The judge in the criminal trial of three men accused of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of 17 people in the Duck Boat Tragedy has dismissed all charges. Stone County Judge Alan Blankenship issued his ruling on Tuesday after delaying the initial hearing for his decision in March. The boat was swamped by waves caused […]
Tag: delay
Missouri House signs off on $46.2 billion budget, leaves most of huge state surplus untouched
(Missouri Independent) – The Missouri House gave first-round approval Tuesday to a package of budget bills spending $46.2 billion, with Republicans defeating repeated Democratic efforts to tap the state’s record surplus. The budget includes boosts to higher education funding, both for institutions and scholarships, as well as funding one of last year’s most controversial issues, Medicaid […]
Jackson wins 3 GOP votes as U.S. Senate advances her Supreme Court nomination
(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. Senate advanced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic Supreme Court nomination in a 53-47 procedural vote Monday evening, hours after the Judiciary Committee deadlocked along party lines. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah voted with all 50 Senate Democrats on the procedural […]
U.S. House votes to decriminalize marijuana in federal law
(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. House passed legislation Friday to legalize marijuana nationally, but its future is much less clear in the Senate. The House voted 220-204 to approve the measure, which would fix the split between federal law and 19 states where recreational marijuana is legal. Three Republicans joined all but two Democrats in approving the measure. […]
Supreme Court to hear case against Proposition 12 by National Pork Producers Council and American Farm Bureau Federation
The U.S. Supreme Court at its Mar. 25 conference agreed to hear a case brought by the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation against California’s Proposition 12, which bans the sale of pork from hogs born to sows that weren’t raised according to the state’s “arbitrary” production standards. “We are extremely […]
Temporary benefit increase extended through September for Missouri WIC participants
Missouri WIC is extending the temporary increase of the Cash Value Benefit for Fruit and Vegetable Purchases (CVB) through September 2022. The increase will continue to be $24 per month for child participants, $43 per month for pregnant and postpartum women participants, and $47 per month for breastfeeding women participants. Standard CVB values range from […]
Medicaid enrollment backlog persists as advocates say Missouri could be doing more
(Missouri Independent) – Applying for health insurance through Medicaid expansion took Raven Cole just 10 minutes. But the wait to see if she’s approved has dragged on for months. The 23-year-old legal assistant applied for coverage, “well over two to three months ago.” “And I haven’t heard anything back,” Cole said. Cole is one of […]
Court news for Division One of Grundy County Circuit Court on Thursday, March 10, 2022
Among cases Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Division One of the Grundy County Circuit Court: Trenton resident Kyle Ray Graves pleaded guilty to felony possession of a controlled substance/synthetic cannabinoid. Two other counts were dismissed. Graves was sentenced to seven years with the Department of Corrections with the term to be consecutive to any other […]
House Republicans renew calls for the Biden administration to drop “Waters of the United States” expansion
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO), Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member David Rouzer (R-NC), and Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (R-WA) are leading 201 House Republicans in renewing calls for the Biden administration to drop its plan to expand the scope of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). House […]
Change to bill cutting Missouri sales tax on food transformed it into massive tax hike
(Missouri Independent) – With a change of just a few words, a bill to expand the sales tax exemption for food purchases became a bill virtually ending the exemption, infuriating its sponsor and forcing a Missouri House committee to give it another look. On Monday, the House Rules – Administrative Oversight Committee voted to send state Rep. […]
Billions in U.S. aid for Ukraine eyed in struggle against Russian invasion
(Missouri Independent) – Congress is working quickly to determine how much military and humanitarian aid it should send to Ukraine as the war in that country continues to claim lives and send hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing as refugees. Lawmakers are working with the Biden administration to provide billions in funding at the same […]
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 […]
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 […]
Misinformation fuels false belief that Missouri COVID death figures are being inflated
(Missouri Independent) – On a recent Tuesday evening in southeastern Missouri, John Freeze stood in front of yet another angry group of constituents. Some here believe the number of COVID-19 deaths are being purposefully inflated for financial gain. Among the culprits, in their mistaken view: Hospitals seeking Medicare reimbursements; The federal government, led by Dr. Anthony […]
Missouri takes months to process Medicaid applications — longer than law allows
(Missouri Independent) – This story was originally published by Kaiser Health News. Aneka French applied for Medicaid in October, not long after Missouri became the 38th state to expand eligibility for the program. But her application sat for months in a backlog with tens of thousands of others. While she waited, French, 45, an uninsured medical […]
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 […]
Annual mailing meeting of THS Alumni Association again rescheduled
Plans for the annual Mailing Meeting of the Trenton High School Alumni Association have been rescheduled once again. The meeting will now take place on Sunday, March 6th in the THS Commons beginning at 1:00 pm. Steve Maxey, Association Secretary says that due to the lack of reunion information by classes, the printing of the […]
Interstate 35 in Harrison County to narrow for bridge project
A bridge rehabilitation project will narrow a portion of Interstate 35 in Harrison County. The project, led by contractors from Widel, Inc., working with the Missouri Department of Transportation, will include shoulder work, milling the bridge deck, and placing a new overlay on the bridge over Pole Cat Creek, south of Bethany. Crews will place […]