(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. House transportation panel early Wednesday passed along party lines the panel’s $60 billion slice of Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget plan, adding nearly $20 billion for a new transit program and high-speed rail development in the states. Chairman Peter A. DeFazio of Oregon had considered these and other items underfunded in […]
Kansas City State Senator Greg Razer says he will try to block every bill he considers to be anti-LGBT that reaches the Missouri Senate. On the Senate floor Wednesday, Razer, a Democrat who is openly gay, says protecting the rights of the LGBT community will be the goal for the rest of his term. […]
(Missouri Independent) – With several months to go before state lawmakers return for the 2022 legislative session, Republicans are promising to once again push to require photo identification to vote. Committees in the Missouri House and Senate held hearings Tuesday dominated by discussions of requiring a government-issued ID for both in-person and absentee voting. Secretary […]
(Missouri Independent) – Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a revamped voting rights bill that would expand voter registration as well as create nonpartisan redistricting committees, but the measure is still likely to face an uphill battle in an evenly divided Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he will bring the legislation to the floor […]
Missouri’s U-S Senator Josh Hawley spoke on the Senate floor Tuesday to honor the life of a Missouri Marine who was killed in Afghanistan last month during the U-S evacuation. Hawley also supported pulling out of the country but criticizes how the Biden administration handled it. Hawley introduced a resolution to […]
(Missouri Independent) – Missouri Republicans assailed President Joe Biden’s push to require employees of private businesses to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing, vowing a legislative response and legal action. Gov. Mike Parson promised to “fight back against federal power grabs and government overreach” in a tweet Thursday afternoon, calling Biden’s plan “an […]
Governor Mike Parson announced that his administration will reject the Biden Administration’s attempt to enforce an unconstitutional, federal vaccine mandate for Missourians and private businesses. The Office of the Governor has been in communication with leadership from the Missouri General Assembly and the Attorney General’s Office to align resources for a pending legal fight. “This […]
U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), and eight colleagues sent a letter to Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) calling for hearings on the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Specifically, the senators requested sworn testimony from senior military leaders, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General […]
(Missouri Independent) – The White House is urging Congress to approve at least $24 billion — and likely more — for disaster relief costs, saying that the aid should be included in a short-term spending bill expected this month. That tally includes $14 billion for recovery costs related to extreme weather events, including hurricanes, floods, and wildfires during […]
(Missouri Independent) – Despite increasing legal access to medical and recreational cannabis in states across the U.S., veterans face unfair treatment and stigmatization because the U.S. refuses to recognize marijuana as a viable treatment option. While the VA has embraced the federally illegal status of the drug, agency policy does not allow discrimination against veterans […]
(Missouri Independent) – Kevin Strickland was hopeful Thursday was going to be his first step towards freedom after 40 years in prison. A new law that went into effect on Aug. 28 gave Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker a legal avenue to free Strickland, who she says is innocent and wrongly incarcerated. But opposition […]
(Missouri Independent) – Fireworks, this week over the sudden removal of an LGBTQ history exhibit from the museum in the Missouri Capitol caught the attention of John Cunning. For 24 years before he retired in 2018, Cunning oversaw the museum as part of his job at Missouri State Parks. So when he read Gov. Mike […]
(Missouri Independent) – A provision tucked in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package would direct Congress to chart a path for citizenship for millions of undocumented people. If passed, the House provision would provide a pathway to citizenship for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, often referred to as Dreamers, farmworker workers; those […]
Missouri has removed a gay history exhibit from the state Capitol. On Twitter, Kansas City Democrat Greg Razer, the state Senate’s only openly gay member, says the exhibit had only been on display for four days. Razer says there is nothing controversial about an exhibit that explains how members of the LGBT community […]
The Missouri Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics is responding to Attorney General Eric Schmitt suing to block mask mandates in Missouri’s K-12 public schools. Schmitt, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, says a mask mandate “flies in the face of science, especially given children’s low risk of severe illness and death and their […]
State Attorney General Eric Schmitt is suing Columbia Public Schools and any Missouri K-12 public school requiring students and staff to wear masks. Schmitt, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, says a mask mandate “flies in the face of science, especially given children’s low risk of severe illness and death and their low risk of […]
The Jackson County prosecutor in western Missouri, Jean Peters Baker, has filed a motion to free Kevin Strickland from a Missouri prison. Prosecutors Jean Peters Baker says The Missouri General Assembly and Governor Parson deserve credit for creating a new legal avenue for a local prosecutor to seek relief. The passing of Senate […]
The waiver that allowed Missouri restaurants to sell “to-go” alcoholic drinks beginning on April 14, 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, will become permanent when Senate Bill 126 takes effect on August 28, 2021. The administrative waiver was granted because many restaurants were severely strained as business dropped off or shifted to take out […]
A representative of Green Hills Women’s Shelter in Trenton is listed among those planning to give testimony when a task force has a hearing Wednesday afternoon, August 25. The task force is reviewing the treatment and support of sexual assault victims in Missouri. The first of four scheduled hearings are from 1 to 3 o’clock […]
(Missouri Independent) – At the base of the bridge in Selma, Ala., where the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia almost died while marching for civil rights, congressional Democrats announced Tuesday the introduction of legislation that aims to protect voting rights across the country. Rep. Terri Sewell, an Alabama Democrat, unveiled what will be […]
