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% […]
The United States is the only democracy in the world where a presidential candidate can get the most popular votes and still lose the election. Thanks to the Electoral College, that has happened five times in the country’s history. The most recent examples are from 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote but George […]
Despite an encouraging national dip in the past year, overdose deaths are still on the rise in many Western states as the epicenter of the nation’s continuing crisis shifts toward the Pacific Coast, where deadly fentanyl and also methamphetamine are finding more victims. Overdose deaths remain sharply higher since 2019. Many states are working on […]
Residents in Kansas City’s historic Northeast neighborhood say plans for a state psychiatric hospital on the site of a former housing project and city park clash with plans for revitalizing their community. They’re losing patience with efforts to base ever more social services near their homes that they fear could make their streets a dumping […]
It’s time to bet the over-under on how much will be spent this year on gambling ballot measures in Missouri. A good mark might be $60 million. Online bookies poured $32 million so far into the Amendment 2 campaign to legalize sports betting, and a casino company grumpy about the deal countered with $14 million […]
One of Josh Hawley’s favorite lines of attack during his first run for U.S. Senate in 2018 was to lambaste his Democratic opponent for using a private jet to travel the state. “I say, ‘Look, I’m driving everywhere, why don’t you drive?’ She can’t do it,” Hawley told Politico during the 2018 campaign about then-Sen. […]
For more evidence of Missouri’s drift to the far side of MAGA madness, look no further than the race for lieutenant governor. In the primary election, Republican voters turned aside Lincoln Hough, the veteran senator and state budget expert. They rejected Holly Thompson Rehder, a state senator with a compelling biography and rock-solid conservative values. […]
MADISON, Wis. — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who moved into a dairy lobbying position following his first go around as head of the USDA, did not reject making a similar move once his current time as secretary ends. Speaking to reporters last week at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Vilsack was asked by Investigate […]
In a recent study evaluating how chatbots make loan suggestions for mortgage applications, researchers at Pennsylvania’s Lehigh University found something stark: there was clear racial bias at play. With 6,000 sample loan applications based on data from the 2022 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the chatbots recommended denials for more Black applicants than identical white counterparts. They also […]
If three Missouri Supreme Court judges had their way, voters would not have a say on whether to legalize abortion statewide on this year’s general election ballot. This November, those voters will have the option to use a power they’ve never used before — to boot two of those judges off the state’s high court. […]
Industrial sludge often offered to Missouri farms as free fertilizer contains “forever chemicals,” several groups threatening to sue the state allege. Two advocacy groups along with a mid-Missouri farmer notified several sludge providers and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources of their intent to sue in a letter dated Wednesday, saying the waste presents “an […]
One of Ameren Missouri’s largest coal plants will shut down Tuesday after more than 13 years of litigation over its failure to comply with federal clean air regulations. The St. Louis-based electric utility will retire the Rush Island Energy Center, a two-unit 1,178-megawatt coal plant on the banks of the Mississippi River in Jefferson County, […]
David Huckins, a disabled veteran from Leavenworth, Kan., threw his name into the lottery this spring for a chance to win a social-equity marijuana dispensary license in Missouri. In June, he learned he landed one of 57 microbusiness licenses meant to benefit disadvantaged business owners – including disabled veterans, those with lower incomes and people […]
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