(Missouri Independent) – With fewer than 12 hours to spare before the start of a new fiscal year, the Missouri House on Wednesday approved a bill extending medical provider taxes essential to balancing the budget, forestalling more than $700 million in cuts planned by Gov. Mike Parson. Divisions over how and whether to add provisions sought by […]
(Missouri Independent) – Missouri will enter the new budget year with a record budget surplus and no restrictions on appropriations. The $35.6 billion budget includes rate increases for some Medicaid providers, higher funding for colleges and universities, and new mental health crisis centers. A few hours after lawmakers passed an extension of provider taxes vital to funding […]
A breathtaking photo featuring a glimpse into the life of a Missouri cattle rancher is the Best in Show for the 2021 Focus on Missouri Agriculture Photo Contest, hosted by the Missouri Department of Agriculture. The photograph, submitted by Holly Brown of Webb City, Mo., was chosen from nearly 900 photos submitted by amateur photographers […]
Three Missouri residents were indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine after law enforcement officers seized 28 firearms from a residence during the investigation. James Jacob Johnson, 23, Amber Marie Lawson, 36, and Eric Ryan Janes, 36, all of Sedalia, were charged in a five-count indictment returned […]
A Missouri woman pleaded guilty in federal court to sexually assaulting two children to produce child pornography and to receiving and distributing child pornography. Tara Sau Millman, 41, Merriam Village, pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to one count of the sexual exploitation of minors and one count of receiving and distributing […]
Gateway Studios and Production Services, a unique music and film manufacturing campus, will be created in Chesterfield, Missouri, introducing a new industry to the state. The 32-acre, $111 million development will employ more than 100 music and film professionals who will manufacture, build, test, and launch globally touring musical acts and movies. “We are excited […]
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is currently recruiting and accepting online applications to fill an academy class of conservation agent trainees. Successful candidates will undergo 26 weeks of intense training in all facets of law enforcement and resource management/conservation stewardship. Upon graduation, newly commissioned conservation agents receive a county assignment and become the face […]
During a ceremony at the State Capitol, Governor Mike Parson signed SB 153 & 97 into law, allowing Missouri and local jurisdictions to collect an online use tax that will help protect Missouri’s brick and mortar businesses. “Passing Wayfair legislation has been a top priority of my administration, and we are happy to be signing […]
(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. House voted Tuesday to remove from the Capitol a bust of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, who in 1857 wrote the Dred Scott decision (Dred Scott pictured above article) that stripped all Black Americans, free or slave, of their citizenship. The legislation passed on a vote of 285-120 with only 67 […]
Community partnerships in Missouri are working to help young people, either in or aging out of foster care, connect with the resources they need to start their independent lives, and the pandemic has brought added financial hardship for many. DeWayne Bright, Sr., youth advocate for the Local Investment Commission (LINC) in Kansas City, works with […]
A convicted triple killer from Columbia is set to be executed in October at the state’s maximum-security prison in Bonne Terre. The Missouri Supreme Court has scheduled an October 5 execution date for 60-year-old Ernest Lee Johnson. The Supreme Court scheduled the execution date on Tuesday. He’ll be executed by lethal injection at the southeast […]
(Missouri Independent) – In a win for transparency advocates, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that government agencies cannot charge for time attorneys spend reviewing public records that are requested under the state’s Sunshine Law. In a 6-0 decision, the judges ruled that a lower court erred by siding with Gov. Mike Parson in a lawsuit […]
State Auditor Nicole Galloway said today her office has begun a regularly scheduled audit of Lawrence County, located in southwest Missouri. The most recent audit of Lawrence County was completed in December 2016, with the county receiving an overall rating of “poor.” A follow-up report, released in 2017, showed county officials had made some progress addressing the issues […]
Governor Mike Parson signed four additional bills into law on Tuesday afternoon. SB 36 – Capitol Complex Tax Credit: Creates a $10 million tax credit for rehabilitation or renovation of buildings in the Capitol Complex. SB 57 – Funding for Criminal Behavior Deterrence: Creates the Economic Distress Zone Fund, which provides funding to nonprofits that […]
Niagara Bottling, LLC, a family-owned beverage manufacturer headquartered in Diamond Bar, California, announced it will invest approximately $156 million in a new production facility in Kansas City, Missouri. This new facility will initially create nearly 100 jobs. “Niagara Bottling is excited to establish a second manufacturing facility in Kansas City, Missouri,” said Brian Hess, Executive […]
A Missouri Department of Transportation worker was struck and killed on Monday in Platte County. Sixty-one-year-old Lloyd Crawford was listed as a long-time maintenance worker in the Kansas City district of the Missouri Department of Transportation. The incident occurred on northbound Highway 273 near the intersection with Highway 371. MoDOT said Crawford was performing flood […]
(Missouri Independent) – A Cole County judge has temporarily blocked the state’s new policy for Medicaid hospital payments which was set to take effect Thursday and ordered a hearing July 9 to determine if the order will become permanent. In response to a lawsuit filed by the Missouri Hospital Association, Circuit Judge Cotton Walker on Friday […]
(Missouri Independent) – Former Trump administration officials and conservative and libertarian nonprofits have launched lawsuits to block federal relief funds aimed at Black and minority farmers—a development that House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Scott of Georgia calls “an evil system at work here.” Suits have been filed in Florida, Wisconsin, and Texas that says it’s […]
State Auditor Nicole Galloway today released an audit of the Jefferson County Collector. The report received an overall rating of good. The audit found personal commissions paid to the collector were not properly reported as income and, as a result, not taxed as income. The report recommended that the county collector works with the county […]
Missouri’s high-profile Medicaid expansion lawsuit case will go before the state’s highest court in July. The attorney for the three women suing Missouri over Medicaid expansion says the Missouri Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on July 13 in Jefferson City. The same two attorneys who argued the case in […]
