Stories by The Missouri Independent

New student-loan forgiveness plan could impact 18,800 Missourians Missourians who have been making income-based student loan payments for at least 20 years may see their debt cleared within 30 days. The change comes as the U.S. Department of Education and the White ... July 21, 2023

Missouri Supreme Court rejects AG’s position on abortion-rights amendment cost Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s efforts to inflate the cost estimate of an abortion-rights initiative petition were unanimously rejected by the state Supreme Court Thursday, just two d... July 20, 2023

Women’s employment hits all-time high After fears of a "she-cession" during the pandemic, women have returned to the workforce at unprecedented rates.Much of the gain reflects a boom in jobs traditionally held by women, includin... July 20, 2023

Transparency tool to return after Parson signs fix to donor privacy law Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation this month making changes to a donor privacy law blamed for impeding public access to state contract information.The Personal Privacy Protection Act receiv... July 19, 2023

Abortion-rights initiative petition fight reaches Missouri Supreme Court A legal showdown between a pair of Republican statewide elected officials found its way to the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday, as the judges heard arguments over whether a behind-the-scenes push to... July 19, 2023

Plan for peak pricing prompts pushback from top Missouri Republican Over the objections of Evergy Missouri, staff with the Missouri Public Service Commission last year pushed for power prices to be based on the time of day when the electricity was consumed, with a sma... July 18, 2023

Missouri to turn down millions in federal food aid After struggling for nearly a year to get federal food assistance to qualified low-income families, Missouri has decided not to participate in this summer's program -- forgoing tens of millions of dol... July 15, 2023

Time runs out for AG to appeal ruling in mask mandate lawsuit Time has run out for Attorney General Andrew Bailey to appeal a judge's decision limiting his authority over school districts and clarifying that school boards can establish disease mitigation methods... July 15, 2023

New law encourages retirees to return to classroom Missouri's school districts are struggling not just with a teacher shortage but a scarcity of bus drivers, custodians and other essential personnel. In the 2022-23 school year, teachers with inadequat... July 14, 2023

Trial to decide boundaries of five Missouri Senate districts starts today A political activist who spent much of the past six years in the fight over how Missouri legislative districts should be drawn will be the prime witness in a case challenging the state Senate map.Cole... July 12, 2023

State senator launches bid for lieutenant governor A longtime Republican state lawmaker announced Tuesday she is running for Missouri lieutenant governor.Holly Thompson Rehder, who served eight years in a Sikeston-based Missouri House seat before bein... July 12, 2023

St. Louis state senator jumps into Dem primary for U.S. Senate race State Sen. Karla May is the latest Missouri Democrat to jump into the U.S. Senate primary in the hopes of taking on Republican incumbent Josh Hawley next year.May joins Marine veteran Lucas Kunce and ... July 12, 2023

Missouri set to establish developmental standards for deaf children Missouri's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will for the first time create developmental standards for deaf and hard-of-hearing children under legislation signed Thursday by Gov. M... July 11, 2023

Governor vetoes bill to boost payment for wrongly convicted The state shouldn't be responsible for paying people released after their convictions have been overturned, Gov. Mike Parson wrote, explaining his veto of a bill that expands who is eligible for compe... July 8, 2023

Bills on cannabis banking, employee background checks signed Missouri's marijuana businesses will have fewer obstacles when it comes to accessing banking, but they must now get fingerprint background checks from all their new employees and contractors, under le... July 8, 2023

Bill creating transitional benefits for SNAP, TANF signed into law Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday signed legislation designed to ease the steep dropoff in public benefits that low-income Missourians face when they receive even a modest increase in income. The bill esta... July 8, 2023

Missouri income taxes to exempt Social Security, public pension payments Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday signed the tax cut he said a week earlier was responsible for his decision to veto most of the 201 spending items he cut from the state budget.The bill, exempting Social S... July 8, 2023

Governor signs bill extending postpartum Medicaid coverage Postpartum Medicaid coverage will expand from 60 days to one year under legislation signed into law Thursday evening by Gov. Mike Parson. Missouri had the 12th-highest maternal mortality in the nation... July 8, 2023

GOP legislative leaders won’t rule out overriding budget vetoes Gov. Mike Parson's budget vetoes weren't necessary to protect state finances and could lead to overrides when lawmakers meet in September, Republican legislative budget leaders said Wednesday. While o... July 7, 2023

Memo: Missouri AG helped craft plan to weaken open records laws For two years, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has pushed unsuccessfully to allow government agencies to withhold more information from the public and charge more for any records that are turned over.And ac... July 6, 2023

Bill to help Missourians with disabilities avoid Medicaid loss awaits governor’s action A proposal to help working Missourians with disabilities access affordable health care is among the bills now awaiting action by Gov. Mike Parson.The Legislature this year approved a pair of bills tha... July 5, 2023

Vetoed items — large, small — were outside budget Parson laid out in January From the $8,000 set aside so the Lone Jack Police Department could buy rifles to $46 million for an allied health building at St. Louis Community College, Gov. Mike Parson's veto ax fell heavily o... July 2, 2023

Missouri company plays central role in downfall of loan forgiveness program At the center of the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program Friday was a little-known Missouri nonprofit that goes by MOHELA. Based in St. Louis, the Mi... July 1, 2023

School boards ask commission to adjust funding formula for inflation Local education leaders around Missouri say the formula that determines state funding of public schools hasn't kept up with inflation and other pressures that districts face in 2023. At least 35 schoo... June 30, 2023

Judge: Expedited Supreme Court hearing will resolve abortion petition case A Cole County judge on Monday rejected a call from the ACLU of Missouri that he direct Attorney General Andrew Bailey to comply with a court order to certify the fiscal summary on an abortion rights i... June 27, 2023

