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 […]

Planned Parenthood

Missouri budget bill blocks Medicaid patients from accessing Planned Parenthood

Missouri’s supplemental budget bill signed into law Thursday includes a provision to block patients who rely on Medicaid from accessing Planned Parenthood health centers. Federal Medicaid law protects patients’ rights to choose their providers, including Planned Parenthood. Michelle Trupiano, executive director of the Missouri Family Health Council, noted because of the Hyde Amendment, Medicaid cannot cover abortions, […]

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

Video: Biden taps Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as first black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court

(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden formally announced the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday afternoon. “President Biden sought a candidate with exceptional credentials, unimpeachable character, and unwavering dedication to the rule of law,” the White House said in a statement. If confirmed by the Senate, Jackson, 51, […]

Shades of Us exhibit flyer at Cultural Corner Art Guild

Audio: Cultural Corner Art Guild and Gallery features Black History Month exhibit “Shades of Us”

The Cultural Corner Art Guild and Gallery at 424 Locust Street in Chillicothe currently has a Black History Month art exhibit featuring Black artists. Shades of Us will be on display until March 19th. Cultural Corner Board President Margaret Vance says Cultural Corner was approached by a local African American woman who wanted to have […]

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 […]

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 […]

Medical Marijuana

Criticism of Missouri medical marijuana system seeps into initiative petition debate

(Missouri Independent) – A handful of Republican lawmakers lashed out at the state’s medical marijuana industry Thursday, lobbing accusations of corruption into a Missouri House debate over whether to make it harder to amend the state’s Constitution.  On a mostly party-line 98-53 vote, the Missouri House signed off on legislation Thursday that would require a two-thirds […]