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An initiative petition to legalize recreational marijuana in Missouri will remain on the ballot after a panel of judges on the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals affirmed that the steps Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft took to certify the petition were proper. A three-judge panel heard arguments Monday afternoon in Kansas City and ruled […]

The post Appeals court leaves marijuana on Missouri ballot. Supreme Court refuses to take case appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Cedar County judge Monday morning delayed a decision on the closure of Agape Boarding School, the Stockton-based reform school facing mounting abuse allegations from former students. Judge David Munton initially ordered Agape be shut down last week at the request of the state Attorney General and Department of Social Services. The state’s petition for […]

The post Missouri judge once again delays closing Agape Boarding School appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Sen. Bill Eigel, a St. Charles County Republican who helped establish a faction of GOP senators that tied the legislature in procedural knots over the last two years, is exploring a run for governor.  Eigel announced his intentions to create an exploratory committee for a 2024 gubernatorial bid  at a fundraiser on Saturday. He […]

The post Founding member of Senate conservative caucus exploring 2024 run for Missouri governor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The U.S. House is considering a bill that would put lynching sites in western Tennessee on track to become part of the National Park Service, part of a trend this year of Congress using the agency to advance discussions of the nation’s troubled and often violent racial history. A bill from U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee Democrat, […]

The post Confronting history, Congress studies addition of lynching sites to national park system appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The American polity is dangerously divided, and people are deadly serious about politics (which isn’t irrational, since policy outcomes are indeed life or death for many). But it helps occasionally to pause and laugh at some of the dumb things candidates of both parties do. Indeed, it is one of our only common threads these […]

The post The five silliest things candidates told me during Missouri’s primary season appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has opened up millions of dollars in funding for groups serving unhoused people in rural areas — an unprecedented move by the agency, say housing advocates. People living in cars, parks, and on the street at night, which the agency labels unsheltered homelessness, has increased across the nation, […]

The post As rural homelessness increases, HUD aims money at helping people without access to shelters appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For almost two weeks, the only thing known about the ruling in the court case over child custody jurisdiction between former Gov. Eric Greitens and his ex-wife, Sheena Greitens, was that a Boone County judge agreed to move it to a Texas court. Associate Circuit Judge Leslie Schneider put her ruling under a tight seal, […]

The post Missouri judge sealed Greitens ruling. Texas court provided full details appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Cole County Circuit Court Judge Friday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block an initiative petition to legalize recreational marijuana from appearing on the November ballot. A day after a three-hour hearing, Cole County Judge Cotton Walker determined Joy Sweeney, an anti-drug legalization activist who filed the lawsuit, lacked standing to sue because she […]

The post Judge dismisses lawsuit that sought to block Missouri marijuana legalization from ballot appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress are lukewarm about providing $47 billion in new emergency spending for the ongoing Ukrainian war against Russia’s invasion, COVID-19 and monkeypox public health campaigns, and to help states recover from natural disasters. GOP senators, who have returned to Washington after Congress’ summer break, aren’t so sure the Biden administration’s request […]

The post GOP balks at White House request for billions for public health, natural disasters, Ukraine appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wants to be clear that his amicus brief in a high-profile U.S. Supreme Court case is not an endorsement of the so-called “independent state legislature” doctrine.  He’s not denouncing it, either.  Instead, Ashcroft is floating a theory of his own: That Congressional redistricting is a duty reserved solely for […]

The post Jay Ashcroft clarifies position in high-profile U.S. Supreme Court election case appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Democrats in the U.S. Senate are confident the Department of Veterans Affairs can implement a new policy that allows its doctors to provide abortions when the pregnancy threatens the patient’s life or health, or when it’s the result of rape or incest. The VA announced the new policy last week to cheers from Democrats who […]

The post New fight opens in Congress over VA policy that sidesteps state abortion bans appeared first on Missouri Independent.

President Joe Biden in a Thursday night speech to a crowd of party faithful promoted legislation passed by the Democratic Congress and attacked supporters of former President Donald Trump for defending rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “Extreme MAGA Republicans just don’t threaten our personal, economic rights. They embrace political violence,” […]

The post Biden slams ‘extreme MAGA Republicans’ as Democrats launch drive to midterm election appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Members of a U.S. House Education and Labor Committee panel on Thursday questioned experts and leaders of youth rehabilitation programs about how the federal government could invest in programs to prevent kids from becoming incarcerated. “Although the juvenile justice system is intended to rehabilitate—not punish—young offenders, data shows that the more a young […]

The post Congressional panel debates federal role in preventing youth incarceration appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The unprecedented steps Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft took to verify signatures to place a marijuana legalization initiative petition on the ballot were outside the scope of his authority, attorneys for an anti-drug activist argued Thursday. Cole County Judge Cotton Walker faces a Sept. 13 deadline to decide whether an initiative petition to legalize […]

The post Hearing on Missouri marijuana initiative scrutinizes unprecedented signature process appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Cedar County judge Wednesday ordered Agape Boarding School to be shut down after years of allegations of sexual and physical abuse of students — though the order remains on pause until after a hearing Thursday afternoon.

The post Court order would close Agape Boarding School after years of abuse allegations appeared first on Missouri Independent.

TOPEKA — Alex Tretbar scratched Lou Reed lyrics into the concrete “rhomboid exoskeleton” of an Oregon jail’s solitary confinement hole, then found the strength to write about it. “Some people work very hard,” the song goes, “but still they never get it right.” Tretbar, a Wichita native and University of Kansas graduate, references the experience […]

The post Summoning inspiration from solitary, Missouri resident wins PEN America prison writing award appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate is on track to vote on a bill codifying marriage equality as soon as next week with negotiators increasingly confident it could become law. Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday they’re close to getting at least 10 Republicans to back the same-sex marriage […]

The post Bill codifying same-sex marriage nears critical vote in U.S. Senate appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Former Missouri First Lady Sheena Greitens says she fully complied with a massive public records request for her work emails by a conservative news organization that once employed her ex-husband — and that it produced no evidence of political collusion.  In April, a reporter from Just the News filed an open records request with the […]

The post Sheena Greitens pans push for her emails by news org that used to employ her ex-husband appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Amid K-12 teacher shortages, book bans and attacks over critical race theory, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona at a meeting with reporters on Wednesday stressed the need for higher salaries to attract prospective educators to the profession. Cardona also touted the Biden administration’s recent student debt relief announcement in late August. The White House said President Joe Biden […]

The post U.S. education secretary urges boost in teacher pay, touts college debt relief appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Along with leaves turning colors, the fall in even-numbered years often features political campaigns sparring over who is and is not willing to debate. And this year, that biennial squabble is between the candidates seeking Missouri’s open U.S. Senate seat. Attorney General Eric Schmitt, the Republican nominee, slapped first, with a tweet on Tuesday accusing […]

The post Missouri Senate hopefuls spar over debates, with press association forum set for next week appeared first on Missouri Independent.