(Missouri Independent) – The Missouri House gave first-round approval Tuesday to a package of budget bills spending $46.2 billion, with Republicans defeating repeated Democratic efforts to tap the state’s record surplus. The budget includes boosts to higher education funding, both for institutions and scholarships, as well as funding one of last year’s most controversial issues, Medicaid […]
(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. Senate advanced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic Supreme Court nomination in a 53-47 procedural vote Monday evening, hours after the Judiciary Committee deadlocked along party lines. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah voted with all 50 Senate Democrats on the procedural […]
(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. House passed legislation Friday to legalize marijuana nationally, but its future is much less clear in the Senate. The House voted 220-204 to approve the measure, which would fix the split between federal law and 19 states where recreational marijuana is legal. Three Republicans joined all but two Democrats in approving the measure. […]
Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox reports there are new requirements at the Livingston County Courthouse in Chillicothe for anyone attending court proceedings. Electronics, cell phones, weapons, pepper spray, pocket knives, drinks, food, bags, and purses were already prohibited in courtrooms. New items added to the list are smartwatches and similar devices. Cox says anyone appearing […]
(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden called Thursday for U.S. energy companies to do their part in lowering gasoline prices by boosting supplies of oil, saying the industry should plow record profits back into increased production. Biden also said he would release 1 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve daily for the […]
The former city clerk of Greenville, Pam Birmingham, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in prison and ordered to repay $168,957 to the city after being convicted on a charge of receiving stolen property. A 2018 audit by State Auditor Nicole Galloway found improperly cashed checks, missing cash, and improper payroll and other payments during […]
(Missouri Independent) – Missouri’s record general revenue surplus was off-limits for spending plans as the House Budget Committee worked Thursday, defeating Democratic efforts to give boost money for public schools and state colleges. The only significant addition to education budgets approved by the committee was to restart the teacher Career Ladder program, providing $21 million to give experienced […]
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, […]
While March 29th was the last day to file for the August 2nd Primary Election, Grundy County Clerk Betty Spickard on Wednesday morning, March 30th announced a late filing for Presiding Commissioner, creating a race for the position. Bill Wilson filed for the position on Tuesday afternoon, March 29th. Incumbent Phillip Ray previously filed. Other […]
The Missouri Legislature is considering whether to legalize the adult use of marijuana. This comes less than four years after nearly seven out of ten voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing for the use of medical marijuana. The 2022 “Cannabis Freedom Act”, sponsored by Republican State Representative Ron Hicks would authorize the recreational use, taxation, […]
March 29th was the last day to file for the August 2nd Primary Election. Here is a list of candidates that have filed for office. There are no races in Grundy County. One candidate filed for each of the open positions. Incumbents filing include Presiding Commissioner Phillip Ray, Associate Circuit Court Judge Steve Hudson, Circuit […]
The Dorcus Richardson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution will host a genealogy program with Chapter Associate Member Edee Brunia as the speaker. Beginning genealogists and seasoned researchers are invited to the event in the lower level meeting room of the BTC Bank in Trenton on April 4th at 1 pm. Brunia plans […]
(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 […]
The Missouri Conservation Commission approved recommendations from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) at its March 25 meeting for upcoming 2022 migratory-game-bird-hunting seasons and 2022-2023 waterfowl-hunting seasons. 2022 MIGRATORY GAME BIRD HUNTING Mourning Doves, Eurasian Collared Doves, and White-Winged Doves Season: Sept. 1 through Nov. 29 Limits: 15 daily and 45 in possession combined total […]
The Laredo R-7 School will hold a preschool and kindergarten round-up next month. The event will be held on April 8th from 8:30 to 11:30 am. Items that should be brought include a child’s birth certificate, social security card, and immunization record. Call the Laredo School to schedule an appointment at 660-286-2225.
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, […]
(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 […]
(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 […]
Black leadership groups are speaking out about what they see as racially charged lines of questioning during the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to become a high-court justice. Conservative senators have implied Jackson may be soft on crime, friendly to terrorists at Guantanamo, and a proponent […]
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley took Wednesday’s opportunity to learn more about Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to instead hyperfocus on a handful of her sentences as a trial court judge. During the third and final day of Judge Jackson’s confirmation hearings, the Missouri senator continued to laser in on what he calls her lenient […]
