(Missouri Independent) -As debates over school curriculum rage nationwide, the Missouri House granted initial approval Tuesday to a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” that would allow for lawsuits and funding to be withheld from schools that repeatedly violate the proposed law. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, aims to “to empower parents to enforce” rights […]
(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 Missouri Senate is poised to take up a long-running effort to stymie the Grain Belt Express, a massive transmission line meant to carry wind energy from southwest Kansas across three states. The $2 billion project would carry 4,000 megawatts of energy, dropping some off in Missouri before ending at the Illinois-Indiana […]
An increasing number of jobs across Missouri require some level of training or education beyond high school, but rural students are less likely than their urban or suburban peers to enroll in and finish college. The rootEd Alliance wants to change it, by bringing career counselors into school districts to complement the work guidance counselors are already […]
The Chillicothe School District has two questions for voters to decide. One question asks whether the district should borrow $9,000,000 and issue general obligation bonds to construct, equip and expand the elementary school. Promoters say authorization of the bonds is expected to result in no increase in the debt service tax levy which is .966 […]
(Missouri Independent) – A bill that would make it a felony to donate fetal tissue from abortions for research or therapies won first-round approval in the Missouri House Tuesday, but lawmakers blocked an effort to make it illegal to help women obtain an abortion outside the state. The bill sponsored by Rep. Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, […]
(Missouri Independent) – Missouri children would be better protected from lead poisoning under a state legislative bill to require schools to nearly rid their drinking water of the dangerous toxin. The bill, heard Monday by the House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, would require schools to test drinking water, remove old coolers and filter water where […]
The Missouri Attorney General joined 20 other states in a multistate action against President Biden’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s continued use of the unlawful mask mandate on public transportation. The attorneys general argue that the mandate exceeds the authority of the CDC. The Biden administration continues to use a failed interpretation of a […]
(Missouri Independent) – As a fight over who can regulate industrial hog and cattle operations awaits action by the Missouri Supreme Court, counties that sought more stringent protections against them wait in limbo. The Missouri Supreme Court is expected to hear an appeal by county commissioners who sought to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, […]
(Missouri Independent) – When Missouri’s health department refused to turn over certain documents to ProPublica reporter Pamela Colloff in October 2020, she did what the attorney general’s office directs anyone to do if they believe a government agency is illegally withholding public records. She filed a Sunshine Law complaint with Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, […]
(Missouri Independent) – Most of the enormous surplus accumulating in Missouri’s general revenue fund will be off-limits to members of the House Budget Committee when it prepares the fiscal year 2023 spending plan for floor debate. Gov. Mike Parson’s $47.3 billion budget proposal projects a $1.6 billion general revenue surplus at the end of June 2023. […]
(Missouri Independent) – Regulators ordered an industrial hog farm in northern Missouri to pay more than $18,000 for spilling 300,000 gallons of manure into miles of nearby streams. An advocate for environmentally responsible agriculture called that “pathetic,” noting the fine amounted to less than $0.04 per gallon of waste spilled. “You’re talking about a multi-billion […]
Several state corn and soybean groups are suing the EPA over its revised greenhouse gas emissions standards that would focus clean energy efforts on electric vehicles. The groups’ petitions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia argue the rule change would be detrimental to the biofuel sector by only allowing electric […]
(Missouri Independent) -The House gave initial approval Wednesday to a bill that would allow newborns to remain with their incarcerated mothers for the first year and a half of the baby’s life. The bill would permit the Missouri Department of Corrections to establish nurseries within the state’s correctional facilities, allowing children born to incarcerated women to […]
(Missouri Independent) – President Joe Biden used his first State of the Union address on Tuesday night to reassert America as a leading global voice for democracy and condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for starting an “unprovoked” war in Ukraine. “Throughout our history, we’ve learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay a price […]
Farmers who plant cover crops will be eligible for crop insurance premium subsidies worth $5 an acre for the second year in a row. To qualify for the payments from USDA, farmers must report their cover crop acreage to the Farm Service Agency by March 15. Last year, USDA made payments totaling $59.5 million for 12.2 million acres of cover […]
The Wright Memorial Hospital Auxiliary is pleased to announce the continuation of the scholarship program for area residents. Students already enrolled in or admitted to a degree program in a health care field are eligible for the scholarship. The Wright Memorial Hospital Auxiliary Scholarship Fund was established in 2008 to encourage qualified individuals to pursue […]
(Missouri Independent) – On a recent Tuesday evening in southeastern Missouri, John Freeze stood in front of yet another angry group of constituents. Some here believe the number of COVID-19 deaths are being purposefully inflated for financial gain. Among the culprits, in their mistaken view: Hospitals seeking Medicare reimbursements; The federal government, led by Dr. Anthony […]
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke and U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea of the Western District of Wisconsin announced the conviction of Cory Hereford, 50, of Beloit, Wisconsin, on charges of sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, maintaining a property to distribute and use controlled substances, and of having committed sex trafficking of a minor […]
(Missouri Independent) – A Missouri lawmaker facing a 23-count federal indictment for allegedly selling fake stem-cell treatments and fraudulently using federal pandemic relief funds has settled with the state health department, resulting in three-year probation of her narcotics license while admitting to illegally purchasing and prescribing pharmaceutical drugs. The administrative settlement, signed Jan. 28 with the […]
