Medicaid Expansion in Missouri

Senate committee approves bill that could overturn Missouri Medicaid expansion

(Missouri Independent) – A constitutional amendment asking Missourians to let lawmakers decide year-to-year whether the state will offer Medicaid to working-age adults moved closer to passage on Wednesday. By an 8-5 vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee sent the House-passed proposal to the full Senate for debate. Only Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, voted with Democrats to oppose the measure, which […]

John Boyd photo courtesy of John Boyd Junior

Democrats file suit to keep two-time Republican candidate off ballot for Missouri House seat

(Missouri Independent) – Democrats want to kick a candidate off the ballot in the race for a Kansas City-area Missouri House seat, claiming the Grandview man who filed in the 36th District contest is actually “a longtime Republican and vocal opponent of the Democratic Party.” John D. Boyd Jr. filed for the seat on Feb. […]

Sales Tax

Grundy County sales tax collections for the year increase almost $11,000 across the board

Grundy County sales tax collections for the year through April are up more than $10,900 for general revenue, ambulance, and law enforcement when compared to the same period last year. Collections for 2022 through this April are more than $170,200 for each category. Collections for this month are up more than $10,000 each from what […]

Budget Graphic

Record Missouri surplus likely to grow under $46.5B House budget plan

(Missouri Independent) – The biggest state budget in Missouri history could also leave the biggest surplus in state history when the next fiscal year ends. The Missouri House on Thursday sent 15 appropriation bills to the state Senate, one supplemental spending bill for the current fiscal year, and 14 spending $46.5 billion in the coming year. The […]

Medical Marijuana

Audio: Medical Marijuana in Missouri on track to generate $300 million dollars in 2022

Missourians are setting medical marijuana buying records with sales that could top 300 million dollars this year.     The Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association – or MOCAAN – says patients bought more than thirty million dollars’ worth ($30.71M) of medical marijuana in March alone, which is right at a million dollars a day. The […]

Oil rig with American flag background

Coalition of 27 state treasurers and auditors call on the Biden administration to promote American energy production

Missouri State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick joined 26 other state financial officers in calling on the Biden Administration to promote American energy production. In a letter to the President, the state leaders emphasized the need to re-establish American energy independence amid the massive increase in the price of gas and diesel, which is contributing to the […]

Budget news graphic

Missouri House signs off on $46.2 billion budget, leaves most of huge state surplus untouched

(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 […]

Election Results

Election results in the Municipal Election for Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Three individuals were elected to the Trenton R-9 Board of Education, three for the Grundy County Health Department board, and three members of the Trenton City Council won re-election with a former councilman returning to a council seat. Each of the winners led from start to finish, meaning from the absentee ballots through the final […]

Elections (Vote or Voting)

A look at issues voters across northern Missouri will decide in Tuesday’s election

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 […]

State Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern makes a plea for increased funding for public schools during Thursday’s House Budget Committee markup session. (Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent)

House Budget Committee rejects adding surplus revenue to Missouri public schools, colleges

(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 […]

Phone Scam

Trenton Police Department reports scammers contacting residents using a variety of scam techniques to gain personal information

The Trenton Police Department reports residents receiving scam telephone calls from what appears to be a local telephone number or a telephone number from a business; however, these are telephone scammers spoofing telephone numbers to gain personal information to use in an identity theft scheme. Authorities are encouraging residents to be vigilant in keeping their […]

Missouri State Highway Patrol

Patrol reports the arrest of a Unionville man on multiple offenses

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports a Tuesday night arrest in Putnam County. Forty-six-year-old Brandon Baughman of Unionville was taken on a 24-hour hold to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department. Baughman is accused of felony alleged failure to register as a sex offender, failure to register annually with the Missouri Department of Revenue, operating a […]

Medical Marijuana and Veterans

Audio: Bill would add oversight on money flow from medical pot program to Veterans Commission

The House Veterans Committee heard from bill sponsor Jason Chipman, a Republican from Steelville in southeastern Missouri.  He wants to ask voters to add extra reporting on the tax revenue that comes from legal medical cannabis after the cannabis program pays its bills. The rest of the tax revenue is supposed to go to the […]

Medicaid Expansion in Missouri

Republicans push work requirements for coverage under Missouri Medicaid expansion

(Missouri Independent) – When the Good Samaritan Care Clinic opened in 2006 in Mountain View, only about 5% of the free clinic’s clients were eligible for Medicaid. When it closed late last year, that number had risen to 70%, Dr. John Roberts, one of the clinic’s founders, told the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.  Medicaid […]

Judgement news graphic

Missouri Attorney General obtains judgement against city of Moscow Mills for ticket quotas and other violations

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced that his office has obtained a consent judgment in his lawsuit against the City of Moscow Mills for violations of Senate Bill 5 and accompanying reforms. The lawsuit was filed in November 2021, after information came to light about alleged ticket quotas and other violations of SB5. “Since taking […]