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. […]

United States Supreme Court (Phot credit Laura Olson - States Newsroom)

Supreme Court to hear case against Proposition 12 by National Pork Producers Council and American Farm Bureau Federation

The U.S. Supreme Court at its Mar. 25 conference agreed to hear a case brought by the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation against California’s Proposition 12, which bans the sale of pork from hogs born to sows that weren’t raised according to the state’s “arbitrary” production standards. “We are extremely […]

Mental Health First Aid Missouri Website

Audio: Free mental health first aid training is being offered to Missouri K-12 schools

State Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven says students, teachers, and school staff are experiencing increased mental health challenges and stressors right now. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is teaming up with Mental Health First Aid Missouri to offer free mental health first aid training to K-12 schools across the state. Amy Bartels, with […]

Hydrocodone tablets with prescription bottle

Physician convicted for unlawfully prescribing over 1 million opioid pills in a single year

A physician was convicted for unlawfully prescribing more than one million pills of the opioid hydrocodone.    According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, James Pierre, 52, a doctor, of Houston, Texas, unlawfully prescribed controlled substances from June 2015 through July 2016 to individuals posing as patients at West Parker Medical Clinic (West […]

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 […]

Photo of border wall (Photo via Greg Bulla on Unsplash)

New process for asylum cases at the border unveiled by Biden administration

(Missouri Independent) – The Biden administration announced Thursday steps to expedite asylum cases at the U.S.-Mexico border in an attempt to resolve a years-long backlog, but policy advocates worry the streamlined process could prevent asylum seekers from obtaining legal representation if their cases are denied.  “If somebody is not approved in the first instance, they’re […]

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 […]