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As a fight over who can regulate industrial hog and cattle operations awaits action by the Missouri Supreme Court, counties that sought more stringent protections against them wait in limbo.  The Missouri Supreme Court is expected to hear an appeal by county commissioners who sought to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, after a […]

The post As CAFO lawsuit heads to Missouri Supreme Court, counties weigh options appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s campaign will continue selling merchandise featuring a photo of him pumping his fist in support of protesters the day a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol to overturn the outcome of the presidential election. The photo in question was taken by a photographer for an energy and environment trade publication owned by […]

The post Josh Hawley refuses to stop selling mug featuring pre-riot Jan. 6 fist pump appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by The Kansas City Beacon. After serving time in prison, Christine McDonald found herself living on the streets of Kansas City and in a pay-by-the-week motel. Robert Richardson, who also has a felony record, settled for a bug-infested apartment with an open hole in the front. They are far from […]

The post Formerly incarcerated Missourians struggle for decades to find stable housing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

As we near the end of another Women’s History Month, it is abundantly clear that one month is woefully inadequate to celebrate, let alone cover, the myriad of contributions women have made and continue to make in fostering the well-being of this nation and society. The fact that we set aside a month to recognize […]

The post Women make indispensable contributions every day in sustaining this nation and society | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After more than two weeks of private meetings with nearly half the U.S. Senate, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, will field questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee in highly anticipated public hearings that begin Monday. Members of the panel will question Jackson for two full days, following […]

The post U.S. Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to start Monday appeared first on Missouri Independent.

When Missouri’s health department refused to turn over certain documents to ProPublica reporter Pamela Colloff in October 2020, she did what the attorney general’s office directs anyone to do if they believe a government agency is illegally withholding public records. She filed a Sunshine Law complaint with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, whose office enforces […]

The post Loophole means Attorney General rarely enforces Missouri Sunshine Law on state agencies appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — The $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill passed by Congress last week includes $75 million in Help America Vote Act grants — a major reduction compared to years past. Experts say the $75 million is insufficient to fund local elections and leaves local election offices without resources to improve election infrastructure and protect the […]

The post Decline in federal grant funding for local elections criticized by advocates appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri lawmakers return to the state Capitol Monday to kick off the second half of the 2022 legislative session, facing a laundry list of unfinished business and simmering dysfunction.  The Missouri House, which passed a parade of legislative priorities during the first half of the session, will return to tackle a state budget overflowing with […]

The post Missouri legislature returns with GOP infighting hanging over a lengthy agenda appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — A top FBI official told members of a U.S. House panel on Thursday that the agency believes a single juvenile is behind most of the bomb threats made to more than 30 Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Ryan Young, executive assistant director of the Intelligence Branch at the FBI, said that the bomb […]

The post Most HBCU bomb threats may be coming from one juvenile, FBI official tells Congress appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News.  Missouri state Rep. Tricia Derges is pushing a bill to give assistant physicians like herself a pathway to becoming fully licensed doctors in the state. Not that Derges — among the highest-profile holders of the assistant physician license created in 2014 to ease a doctor shortage […]

The post Missouri tried to fix its doctor shortage. Now the fix may need fixing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine promises to be a fascinating issue for Missouri lawmakers in the session’s closing weeks. Already measures have been filed to prohibit state and local government from purchasing Russian products and ban contracts with businesses that have ongoing contracts with Russian “strategic industries.” There also are bills to suspend for six […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Ukraine’s example for Missouri lawmakers appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday invoked the Pearl Harbor attacks ahead of World War II and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, while urging the United States to do more to stop the Russian war against his country. During the speech, delivered virtually to members of Congress in an auditorium on Capitol Hill, Zelenskyy drew a […]

The post Zelenskyy reminds Congress of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 in pleading for U.S. help for Ukraine appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Applying for health insurance through Medicaid expansion took Raven Cole just 10 minutes. But the wait to see if she’s approved has dragged on for months. The 23-year-old legal assistant applied for coverage, “well over two to three months ago.” “And I haven’t heard anything back,” Cole said. Cole is one of 72,657 Missourians who […]

The post Medicaid enrollment backlog persists as advocates say Missouri could be doing more appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Despite being struck down twice as unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court, legislation restricting who can vote is again being considered by state lawmakers. These laws would prohibit eligible voters from casting a ballot unless they present a government-issued ID with a photo of the voter. This is even though current forms of ID have […]

The post Democracy grows stronger when every eligible voter can vote | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

COLUMBIA — Two former Missouri senators believe it would be a good thing for democracy if everyone went out to lunch with someone who holds a different political view. “Take a Republican to lunch and don’t talk politics,” suggested John Danforth, a Republican. “Find someone who doesn’t agree with you, and treat that person as […]

The post ‘Not giving up on this democracy’: Danforth, McCaskill plea for civility in politics appeared first on Missouri Independent.

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball,” second baseman Rogers Hornsby once said. “I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” For a while, it was looking like the start of spring would come and go without any baseball on the horizon. But […]

The post MLB’s collective bargaining agreement fails to address players’ biggest grievances | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A panel of Missouri judges tasked with redrawing 34 state Senate districts released a tentative plan Monday, part of a once-in-a-decade process that reconfigures political boundaries following the U.S. Census. The new map, drawn by the Judicial Redistricting Commission after a citizen commission failed to reach consensus, will be formally submitted to the Secretary of […]

The post Judges release new boundaries for Missouri Senate districts appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The coronavirus pandemic highlighted the need for federal assistance to develop high-speed internet connectivity in all parts of the country, members of a U.S. House subcommittee agreed this week as they reviewed provisions that are likely to be included in the next farm bill. “I represent a largely rural district in north-central, northeast Florida, and […]

The post Expanded rural broadband likely a focus of federal farm bill appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Most of the enormous surplus accumulating in Missouri’s general revenue fund will be off-limits to members of the House Budget Committee when it prepares a fiscal year 2023 spending plan for floor debate. Gov. Mike Parson’s $47.3 billion budget proposal projects a $1.6 billion general revenue surplus at the end of June 2023. But the […]

The post Record surplus, massive federal aid mark Missouri budget set for committee work appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats and immigration advocates are pushing the White House to end a controversial Trump-era immigration policy enacted during the pandemic that allowed U.S. officials to expel migrants and asylum seekers at the border. “I continue to be disappointed, deeply disappointed, in the administration’s response,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, […]

The post Pressure ramps up to halt Trump-era policy that expels migrants at the border appeared first on Missouri Independent.