U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the PROTECT Act of 2022, which protects children from sexual exploitation by enhancing the penalties for possessing child pornography and by preventing judges from sentencing offenders below federal guidelines. The bill is co-sponsored by Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). Representative Ken Buck (CO-4) is […]
A federal grand jury indicted Brian Kowert, Sr., former Chief Operating Officer of the HBD Construction Company, on March 30, 2022, for five counts of wire fraud relative to his falsifying of Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) participation in several construction and redevelopment projects from 2014 through 2022. Kowert, Sr. was an owner, executive vice president, […]
A man who led police officers on a high-speed chase in a stolen car driving the wrong way on Interstate 70 was charged in federal court with illegally possessing several firearms and more than two kilograms of methamphetamine. Davon R. Williams, 28, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in […]
A physician was convicted for unlawfully prescribing more than one million pills of the opioid hydrocodone. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, James Pierre, 52, a doctor, of Houston, Texas, unlawfully prescribed controlled substances from June 2015 through July 2016 to individuals posing as patients at West Parker Medical Clinic (West […]
Multiple properties will be discussed during the Trenton Building and Nuisance Board meeting next week. The board will meet at the Trenton City Hall on March 28th at 6 p.m. The meeting will also be available on Zoom at us02web.zoom.us/j/81554710378. The agenda includes eight properties listed under the declaration of a nuisance, one under public […]
(Missouri Independent) – Representatives of the American Bar Association reiterated their finding that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is well qualified to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, and law enforcement groups rebutted GOP accusations Jackson is soft on child pornographers during the final day of Jackson’s confirmation hearings Thursday. Republicans, however, called in witnesses to […]
The North Central Missouri Development Alliance will hold its annual meeting next week. The meeting to discuss community assets and goals will be held at The Space in Trenton on March 29th. It will start with a free dinner at 5 p.m. NCMDA Executive Director Scott Sharp will talk about a site selector’s perspective of […]
Governor Mike Parson announced that Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, Inc., will locate a nearly one-million-square-foot data center in Kansas City, investing more than $800 million and supporting up to 100 jobs. The data center, a first of its kind in Missouri, is expected to be operational in 2024. “We’re proud to welcome Meta […]
(Missouri Independent) – An ex-FBI agent who conducted the criminal investigation of former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens in 2018 pleaded guilty Wednesday to evidence tampering and was sentenced to a year of probation. William Tisaby, 69, was hired by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to assist in the investigation of allegations that Greitens threatened […]
A former Kansas City, Missouri, man has been charged in federal court after child pornography was found on the cell phone he carried into a secure area at the U.S. Department of Energy national security campus in Kansas City, Mo. Shaun Walker, 39, currently a resident of Springfield, Mo., was charged in a criminal complaint […]
Missouri non-farm payroll employment increased from January 2022 to February 2022, and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by one-tenth of a percentage point. Employment, seasonally adjusted, increased by 9,200 jobs over the month, with job gains in both goods-producing and service-providing industries. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in February 2022, […]
(Missouri Independent) – Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday sharpened their criticisms of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, probing her work as a public defender on behalf of terrorism suspects, the judicial sentences she has handed down for child pornography offenses, and her views of critical race theory. Jackson defended her […]
(Missouri Independent) – Former Missouri First Lady Sheena Greitens said Tuesday that she stands by her allegations against her ex-husband of physically abusing her and their children and denies any insinuation that her motivations are political. Greitens released a written statement Tuesday after her ex-husband — former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens — alleged she had […]
United States District Court Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk sentenced former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer Brad Stephens to one year and one day in federal prison for 3 counts of Mail Fraud by obtaining taxpayer money from the Tower Grove South Concerned Citizen Special Business District (“Tower Grove South”) by means of material false representations. […]
A Missouri man pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally possessing several firearms. Fredrick Lee Mixon, Jr., 47, of Columbia, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Willie J. Epps, Jr., to one count of being a felon in possession of firearms. By pleading guilty, Mixon admitted that he was in possession of a Smith & […]
A bill in the Missouri Legislature would tie state funding for public universities and colleges to student earnings after enrollment. The University Rewarding Workforce Readiness Act would give more money to schools that deliver higher earnings for their graduates. Missouri’s nine universities and 13 community colleges would receive a performance score based on […]
(Missouri Independent) – Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson began her four-day confirmation process to become the nation’s first Black female associate justice on Monday, listening to hours of opening statements from Senate Judiciary Committee members before giving her own. In her first public remarks since President Joe Biden nominated her last month, Jackson, who grew […]
(Missouri Independent) – Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is facing new allegations that he physically abused his ex-wife and children and that in the months before his resignation became so unstable that his access to firearms had to be limited. The accusations are included in a sworn affidavit filed by former Missouri First Lady Sheena Greitens as […]
Kietra R. Studdard, age 44, of Fenton, Missouri appeared before United States District Court Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk and pleaded guilty. Studdard was sentenced to 115 months in federal prison for possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine; possession of pseudoephedrine with intent to manufacture methamphetamine, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. […]
(Missouri Independent) – After more than two weeks of private meetings with nearly half the U.S. Senate, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, will field questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee in highly anticipated public hearings that begin today (Monday). Members of the panel will question Jackson for […]
