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Legislation seeking to create a “parents bill of rights” in Missouri was amended in committee Tuesday morning to add prohibitions on transgender students accessing restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. A House hearing on standalone bills that sought to regulate school bathrooms took up the majority of a nearly nine-hour meeting […]

The post Bathroom restrictions for transgender kids added to Missouri ‘parents bill of rights’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

State lawmakers were informed last week that it will cost taxpayers $1.2 million to defend a rule on investment brokers that Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says is designed to stop “politically motivated” financial advisers who want to “fritter away Missourians’ money.” Ashcroft issued a new rule in July targeting environmental, social and governance, or […]

The post Jay Ashcroft seeks $1.2 million to defend anti-ESG investing rules in federal court appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Republican civil war in the Missouri Senate reached a new crescendo of strife Tuesday, when Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden stripped four members of their committee chairs and declared he was acting against “a small group of swamp creatures.” The action toward members of the newly formed Freedom Caucus took away traditional prerogatives […]

The post Missouri ‘Freedom Caucus’ leaders ousted from Senate chairmanships over stall tactics appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Republican lawmakers’ latest attempt to change Missouri’s century-old initiative petition process was met with widespread opposition Tuesday.  Hanging over the proceedings, though hardly discussed on Tuesday, were a pair of initiative petition campaigns seeking to put an amendment on the statewide ballot rolling back Missouri near-total ban on abortion.  One of the campaigns has already […]

The post GOP renews push to make it harder to amend Missouri constitution by initiative petition appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan agreement that would make the most substantial changes to immigration policy in 30 years hinges on funding disputes, key senators said Tuesday. While senators have not finalized the text of the agreement, they are discussing changes to the White House’s use of parole authority to grant temporary protections to migrants by […]

The post Funding seen as a last hurdle to final U.S. Senate immigration deal appeared first on Missouri Independent.

An audit accusing his office of illegally withholding information and failing to document withdrawal from a national elections clearinghouse is a “deep state” political attack, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft told reporters Tuesday. Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, who like Ashcroft is a Republican, responded to the accusations Tuesday afternoon, saying those who are the […]

The post Jay Ashcroft accuses Missouri auditor of political attack over criticism in new report appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Hannah Kaplanis applied to Missouri’s Medicaid program nearly two months ago, but hasn’t received any response from the state. Just shy of 18 weeks pregnant, she’s in need of prenatal care and growing increasingly hopeless. Aside from a free ultrasound in November, she hasn’t been able to access any care. She called Missouri’s Medicaid helpline […]

The post ‘Perfect storm’: Missouri advocates decry Medicaid application delays, coverage losses appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Federal records on foreign-owned agricultural land include errors, lack details on subsidiaries and secondary owners, and are not provided to other government agencies in a timely manner, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in a recent audit. Foreign companies are required to disclose land purchases or leases to the United States Department of Agriculture as […]

The post Federal audit: More information on foreign-owned agriculture land needed appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Politicians are public servants. That’s it. That is their job description. And every election cycle is a wonderful opportunity for voters to remind elected officials who really has power and who they really work for. It’s our opportunity to hold them accountable. Our government “of the people, by the people, for the people” — in […]

The post My best advice to voters in 2024: Focus on policy and the stakes, not the political circus appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Spending on administrative expenses at U.S. public universities has outpaced spending on academic roles in recent years, leading some students and alumni to question how wisely schools are allocating student tuition money and scarce state dollars. A conservative-leaning group that tracks higher education dollars found that administrative spending — which it defines as including such things […]

The post Critics say public universities are spending too much outside the classroom appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Young people may be digital natives, but many of them aren’t equipped to deal with the increasing onslaught of disinformation and deepfakes appearing in their social media feeds. A growing number of states think they have an antidote: media literacy education. The goal of media literacy, sometimes called digital citizenship or information literacy, is to […]

The post Kids are flooded with social media and news. Some states want to help them question it appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers are pushing legislation this year requiring pornographic websites and online dating services to verify the ages of all users. Proponents say the goal is to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content online.  However, civil liberties advocates are raising red flags, arguing that the purveyors of adult entertainment content want to prevent minors from […]

The post Missouri legislature weighs age-verification mandates for adult websites appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The next few weeks of legislative action are primed for debate over opening up access for Missouri students to leave their neighborhood schools — though escalating dysfunction in the Senate may change those plans. Proposals to allow open enrollment between school districts and expand tax-credit scholarships for private schools are among the first bills to […]

The post Missouri lawmakers poised for debate over open enrollment, private school scholarships appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In 2022, the United States imported 3.4 billion pounds of boxed beef and 1.6 million live cattle. Through August 2023 the U.S. imported 20% more beef than we exported. Meatpackers and traders can take imported beef and repackage it with a label that reads “Product of the United States.” Now do I have your attention? It […]

The post Hyper concentration in food markets is harmful to consumers and producers alike appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The tax policymakers of the GOP-led U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means voted 40-3 to send the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, or H.R. 7024, to the House for a full floor vote. The Biden administration is “encouraged” and “pleased” with the committee’s vote, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday. The framework, […]

The post Bipartisan deal to expand child tax credit, revive business tax breaks advances in Congress appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Every year — on New Year’s Eve, July 4, when a sports team wins a championship — police and politicians practically beg people not to fire their guns into the air in celebration. In Kansas City, reports of shots fired go up when the NFL playoffs roll around. Meanwhile, a proposal to slightly strengthen the […]

The post After Chiefs win, Kansas Citians fire guns in the air. A lawmaker wants the team to speak out appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators pledged Thursday to press for more funding to research long COVID-19 during a hearing that highlighted patients suffering from the diagnosis as well as experts studying its impacts. “Long COVID stripped away my daughter’s life as she knew it,” said Nicole Heim, the mom of a long COVID patient in Winchester, […]

The post Patients struck by long COVID plead with U.S. Senate panel for more research funding appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Congress will have until early March to finish work it was supposed to complete last fall — and will avert a partial government shutdown — under a bill both chambers approved with broad bipartisan support Thursday. The 77-18 vote in the Senate and 314-108 vote in the House sent the bill to President Joe Biden, […]

The post Congress speeds through short-term government funding bill before Friday shutdown deadline appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A campaign to legalize abortion in Missouri disclosed raising more than $1.1 million in donations on the first day it launched. The campaign, a coalition organized under a political action committee called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, announced Thursday it was launching a campaign to move forward with a ballot initiative that would legalize abortion up […]

The post Missouri abortion ballot effort raises more than $1 million in first day of launch appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The bitter feud between a vocal minority of Senate Republicans and the majority of the GOP caucus erupted Thursday into a fit of name-calling and allegations that certain lawmakers hoped to disrupt the regular process of legislation simply to boost their political fortunes. For almost 11 hours, the intra-party fight kept lawmakers in the Missouri […]

The post Tempers flare in Missouri Senate during GOP fight over initiative petition changes appeared first on Missouri Independent.