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Missouri fines CAFO, owned by Smithfield Foods, $18,000 for polluting streams with 300,000 gallons of waste

(Missouri Independent) – Regulators ordered an industrial hog farm in northern Missouri to pay more than $18,000 for spilling 300,000 gallons of manure into miles of nearby streams.  An advocate for environmentally responsible agriculture called that “pathetic,” noting the fine amounted to less than $0.04 per gallon of waste spilled.  “You’re talking about a multi-billion […]

Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick (photo by Tim Bommel - Missouri House Communications)

Schools left ‘scrambling’ after Missouri treasurer tied bond deals to Attorney General’s COVID demands

(Missouri Independent) – It was just after 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 10, when the forms arrived from the state treasurer’s office. Without warning, and with little explanation, school superintendents discovered they were now required to certify their district had complied with Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s demands to drop all COVID-19 mitigation measures, such as […]

Video Poker Machines from Missouri Independent (Photo by Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent).

Push for expanded Missouri gambling puts casinos, video operators in opposing camps

(Missouri Independent) – Approving video lottery would produce more than 10 times the new state revenue of sports wagering and drive cash-prize video games of debated legality out of Missouri, a newly updated report contends. The report, prepared by Morowitz Gaming Advisors LLC and Global Gaming & Hospitality Capital Advisors LLC and paid for by companies that […]

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Audio: Missouri Libertarian Party announces platform

The Missouri Libertarian Party plans to file a lawsuit to be included in the state’s redistricting process. Missourinet’s Brent Palm has details on the weekend state convention.     Members say current law that only allows the top two political parties to participate in redistricting is unfair to the Libertarian party and to the citizens […]

Gallery View of Missouri Senate

Missouri Senate passes $4.6B spending bill with pay raises, federal school funds

(Missouri Independent) – With a deadline looming that could cost Missouri almost $2 billion in federal education aid, the bill to distribute the money passed the state Senate on Wednesday after Democrats slammed a zero-dollar funding line as a partisan attack on Planned Parenthood. The $4.6 billion spending bill approved on a 25-7 vote is the first legislation requiring […]

Department of Homeland Security website

Coalition of 13 attorneys general call for resignation of Alejandro Mayorkas’ at Department of Homeland Security

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, along with 13 other attorneys general are calling for U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ resignation. In a letter, citing the continued failure to enforce federal law and secure the southwest border, the coalition of 14 state attorneys general is demanding that Secretary Mayorkas leave office as his […]

Photo of cattle (cows) by Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

Beef processing facility near KC in violation of Missouri regulations for polluting waters

(Missouri Independent) – A beef processing facility 40 miles southeast of downtown Kansas City polluted at least a mile of nearby streams and allowed septic tanks of sewage and entrails to overflow, state regulators found this month.  The facility, the former site of a beef operation that neighbors felt threatened a nearby botanical garden, was referred […]

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 […]

Sex Trafficking

Man convicted of sex trafficking adult and minor victims, faces 20-years to life in prison

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke and U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea of the Western District of Wisconsin announced the conviction of Cory Hereford, 50, of Beloit, Wisconsin, on charges of sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, maintaining a property to distribute and use controlled substances, and of having committed sex trafficking of a minor […]

Planned Parenthood

Missouri state health agency seeks control of Title X funds that go to Planned Parenthood

(Missouri Independent) – Missouri’s state health department has applied to oversee federal family planning funds, a move reproductive health advocates fear would give the state power to cut off funding for providers who refer patients for abortion services. During his confirmation hearing late last month, former Department of Health and Senior Services Director Donald Kauerauf’s […]

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt

Missouri Attorney General issues statement on Department of Justice lawsuit over Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act

Following a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice over Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt released the following statement: “After their disastrous arguments in the Missouri Supreme Court last week, the Biden Department of Justice has now filed yet another partisan lawsuit that seeks to attack Missourians’ Second Amendment rights. […]

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 […]