Candidates Forum

Audio: Candidates for Trenton R-9 School Board answer questions from the public during forum on Wednesday

Three candidates for the Trenton R-9 Board of Education participated in a forum in the Rissler Elementary School Library on March 30th. Incumbent Dorothy Taul, Toby Havens, and Jeff Spencer are running for two three-year terms. The forum was relocated after the evacuation of Trenton High School, where the event was originally to be held. […]

Indictment graphic with gavel and file folder

Grand Jury indicts former CEO of major construction company in Missouri in Minority Business Enterprise fraud scheme

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, […]

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

U.S. Senate panel bickers over Supreme Court nomination but sets vote next week

(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee reopened partisan disagreements Monday as members scheduled a vote for April 4 on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Republicans’ criticisms of Jackson’s record and responses were either untrue or disingenuous. Meanwhile, ranking Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa again raised […]

Audio: Senator Josh Hawley says he will vote “no” on Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson

Now that the confirmation hearings are complete, Senator Hawley says the Judge did nothing to assuage his concerns of what he claims is her record of leniency on sex criminals. Although the U.S. Sentencing Commission numbers show the majority of NON-production child pornography offenders in 2019 were sentenced to a punishment beneath the guideline ranges, […]

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson photo courtesy Wikipedia

Senate winds up grueling Supreme Court hearings on Ketanji Brown Jackson nomination

(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 […]

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson photo courtesy Wikipedia

GOP senators attack and interrupt Judge Jackson in final day of questioning U.S. Supreme Court nominee

(Missouri Independent) – In the third day of hearings Wednesday on the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, several Republicans on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee interrogated her about sentences she handed down for child pornography offenses, disagreeing vehemently with her judicial decisions. Republicans grilled her with questions she had already answered […]

Jobs Report

Missouri jobs report shows unemployment drops to 3.7% in February

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, […]

Republican Party news graphic

New Eric Greitens abuse allegations reignite GOP fears of losing Missouri Senate seat

(Missouri Independent) – The prospect of Eric Greitens capturing the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in Missouri was already terrifying to his party’s leaders. He had been forced out of the governor’s office in 2018, resigning to settle felony charges and avoid impeachment by a Republican legislative supermajority.  Yet despite all that, he’s consistently led […]

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson photo courtesy Wikipedia

Ketanji Brown Jackson vows to decide U.S. Supreme Court cases from a ‘neutral posture’

(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 […]

Eric Greitens after filing for Missouri Senate 2022 (Photo by Madeline Carter via Missouri Independent)

Eric Greitens faces calls to drop out of Missouri Senate race after ex-wife’s abuse allegations

(Missouri Independent) – Former Gov. Eric Greitens is facing calls to abandon his campaign for U.S. Senate following accusations that he abused his ex-wife and children that surfaced in a sworn affidavit made public Monday. U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who has been the only major GOP Senate candidate to publicly criticize Greitens over the accusation of violent […]