Emily Hartley photo courtesy Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council

Emily Hartley appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Advisory Committee for Missouri

Emily Hartley, Missouri Developmental Disabilities Council Deputy Director, was appointed to the Missouri Advisory Committee by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, effective Feb. 18, 2022.   Advisory Committees have recently examined water affordability, school discipline disparities, policing practices, mental health and the criminal justice system, legal financial obligations, fair housing, hate crimes, voting rights, maternal […]

North Central Missouri College Website V2 (NCMC)

North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees hear reports, work continues on former US Bank building

Multiple reports were given at the North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees meeting February 22nd. Vice President of Student Affairs Doctor Kristen Alley reported NCMC’s graduation rate is 42%, and the withdrawal rate is 39%. NCMC is the only community college in the state to have a higher graduation rate than a withdrawal rate. […]

Gavel and Law book news graphic

State judges across the U.S. face growing GOP pushback against rulings in election cases

Missouri Independent) – In mid-December, Texas’ highest criminal court revoked the state attorney general’s ability to use his office to prosecute election-related cases without the request of a district or county attorney. In an 8-1 opinion, the all-Republican court weakened Attorney General Ken Paxton’s power to independently go after perpetrators of voter fraud, a problem he says […]

Voting Machines

Livingston County to test voting equipment

Automatic voting equipment will be tested at the Livingston County Clerk’s Office in the courthouse in Chillicothe to comply with Missouri statutes. Absentee voting equipment will be tested on March 1st at 10 a.m. Other automatic voting equipment will be tested on March 30th at 10 a.m. Representatives of political parties, the news media, candidates, […]

American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall spoke at the organization’s 2022 annual convention in Atlanta, Georgia (photo provided by American Farm Bureau Federation)

American Farm Bureau Federation claims it’s the ‘voice of agriculture,’ Others beg to differ

(Missouri Independent) – This story was originally published as a collaboration between Investigate Midwest and Watchdog Writers Group. The American Farm Bureau Federation calls itself the “voice of agriculture,” a slogan it trademarked in 2007. But as the divide between agribusiness and small farmers has grown in recent decades, a unified voice of agriculture has become harder to […]

Medical Marijuana

Criticism of Missouri medical marijuana system seeps into initiative petition debate

(Missouri Independent) – A handful of Republican lawmakers lashed out at the state’s medical marijuana industry Thursday, lobbing accusations of corruption into a Missouri House debate over whether to make it harder to amend the state’s Constitution.  On a mostly party-line 98-53 vote, the Missouri House signed off on legislation Thursday that would require a two-thirds […]