(Missouri Independent) – Local governments in Ohio and Illinois are using American Rescue Plan Act money to relieve residents struggling with medical debt by partnering with an organization that buys debt and wipes the slate clean for debtors. It’s a strategy advocates say could be duplicated across the country to help erase a multibillion-dollar problem. […]
(Missouri Independent) – The Federal Election Commission has agreed to pay U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s campaign $23,500 to settle a lawsuit alleging the agency illegally withheld public documents. In late 2021, Hawley’s campaign requested a series of records under the Freedom of Information Act from the FEC. The purpose of the request was to compile materials the […]
(Missouri Independent) – A new report released found that nearly 350,000 Missouri children are in families with incomes too low to qualify for the full federal child tax credit — with children of color and children in rural areas particularly likely to fall through the cracks. Many of the lowest-income families nationally earn too little to […]
Governor Mike Parson announced that over 13,500 Missouri households had been approved for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant assistance of $42.9 million as the FEMA disaster assistance application period for the St. Louis area flooding in July closed this month. Including National Flood Insurance payments to policyholders and U.S. Small Business Administration loans, total […]
A man from Missouri on Friday admitted being a felon in possession of both a firearm and methamphetamine. Mosley Jumon Williams, 31, of St. Louis County, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Court Judge Catherine D. Perry to one felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and a misdemeanor charge […]
The former deputy director of Jackson County Department of Corrections pleaded guilty in federal court to tax evasion. Isaac Johnston, 53, of Leavenworth, Kansas, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to a federal information that charges him with one count of individual income tax […]
A Missouri woman has pleaded guilty in federal court to fraudulently receiving a $10,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan, a program that was part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Nicole R. Cortez, 41, of Kansas City, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stephen […]
A Missouri man was sentenced in federal court for his role in leading a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Mark A. Whitworth, 65, of Excelsior Estates, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to 19 years and seven months in federal prison without parole. Whitworth was found guilty at trial on June 9, 2022, of […]
A Galena, Kansas, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for illegally possessing a firearm after he led law enforcement officers on a high-speed pursuit on his motorcycle across state lines from Kansas to Newton County, Mo. Douglas Eugene Alexius, 47, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm in […]
(Missouri Independent) – Longtime cannabis activist Brennan England has gotten lots of undeserved praise since Missourians approved a constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana on Nov. 8. As the owner of a private cannabis consumption lounge in St. Louis, England understood why people thought he’d have a “go weed or go home” stance. But it wasn’t […]
(Missouri Independent) – A higher prevalence of gun ownership in rural America has contributed to increased suicides, raising the overall gun-death rate in rural areas above that of urban communities. Experts say some legal interventions that have broad public support could help lower the risk of people harming themselves or others with guns. In 2020, […]
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced that his office has received a third federal grant from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, with this grant totaling $2.5 million. The grant will allow the Attorney General’s Office to continue its work on the SAFE Kit Initiative, which aims to clear the backlog of untested […]
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway released her audit of the city of Rockville, located in Bates County in western Missouri. By petition, city residents requested the audit, which resulted in a rating of “poor,” the lowest possible rating. Auditors identified numerous concerns related to accounting controls and procedures as well as a lack of oversight […]
A jury in U.S. District Court on Wednesday convicted a man from Ferguson, Missouri of a felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Due to a series of prior convictions for violent offenses, Anthony Willis, 29, now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison as an armed career […]
The United States Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that Jonathan D. Drury, 37, of Perryville, Missouri, has been sentenced to serve 87 months in federal prison for the offense of possession of child pornography. Drury appeared for his sentencing hearing today before United States District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. at the federal courthouse in Cape […]
A business owner from St. Charles County, Missouri on Thursday admitted using part of the $2.3 million in income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes that he’d withheld from his employees’ paychecks for college tuition and mortgage payments on two houses. Jeffrey M. Bauza, 55, of Weldon Spring, also admitted failing to pay $1 million in […]
A Missouri man on Thursday admitted to being caught in Franklin County, Missouri trying to buy 40 pounds of methamphetamine for $120,000. Richard Treis, 48, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Treis also […]
Two men from Missouri were indicted on murder-for-hire charges Wednesday in connection with the April fatal shooting of a man in St. Louis, Missouri. Ray Bradley, 44, and Moreion Lindsey, 32, were indicted on one count each of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire. The indictment says their conspiracy resulted in the death of Titus […]
A Missouri man who was wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor at the time of the offense pleaded guilty in federal court to robbing a Bank of America branch in Springfield last summer. Michael C. Loyd, 30, of Springfield, pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to one count of bank robbery. By […]
Three Missouri men have pleaded guilty in federal court to their roles in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Kenneth James Paulson, 51, of Blue Springs, Mo., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays on Wednesday, Nov. 16, to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Aug. 11 to Oct. 14, 2020. Co-defendants Louis […]
