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Missouri Senate committee debates plan to reinstate presidential primary for 2028

5 months ago
Missouri would join at least 14 other states with a “Super Tuesday” presidential primary in 2028 under a bill that would also bind the state’s delegates on the first ballot at national political conventions.  During testimony Monday to the state Senate Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee, leaders of the state’s two largest political parties […]
Rudi Keller

State barriers limit access to compensation for gun violence survivors, report says

5 months ago
While federal efforts to strengthen victim compensation are underway, states play a critical role in determining whether survivors of gun violence can actually access that support, according to a new report from Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit gun research and advocacy organization.  Access to victim compensation varies widely by state, with nearly 30% of […]
Amanda Watford

US Supreme Court weighs how far police investigations can go in using cellphone location data

5 months ago
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared likely to allow law enforcement to continue seeking warrants for the location history of cellphones near crime scenes, even as the justices wrestled with how far the government must go to protect Americans’ privacy. Some of the justices appeared to be searching for a middle ground during oral arguments […]
Jonathan Shorman

Visa delays disrupt classrooms at Kansas City’s Académie Lafayette

5 months ago
For second graders at AcadĂ©mie Lafayette in Kansas City, speaking French with their peers and teachers is a daily routine. But last month, two of their teachers — mentors, guides and cultural bridges — were suddenly unable to teach due to delays in U.S. visa processing. According to Alyson Stewart, director of development for the […]
William Hehemann

US Supreme Court to hear case on legal status of more than 350,000 Haitians and Syrians

5 months ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday will hear oral arguments on the Trump administration’s efforts to strip temporary legal status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, a move that could open them up to deportation. The case has the potential to have an impact on multiple lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to end […]
Ariana Figueroa

Missouri private school voucher data exposure sparks fight over MOScholars accountability

5 months ago
The accidental exposure of student information from Missouri’s MOScholars program has reopened a broader fight over how much scrutiny the state’s private school voucher program should face. After The Independent reported last week that student names, schools and parent email addresses were accessible through the underlying data of a spreadsheet posted by the Missouri State […]
Annelise Hanshaw

Missouri Supreme Court must protect the people’s power of referendum

5 months 1 week ago
An accountable state government is like a seesaw: government on one side, people on the other. When it works, it moves in a steady rhythm — government acts, people respond. But when one side grows too heavy, the system stops working. The people can push, organize, and speak out, but the balance no longer shifts. […]
McClain Bryant Macklin, Kay Park

Bill giving child sex victims longer to sue abusers hits Missouri Senate snag

5 months 1 week ago
A bill to more than quadruple the time childhood sexual abuse victims have to sue their abusers stalled this week in the Missouri Senate after Democrats accused insurance lobbyists of using it to impose shorter limits on personal injury lawsuits. It’s the fourth year Republican state Rep. Brian Seitz of Branson has sponsored legislation aiming […]
Steph Quinn

Trump administration investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell scrapped

5 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice dropped its investigation Friday of the Federal Reserve and Chair Jerome Powell over building renovation costs, a move that could open the door for new Fed leadership next month — and signaled a victory for North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said her office closed the […]
Ashley Murray

Trump’s budget would gut local libraries and museums. Congress is not on board.

5 months 1 week ago
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is looking to eliminate funding in fiscal 2027 for the agency that serves as the primary federal funding source for libraries and museums nationwide. But congressional appropriators — who rebuffed similar efforts to gut the agency in fiscal 2026 — expressed little enthusiasm for the proposed cut in interviews with […]
Shauneen Miranda

How Trump’s order on mail ballots threatens Postal Service independence

5 months 1 week ago
President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail voting would shatter decades of U.S. Postal Service independence intended to shield it from partisan politics, postal experts and attorneys say. Postal experts said Trump ordering the postmaster general to take any action — let alone on a matter as sensitive as elections — violates guardrails in federal […]
Jonathan Shorman

Menopause coverage bills meet mixed fates in state legislatures

5 months 1 week ago
A handful of states are considering legislation this session related to menopause and perimenopause, including proposals to mandate coverage and others to include work protections for people experiencing symptoms related to the conditions. Others have already said no to similar bills. Menopause typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 55, according to the National Institute […]
Kelcie Moseley-Morris

Errors in Missouri crime bill force Senate to pass fix to avoid sentencing gap

5 months 1 week ago
The Missouri Senate approved legislation Wednesday that included corrections for multiple errors in another bill Gov. Mike Kehoe signed earlier this month. That bill, originally sponsored by Republican state Sen. Nich Schroer of Defiance, was an wide-ranging crime bill that included changes to juvenile detention centers in the state and mandatory prison time for adults […]
Anika Austvold

Josh Hawley calls on RFK Jr. to end Title X family planning funds to Missouri’s sole grantee

5 months 1 week ago
Months after having its federal family planning funding restored, the only Title X grantee program in Missouri is facing new threats from U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley. During a congressional hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services Budget on Wednesday, Hawley asked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop providing Title X funding […]
Anna Spoerre

Healthy food is cheaper than chronic disease. Missouri should act like it

5 months 1 week ago
After passing with overwhelming bipartisan approval in the Missouri House this month, the state Senate is poised to consider legislation that would provide healthy, locally grown food to Medicaid recipients with chronic diet-related illnesses. Two “Food is Medicine” bills are under consideration. They would allow dietitians and other health care professionals to prescribe meals or […]
Melissa Weissler