a Better Bubble™

MoInd 📰

Student loan repayment pause extended by White House amid legal battles over relief plan

2 years 7 months ago

WASHINGTON — The Department of Education announced on Tuesday it is extending the pandemic-era pause on federal student loan repayments until June 30 while legal challenges to the administration’s student debt relief program are fought over in the courts. The agency said if the student debt relief program has not been put in place by […]

The post Student loan repayment pause extended by White House amid legal battles over relief plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Ariana Figueroa

Missouri’s culture of death must stop. Granting Kevin Johnson mercy is a good first step

2 years 7 months ago

The Missouri NAACP has a travel advisory in the state highlighting that if you are a person of color in Missouri, you have got to be careful. You will not have the complete protection of the law in the courts nor on the streets. The execution of Kevin Johnson, planned for Nov. 29, is but […]

The post Missouri’s culture of death must stop. Granting Kevin Johnson mercy is a good first step appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Nimrod Chapel Jr.

What to know about buying recreational marijuana in Missouri

2 years 7 months ago

This story was originally published by the Kansas City Beacon.  On Nov. 8, Missourians voted “yes” on Amendment 3, which legalized recreational use of marijuana, meaning you’ll now be able to buy weed, like marijuana flower or edibles, in the coming months. Starting Dec. 8, the state will begin transitioning its medical marijuana licenses to recreational […]

The post What to know about buying recreational marijuana in Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Meg Cunningham

As utilities spend billions on transmission, support builds for independent monitoring

2 years 7 months ago

An aging electric grid, fossil fuel power plant retirements and a massive renewable electricity buildout are all contributing to a boom in transmission and distribution wire projects by electric utilities across the country. In 2020, investor-owned electric utilities spent $25 billion on transmission, up from $23.7 billion in 2019, figures that the Edison Electric Institute, which […]

The post As utilities spend billions on transmission, support builds for independent monitoring appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Robert Zullo

Kevin Johnson’s attorneys, special prosecutor ask Missouri Supreme Court to stay execution

2 years 7 months ago

Attorneys for a St. Louis man sentenced to die for a murder he committed when he was 19 asked the Missouri Supreme Court Monday to delay his execution to allow for a hearing on alleged constitutional violations in his original trial. Kevin Johnson was convicted in 2007 of killing a police officer. He is scheduled […]

The post Kevin Johnson’s attorneys, special prosecutor ask Missouri Supreme Court to stay execution appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Rebecca Rivas

Thousands of experts hired to aid public health departments are losing their jobs

2 years 7 months ago

This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News.  As COVID-19 raged, roughly 4,000 highly skilled epidemiologists, communication specialists, and public health nurses were hired by a nonprofit tied to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to plug the holes at battered public health departments on the front lines. But over the past few […]

The post Thousands of experts hired to aid public health departments are losing their jobs appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Lauren Weber

Large CAFOs are known polluters. Here’s why EPA permits only cover one-third

2 years 7 months ago

This story was originally published by Investigate Midwest.  The Environmental Protection Agency is charged with protecting important waterways from pollution, but manure from concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, continues to harm waterways — and only one-third of the largest facilities have a federal permit. EPA permits require CAFO operators to tell the agency how […]

The post Large CAFOs are known polluters. Here’s why EPA permits only cover one-third appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Madison McVan

Missouri AG aligns with St. Louis conspiracy theorist in social media lawsuit

2 years 7 months ago

When Kate Starbird got word that Missouri’s attorney general wanted her to turn over three years of her emails, she didn’t know what to think.  A Seattle-based professor at the University of Washington, Starbird co-founded the UW Center for an Informed Public, which researches misinformation online. Why would an elected official 2,000 miles away be […]

The post Missouri AG aligns with St. Louis conspiracy theorist in social media lawsuit appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jason Hancock

Missouri deserves a creative program for supporting businesses, reducing unemployment

2 years 7 months ago

Early last month, Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation to lower the state’s income tax rate at an annual cost of more than $500 million — shorting Missouri taxpayers out of a greater return for their money. Tax dollars that could have staffed up school districts facing teacher and staff shortages, improved facilities and equipment for […]

