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 […]
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 […]
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