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Missourians in need of help accessing public benefits saw wait times for the state’s long-overloaded call center increase in the final months of 2023. The average hold time for the state phone line dealing with food assistance interviews reached 1 hour and 12 minutes in December, more than double what they had been in August, […]

The post Records show rising call center wait times for Missouri Medicaid, food assistance appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Senate Democrats are blocking a vote on setting a higher threshold for passing constitutional amendments, filibustering a bill they see as a pure Republican power grab. For more than five hours Monday and again for almost six hours on Tuesday, Democrats held the floor to discuss their objections to a proposal to require constitutional […]

The post Missouri Senate Democrats stall GOP push to change initiative petition process appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Legislation backed by Missouri agriculture groups could slash the state’s clean water enforcement, jeopardizing millions of dollars in grants and raising the specter of a federal takeover.  A Missouri House committee Monday night considered legislation that would remove “nonpoint sources” from the definition of contamination source in the state’s water laws, which critics say would […]

The post Missouri House bill would jeopardize millions in funding to fight water pollution appeared first on Missouri Independent.

An O’Fallon man who used artificial intelligence to generate almost two dozen fake citations in a legal brief must pay $10,000 in sanctions for wasting the time of his courtroom opponents, the Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. In a case that originated in St. Charles County, Jonathan Karlen was appealing a decision […]

The post Missouri appeals court fines litigant after finding fake, AI-generated cases cited in filings appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly early Tuesday to approve a $95 billion emergency spending package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The measure now goes to the U.S. House, where Speaker Mike Johnson hasn’t committed to putting the bill on the floor for debate and votes amid opposition to the military and humanitarian assistance […]

The post U.S. Senate sends to the House a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Ahmad Haynes and a handful of employees at BeLeaf Medical’s Sinse Cannabis site in St. Louis anxiously waited for the clock to hit 5 p.m. He and his co-workers had gathered outside the St. Louis Public Library’s Barr branch, where they had cast their votes to unionize earlier that afternoon on Feb. 6. The election […]

The post Company continues to argue Missouri cannabis workers can’t unionize appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers have heard hours of heated testimony at two hearings in the last week over bills aiming to regulate intoxicating hemp products that get people high the same as marijuana. Currently there’s no state or federal law saying teenagers or children can’t buy products, such as delta-8 drinks, or that stores can’t sell them […]

The post Push for restrictions on intoxicating hemp products spurs clash over who should regulate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to further delay his federal criminal trial on charges he attempted to subvert the 2020 election, contending his actions were protected by presidential immunity. In a 40-page application to the Supreme Court late Monday, Trump and his attorneys asked the justices to pause pretrial activities […]

The post Trump asks U.S. Supreme Court to pause federal trial over presidential immunity question appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Republican and Democratic senators on Monday distanced themselves from comments Donald Trump made about NATO over the weekend, when the GOP front-runner said the United States might not assist those countries should Russia expand its war in Europe. Speaking at a rally in South Carolina, Trump recalled a conversation he had when he was president […]

The post Some GOP senators shy away from Trump threat he won’t aid ‘delinquent’ NATO allies appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Organizations representing homeschool families raised concerns about legislation debated Monday seeking to expand a tax credit program that helps pay for students to attend private and religious schools.  A dozen bills proposing changes to the tax-credit program, dubbed MOScholars, have been filed this legislative session in both the House and Senate. On Monday, a House […]

The post Expansion of tax-credit scholarships faces criticism of Missouri homeschoolers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Liberty Hospital would be at risk of falling into the hands of a for-profit chain and losing important services if Missouri lawmakers block a proposed takeover by the University of Kansas Health System, a board member for the Northland hospital argued last week.  Speaking to a Missouri Senate committee, Liberty Hospital board president Dennis Carter […]

The post Missouri lawmakers debate blocking University of Kansas deal with Liberty hospital appeared first on Missouri Independent.

So far this year, state Rep. Mazzie Christensen has filed 11 bills, ranging from changes to statewide education and public health policy to narrow legislation designed to help a small county in her district.  State Rep. Adam Schwadron has filed 12 bills, including his top priority to create a state fund to defray costs of […]

The post ‘I’m absolutely being punished’: Dean Plocher accused of retaliating against GOP critics appeared first on Missouri Independent.

While many of us may not take time to celebrate love or Black history during the month of February, they both hold a lot in common and offer some valuable aspects we might want to consider. Among them: Understanding. Hope. Unity. In love, when we really want to know about a person or thing, we […]

The post Love and Black history sharing the same month is instructive appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The bipartisan tax package passed by the U.S. House last month is not a done deal, but the proposal’s supporters say it could restore some poverty-reducing benefits that reached millions under the pandemic-era child tax credit expansion. A majority of low-income families who do not currently qualify for the full credit would see some increase […]

The post Congress is looking at expanding the child tax credit again. Who would benefit? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Until COVID-19, tuberculosis was the world’s deadliest infectious disease, killing about 1.5 million people annually. Contrary to public perception, the disease is still active in the United States. The number of TB cases in the U.S. briefly dropped at the start of the pandemic, but there was a 5% increase in cases in 2022, according to the […]

The post Tuberculosis cases rise, but public health agencies say they lack the resources to keep up appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Last month, city council members in Fort Worth, Texas, decided developers that received massive tax breaks to build affordable housing would no longer be able to buy their way out of the obligation by paying a $200 annual fee in lieu of each unbuilt low-income unit. In Columbus, Ohio, leaders voted in December to expand […]

The post Desperate for affordable housing, some cities sweeten tax breaks for developers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missourians voted in 2013 to return control of the St. Louis police department to local officials, ending more than 150 years of state oversight. And almost immediately, state lawmakers began pushing to get control back. That effort is back again this year, with proponents arguing the experiment with local control has failed, leaving the city […]

The post Effort to place St. Louis police under state control returns in Missouri legislature appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When Andrew Gallamore clocks out of work at his job in Bonner Springs, he clicks on his phone. Sometimes, to bet. His DraftKings app makes dropping $5 or $10 on a prop bet so easy. And once he’s back home in Missouri, having even a few dollars riding on how many yards a player may […]

The post With a casino on their phones, more Kansas City gamblers risk addiction appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The coroner of Cape Girardeau County — who admitted to journalists in 2021 that his office simply “doesn’t do COVID deaths” and that he didn’t personally investigate deaths himself, despite being legally required to do so — was charged Thursday with stealing from a dead person and lying on multiple death certificates. Missouri Attorney General […]

The post Missouri coroner charged with stealing from the dead, lying on death certificates appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate moved past a procedural hurdle Thursday to begin work on a $95 billion emergency spending bill that would provide military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The strong 67-32 vote, which could predict eventual approval, came after a tense week on Capitol Hill that began Sunday evening when […]

The post US Senate advances $95.3 billion bill that includes emergency funding for Ukraine, Israel appeared first on Missouri Independent.