(Missouri Independent) – Retired St. Louis Judge Evelyn Baker once sentenced a 16-year-old Black boy to 241 years in prison for two armed robberies. No one was seriously injured in the robberies, but the boy “didn’t express any remorse,” Baker said, remembering the sentencing hearing. Now, when she thinks back, Baker deeply regrets the sentence […]
(Missouri Independent) – Vicky Hartzler made her entry into the 2022 U.S. Senate race official Thursday, kicking off her campaign at a firearms store surrounded by supporters. One day before Republicans gather in Kansas City for their annual Lincoln Days meetings, Hartzler said her experience in Congress will make her the best candidate over the […]
(Missouri Independent) – For years after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, activists and community leaders have pushed to “re-envision public safety.” Inspired in part by the Ferguson Commission, which recommended that cities focus more resources on the root causes of crime, organizers across the state echoed these calls. But they largely fell on deaf ears. […]
A representative from SafeDefend presented information to the Trenton R-9 Board of Education on June 8th. Dan Cole demonstrated the system, which he called a crisis management harm mitigation rapid response solution. He said it was created after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. He explained activation modules allow a […]
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Ranking Member and Chairwoman of the Committee on Rules and Administration, and Gary Peters (Mich.) and Rob Portman (Ohio), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released a bipartisan report on the security, planning, and response failures related to the violent […]
(Missouri Independent) – Even the stuffy, florid name of the procedure, “filibuster” sounds like something conceived around a table of wig-wearing Founding Fathers. While the name has its roots in the 18th Century (with pirates nonetheless), the concept and practice in the United States Senate is much younger, not being implemented in a modern form until […]
(Missouri Independent) – Missouri and Kansas residents’ utility bills may be helping to bankroll the energy sector lobbying against policies aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Federal and state rules prohibit utility companies from passing their lobbying costs on to customers through bills. But in both Kansas and Missouri, utilities like Evergy, Ameren, and Spire […]
An audit by State Auditor Nicole Galloway gives several recommendations to the Greene County Sheriff to improve the office’s accounting controls and procedures. In his responses, the Sheriff committed to implementing the recommendations of the audit, which gave a rating of “good.” “Audits help point out ways government officials can better serve their constituents, and […]
Missouri’s governor says there was no path forward for Medicaid expansion without legislative funding and that the courts will decide the issue. Governor Mike Parson says he never supported Medicaid expansion because he didn’t think the state could afford it. The governor says he called for its implementation because voters approved it in August: […]
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office has released the annual vehicle stops report, an aggregation of data covering all vehicle stops in the state of Missouri in 2020. The report shows the number of people pulled over and then arrested in Missouri dropped significantly in 2020 but racial inequalities continue. It says the pullover rate declining […]
The Gallatin Board of Aldermen this week approved an ordinance and resolution regarding the setting of electric rates. City Clerk Hattie Rains reports the ordinance authorized the city, going forward, to use a resolution instead of an ordinance to set electric rates. The resolution changed the electric rates for citizens and businesses. The rates will […]
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio) introduced bipartisan legislation to require states to report data on all child abuse-related deaths and develop recommendations to prevent child abuse deaths from occurring in the first place. The senators’ bill would provide policymakers and public health officials with a clearer picture of the number of […]
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), co-chairs of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, announced that they have reintroduced the Safe Home Act to protect adopted children from unregulated custody transfers. This legislation would add UCTs to the federal definition of child abuse and neglect under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. […]
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Adoption Caucus, announced that they have reintroduced legislation to improve the intercountry adoption process. “There are millions of children around the world without a safe, stable home,” said Blunt. “We can help connect these children with the families they deserve by making […]
The health and safety of Hy-Vee’s customers and employees have been the company’s top priority since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the grocer has consistently followed the CDC’s recommendations as guidance is provided. Given the CDC’s mask announcement on Friday, starting today Hy-Vee no longer requires fully vaccinated customers and employees to wear face coverings […]
(Missouri Independent) – On Monday morning, Jeremy Cady, state director of Americans for Prosperity, filed paperwork with Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office to begin the process of putting the 12.5-cents a gallon tax increase on a statewide ballot. To succeed in forcing a referendum on the bill, the campaign would have to gather about 110,000 […]
The Missouri Department of Conservation is set to launch a new canine unit through its Protection Branch this summer. The new unit, consisting of five dogs and their conservation agent-handlers, will be stationed around the state and used as necessary to work throughout Missouri. According to MDC, the capabilities of canines are extensive in conservation-related […]
The Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of the Treasury have announced that the first monthly payment of the expanded and newly-advanceable Child Tax Credit from the American Rescue Plan will be made on July 15. Roughly 39 million households, covering 88% of children in the United States, are slated to begin receiving monthly […]
(Missouri Independent) – Missouri will not expand Medicaid coverage to working-age adults on July 1 because lawmakers refused to include funding for the health care program in the state budget, Gov. Mike Parson announced Thursday. In a news release, Parson said the state was withdrawing documents submitted to the federal government necessary to add the approximately 275,000 […]
(Missouri Independent) – As the state of Missouri battles its second year of the novel coronavirus’ spread, lawmakers on Wednesday sent to the governor’s desk a bill that aims to rein in local public health orders and ban vaccine passports. The provisions were included in House Bill 271, which deals with local government transparency. It grew […]
