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For Missourians with felony convictions, disenfranchisement laws that restrict voting rights due to a past or current felony conviction stand as a barrier to democracy. Currently, Missouri law denies voting rights to individuals during imprisonment and throughout the probation or parole period following a felony conviction. Senate Bill 1199, sponsored by Sen. Curtis Trent, and […]

The post Restoring voting rights in Missouri is a step toward justice and public safety appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A bill that would add child sex trafficking and statutory rape to the crimes eligible for the death penalty was debated Monday in a Missouri Senate committee — despite conflicting with U.S. Supreme Court precedent. The legislation is sponsored by state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican who said Monday that one of the […]

The post Missouri bill would expand death penalty to certain sex crimes against children appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden released his budget request for the upcoming fiscal year Monday, calling on Congress to stick to the spending agreement brokered last year and to revamp tax laws so that the “wealthy pay their fair share.” The $7.266 trillion budget request doesn’t actually spend any money since Congress controls the power […]

The post Biden calls for expanded child tax credit, taxes on wealthy in $7.2 trillion budget plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher arranged a series of meetings in the state Capitol last month between GOP legislators and an out-of-state technology vendor, inviting renewed bipartisan criticism of the embattled Republican as he remains the focus of an ongoing ethics investigation.  The unusual arrangement — including a meeting with GOP leadership that took place […]

The post Dean Plocher draws new scrutiny over series of Capitol meetings with out-of-state vendor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In 2021, two years before California enacted new hog confinement standards for pork to be sold within its borders, Seaboard Foods said it would “no longer sell certain whole pork products” in the state. Passed in 2018, California’s Farm Animal Confinement Initiative, often referred to as Proposition 12, required pork producers to give sows, or […]

The post With California’s Prop 12 now law, pork producers adapt while lobbying groups continue to fight appeared first on Missouri Independent.

There is an urgent need to make civic education available in our schools to help protect and strengthen our republic and its democratic form of government. Civic learning and participation should be a priority in Missouri and nationwide. This week, Civic Learning Week, has been set aside to emphasize the importance of every citizen having […]

The post Civic education is needed in Missouri — and the nation — more than ever appeared first on Missouri Independent.

From 2017 to 2021, congenital syphilis cases rose 219% across the country; in Missouri, they rose 593%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Getty Images).

The post Health professionals push to reduce congenital syphilis infections killing Missouri babies appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Pausing to take a breath, Sarah Love, a University of Missouri senior, held back tears as she recounted the story of Danny Santulli, a former MU student. Santulli, who was starting his freshman year of college in fall 2021, was a pledge for the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, commonly referred to as Fiji. As part […]

The post Missouri bill would establish ‘Danny’s Law’ to protect 911 callers in hazing incidents appeared first on Missouri Independent.

EMERSON, Neb. — Corliss Hassler rushes in the front door of Post 60 Market and heads straight for the produce case. “I’m back,” she announces. It’s around lunchtime, but it’s already her second trip in today — this time, she’s picking up a few items for the Friday fish fry at the local Catholic church. Hassler […]

The post ‘The lifeblood of the community’: States invest to save rural grocery stores appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The secretly filmed video of a young woman who works at a Missouri Planned Parenthood clinic ends with an image of crosshairs and a call to “Be Brave. Do Something.”  Project Veritas is a far-right organization that surreptitiously films employees of organizations that it opposes, deceptively edits the videos, and then uses them to direct […]

The post Missouri AG Andrew Bailey’s new lawsuit is an endorsement of anti-abortion violence appeared first on Missouri Independent.

CLERMONT, Fla. — It was just after sunset, and the evening traffic was buzzing on Highway 50 as 24-year-old Elijah Kinlaw popped into his local Walgreens in Clermont, Florida, to pick up some smokes. He had just finished a long day working at a local roofing company, and he was still wearing his neon green […]

The post States consider menthol cigarette bans as feds delay action appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted again in favor of legislation that would compensate those who developed cancer following exposure to World War II-era radioactive waste in St. Louis.  The legislation, sponsored by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, extends the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which is set to expire, and expands it to cover […]

The post U.S. Senate approves compensation for St. Louis nuclear waste exposures appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in a case marijuana regulators say could force them to issue “dozens” of new licenses to grow, sell and distribute cannabis products above the state’s self-imposed caps.  Mo Cann Do Inc. applied for a cultivation license to grow marijuana in 2019. The company was denied when the state […]

The post Missouri Supreme Court case could result in ‘dozens’ of new marijuana business licenses appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For the second year in a row, a Missouri House committee debated GOP-backed legislation that would face the same limits on drag performances as govern “sexually oriented businesses.” The bill, sponsored by Bethany Republican Rep. Mazzie Christensen, would also create penalties for engaging in an adult cabaret performance in a location where it could be […]

The post Restrictions on drag performances debated by Missouri House committee appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jack Maritz was working at Delta Extraction, a marijuana manufacturing facility in Robertsville, in February 2023 when the company’s regular state compliance officer stopped by unannounced.  The officer, Heather Bilyeu, wanted to make sure Delta had “accurate counts” in the state’s tracking database of how much THC distillate, or concentrated THC oil, they had in […]

The post Three-day hearing reveals behind-the-scenes details of Missouri marijuana recall appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Our government deceived us.  We were both handpicked by city leaders to join a civilian jail oversight board after chaos ensued at St. Louis’ jail.  Chaos is too vague. Let’s be clear. Hell has broken loose. People are dying in cells right across from St. Louis City Hall. City leaders respond with negligence, indifference and […]

The post We left the St. Louis mayor’s jail board, but not the fight for the oppressed  appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Speaker Dean Plocher’s attorney sought to attend a closed-door hearing of the Missouri House Ethics Committee on Wednesday night, arguing he should be allowed to stay in order to listen to the panel review a report detailing the investigation of his client.  Lowell Pearson, a veteran Republican attorney, was informed by the committee’s chair — […]

The post Ethics chair decries ‘theatrics’ after Dean Plocher’s lawyer seeks to attend closed meeting appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House lawmakers cast a broadly bipartisan vote Wednesday to approve a six-bill government funding package, marking one of the few consequential votes on major legislation that chamber has taken since Republicans took the majority more than a year ago. The $468 billion package includes half of the annual spending bills for the […]

The post U.S. House passes $468 billion spending package that would stave off shutdown appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A bill to protect politicians from “deepfake” images and recordings received broad bipartisan support Wednesday in the Missouri House. State Rep. Ben Baker’s bill would prohibit the distribution of digitally created or manipulated messages that “create a realistic but false image” without labeling it as being created using artificial intelligence. The penalty would be up […]

The post Missouri House gives initial approval to bill banning political deepfakes appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Despite facing 91 felony counts, hefty civil penalties and a packed 2024 legal calendar, Donald Trump emerged on Super Tuesday as the Republican Party’s presumptive choice as its presidential candidate in November. The former president has secured 995 of the necessary 1,215 GOP delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination, and likely will […]

The post Trump, Biden close in on clinching nominations after broad Super Tuesday victories appeared first on Missouri Independent.