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Gaming parlors are popping up across Missouri. Courts have yet to determine if they are illegal
MOBERLY – Nestled between the offices of a small loan company and an insurance brokerage, Hot Shots Internet Cafe offers neither internet access nor any sort of nourishment. But what Hot Shots does offer is more than a dozen games that look like slot machines offering cash prizes to anyone willing to risk a dollar. […]
Out-of-state donors fuel pair of GOP candidates running for Missouri governor, AG
Becoming a registered Republican was the worst decision B.J. Adams says he ever made. Adams, a resident of Burlington, North Carolina, isn’t upset with GOP policies. And he loves former President Donald Trump. But when the 87-year-old conservative who grew up a Democrat finally switched his party registration, he said it unleashed a torrent of […]
Appeals court sets hearing date on Missouri abortion rights initiative ballot title
The next legal wrestling match over what Missouri voters would see if an abortion-rights initiative petition makes next year’s ballot is scheduled for Oct. 30 before judges of Western District Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel will hear oral arguments that day on Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s appeal of Cole County Circuit Judge Jon […]
St. Louis asks Missouri Supreme Court to overturn police ‘bill of rights’ law
A law requiring cities to cover costs of damages when individual officers are found liable in police misconduct cases should be thrown out because it illegally imposes new duties and expenses on local governments, lawyers for St. Louis argued to the Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday. In defense of the law, Assistant Attorney General Jason […]
Missouri judge rejects secretary of state’s ‘problematic’ summary of abortion initiative petitions
A Cole County judge rewrote the ballot titles for six initiative petitions seeking to enshrine the right to abortion in the Missouri Constitution, ruling that 13 phrases in the summaries written by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft are “argumentative” or unfairly biased. In a ruling issued Monday morning, Circuit Judge Jon Beetem wrote that the […]
Governor’s budget vetoes survive despite overrides in the Missouri House
Gov. Mike Parson prevailed on all his vetoes Wednesday when the state Senate refused to consider any of the 14 budget overrides approved by the Missouri House. The House achieved two-thirds votes to override vetoes on 10 budget lines providing raises for the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Capitol Police Department. The other successful […]
Judge rules against challenge to Missouri Senate district map
The state Senate district map is constitutional despite its splits to political subdivisions in St. Louis County and northwest Missouri, Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem ruled Tuesday. In a 21-page decision, Beetem rejected a challenge to the districts drawn last year by a panel of appeals court judges. The choices made by the Judicial […]
Budget vetoes may face override in Missouri House, but Senate vote unlikely
Missouri House leaders want to flex their muscles, state Senate leaders want to limit chances for personality clashes and Gov. Mike Parson reportedly expects his vetoes – $555 million in spending and one statutory enactment – to survive Wednesday’s gathering of lawmakers. Except for the administration of Gov. Jay Nixon – a Democrat who faced […]
Cole County judge hears case challenging ballot title for Missouri abortion initiatives
To backers of initiatives intended to enshrine abortion rights in Missouri’s constitution, the proposed ballot titles written by Secretary of State Jay Aschroft are poison intended to lead to certain defeat at the polls. But an attorney for Ashcroft, arguing Monday to keep the ballot title intact, said the ballot language that begins by saying […]
Mail-in ballots, ranked-choice voting part of Missouri Democrat plan for presidential primary
Democrats in Missouri, like their counterparts nationally, will use 2024 to test a new system for determining the party’s presidential preference now that the public primary for all parties has been abolished. Instead of reverting to a caucus-only system, the process used in most elections prior to 2000, the Missouri Democratic Party is seeking comment […]
Missouri hospital seeks to dismiss slander, conspiracy lawsuit filed by fired CEO
Allegations that Scotland County Hospital fired a chief executive officer during an illegal closed meeting aren’t enough to make a case that there was a conspiracy against the officer, attorneys for the hospital argued Wednesday. Statements made in that August 2022 meeting are protected because they were among officials of the hospital, attorney Andrew Kinghorn […]
Phelps County woman awaits ruling in battle against her ban from Missouri city hall
ROLLA – A story that began with a small-town traffic stop will end with a judge deciding whether government officials tried to silence a critic by banning her from city hall. Rebecca Varney already won one round in her lawsuit accusing the city of Edgar Springs of repeated violations of Missouri’s Sunshine Law. On Friday […]