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This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News.  The Biden administration in March 2021 announced it was investing $2.25 billion to address COVID health disparities, the largest federal funding initiative designed specifically to help underserved communities hardest hit by the virus. Two months later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded grants to […]

The post States have yet to spend hundreds of millions of federal dollars to tackle COVID health disparities appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON – Years after firefighters extinguish a blaze, after the smoke has lifted and ashes have cooled, the people who risked their lives to contain the fire face another danger: Cancer and cardiovascular disease resulting from exposure to smoke and heat. Government and academic studies have shown firefighters are 9% more likely to develop cancer and 14% […]

The post U.S. House vote to expand federal firefighters benefits seen as step toward parity appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A panel of state appeals court judges heard arguments last week over whether former Gov. Eric Greitens and his staff used self-destructing text-message apps in 2017 to illegally circumvent Missouri’s transparency laws.   While Greitens was still serving as governor, it was revealed he and his staff were using a text-messaging app called Confide. The app […]

The post Appeals court hears arguments over Greitens’ use of self-destructing text message app appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The 2022 legislative session ended last week the same way it began back in January: With the Missouri Senate bogged down and barely able to function thanks to bitter divisions within the Republican majority.  Over the course of five months, there were filibusters, procedural hijinks and ugly back-and-forths between members of the Senate’s conservative caucus […]

The post Winners and losers of Missouri’s raucous 2022 legislative session appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The 2022 regular session of the Missouri General Assembly was the most dysfunctional I can remember in more than 50 years covering the statehouse. Endless Senate filibusters stalled action for weeks on major issues for Missourians — contributing to the second lowest percentage of bills passed in an annual session in more than one-third of […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: A dysfunctional legislative session appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In chess, a defensive move that swaps positions of the rook and the king is called castling. The move that ends the game, of course, is the checkmate. Early Thursday morning, the Missouri Senate leadership castled the congressional redistricting bill by recessing, instead of adjourning, the Wednesday session. That meant that when members returned around […]

The post Battle lines remain fixed in Missouri Senate Republican factional fights as session ends appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A flurry of activity in the Missouri House on Friday kept 2022 from earning the ignominious distinction of least productive legislative session in modern history.  With GOP infighting in the Senate forcing it to adjourn a day early after a session that’s seen it mired in gridlock, the House returned Friday morning to pass 20 […]

The post Missouri legislature ends tumultuous 2022 session marked by gridlock, GOP infighting appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Infants born to women in prison may soon get to remain with their mothers for their first 18 months, under a bill on its way to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk. The bill would direct the Missouri Department of Corrections to establish a nursery within a women’s correctional facility by July 2025. It gained bipartisan support […]

The post Bill to create prison nursery clears Missouri legislature on final day of session appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Legislation weakening Missouri’s hazardous waste regulations and opening the door for “advanced recycling” will soon be on Gov. Mike Parson’s desk.  With just hours left before Friday’s mandated end to the Missouri legislative session, the House took up and passed a bill stuck in conference committee negotiations that was vehemently opposed by environmentalists and pushed […]

The post Missouri legislators weaken regulations for hazardous waste, ‘advanced recycling’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Two years into the coronavirus pandemic, Missouri lawmakers sent to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk legislation that aims to ensure residents can access their family members in the face of visitor restrictions at hospitals. A House bill unanimously passed on the final day of the legislative session with 129 votes in support, and shortly after lawmakers […]

The post ‘Seclusion kills’: Missouri lawmakers pass limits on hospital COVID visitor restrictions appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The amount of funding Kansas City would be required to put towards its police department would increase under legislation headed to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk. The bill, sponsored by Tony Luetkemeyer, R- Parkville, raises the portion of Kansas City’s budget that must be devoted to the police department from 20% to 25% – a $65.2 […]

The post Bill forcing Kansas City to put more money toward police heads to governor’s desk appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Survivors of a U.S. policy that forced Indigenous children to attend boarding schools where they were abused, or went missing, detailed to members of a U.S. House Natural Resources panel during a Thursday hearing the need for Congress to establish a truth commission dedicated to unveiling the traumas Indigenous children experienced at the […]

The post Congress explores creation of truth commission for U.S. Indian Boarding Schools appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri Senate passed a congressional redistricting map Thursday and then adjourned for the year. The 22-11 vote came after Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden invoked a rarely-used rule to bring a bill from the Senate Select Committee on Redistricting to the floor.  The adjournment came a day before the constitutionally mandated end of the […]

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Missouri voters will be required to present a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot under a wide-ranging elections bill headed to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk. The bill includes several other provisions —  such as prohibiting touchscreen voting machines, and requiring a number of cybersecurity checks — that came out of hearings last summer, where […]

The post Voter ID bill clears Missouri legislature despite fierce criticism from Black Democrats appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Legislation on its way to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk could drastically cut down on the amount of lead allowed in school drinking water in an effort to protect children from the toxic metal. Across the U.S., millions of homes and schools are still served by decades-old lead water lines, which can leach the dangerous neurotoxin […]

The post Bill requiring Missouri schools to cut down lead in drinking water heading to governor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri charter schools will see millions in increased funding under a bill headed to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk with provisions protecting money allocated to local school districts. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Doug Richey, R-Excelsior Springs, has been a three-year effort by charter school proponents to obtain more funds for their students. The bill also […]

The post Missouri lawmakers send bill to increase funding for charter schools to governor appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The Missouri House Ethics Committee on Wednesday unanimously dismissed a complaint against Speaker Rob Vescovo filed by a Democratic lawmaker who was censured last year for ​​allegedly lying about a sexual encounter with an intern and retaliating against an employee who reported it. Rep. Wiley Price of St. Louis filed the complaint Tuesday alleging Vescovo […]

The post Ethics panel dismisses complaint from Democrat who was censured by Missouri House appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Tensions between Republican senators frayed further Wednesday after a filibuster dealt a potentially fatal blow to a wide-ranging health care bill. Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, spent nearly two hours reading the bill, sponsored by Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, R-Sikeston, line by line, decrying the size it had grown to and “all the […]

The post Fate of Missouri needle exchange bill in doubt as Senate GOP infighting blocks passage appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After hours of filibustering in the Missouri Senate, including a spirited game of charades, Democrats stopped an attempt by Republicans Wednesday to make it harder for voters to amend the state constitution through the initiative petition process.  The measure sponsored by Rep. Mike Henderson, R-Bonne Terre, originally would have asked voters to increase the number […]

The post Democrat filibuster derails GOP measure to change initiative petition process appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Efforts to secure the nationwide right to an abortion stalled for a second time Wednesday when U.S. Senate Democrats failed to get enough votes to overcome the legislative filibuster. Republicans, including Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, voted uniformly against limiting debate on the bill while Democrats, save West Virginia’s […]

The post U.S. Senate Democrats fail to enshrine nationwide abortion protections, vow more action appeared first on Missouri Independent.