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With a deadline looming that could cost Missouri almost $2 billion in federal education aid, the bill to distribute the money passed the state Senate on Wednesday after Democrats slammed a zero-dollar funding line as a partisan attack on Planned Parenthood. The $4.6 billion spending bill approved on a 25-7 vote is the first legislation […]

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For four months, Gov. Mike Parson tried to convince Missourians that a reporter who discovered a security flaw in a state website was a hacker who deserved criminal prosecution.  His argument crashed headlong into reality on Monday, when the 158-page investigative file produced by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Cole County prosecutor was finally […]

The post Claim that reporter hacked state website was debunked. Parson still says he’s a criminal appeared first on Missouri Independent.

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt says he isn’t imposing any conditions on his support for the eventual winner of the Republican primary to succeed him — even if the nominee is former Gov. Eric Greitens.  Blunt was asked about the GOP primary at a press conference following his Wednesday address to the Missouri House. He used […]

The post Blunt offers unconditional support for winner of Missouri GOP Senate primary appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri continuously ranks in the top 10 of states for gun violence deaths and the number of women killed by their partners.  Domestic violence hotlines throughout Missouri receive on average about 200 calls a day, and in 2020 nearly 30,000 individuals received services through the state’s domestic violence programs. The numbers are staggering, yet Missouri […]

The post It’s time Missouri lawmakers close the domestic violence gun loophole | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A beef processing facility 40 miles southeast of downtown Kansas City polluted at least a mile of nearby streams and allowed septic tanks of sewage and entrails to overflow, state regulators found this month.  The facility, the former site of a beef operation that neighbors felt threatened a nearby botanical garden, was referred on Feb. […]

The post Beef processing facility near KC in violation of Missouri regulations for polluting waters appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The first day of candidate filing is like the first day of spring training, with everyone excited for the future and hopeful that this is the year of the amazing upset that makes a champion out of last year’s also-ran. It is also the day for sharpening knives in hotly contested primaries, and the Republicans […]

The post Missouri GOP Senate hopefuls trade jabs as candidate filing opens appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Mary Holmes, a 55-year-old St. Louis resident with cancer and other health challenges, says she has struggled to put food on the table for more than a month. Holmes relies on food assistance, but she hasn’t been able to get through the state’s call center line to maintain her federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) […]

The post Federal lawsuit targets Missouri’s ‘dysfunctional’ food assistance program appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Despite plans to invest in its largest solar facility ever, it’s unclear whether Ameren Missouri will keep up with ambitious goals for investments in renewable energy over the next few years.  Ameren is working to purchase a solar farm under development in southern Illinois for use by its Missouri customers. The electric utility, the largest […]

The post Ameren Missouri to acquire its largest solar farm to date appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Even though the cards are often stacked against us, farmers are the ultimate optimists. I’m a 4th generation cattle and grain farmer, and, right now, I’m optimistic that, for the first time since Teddy Roosevelt with the Packer and Stockers Act of 1921, we have a president that is trying to take on corporate control […]

The post Although forever optimists, family farmers are fighting for a future | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

There was no evidence of any criminal intent by a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who was targeted by the governor after finding a security flaw in a state website, Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson said in an interview Monday.  If any crime was committed, Thompson said, it was in the “fringes” of an overly-broad state […]

The post Prosecutor: No ‘criminal intent’ by reporter Missouri governor accused of hacking appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In mid-December, Texas’ highest criminal court revoked the state attorney general’s ability to use his office to prosecute election-related cases without the request of a district or county attorney. In an 8-1 opinion, the all-Republican court weakened Attorney General Ken Paxton’s power to independently go after perpetrators of voter fraud, a problem he says is rampant but […]

The post State judges across the U.S. face growing GOP pushback against rulings in election cases appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The questions from state senators hadn’t even begun, and Donald Kauerauf’s staff were already in a panic. Chants from protesters opposing his nomination as state health director echoed through the hearing room, and as she sat with Kauerauf waiting for his turn to testify, Lisa Cox, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior […]

The post ‘It’s a nightmare’: Texts reveal last-ditch efforts to save Parson’s health director appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In 1932, after Missouri lost three congressional seats and state lawmakers deadlocked over redistricting, all candidates for the U.S. House ran on a statewide at-large ballot. In the August primary, there were 56 Democratic candidates, 29 Republican candidates and 13 Socialist Party candidates seeking nomination for the 13 available seats. All 16 incumbents ran for […]

The post Legislative deadlock, commission failure creates uncertainty for Missouri candidate filing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

We are the United States of America. At least, that is who we have always claimed to be. But are we? Have we ever been? Considering where we are today, and the state of our public discourse, it begs the questions. The brazen and hateful divisions playing out in almost every aspect of American life […]

The post If you think you are living in a divided America, it’s nothing new | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Former Sen. Jack Danforth is looking for a centrist Republican to run an independent race for the U.S. Senate this year in Missouri  — and said Friday there would be “a lot of resources” to help the campaign. Danforth, who left the Senate in 1994 after three terms, enlisted a polling firm, Miami-based Bendixen & […]

The post Jack Danforth wants to find an independent candidate to run for U.S. Senate in Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News.  Aneka French applied for Medicaid in October, not long after Missouri became the 38th state to expand eligibility for the program. But her application sat for months in a backlog with tens of thousands of others. While she waited, French, 45, an uninsured medical technician from […]

The post Missouri takes months to process Medicaid applications — longer than law allows appeared first on Missouri Independent.

On a recent Tuesday evening in southeastern Missouri, John Freeze stood in front of yet another angry group of constituents.  Some here believe the number of COVID-19 deaths are being purposefully inflated for financial gain. Among the culprits, in their mistaken view:  Hospitals seeking Medicare reimbursements; The federal government, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci and […]

The post Misinformation fuels false belief that Missouri COVID death figures are being inflated appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The extended Missouri Senate filibusters about congressional redistricting is a reminder about how bitter and divisive this issue can be. This year it has involved an historically long Senate filibuster, objections by women legislators about the tone of the debate, a tweet by the governor’s communications director that escalated the gender issue and repeated arguments […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Missouri Congressional redistricting appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s state health department has applied to oversee federal family planning funds, a move reproductive health advocates fear would give the state power to cut off funding for providers who refer patients for abortion services. During his confirmation hearing late last month, former Department of Health and Senior Services Director Donald Kauerauf’s testimony focused on […]

The post Missouri state health agency seeks control of Title X funds that go to Planned Parenthood appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri law doesn’t officially recognize Black History Month — a fact that surprised several Black state lawmakers this week.  “I had to double and triple check it because I thought I was seeing things incorrectly at first,” said Rep. Mark Sharp, D- Kansas City, during a Monday meeting of the House Special Committee on Urban […]

The post Missouri could become the seventh state to recognize Black History Month appeared first on Missouri Independent.