Driver License

Audio: Missouri House advances voter photo ID bill with effort to restrict transgender athletes

Missouri’s elections could include a photo ID requirement to vote. The state House of Representatives has given preliminary approval to a bill that would require Missourians to show a photo ID at the polls. State Representative Chuck Basye successfully added language that would let voters within a school district decide if transgender athletes born as […]

Audio: Missouri Senate gives initial approval to effort to freeze property tax rates for senior citizens

The Missouri Senate has given initial approval to a proposal that would ask voters to freeze residential property tax assessments for senior citizens. State Senator Steven Roberts, a Democrat from St. Louis, is co-sponsoring the proposed ballot measure.     One more vote of support would send the proposal to the House.

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 […]

City of Chillicothe Website

Chillicothe City Auditor resigns, applications being taken to fill position

Chillicothe City Auditor Hannah Fletcher has submitted her resignation effective the first week of June. City Clerk Roze Frampton reports the city is currently seeking applications to fill the position. The full-time position is to be appointed until the position is filled by a vote of the people in April 2023. The candidate must be […]

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. […]

Audio: Missouri bill would let convicted felons run for elected office

Convicted felons are not allowed to run for elected office in Missouri, but a state representative wants to change that. Republican Michael Davis, of Kansas City, is proposing to let convicted felons start running seven years after being released from prison and when their parole and probation time is complete. State Representative Kevin Windham of […]

Student Loan graphic

Pause on federal student loan repayments extended by Biden through August 31

(Missouri Independent) – The Biden administration Wednesday announced its plans to extend the pause on federal student loan repayments until the end of August. “I recognized in recently extending the COVID-19 national emergency, we are still recovering from the pandemic and the unprecedented economic disruption it caused,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.  “If loan […]

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 […]

Eric Greitens (Photo is screenshot from Eric Greitens YouTube channel)

Women within Missouri GOP speak out against Eric Greitens as party remains silent

(Missouri Independent) – In just two weeks since allegations of domestic violence surfaced, Eric Greitens’ campaign for the U.S. Senate has been under siege from fellow Republicans urging him to drop out of the race.  With one notable exception. The state party, which in recent years has denounced several candidates running under the GOP banner for […]

Elections (Vote or Voting)

A look at offices across northern Missouri to be filled in Tuesday’s election

Numerous candidates will be elected to office during balloting today. KTTN listed many of the issues on ballots across our listening area on Monday, and today, we’ll focus on offices that have races involving city positions, school boards, and county health boards. Voters within Trenton will select four individuals for Trenton City Council, one per […]

Marijuana leaf

U.S. House votes to decriminalize marijuana in federal law

(Missouri Independent) – The U.S. House passed legislation Friday to legalize marijuana nationally, but its future is much less clear in the Senate. The House voted 220-204 to approve the measure, which would fix the split between federal law and 19 states where recreational marijuana is legal. Three Republicans joined all but two Democrats in approving the measure. […]

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 […]

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. […]

Recreatioinal Marijuana news graphic

Audio: Missouri Legislature considering bill to legalize recreational pot

The Missouri Legislature is considering whether to legalize the adult use of marijuana. This comes less than four years after nearly seven out of ten voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing for the use of medical marijuana. The 2022 “Cannabis Freedom Act”, sponsored by Republican State Representative Ron Hicks would authorize the recreational use, taxation, […]

Representative Dan Shaul and chair of house special committee on Redristricting (photo courtesy Tim Bommel - Missouri House Communications

Missouri Senate congressional redistricting plan stalls on return to the House

(Missouri Independent) – Missouri House members are not ready to accept the congressional redistricting map approved by the state Senate. The House met Monday without voting on the Senate plan, approved Thursday at the end of a Senate session that lasted almost 24 hours. State Rep. Dan Shaul, R-Imperial and chairman of the House Redistricting Committee, […]

Audio: Karl Rove denies Greitens allegations he and McConnell orchestrated plan to get Greitens out of Senate race

U.S. Senate candidate and former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens says GOP consultant, Karl Rove, knew in advance his ex-wife was going to accuse him of physical abuse. Greitens says Rove and allies of Republican U.S. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell were in on a campaign to drive him from the race since Greitens opposes McConnell being […]

Daniel Dailey, attorney for William Tisaby, spoke to the media after a hearing on June 24. Jermaine Wooten (left), also a defense attorney in the case, listens in (Photo by Rebecca Rivas - Missouri Independent).

Investigator in Greitens’ case pleads guilty to evidence tampering

(Missouri Independent) – An ex-FBI agent who conducted the criminal investigation of former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens in 2018 pleaded guilty Wednesday to evidence tampering and was sentenced to a year of probation. William Tisaby, 69, was hired by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to assist in the investigation of allegations that Greitens threatened […]

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 […]

Republican Party

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 […]