A Missouri Senate committee heard testimony once again on Monday about raising the bar on the process for passing initiative petitions. Initiatives petitions are measures proposed by citizens that appear on the ballot after an appropriate number of signatures are collected from voters. Republican senators led last year’s unsuccessful push to change the initiative petition […]
The Senate Committee on Government Efficiency heard a bill Monday that would ban state funding for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Sponsored by state Rep. Ben Baker, a Republican from Neosho, the bill would also bar state departments from mandating a DEI program in contracts with private organizations. “The bottom line is we as a […]
COLUMBIA — The doors of the only Planned Parenthood clinic in mid-Missouri opened up on Monday morning just like they have since 1970. But for the first time since 2018, pregnant women from central Missouri received an abortion at their local clinic instead of traveling across state lines. By 10 a.m., the first two patients […]
A bill targeting foreign-manufactured drones drew opposition Monday from Missouri law enforcement officials and public utility representatives. State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Republican from Harrisonville, said the crux of his legislation is to ban future purchases of Chinese drones by law enforcement. Concerns he cited in the Senate Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety […]
A Missouri House budget subcommittee slashed more than $300 million from agency budgets Monday, which the chairman said is intended to align spending authority with actual spending. Another budget subcommittee, also meeting Monday, cut $59.5 million more in general revenue from several agencies, earmarking the money instead for local projects that include several that were […]
More states are loosening vaccine mandates, scaling back vaccine promotion efforts and taking other steps likely to lower vaccination rates — even as a major measles outbreak spreads in Texas. Meanwhile, public health experts worry that the confirmation of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human […]
German chemical giant Bayer is improperly using a court order to hide details of a “propaganda” campaign targeting Missouri lawmakers and potential jurors, an emergency motion to lift the confidentiality cloak claims. In a case pending in Cole County Circuit Court, attorney Matt Clement is arguing that 46 “public relations” documents designated as confidential by […]
Only in Missouri do state politicians think they are better suited to run city police departments than local elected leaders. There is zero evidence to support that premise. Yet the Missouri House just voted to place the St. Louis Police Department back under state control, even though a hefty 64% of voters liberated it from […]
The Missouri Supreme Court on Friday suspended an associate circuit judge for a year without pay for leaving numerous cases unresolved for years, leaving families in limbo on divorces, child support and custody and, in one case, potentially pushing a home into foreclosure. The court imposed the suspension on Associate Circuit Judge Joe Don McGaugh […]
The immigrant detainee, a client of Rekha Sharma-Crawford, would have to be moved. Chase County Detention Center was full. Located in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, it’s the largest detainee holding center in the region contracting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Sharma-Crawford, a longtime immigration attorney, saw something more foreboding when she heard the […]
A Republican lawmaker is holding up confirmation of Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s pick to lead the social services department until she gets answers from the agency about chronic problems that have plagued the foster care system for years and what she says has been the agency’s failure to implement laws designed to help. State Sen. […]
I’ve written twice about the dangerous misunderstanding that you can’t get a divorce in Missouri while pregnant. Though I’ve yelled about the fact that Missouri’s law is not unique and there is no current law barring a judge from granting a dissolution during pregnancy, I’m in favor of the legislature making that more explicit in […]
Two of Missouri’s nine Planned Parenthood clinics are poised to start performing regularly-scheduled surgical abortions next week, though clinic leadership says access to medication abortions is in the hands of the state. The first elective abortion in Missouri since the procedure was banned in 2022 was performed earlier this month in a Kansas City Planned […]
The first spending bill of the year — almost $2 billion to fund state agencies through June 30 — was approved Thursday by the Missouri House Budget Committee. The supplemental appropriation bill includes money to make sure public schools receive their full allocation under the foundation formula, $103 million for federally financed summer food programs […]
Legislation that would remove the expiration date on a pair of laws affecting transgender minors passed the Missouri Senate Thursday after a fight by Senate Democrats. It now heads to the Missouri House for consideration. The bill in question, which contained a litany of provisions removing sunset dates for various programs, would make permanent a […]
A little-known quirk of Missouri’s sales tax law means that retailers charge a higher rate for a hot dog purchased off a roller than for a cold sandwich. Both are meant for immediate consumption. But the cold sandwich can be purchased with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, better known as food stamps, while the hot […]
People with disabilities are worried about the fate of federal protections as a lawsuit involving 17 attorneys general — including Missouri’s Andrew Bailey — takes aim at a 50-year-old disability-rights law. The lawsuit, which was filed in September, targets additions to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act added under the Biden administration. Disability-rights groups began […]
While Missouri House Republicans have rallied behind a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban abortion but allow some exceptions for survivors of rape and incest, a similar proposal in the Senate received push-back Wednesday from a Republican lawmaker and anti-abortion activists. The Senate Families, Seniors and Health Committee on Wednesday heard testimony on a proposed […]
The secretary whose employment at the Missouri state public defender’s office nearly derailed the agency’s entire budget has been terminated, clearing away legislative opposition during a committee hearing on Wednesday.
stLouIST