POSTVILLE, Iowa — In March, officials in Postville shut down its water treatment facility for two days as city employees worked to prevent polluted water from a meatpacking plant from entering the water supply. Agri Star Meat and Poultry had discharged more than 250,000 gallons of untreated food processing waste — blood, chemicals and other […]
As Americans, we don’t have much influence on the U.S. Supreme Court. The president, who we indirectly elect via the Electoral College, decides who to appoint, and then the U.S. Senate votes whether or not to confirm. Many of the decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court affect our daily lives, but we as voters can’t […]
A dozen or so women sit around a U-shaped table inside Care Connections for Aging Services, the local Area Agency on Aging in the west central part of Missouri. They’re all here to listen to Scott Miniea from the Missouri State Health Insurance Assistance Program, or MO SHIP, and to learn about the new changes […]
The campaign opposing a sports betting constitutional amendment on Missouri’s November ballot canceled more than $1 million in television ads Thursday just as the group pushing the proposal launched new ads featuring former St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith. The Independent’s tracking of broadcaster reports to the Federal Communications Commission show that Missourians Against the […]
WASHINGTON — This year’s election marks the first time voters are casting ballots for president since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion and made reproductive rights a pivotal issue for many voters. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump have spoken about reproductive rights and abortion access numerous […]
WASHINGTON — The next U.S. president must steer the nation through crises across the globe, including worsening violence in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to retreat from Ukraine and U.S-China trade relations. The Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, largely built her career as a prosecutor, but once in Washington she sat […]
WASHINGTON — The threat of political violence will likely hang over the nation’s capital in the weeks following Election Day, security experts say, despite intensive preparations by law enforcement officials determined to avoid another Jan. 6 insurrection. The 2,000-plus officers who make up the U.S. Capitol Police, as well as other federal law enforcement agencies […]
Janet Baker has to say “no” more often than she would like to the aging Kansas Citians her organization serves. Even to a woman newly confined to a wheelchair who called a couple of weeks ago requesting Meals on Wheels, Baker, executive director of KC Shepherd’s Center, had to say “no.” “This makes me sick,” […]
Twenty-four minutes before the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade in February left one person dead and at least 24 people injured, Jenipher Cabrera felt a bullet pierce the back of her right thigh. The 20-year-old and her family were just four blocks from Union Station, in a river of […]
In states with legal sports betting, Americans are gambling on the talents of sports stars like Patrick Mahomes and Bobby Witt Jr. more and heeding the advice of certified financial advisers less. Households across the country are skipping the stock market and using money that could otherwise be invested to bet on sports. A study, […]
WASHINGTON —Top advisers to the Kamala Harris presidential campaign held a Wednesday press conference including children who were separated from their parents under the highly criticized Trump administration immigration policy, as a warning of what a second term under the former president could bring for the Latino community. The press conference in Doral, Florida, came […]
Former President Donald Trump fielded questions from women voters during a Fox News town hall in Georgia that aired Wednesday, and dubbed himself “the father of IVF” while discussing the fertility treatment that grabbed the spotlight after an Alabama court’s ruling earlier this year. The GOP presidential nominee — who’s also called himself a “protector” of […]
For several months, the Columbia Missourian has requested documents regarding the operations and finances of Boone Health following major layoffs, program cuts and reported losses of $112 million from the hospital in 2021-22. Hospital officials, including members of the publicly elected board of trustees, have denied numerous requests by Missourian reporters for operational documents. Missourian […]
Democrat Lucas Kunce reported raising $7.6 million over the last three months, more than doubling the amount raised by Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley over the same period. Hawley, who is seeking his second term in the Senate, reported raising $3 million. An independent political action committee supporting his re-election, Show Me Strong, raised a […]
As ballot measure campaigns fill the airwaves with seven-figure ad wars alongside Missouri’s U.S. Senate race, the state seems about to experience the cheapest campaign in years for other statewide offices. On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, the Republican nominee for governor, reported raising about $760,000 during September for his campaign committee and another $1.3 […]
Sean Johnson woke up last Monday planning to vote in November for Donald Trump and to legalize abortion in Missouri. But the 48-year-old Independence resident changed his tune about Amendment 3 — which seeks to overturn Missouri’s abortion ban — after speaking to Eric Holder, a volunteer with the Knights of Columbus and member of […]
Missouri’s chief medical officer on Tuesday said the state needs to raise awareness among physicians about the prevalence of radioactive contamination in the St. Louis area to catch rare cancers. Dr. Heidi Miller, who last year was named the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Service’s first chief medical officer, spoke to an interim committee […]
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump defended his plans for steep tariffs on Tuesday, arguing economists who say that those higher costs would get passed onto consumers are incorrect and that his proposals would benefit American manufacturing. During an argumentative hour-long interview with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait hosted by the Economic Club of Chicago, Trump vehemently […]
Chariton County cannot block construction of the Grain Belt Express electric transmission line by refusing permission to cross county roads, the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The county can establish rules for how the transmission line crosses its roads, the court ruled as it modified a trial court decision that said the […]
Nearly 200 tenants launched a rent strike at the start of this month over what they see as intolerable living conditions at two large apartment buildings in Kansas City and Independence. The renters at Quality Hill Towers and Independence Towers are demanding better upkeep, repairs, collectively bargained leases and capping annual rent hikes at 3% […]
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