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Artificial intelligence could be used to disrupt U.S. election campaigns, members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration said during a Wednesday hearing. But the hearing showed that imposing laws and regulations on campaign content without violating constitutional rights to political speech will be difficult. Elections pose a particular challenge for AI, an […]

The post U.S. Senate panel weighs free speech and deep fakes in AI campaign ads appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A state law raising the minimum funding Kansas City must provide its police department doesn’t impose any cost on the city or violate the state constitution, the Missouri attorney general’s office argued Wednesday. Deputy Solicitor General Jeff Johnson, representing the state auditor and secretary of state, told the Missouri Supreme Court Wednesday that legislation forcing […]

The post KC mayor argues police funding mandate should be tossed by Missouri Supreme Court appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments over the constitutionality of a wide-ranging law passed by the legislature last year banning sleeping on public land. Missouri lawmakers made sleeping on state-owned land a Class C misdemeanor, along with a slew of other provisions such as restricting state funding for permanent supportive housing in favor […]

The post Missouri Supreme Court weighs constitutionality of law banning sleeping on public land appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A law requiring cities to cover costs of damages when individual officers are found liable in police misconduct cases should be thrown out because it illegally imposes new duties and expenses on local governments, lawyers for St. Louis argued to the Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday. In defense of the law, Assistant Attorney General Jason […]

The post St. Louis asks Missouri Supreme Court to overturn police ‘bill of rights’ law appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Recalls on cannabis products have become common in other states where marijuana is legal.  But when Missouri regulators issued their first recall last month, veterans of the industry were surprised. While recalls most commonly involve a company cooperating with regulators to understand the issue — was there bacteria in the product, or perhaps a wrong […]

The post Opposing sides of Missouri marijuana recall to face off in administrative hearing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — As the deadline for Congress to pass a new farm bill looms this weekend, staff members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees say it will be months – if not longer – until they reach agreement on a new bill. Lawmakers must rewrite the sweeping farm bill every five years to set […]

The post The farm bill is on the verge of expiring. Congress is months away from a new version appeared first on Missouri Independent.

National parks and nearby communities could forego millions of dollars per day during a partial government shutdown that could start this weekend. Would-be visitors will likely see restrictions on park access, though the extent of those restrictions was still unclear just days before a potential lapse in federal appropriations set to begin Sunday. Parks would […]

The post How a looming government shutdown could hit national parks appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — More than a dozen U.S. Senate Democrats are calling on New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez to resign following his indictment on corruption charges for the second time. Among the 18 senators on the record as of early Tuesday afternoon was New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, who said in a statement that Menendez’s […]

The post Menendez urged to step down by a growing number of U.S. Senate Democrats appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Ameren Missouri announced plans Tuesday to burn more natural gas in the coming years, though it claims the decision doesn’t undermine pledges to reduce its carbon emissions.  The St. Louis-based utility, which serves more than 1.2 million Missouri customers, says it is still planning to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.  Ameren announced its plans […]

The post Ameren Missouri plans new natural gas plants along with clean energy additions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Another 12,833 children were removed from the state’s Medicaid program in August  — more than three-quarters of whom were terminated because of paperwork issues rather than being determined ineligible. August was the third month of the state reassessing the eligibility of every Medicaid participant, after a three year COVID-era pause on the practice. The process […]

The post Nearly half of all Missouri Medicaid terminations in last three months have been children appeared first on Missouri Independent.

SEARCY, Ark. — In the decarbonized future envisioned by many states, utilities and the federal government, expect more power plants like Entergy Arkansas’ facility here, where thousands of gleaming panels and banks of batteries spread across 800 acres about 50 miles northeast of Little Rock. The Searcy Solar Energy Center, a 100-megawatt solar and storage […]

The post Battery storage seen as ‘backbone’ of reliable electric grid but adoption uneven across U.S. appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Harry Castilow said his family did “all the things you’re supposed to do” when his teenage son Jay came out as transgender. Jay began his social transition in 2021 when he was 15, choosing his name and living as a teenage boy. He went to therapy throughout that first year and got appointments with a […]

The post As Missouri providers halt transgender care for minors, some feel duped by legislative deal appeared first on Missouri Independent.

One of the most effective ways to make sure someone shows up at their trial is to send them a text reminder with their court date. But instead of texting criminal defendants, Kansas City spends millions of dollars every year to hold people in jail while they await trial. Like nearly all other American cities, […]

The post Does Kansas City overuse jails? Commission looks for better solutions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Parents in Boone County, Kentucky, were outraged this past January when a ninth grader who had been suspended a year earlier for threatening violence against his fellow students returned to class as soon as his punishment time was up. The parents packed a school board meeting, excoriating the county superintendent and other officials for the […]

The post Shaken by post-pandemic disruptions, some states take a harder line on school discipline appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Cole County judge rewrote the ballot titles for six initiative petitions seeking to enshrine the right to abortion in the Missouri Constitution, ruling that 13 phrases in the summaries written by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft are “argumentative” or unfairly biased. In a ruling issued Monday morning, Circuit Judge Jon Beetem wrote that the […]

The post Missouri judge rejects secretary of state’s ‘problematic’ summary of abortion initiative petitions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

At the center of Missouri’s massive marijuana recall is a THC concentrate, or distillate, made partially from hemp. Robertsville-based marijuana manufacturer Delta Extraction has denied accusations that it illegally imported marijuana into the state by arguing it actually imported a non-psychoactive hemp product that was converted into THC once in Missouri.  The commissioner overseeing Delta’s […]

The post Confusion continues over how hemp was processed in recalled Missouri cannabis products appeared first on Missouri Independent.

American confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court has plunged to historic lows. It’s not so much because of their rulings, but the behavior of individual justices, and their method of selection. Without serious judicial reform, such mistrust of our highest court is going to trickle down to lower levels of the judiciary with consequences too […]

The post Restoring America’s confidence in our court system with a code of conduct appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WENTZVILLE — Adam Purfeerst has been standing along the edge of Highway A in Wentzville for hours, lifting his picket sign and waving to passing drivers, whose staccato honks and loud blares punctuate the Thursday afternoon.  “We’re fighting for the working class in general,” said Purfeest, a General Motors assembly line worker for the last […]

The post ‘Trying to set the example’: Wentzville GM strike enters its second week appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The federal pandemic-era child tax credit expansion lifted millions of children out of poverty in the second half of 2021. But Congress allowed it to expire at the end of that year, and new U.S. census data shows the child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022, erasing the record gains that were made. “It […]

The post As child poverty doubles, states launch or expand their own tax credits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The top Republican in the Missouri House is facing allegations he threatened to terminate the employment of a nonpartisan legislative staffer who resisted his monthslong push to hire a private company to manage constituent information.  House Speaker Dean Plocher vehemently denies the accusations, which were uncovered through public records obtained by The Independent under Missouri’s […]

The post Missouri lawmaker accused of ‘unlawful’ conduct in push for contract, drawing FBI scrutiny appeared first on Missouri Independent.