(Missouri Independent) – In a win for transparency advocates, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that government agencies cannot charge for time attorneys spend reviewing public records that are requested under the state’s Sunshine Law. In a 6-0 decision, the judges ruled that a lower court erred by siding with Gov. Mike Parson in a lawsuit […]
Eleven of Missouri’s largest concentrated animal feeding operations are working to reduce the state’s oversight of their hog facilities despite a record of manure spills and clean water violations. Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, has 11 CAFOs seeking new state permits. The facilities, dotted across northern Missouri, combined are capable of raising more […]
A Texas man was sentenced in the Western District of Texas to 40 years in prison for multiple obscenity crimes involving children. Thomas Alan Arthur, 65, of Terlingua, was convicted by a federal jury on Jan. 21, 2021, of three counts of trafficking in obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of a child, five […]
The US Justice Department is warning officials in Missouri that the state can’t ignore federal law after the governor signed a bill that bans police from enforcing federal gun rules. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause outweighs the measure that Gov. Mike Parson signed into law. The […]
Missouri has responded to the U.S. Justice Department’s warning about a new gun bill signed into state law. The US Justice Department says Missouri cannot ignore federal law after Governor Parson signed a bill last weekend that bans police from enforcing federal gun regulations. Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton says the law […]
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Governor Mike Parson sent a letter to President Biden’s Department of Justice fighting back against potential federal overreach and encroachment on Missourians’ Second Amendment rights. The full letter can be found here “Missourians’ and Americans’ Second Amendment rights are enshrined in the Constitution – I will defend those rights […]
A Maryland man was sentenced Monday to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution for defrauding a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) program dedicated to rehabilitating military veterans with disabilities. According to court documents, Francis Engles, 65, of Bowie, was the owner and operator of Engles Security Training School (Engles […]
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Dick Durbin (Ill.), as well as U.S. Representatives Joyce Beatty (Ohio) and Ann Wagner (Mo.), introduced legislation that would commission a study reviewing current homelessness and housing services for survivors of trafficking. “We can […]
Legislation that declares it’s the duty of the courts and law enforcement agencies to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms has been signed into law by Missouri’s governor. GOP Governor Mike Parson signed the Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) Saturday in Lee’s Summit, where he was joined by the bill […]
(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 […]
Legislation establishing a Second Amendment Preservation Act will be signed into law Saturday afternoon by Missouri’s governor, in the Kansas City suburb of Lee’s Summit. Governor Mike Parson will sign SAPA Saturday at 2 p.m. at Frontier Justice. House Bill 85 is sponsored by State Rep. Jered Taylor (R-Nixa) and State Sen. Eric Burlison (R-Battlefield). They say […]
(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 Trenton man accused of driving a pickup and hitting the side of a business building has been sentenced in the Associate Division of Grundy County Circuit Court. Braden Mark Spicer of rural Trenton pleaded guilty on Tuesday to an amended charge of misdemeanor, leaving the scene of an accident, and to one count of […]
Three Russian men and a naturalized U.S. citizen have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a conspiracy to use stolen identities to file thousands of fraudulent tax returns and send much of the illegal proceeds to their co-conspirators in Russia. Alexander Pavlov, 37, and Dmitrii Shenke, 35, citizens and residents […]
(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 […]
Governor Mike Parson announced fifteen appointments to various boards and commissions. Bryan Atkins, of Rea, was appointed to the Board of Probation and Parole. Mr. Atkins served as the Sheriff of Andrew County from 2009 until his retirement in 2020. Prior to being elected sheriff, he served as a Deputy Sheriff for Andrew County. He also formerly […]
A couple was sentenced to prison for their participation in a scheme to file four fraudulent loan applications seeking more than $1.1 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Latoya Stanley, 38, […]
Four defendants pleaded guilty to federal dogfighting and conspiracy charges for their roles in an interstate dogfighting network across the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey. The Honorable John A. Gibney Jr., U.S. District Judge in Richmond, Virginia, accepted the following pleas: On June 1, Odell S. Anderson Sr., 52, of the District […]
Colonel Eric T. Olson, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, announces the following promotion: Sergeant Gerard G. Callahan, Q/HRD, will be promoted to lieutenant and transfer to the Patrol Records Division, General Headquarters, Jefferson City, MO, where he will serve as the Patrol’s Custodian of Records effective June 1, 2021. Callahan was appointed to […]
