri House voted 137-13 for final passage. The $3.1 billion spending package was pushed quickly through the General Assembly to speed distribution of $59.5 […]
Several Democratic states are moving to bar federal immigration agents from being near polling places and other election sites, amid persistent worries that President Donald Trump will use federal law enforcement or the military to disrupt the midterm elections. Measures to restrict federal agents from operating at or near election-related locations have been offered in […]
Missouri lawmakers Wednesday once again discussed a request for $294.6 million — including $35 million in state general revenue — to help the state implement federally mandated changes to safety net programs. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress last summer will require states to verify that Medicaid enrollees […]
When Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore signed emergency legislation last month prohibiting agreements between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities, he was pushing back against one of the fastest-growing pieces of President Donald Trump’s deportation strategy. The expansion of immigration enforcement hasn’t happened primarily through high-profile raids: It has unfolded through formal partnerships […]
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