Avery Mock Booking Photo Final

Spickard woman charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child turns herself in to authorities

A Spickard woman added to the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office’s Most Wanted last week turned herself into the authorities on January 10th. The sheriff’s office reports 30-year-old Avery Elizabeth Mock has been charged with three felony counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child creating substantial risk.  Bond was set at $25,000 cash only, […]

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

Supreme Court appears wary of Biden vaccine-or-test employer mandate

(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared unconvinced Friday of the Biden administration’s authority to impose a vaccine-or-test mandate on private businesses, casting doubt on a key piece of the White House COVID-19 response. The justices seemed potentially more comfortable with another Biden administration rule to fight the virus that requires certain […]

Scott Fitzpatrick

Missouri schools must comply with COVID ruling to win treasurer approval of bond deals

(Missouri Independent) – If school districts want to take advantage of a lower interest rate on bonds, Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick is requiring them to certify compliance with a recent court ruling targeting local health orders before his office will approve of the deal. Fitzpatrick detailed the decision he described as “unprecedented” in an interview Wednesday […]

School buses wait Tuesday outside Thomas Hart Benton Elementary School in Columbia (Photo Credit Rudi Keller Missouri Independent

Confusion around COVID ruling swirls as two Missouri school districts end semester early

(Missouri Independent) – As a growing number of Missouri school districts drop COVID mitigation measures under threat from Attorney General Eric Schmitt, at least two closed the doors on their fall semester early due to large numbers of staff and students out sick. Meanwhile, local public health departments said Tuesday they still have not heard […]

Evergy Website

Evergy files request with Missouri Public Service Commission for increase in monthly electric bills

Evergy Missouri West and Evergy Metro have filed applications with the Missouri Public Service Commission seeking to adjust the demand side mechanism charge on customer bills. The charge appears as a separate line item on customer bills and allows Evergy to recover demand-side management program costs and incentives under the Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act. […]

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Milan C-2 School District asking residents to take survey regarding district possibly going to 4-day school week

The Milan C-2 School District is planning for the 2022-2023 school year and is seeking feedback on the potential of implementing a four-day school week. A survey is available on the school’s website in English, Spanish, and French. The survey in English is available by clicking HERE, The survey in Spanish is available by clicking […]

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

U.S. Supreme Court considers new limits on abortions in Mississippi case

(Missouri Independent) – The Supreme Court is weighing potentially sweeping changes to the right to an abortion, after two hours of arguments Wednesday morning on a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The court’s conservatives, who hold a 6-3 majority, appeared through their questions to be sympathetic to Mississippi’s arguments […]

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Missouri Attorney General files lawsuit against Moberly Public Schools for public records on IEP recording policy

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed a lawsuit against the Moberly Public School District for alleged Sunshine Law violations for requests for public records from the Attorney General’s Office related to their policy on parents recording Individualized Education Plan meetings. “Parents have a right to know exactly what is being taught to the children and […]

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt speaks to a gathering of Missouri Highway Patrol officers in April 2021 (photo courtesy of the attorney general’s office)

Missouri Attorney General sues Springfield schools in quest to find critical race theory documents

(Missouri Independent) – Attorney General Eric Schmitt alleges in a newly filed lawsuit that Springfield Public Schools wants to avoid scrutiny of its curriculum and training materials — and is violating the Missouri Sunshine law to do it. The district improperly demanded a deposit of more than $37,000 to search its records for instances where it incorporated elements […]

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MOST 529 and Sallie Mae to host free webinar for National Scholarship Month

In partnership with Sallie Mae and the MOST 529 Education Plan, Missouri State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick will host a free webinar focused on finding scholarship opportunities and paying for higher education. The webinar will be held via Zoom on Wednesday, November 10 at 7 p.m.                November is National Scholarship Month which raises awareness about scholarship opportunities for […]

A gavel and a name plate with the engraving Lawsuit

Gun safety group files suit alleging NRA illegally coordinated with Hawley campaign

(Missouri Independent) – The Giffords gun safety organization has sued the National Rifle Association and the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana, alleging the group used shell corporations to improperly aid the Republican lawmakers in 2018. The suit alleges two NRA affiliates made up to $35 million in illegal […]

Immigration

Coalition of lawmakers rebuke biden plan to pay illegal immigrants with taxpayer dollars

U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Kennedy (R-La.), and the nine other Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans wrote to President Joe Biden to oppose his administration’s reported plan to offer illegal immigrants up to $450,000 per person in taxpayer dollars to settle lawsuits resulting from those individuals’ violating U.S. immigration law. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), […]