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When being discharged from the hospital after a severe illness or injury, most seniors prefer to return home and receive home healthcare. However, Medicare’s ongoing cuts to the home health program threaten access to care for millions of older Americans and patients with disabilities in need of post-acute care who want to go home when leaving […]

The post Medicare cuts to home health impede patient care for Missouri seniors appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Democrats in Missouri, like their counterparts nationally, will use 2024 to test a new system for determining the party’s presidential preference now that the public primary for all parties has been abolished. Instead of reverting to a caucus-only system, the process used in most elections prior to 2000, the Missouri Democratic Party is seeking comment […]

The post Mail-in ballots, ranked-choice voting part of Missouri Democrat plan for presidential primary appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Some illnesses and injuries — say, a broken ankle — can send you to numerous health care providers. You might start at urgent care but end up in the emergency room. Referred to an orthopedist, you might eventually land in an outpatient surgery center. Four different stops on your road to recovery. But as supersized […]

The post Some states back hospital mergers despite record of service cuts, price hikes appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Recent disputes and lawsuits about how abortion-rights initiative petitions would be summarized on the ballot demonstrates a serious problem with the process required in Missouri before signatures can be collected. Under the current process, the top of the proposal contains an estimated cost written by the state auditor and a short description written by the […]

The post Capitol Perspective: There must be a better way to do ballot descriptions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Allegations that Scotland County Hospital fired a chief executive officer during an illegal closed meeting aren’t enough to make a case that there was a conspiracy against the officer, attorneys for the hospital argued Wednesday. Statements made in that August 2022 meeting are protected because they were among officials of the hospital, attorney Andrew Kinghorn […]

The post Missouri hospital seeks to dismiss slander, conspiracy lawsuit filed by fired CEO appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A private pre-trial detention center in Leavenworth beset with violence when it closed in 2021 could house individuals detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.  For years, Nashville-based CoreCivic operated the Leavenworth Detention Center, which held individuals charged — but not convicted — with federal crimes from Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and western Missouri. Now, it […]

The post Shuttered private jail in Leavenworth could become ICE detention center appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The University of Missouri rolled out its first all-electric, autonomous tractor Tuesday, calling it a “revolutionary piece of technology” that could pioneer new agricultural practices and make farming more efficient and sustainable. The Monarch MK-V tractor, bought with grant funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is the Midwest’s first fully autonomous tractor, according to […]

The post First fully electric, autonomous tractor in the Midwest unveiled in Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona made stops in Kansas and Missouri Tuesday as part of a multi-state tour, labeling internet access “the new pencil” as he discussed the government’s efforts to expand broadband connectivity. During events in Overland Park, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, Cardona discussed a program that subsidizes internet access and community engagement. […]

The post Education secretary calls digital divide ‘equity issue of our moment’ during KC visit appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When Jacob Riis came to Emporia in 1902 to give a lecture, audiences knew what they could expect. Twelve years earlier, he had published “How the Other Half Lives,” which exposed through candid photographs the living conditions of the poor in the slums of New York City. The Danish-American muckraker’s subject for his Kansas audience […]

The post After a century, states are loosening child labor laws. Where’s the outrage? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A new Stateline analysis shows that U.S. residents under 40 were relatively unscathed by COVID-19 in the pandemic but fell victim to another killer: accidental drug overdose deaths. Death rates in the age group were up by nearly a third in 2021 over 2018, and last year were still 21% higher. COVID-19 was a small […]

The post Death rates for people under 40 have skyrocketed. Blame fentanyl appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Six initiative petitions filed last week seeking to add rape and incest exceptions to Missouri’s abortion ban are facing pushback from both sides of the issue, pilloried as either an anti-abortion wolf in sheep’s clothing or a clandestine push to allow abortion on demand. Filed by Republican political operative Jamie Corley with assistance from Democratic […]

The post New initiative petitions draw criticism from both sides of Missouri abortion debate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As a 5th generation Missouri farmer, I know what the stakes are. As independent family farmers, we are responsible for our animals and the land 365 days a year, through every type of weather, year in and year out. We carry the majority of the risk, and then we watch corporate meatpackers take the majority […]

The post History of the hog industry shows how to save the cattle industry appeared first on Missouri Independent.

ROLLA – A story that began with a small-town traffic stop will end with a judge deciding whether government officials tried to silence a critic by banning her from city hall. Rebecca Varney already won one round in her lawsuit accusing the city of Edgar Springs of repeated violations of Missouri’s Sunshine Law. On Friday […]

The post Phelps County woman awaits ruling in battle against her ban from Missouri city hall appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As we pause to pay tribute to the achievements and contributions of workers to our economy and their struggle to improve working conditions, the role that employers have played and continue to play — for good or ill — is inescapable. How are employers measuring up in caring out their responsibilities to employees? A recent […]

The post Each taxpayer is an employer. What kind of employer are you? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers are concerned that the Biden administration is interpreting last year’s bipartisan gun safety law to cut funding for school archery and hunting programs, though programs themselves say they haven’t been affected. A provision in the law – a bipartisan effort to curb gun violence that established new criminal offenses, and expanded background […]

The post Gun law raises funding concerns for school hunting programs appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Select U.S. restaurants have begun serving laboratory-grown chicken, spurring long wait times for reservations by diners curious to taste it. In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave final approval for a few California-based companies to begin selling lab-produced chicken across the country. While it may be years before lab-grown meat is available at grocery […]

The post Was that chicken cutlet grown in a lab? These states want you to know appeared first on Missouri Independent.

There’s no question what motivated state Rep. Kelly Moller to push for changes in Minnesota law on concert ticket sales. “Really, it was the Taylor Swift debacle for me,” she said. A self-professed Swiftie, the Democrat found herself among millions of other Americans unable to buy tickets last year to Swift’s Eras Tour. She preregistered […]

The post Seeing ‘Red’ after Taylor Swift debacle, states weigh concert ticket rules appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Kansas City police arrested at least four people on invalid warrants in 2021 following its transition from one tracking software program to another, The Missouri Independent has learned.  It’s unclear from the records obtained by The Independent how many individuals were mistakenly arrested. The department had been warned of possible technical issues that could lead […]

The post Kansas City police made arrests based on rescinded warrants, records show appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is barred from moving forward with a permit for an animal waste lagoon north of Columbia following a judge’s ruling Thursday. Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green issued a writ of prohibition in a case Randolph County residents filed against the state. The department can’t take further action without […]

The post Judge bars Missouri from moving ahead on Randolph County waste lagoon permit appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In recent years, some states have invested in air quality monitoring, applied extra scrutiny to permitting decisions and steered cleanup funding to minority communities that have borne the brunt of pollution for decades. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down race-conscious college admissions policies, state lawmakers are facing a […]

The post It may have just gotten harder to protect minority communities from pollution appeared first on Missouri Independent.