Views: 0U.S. Senator Roy Blunt addressed Missouri’s state representatives Wednesday morning. The Missouri Republican covered topics ranging from the economy to mental health and infrastructure to education. He also told a story with a line that some could interpret as referencing the recent stand-off in the state senate regarding redistricting. The full speech […]
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Missouri Senate passes $4.6B spending bill with pay raises, federal school funds
Views: 0(Missouri Independent) – With a deadline looming that could cost Missouri almost $2 billion in federal education aid, the bill to distribute the money passed the state Senate on Wednesday after Democrats slammed a zero-dollar funding line as a partisan attack on Planned Parenthood. The $4.6 billion spending bill approved on a 25-7 vote is the first legislation […]
State judges across the U.S. face growing GOP pushback against rulings in election cases
Views: 0Missouri Independent) – In mid-December, Texas’ highest criminal court revoked the state attorney general’s ability to use his office to prosecute election-related cases without the request of a district or county attorney. In an 8-1 opinion, the all-Republican court weakened Attorney General Ken Paxton’s power to independently go after perpetrators of voter fraud, a problem he […]
U.S. House hearing on extremism toward minorities turns into ‘defund the police’ debate
Views: 1(Missouri Independent) – Leaders of faith organizations and Historically Black Colleges and Universities told members of a U.S. House panel on Thursday how their institutions and places of worship have been roiled by bomb threats and extremism. They talked about the recent waves of bomb threats aimed at HBCUs, a terrifying hostage-taking at a […]
Missouri state health agency seeks control of Title X funds that go to Planned Parenthood
Views: 0(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 […]
American Farm Bureau Federation claims it’s the ‘voice of agriculture,’ Others beg to differ
Views: 0(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 […]
Audio: Missouri Capitol could get another facelift, this time inside the building
Views: 0The Missouri Capitol could be in for another facelift – this time inside the building. During a House committee hearing Monday, administrators told lawmakers the plan would cost an estimated $535 million to repair and expand the interior of the building. Under the design, the building would get an extra 100, 000 […]
Criticism of Missouri medical marijuana system seeps into initiative petition debate
Views: 0(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 […]
Cori Bush leading push for Biden to pick Supreme Court nominee with civil rights track record
Views: 0(Missouri Independent) – U.S. Rep. Cori Bush on Thursday led a coalition of Black women members of the U.S. House in a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to pick a Black woman for the U.S. Supreme Court — which he has promised — who has a track record of protecting civil rights. […]
Status of Trenton’s medical marijuana facility now unknown
Views: 1In a unanimous decision on Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that a lower court was justified in ordering the state health department to disclose medical marijuana application info that it had argued was confidential. The Department of Health and Senior Services refused to provide applications of businesses that were awarded licenses to grow […]
Missouri House refuses to accept Governor Parson’s plan for $15 base pay for state jobs
Views: 0(Missouri Independent) – The Missouri House approved a $4.6 billion supplemental spending bill Wednesday that would give all state workers a pay raise. But lawmakers refused to go along with Gov. Mike Parson’s plan for a $15 an hour base wage for all state employees, instead offering that salary only to select workers. The bill would […]
Missouri Supreme Court: Medical marijuana application info must be disclosed in appeals
Views: 0(Missouri Independent) – In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that a lower court was justified in ordering the state health department to disclose medical marijuana application info that it had argued was confidential. The Department of Health and Senior Services refused to provide applications of businesses that were awarded licenses […]
Audio: Bill to change Missouri’s ballot initiative process advances
Views: 0Some Missouri Republican lawmakers are working to make it harder for voters to get an initiative on the ballot. A bill aimed at changing the ballot initiative process advanced Monday evening in the House of Representatives. It would require signatures of 10-percent from all Missouri’s congressional districts from the current requirement of 10-percent of […]
House committee scales back governor’s pay raise plan for Missouri state workers
Views: 0(Missouri Independent) – Hundreds of custodians, clerks, and cooks working for state agencies would not get the raises Missouri Gov. Mike Parson promised in December under a spending bill approved Monday by the House Budget Committee. On a party-line vote, with Republicans supporting the bill and Democrats opposed, the committee approved a spending bill that […]
Audio: Second Amendment Preservation Act gun law to be heard by Missouri Supreme Court
Views: 2The showdown over a controversial Missouri gun law will be heard by the state’s Supreme Court today (Monday). A Cole County judge denied the challenge, and the municipalities appealed to the state’s highest court. Signed into law late last year, The Second Amendment Preservation Act or SAPA declares federal laws that could […]
U.S. House advances marijuana banking bill, though final passage uncertain
Views: 0 (Missouri Independent) – Cannabis dispensaries throughout the country came one step closer to using banks the way many other businesses can when the U.S. House on Friday cleared a bill with sweeping changes to banking regulations. Colorado Democrat Ed Perlmutter and Ohio Republican Dave Joyce, co-sponsors of the legislation, said Friday their proposal would […]
Bankruptcy of failed Moberly factory project nears end after 10 years in court
Views: 1(Missouri Independent) – Unsecured creditors will get less than a nickel on the dollar for debts left by a Moberly economic development project that went bust in 2011 as Missouri lawmakers worked on a plan to finance air freight shipments from China. A final report pending before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Dow describes how $2.1 […]
Judge approves most of Ashcroft’s summary for Missouri school funding ballot measure
Views: 0(Missouri Independent) – A Cole County judge kept intact most of the ballot summary Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wrote for an initiative petition seeking to bar public funds from going to private schools. On Wednesday, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem ruled that Ashcroft was correct to say in the summary that […]
Missouri Groups to Lawmakers: Don’t limit citizen-led ballot petitions
Views: 0Some lawmakers in Jefferson City are pushing forward bills that would limit citizens’ ability to put constitutional amendments on the ballot. The proposed legislation would double the number of signatures required to get on the ballot and raise the thresholds to pass them from a majority to two-thirds. Benjamin Singer, CEO of the group Show-Me Integrity, […]