Missouri hospitals house children in foster care with no place to go On an early June day, five foster children were being housed by SSM Health at hospitals in the St. Louis area not because they were sick, but because there was no other place for them to live. They ha... June 25, 2023

Missouri Supreme Court to hear abortion rights petition case The Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments July 18 to decide whether the attorney general can override the state auditor and demand changes in the estimated cost of initiative petitions. On Tuesda... June 24, 2023

Report: Missouri lags behind most states in children’s health Missouri ranks in the bottom third of all states for children's health, according to a recent report using data from 2021. The annual Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, released ... June 23, 2023

Missouri to be testing ground on plain cannabis packaging For decades, there's been a global movement urging "plain packaging" on tobacco products -- or packaging with limited colors and frills -- after numerous studies found it makes cigarette... June 23, 2023

AG misses deadline on abortion petition; appeal is filed Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey did not deliver his certification of the fiscal note summary on 11 abortion rights petitions within the 24 hours ordered Tuesday by Judge Jon Beetem.Instead, Ba... June 22, 2023

Ameren plans solar farms that can power 95,000 homes Ameren Missouri plans to open four solar farms by 2026 capable of powering a combined 95,000 homes, the company announced Tuesday.Ameren, an investor-owned electric utility serving St. Louis and easte... June 21, 2023

Judge: Missouri AG had no authority to question abortion initiative cost In a scathing denunciation of Attorney General Andrew Bailey's legal arguments, a Cole County judge on Tuesday set a 24-hour deadline for the AG to certify a fiscal note summary for an abortion ri... June 21, 2023

Missouri begins distributing summer 2022 food benefits; deadline for 2023 application looms Missouri began distributing pandemic-relief summer food benefits that were designed to cover summer 2022 just last week.Since last fall, thousands of families have been asking the state if and when th... June 16, 2023

Court: Missouri lawmakers had no power to limit conservation spending State lawmakers "invaded" the authority of the Missouri Conservation Commission when they tried to limit the use of its dedicated funds, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.In the long-... June 14, 2023

Public faces long delays obtaining records from Missouri attorney general When Andrew Bailey took over the Missouri attorney general's office from Eric Schmitt in January, he inherited more than 200 unfulfilled records requests submitted by members of the public.Six mon... June 13, 2023

Missouri pension bills include benefits for lawmakers, officials while in office Inside pension bills with provisions to encourage retired teachers to return to the classroom and protect the finances of the Missouri Sheriffs Retirement System are provisions that could boost the in... June 9, 2023

Judge tosses push to sanction auditor over report critical of Hawley A Cole County judge Thursday ruled that the state board that regulates accountants has no oversight over the Missouri auditor's office. The ruling came as result of a lawsuit filed in 2021 by then-Aud... June 9, 2023

Judge hears abortion initiative petition arguments Attorney General Andrew Bailey's attempt to increase the cost of an abortion-rights initiative petition was unprecedented and illegal, lawyers for the Missouri ACLU and state auditor's office ... June 8, 2023

Parson signs laws limiting transgender care, athletes A week into Pride month, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation Wednesday banning minors from beginning gender-affirming care and limiting sports participation for transgender athletes.In a news... June 8, 2023

GOP state senator launches campaign for secretary of state State Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican and member of the now-defunct Senate conservative caucus, announced Tuesday he would seek his party's nomination for Missouri secretary of state.... June 8, 2023

Lawmakers lament failure of bills to address Missouri's teacher shortage After a blue ribbon commission spent much of 2022 crafting possible solutions for Missouri's teacher shortage, education advocates entered the legislative session optimistic.And when Rep. Ed Lewis... June 7, 2023

Missouri AG had no authority to inflate cost of abortion amendment, auditor argues Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey overstepped his authority when he demanded changes to the cost estimate of an abortion-rights initiative petition, state Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick argued in a l... June 6, 2023

Company that makes opioid treatment settles with Missouri for $1.8 million A company that makes a common treatment for opioid addiction has agreed to settle an anti-trust lawsuit filed by 41 states in 2016 for $102.5 million, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced... June 6, 2023

Nonprofit to provide free emergency contraception by mail Anyone with a Missouri address can now request emergency contraception pills be shipped to them by mail, for free, under a pilot program launched Thursday by a health care nonprofit.Missouri Family He... June 2, 2023

Parson appoints staffer to join utility oversight board Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday selected his policy director to join the state commission that regulates investor-owned electric, natural gas, steam, water and sewer utilities. Kayla Hahn will take over ... June 2, 2023

New rule puts library funds in jeopardy over ‘obscene’ material Missouri public libraries survived a legislative fight over state aid but now face a new hurdle to obtain the money -- they must certify to the secretary of state that they have policies in place that... June 1, 2023

Where does revenue from Missouri marijuana sale, license fees go? Since Missouri's marijuana sales began in 2019, the state has collected nearly $100 million in revenue from taxes and program fees, according to state authorities.Etched in the state's constit... June 1, 2023

Missouri bill ends crack penalty disparity, raises age for trying youths as adults Missouri legislators this year rolled back two high-profile laws passed during tough-on-crime crusades of the 1980s and 1990s.One would end the sentencing disparity that imposes the same penalty for s... May 31, 2023

Around 600,000 Missouri kids still waiting for summer 2022 grocery benefits Missouri families who were promised emergency pandemic grocery funds last summer are still waiting -- even as another summer is beginning. For more than six months, families have been raising alarm ab... May 27, 2023

Sierra Club calls on EPA to enforce coal plant rules Strengthening federal air pollution rules could force some of the nation's "deadliest" coal plants to upgrade their facilities or retire them, according to a report released Thursday by the environmen... May 26, 2023