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The U.S. House committee investigating a pro-Trump mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is back. It will hold its first hearing in nearly three months Thursday—and potentially its last. In a break from most of the panel’s previous eight hearings in June and July, Thursday’s meeting will not drill down into one […]

The post Four things to watch for at the upcoming Jan. 6 hearing appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Whether student debtors will get the loan relief promised by President Joe Biden is now in the hands of a Missouri federal judge. For nearly two hours Wednesday, attorneys for the six states challenging the plan to forgive almost $500 billion in student debt argued with Department of Justice lawyers over which laws should govern […]

The post Missouri judge hears lawsuit challenging Biden student debt relief plan appeared first on Missouri Independent.

In the age of scarcity (for many) and excess (for the few), the language and policies of diversity become zero-sum. What another gets, you lose, so goes the polarized thinking that has turned our public square into a fever swamp of resentments and recriminations. For too many rural Americans, the term diversity is synonymous with […]

The post As rural Americans we must see ourselves as part of the nation’s diversity appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Across the nation, prison commissaries are raising prices on items that many consider basic necessities — from deodorant to fresh fruit — not provided by the state department of corrections. The markups come as decades-high inflation is also squeezing inmates’ families, making it harder for them to help.  It’s a burden that families shouldn’t have […]

The post Costs of incarceration rise as inflation squeezes inmates, families appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON —  U.S. Senate Democrats said Tuesday that they remained hopeful Congress could create a legal pathway to citizenship before the end of the year for the more than 600,000 undocumented people enrolled in a program that is at risk of being deemed illegal by a lower court. Immigration rights advocates held a press call […]

The post Immigration advocates call again for DACA renewal in Congress, as possible end looms appeared first on Missouri Independent.

“Boys don’t cry.” That was the oft repeated refrain my father said to my brother and me growing up. If one of us fell and skinned our knees, it was, “Knock it off, boys don’t cry.” It didn’t matter if we were 4 or 5. Crying was a sign of weakness and of questionable masculinity. […]

The post It’s OK for men to cry — and to wear pink appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A push by the attorney general’s office for the emails of professors and staff at the University of Missouri has academic freedom advocates concerned the office is being weaponized to stifle free speech and deter researchers’ work. In June, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office sent two records requests to the university. The first sought […]

The post ‘Invading academic freedom:’ Missouri AG’s probe for university emails raises concerns appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by Stateline.  The increasing popularity of hybrid and electric vehicles is shrinking revenue from gas taxes, prompting more states to consider charging fees based on miles driven to help pay for roads and bridges. This year at least eight states — Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington — considered […]

The post As electric vehicles shrink gas tax revenue, more states may tax mileage appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News.  NEWTON, Iowa — Jeff White knows what can happen when 911 dispatchers receive a call about someone who feels despondent or agitated. He experienced it repeatedly: The 911 operators dispatched police, who often took him to a hospital or jail. “They don’t know how to handle […]

The post Mental health crisis teams aren’t just for cities anymore appeared first on Missouri Independent.

There is an issue on Missouri’s statewide general election ballot that I will be watching to see if Missourians continue a trend of rejecting the decisions of their elected officials. It is the initiative petition proposal to legalize possession and sale of marijuana. That’s an idea that has made no headway in the legislature. In […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: Missouri voters vs. their elected officials appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic intensified economic hardship and unemployment, Missouri saw one of the nation’s sharpest drops in participation in WIC, a federal benefits program for low-income women and children, according to a report released last week. The steep decline, the report found, was associated with Missouri’s burdensome system of dispersing benefits. Missouri began transitioning […]

The post Missouri participation in public benefits program WIC fell sharply during pandemic appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Mizzou student asked me last month how I was able to succeed as a Latina journalist in a white-dominated industry. The question followed a similar theme of those asked by other members of the Latin American Student Association, which had invited me to the university’s Columbia campus to speak as part of Hispanic Heritage […]

The post The ‘Adelante method’ helped me succeed as a Latina journalist appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress are fanning out to every district in the country, leaving the wonky floor debates on Capitol Hill behind for the campaign trail in advance of the crucial Nov. 8 midterm elections. Democrats are fighting to hold their razor-thin majorities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, citing two years of […]

The post The battle for control of Congress: Abortion, inflation, crime and Biden appeared first on Missouri Independent.

FULTON – The invasion of Ukraine awakened free countries to the threat posed by Russia and Vladimir Putin, but whether they will sustain that resistance to dictators is an open question, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov said Friday during a speech at Westminster College. On the Missouri campus where Winston Churchill warned in 1946 […]

The post ‘Winter is here’: Chess champion Kasparov warns that Ukraine war is a test for democracies appeared first on Missouri Independent.

I started writing this post from the comfort of a coffee shop, my mug steaming over with warming liquid, the fancy acai bowl with peanut butter I ordered filling my belly. It’s a scene I was once familiar with as a city dweller and one I gravitate to when I want to write. Coffee shops […]

The post Farm life teaches lessons I didn’t want to learn appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced executive actions that would pardon thousands of people with prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. Biden then called on governors to follow suit with state offenses for simple marijuana possession, saying that “just as no one should be in a Federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, […]

The post Biden to pardon all federal offenses for simple marijuana possession, review criminalization appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Up until last year, if elected prosecutors believed a person was wrongfully convicted, there wasn’t anything they could do about it.  A state law, passed in May 2021, changed that, giving them a pathway to present evidence of innocence to a judge. And since then, three prosecutors have filed motions to set people free from […]

The post Prosecutors’ biggest roadblock in wrongful conviction cases? Missouri’s attorney general appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s legislative special session dealing with tax cuts is a reminder of how often in past decades tax-cut bills have become food fights for getting tax burdens reduced for a variety of special interests. The governor’s original proposal was to cut state income tax rates and extend the expiration of existing tax breaks for various […]

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

WASHINGTON — Women running in governors’ races throughout the country are potentially set to break records if elected this November. In total there are 25 women governor candidates nominated by the two major political parties this election cycle, sharply up from 16 in 2018. Democrats hold 16 of those nominations, with nine GOP women candidates […]

The post Women could claim the most governors’ seats in U.S. history in November appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Kansas and Missouri’s largest utilities earned nearly failing grades for their progress transitioning to renewable sources of energy, according to a new report from a national environmental group.  The Sierra Club’s “Dirty Truth About Utility Climate Pledges” report gave Evergy an 18% for its investments in clean energy and moves to retire coal plants. Ameren […]

The post Environmental group gives Kansas, Missouri utilities low marks for clean energy transition appeared first on Missouri Independent.