Missouri Senate Chamber from Visitors Gallery (Photo Courtesy Missouri Senate)

‘Clown show’ vs. ‘tyranny’: Missouri Senate GOP divide on display during veto session

(Missouri Independent) –  On one side were tyrannical oligarchs. On the other, petulant children.  Or at least that was the takeaway from the Missouri Senate’s day-long rules debate Wednesday. Gathered for the legislature’s annual veto session, the demons that have haunted the upper chamber for more than a year didn’t take long to reappear.  The […]

Amtrak Missouri River Runner train#313 pulling into Kirkwood Missouri Amtrak Station

U.S. House Democrats add more mass transit, high-speed rail into infrastructure bill

(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 […]

Child Porn

Former paraprofessional at Missouri high school sentenced to 22 years in prison for producing child pornography

 A former paraprofessional at Blue Springs High School was sentenced in federal court for producing and distributing child pornography. Steven B. Allen, 46, of Independence, Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 22 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Allen to spend the rest of his life on […]

Missouri GOP vow to push back against Biden’s announced vaccine mandate

(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 […]

Face Mask photo from Unsplash

Study: Saint Louis University face mask policy reduced quarantines, COVID cases

(Missouri Independent) – Tying quarantine requirements to the Saint Louis University face mask requirement successfully reduced the number of students sent to isolation and helped cut COVID-19 infections this spring, according to a study published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Under the university’s rules, students without masks who had close contact […]