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TOPEKA, Kansas — Trauma still grips survivors and first-responders exposed to the nightmare collapse of concrete, steel and glass skywalks in the atrium of the Hyatt Regency Hotel during a popular Friday evening big-band dance contest in Kansas City. As many as 2,000 people were in the one-year-old hotel lobby for the weekly Tea Dance […]

The post Anguish of Hyatt Regency Hotel collapse reverberates 40 years after catastrophe appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is confident Missouri’s 2020 election was safe and secure.  And while he has concerns about things that transpired in other states last year, he dismisses the idea that fraud cost Donald Trump the presidential election.  “Under our Constitution, Joe Biden was duly elected by our presidential electors. End of story,” […]

The post Jay Ashcroft touts integrity of Missouri’s 2020 election, but supports an audit appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The state has paid private attorneys more than $30,000 since 2019 to defend former Gov. Eric Greitens from an age discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee of the Missouri Department of Revenue.  Mark Ausmus filed a lawsuit in 2018 alleging he was fired from a senior counsel position during the early months of Greitens’ […]

The post Missouri has paid $30K to defend Eric Greitens in age discrimination lawsuit appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri energy regulators want to know everything Spire has told its natural gas customers since this summer about the Spire STL Pipeline after finding the utility was overstating the risk to St. Louis residents’ service.  Spire Missouri’s communications with its customers, according to staff of the Missouri Public Service Commission, “appear to reflect an attempt […]

The post Spire’s messages on pipeline ‘overstate the likelihood of closure,’ per Missouri regulators appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Missouri’s COVID-19 death toll increased by more than 20 percent Thursday afternoon, to more than 15,000 fatalities. The 2,771 deaths added to the report aren’t news to local health departments. They have been frustrated for months by the Department of Health and Senior Services’ unwillingness to recognize deaths where the patient’s diagnosis was confirmed by […]

The post Reporting change adds almost 2,800 COVID-19 deaths to Missouri total appeared first on Missouri Independent.

“Are there even Jews there?” The answer to that question, more than any other, was what my friends and family wanted to know when I committed to the University of Kansas. Were there any Jews where I was headed? Growing up in the New York metropolitan area, I was surrounded by a vibrant Jewish community. […]

The post Comparing COVID-19 mandates to Holocaust fuels antisemitism | Opinion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

A Missouri conservative group cannot go ahead with an event featuring Donald Trump Jr. despite a reversal from the nation’s largest bank saying it will broker tickets for the speech, organizers said Thursday. There is too little time left to make the Dec. 3 Defense of Liberty PAC event in St. Charles a success, said […]

The post Despite Chase Bank reversal, Donald Trump Jr. event in St. Charles remains canceled appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The 10 deaths at a packed Houston, Texas, concert crowd raised powerful and haunting memories for me from an episode of an old TV series more than four decades ago — “WKRP in Cincinnati.” The series was one of the best comedy shows I’ve seen on TV. It also was an addictive series because it […]

The post Capitol Perspectives: WKRP lessons for Missouri appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Federal health officials are expected as soon as Friday to expand access to COVID-19 booster shots to all American adults. But some states aren’t waiting for a green light from D.C. At least six states already have opened up eligibility for the boosters from Pfizer and Moderna beyond the categories specified by federal […]

The post Some states forge ahead with COVID-19 booster shots for all adults appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The biggest bank in the United States is walking back its refusal to do business with a Missouri conservative group that forced cancellation of an event next month featuring Donald Trump Jr. The Defense of Liberty PAC hired WePay, a payment processor owned by JPMorgan Chase, for the Dec. 3 event at the St. Charles […]

The post Donald Trump Jr. event canceled after Chase bank ends deal with Missouri conservative group appeared first on Missouri Independent.

After 10 years leading the state agency that investigates complaints against Missouri’s Children’s Division, Kelly Schultz’s final day on the job will be Nov. 30.  In an interview Wednesday morning, Schultz would not comment on the circumstances behind her sudden departure or on who Gov. Mike Parson has chosen to replace her as director of […]

The post Gov. Mike Parson is replacing leader of Missouri’s child advocacy agency appeared first on Missouri Independent.

For much of October, there were so few new COVID-19 cases in Knox County, Health Director Lori Moots said she began to hope the pandemic was almost over for her constituents. The early September Knox County Corn Festival, she said, didn’t produce the feared spike in cases. And by Oct. 8, the health department was […]

The post COVID-19 cases rising rapidly in Missouri as cooler weather forces activities indoors appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Smithfield Foods agreed this week to pay the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration $13,494 to settle a citation for failing to protect its meatpacking employees in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from exposure to the coronavirus last year, but the company didn’t admit it did anything wrong. As such, the settlement can’t be “used or […]

The post Smithfield Foods settlement with feds can’t be used in COVID lawsuits appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Days after global leaders agreed for the first time to decrease coal usage and subsidies for fossil fuels, U.S. senators battled over rising gasoline prices and urged action on the high cost of energy—including by increasing production of coal, oil and gas. The Tuesday hearing, led by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Joe Manchin […]

The post Senators urge increased production of fossil fuels in reaction to spiraling energy costs appeared first on Missouri Independent.

The new acting director of Missouri’s troubled Department of Social Services pledged to lawmakers Tuesday that he would work to address the agency’s long list of challenges and “tears in our safety net.” The Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect heard for the first time from the new acting department director, Robert Knodell.  Knodell […]

The post New director vows changes at Missouri’s troubled social services department appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers and Virginia parents trying to capitalize on their success in the November election on Tuesday gathered across from the U.S. Capitol to voice their opposition to mask mandates and critical race theory. The ranking Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, told the small […]

The post Virginia parents, GOP lawmakers vow national push for ‘parents’ rights’ in public schools appeared first on Missouri Independent.

Attorney General Eric Schmitt alleges in a newly filed lawsuit that Springfield Public Schools wants to avoid scrutiny of its curriculum and training materials — and is violating the Missouri Sunshine law to do it. The district improperly demanded a deposit of more than $37,000 to search its records for instances where it incorporated elements […]

The post Missouri AG sues Springfield schools in quest to find critical race theory documents appeared first on Missouri Independent.

This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News and KSMU. At the Access Family Care clinics in southwestern Missouri, the next available nonemergency dental appointment is next summer. Northwest Health Services, headquartered in St. Joseph, is booked through May. The wait is a little shorter at CareSTL Health in St. Louis — around six […]

The post Missouri’s thin dental safety net stretched amid Medicaid expansion appeared first on Missouri Independent.

One of the top Republican lawmakers in the Missouri General Assembly filed paperwork Monday declaring his intention to run for the U.S. Senate. Senate President Pro Tem David Schatz, a Franklin County Republican, told The Independent in April that he was considering running to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt. At the time, he said […]

The post Missouri legislative leader joins crowded U.S. Senate race appeared first on Missouri Independent.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law his $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill during a ceremony at the White House packed with some 800 supporters, heralding what he said was a “truly consequential” spending bill that will improve Americans’ day-to-day lives. But Democrats also emphasized that there is more to come—a $1.85 trillion […]

The post Biden signs $1.2T infrastructure bill: ‘America is moving again’ appeared first on Missouri Independent.