At least 12 states have received federal approval to restrict recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, from using their benefits to purchase certain foods such as soda and candy. The states receiving waivers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are overwhelmingly Republican. Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia received approval […]
Residents of historically redlined communities experience slower response times from emergency medical services, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open. Redlining refers to the discriminatory practice under which the federal government and banks systematically denied mortgages to Black and Hispanic residents. The practice deemed neighborhoods with higher proportions of nonwhite residents to […]
Missouri cannabis business owners who have had their license revoked for violating state rules could be prohibited from getting another license under proposed rules announced by state regulators last week. The Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation released the draft of a massive overhaul of cannabis rules giving regulators more authority to address a range of […]
Missouri’s 19 prisons hold about 24,000 people. At some point, most will be released. The question for crime victims, people behind bars and the families of both is when. How that question gets answered is at the heart of a working group created by Gov. Mike Kehoe earlier this year to examine Missouri’s parole system […]
Carefully assess the actions of Missouri’s governor, Republican members of the state legislature and our Congressional delegation. Then ask yourself: Whose priorities, interests and concerns have they supported, fought for and voted for? Certainly not those of most Missourians. Missourians voted for candidates in various elective offices to represent and fight for their interests in […]
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will remove former Missouri Republican U.S. Rep. Billy Long from his post as head of the Internal Revenue Service less than two months after his confirmation, according to the White House Friday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will step in as commissioner of the agency tasked with enforcing tax law and […]
Residents of historically redlined communities experience slower response times from emergency medical services, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open. Redlining refers to the discriminatory practice under which the federal government and banks systematically denied mortgages to Black and Hispanic residents. The practice deemed neighborhoods with higher proportions of nonwhite residents to […]
Violent crime in the United States fell 4.5% in 2024, according to a new FBI report, while property crime dropped 8.1% from the previous year. The declines continue a trend seen since crime surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when homicides jumped nearly 30% in 2020 — one of the largest one-year increases since the FBI […]
WASHINGTON — A nonprofit government watchdog sued the Trump administration Friday for failing to respond to public records requests for communications between the White House, Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation about Florida sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including any review of President Donald Trump’s past relationship with the financier. The lawsuit came as […]
When Deandre Pointer appeared in front of a Jackson County judge in June 2023, his world was bright. After years of protesting his innocence of murder charges and failing to convince any court, Pointer cut a deal to trade his life without parole sentence for a 23-year term on two counts of second degree murder […]
Missouri’s 67 rural hospitals are pondering a dramatically different future under President Donald Trump’s new budget plan. The recently approved budget bill will slash federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. By some estimates, it could lead to 8.6 million people nationwide losing health coverage. Various estimates conclude that between […]
Despite Missouri lawmakers failing this year to pass legislation targeting antisemitism in public schools and colleges, the Anti-Defamation League concluded in a new report released Friday that the state has still made progress at combating what it called “anti-Jewish sentiment.” The report, which aims to evaluate all 50 states on a series of criteria, points […]
At U.S. President Donald Trump’s request, Congress voted in July 2025 to claw back $1.1 billion it had previously approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That measure, which passed in the House and the Senate by very narrow margins, will cut off all federal tax dollars that would have otherwise flowed to PBS and […]
Black leaders in the Missouri legislature said Thursday that they will fight any attempt to redraw the state’s congressional districts, pointing to the courts as the venue where they have greatest hopes to prevail. State Rep. Michael Johnson, a Kansas City Democrat who chairs the Legislative Black Caucus, said any effort to remake maps is […]
American companies are split between support and criticism of a new voluntary European AI code of practice, meant to help tech companies align themselves with upcoming regulations from the European Union’s landmark AI Act. The voluntary code, called the General Purpose AI Code of Practice, which rolled out in July, is meant to help companies jump-start […]
As more hospitals have gobbled up private physician practices, costs for childbirth and other services have gone up, according to a new study. Since the early aughts, the share of physicians in the United States working for hospitals has nearly doubled, according to the study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonprofit […]
WASHINGTON — Fueled by President Donald Trump’s aims to bolster the U.S. House’s razor-thin GOP majority in the 2026 midterm elections, a rare mid-decade redistricting fight in Texas grew increasingly bitter in recent days and engulfed other states. As Democratic legislators in the Lone Star State fled to block a new congressional map, a handful of […]
A final vote on a St. Louis County bill to regulate intoxicating hemp products stalled out Tuesday night after about a dozen business owners and lobbyists opposed it at the county council meeting. The bill’s sponsor, St. Louis County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, told The Independent on Wednesday morning that she plans on revisiting the bill’s […]
The abrupt termination of tax credits for clean energy projects is perhaps the most drastic blow that President Donald Trump has struck in his campaign against wind and solar electricity. As states brace for the uncertainty ahead, they are scrambling to get pending projects off the ground before the tax credits expire. “The real opportunities […]
U.S. families lose nearly $350 billion each year due to the incarceration of a loved one in jail or prison, according to a recent report from the criminal justice advocacy group FWD.us. The estimate includes both direct expenses and long-term losses in household income. The findings are based on a national survey of just over […]
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