The post Missouri deserves a creative program for supporting businesses, reducing unemployment appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Peter Gariepy

Two communities find a cure for medical debt: Pandemic stimulus funds

2 years 7 months ago

Local governments in Ohio and Illinois are using American Rescue Plan Act money to relieve residents struggling with medical debt by partnering with an organization that buys debt and wipes the slate clean for debtors.  It’s a strategy advocates say could be duplicated across the country to help erase a multibillion-dollar problem. On Nov. 9, […]

The post Two communities find a cure for medical debt: Pandemic stimulus funds appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Casey Quinlan

Capitol Perspectives: Legislative fights for leadership

2 years 7 months ago

The recent party caucuses of Missouri’s legislature provide an example for the U.S. Congress of a more civil and productive approach to dealing with changes after a general election. Congressional party caucuses have been divided by ideological, political and personality conflicts. That is so different from the comments of newly elected Missouri Senate Majority Leader […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Legislative fights for leadership appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Phill Brooks

Rural gun deaths exceed urban rates by 28% because of increased suicide rates

2 years 7 months ago

This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. A higher prevalence of gun ownership in rural America has contributed to increased suicides, raising the overall gun-death rate in rural areas above that of urban communities. Experts say some legal interventions that have broad public support could […]

The post Rural gun deaths exceed urban rates by 28% because of increased suicide rates appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Sarah Melotte

Nancy Pelosi, first woman to serve as speaker of the U.S. House, steps down from leadership

2 years 7 months ago

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who became the first woman in history to hold the gavel, shepherding landmark bills across four presidencies, announced Thursday she’ll step aside from leadership though she’ll remain in Congress. “With great confidence in our caucus, I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” she […]

The post Nancy Pelosi, first woman to serve as speaker of the U.S. House, steps down from leadership appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jennifer Shutt

Marijuana vote divided Missouri social-justice leaders. Can an equity officer be a bridge?

2 years 7 months ago

Longtime cannabis activist Brennan England has gotten lots of undeserved praise since Missourians approved a constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana on Nov. 8. As the owner of a private cannabis consumption lounge in St. Louis, England understood why people thought he’d have a “go weed or go home” stance.  But it wasn’t that simple for […]

The post Marijuana vote divided Missouri social-justice leaders. Can an equity officer be a bridge? appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Rebecca Rivas

Glimpses of the new Kansas City airport make visiting current terminals a chore

2 years 7 months ago

The cliché about the Kansas City airport used to go like this: People who live in Kansas City love it, while people from out of town hate it. At this moment, it seems that the group of people who hate the outgoing airport is, well, everyone. For years, Kansas Citians debated whether to replace the […]

The post Glimpses of the new Kansas City airport make visiting current terminals a chore appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Eric Thomas

Bill protecting same-sex marriage gains bipartisan support in U.S. Senate

2 years 7 months ago

WASHINGTON —  The U.S. Senate cleared a key hurdle to passing a marriage equality bill Wednesday, garnering even more than the 60 senators from both political parties needed to move past a legislative filibuster. The bill, which could win final passage in the Senate as soon as this week, would ensure same-sex and interracial couples […]

The post Bill protecting same-sex marriage gains bipartisan support in U.S. Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Jennifer Shutt

U.S. Senate Democrats make a last-ditch push for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers

2 years 7 months ago

WASHINGTON —  Democratic U.S. senators have set a December deadline for passing bipartisan legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for more than 600,000 undocumented people who were brought into the country as children — but they don’t yet have enough Senate Republican votes to make it a reality. During a Wednesday press conference […]

The post U.S. Senate Democrats make a last-ditch push for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Ariana Figueroa

‘Not a new or novel policy’: Judge rules Missouri town cannot ban woman seeking records

2 years 7 months ago

An Edgar Springs woman won a partial victory Tuesday in her long-running dispute with her city when a judge ruled local officials violated her constitutional rights and the state’s Sunshine Law. The small Phelps County city must pay Rebecca Varney a fine of $600 plus her legal costs for “knowing and purposeful” violations of the […]

The post ‘Not a new or novel policy’: Judge rules Missouri town cannot ban woman seeking records appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Rudi Keller