News
As Missouri looks to legalize recreational marijuana, expungement gets renewed attention
The push to legalize recreational marijuana use in Missouri is coming from multiple directions, with a handful of proposed initiative petitions and at least one bill, and potentially more, backed by Republican lawmakers. Each hopes to place the issue on the 2022 ballot for voter approval. And each proposal also includes a provision that, while […]
With voting rights stalled, some senators mull an update to the Electoral Count Act
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators is exploring legislation to overhaul how Congress counts Electoral College votes, but backers of stalled voting rights legislation are lukewarm on the effort as a substitute. The Electoral Count Act is an obscure law that has come under recent scrutiny, a year after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol […]
Military medical team heads to St. Louis to support COVID care at Christian Hospital
St. Louis hospitals straining to keep up with a record-breaking number of COVID-19 cases will get some relief in the form of a military medical team. A 40-member team will begin arriving at BJC-Christian Hospital in North St. Louis County on Wednesday, a news release from BJC HealthCare stated. The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task […]
Crush of COVID cases force Missouri hospitals to scramble for staffing
University of Missouri Health Care will require nurses who don’t usually care directly for patients to take four 12-hour hospital shifts during the next two weeks as it struggles under a record COVID-19 caseload. Notice went out Jan. 14 for “licensed nurses and other licensed health care professionals at the School of Medicine currently working […]
Agriculture secretary pressed about pandemic relief funds for farmers
WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack faced questions on how his agency is doling out emergency pandemic aid and fostering collaboration with historically Black colleges during a Thursday hearing before the House Agriculture Committee. Committee Chairman David Scott, a Georgia Democrat, asked Vilsack for “critical updates on the implementation of pandemic relief programs, including the […]
Missouri Senate hears bipartisan push to forgive mistakenly overpaid unemployment benefits
Tracie Engelmeyer was among hundreds of bus drivers who were furloughed in St. Louis County in March 2020 because of the pandemic. School-district authorities told them that even though drivers are contracted labor, they would qualify for unemployment benefits and urged them to apply. Engelmeyer recalled the conversation she had with a school district representative […]
Missouri judge asked to toss Ashcroft summary of education funding initiative petition
A Cole County judge heard arguments Thursday over whether Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wrote a misleading ballot summary for an initiative petition seeking to prohibit public tax dollars from going to private schools. The lawsuit was filed by Sherri Talbott, the treasurer of the political action committee Taxpayers for Accountability and a school board […]
Bipartisan commission approves new Missouri House districts
As the Missouri House finalized its version of a new Congressional map Wednesday, a panel of 20 Republicans and Democrats agreed on a new map for the chamber’s 163 seats. The House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission voted unanimously to approve the plan, which needed support from 14 members to pass before Sunday’s deadline. The successful […]
Biden says ‘big chunks’ of his spending bill could still succeed, including climate plan
President Joe Biden said Wednesday the climate and child care provisions in his domestic spending agenda could still become law this year, even as the larger plan has stalled in the Senate over other items that Biden conceded may not pass — such as an expanded child tax credit. In a nearly two-hour news conference, […]
Governor proposes record $47.3B Missouri budget as he taps surplus, federal aid
Gov. Mike Parson proposed massive new spending on infrastructure and college buildings, and still found money to set aside for pensions and future revenue shortfalls, in the budget submitted Wednesday to lawmakers. Missouri will enter the new fiscal year with nearly $3 billion in surplus general revenue, an anticipation of record future tax collections and […]
Gov. Mike Parson touts Missouri’s COVID-19 response in annual State of State address
Gov. Mike Parson praised his administration’s handling of the still unfolding COVID-19 pandemic Wednesday, telling a joint session of the Missouri General Assembly that the state has emerged ready to make long term investments in its future. “The bottom line is Missouri’s economy is strong,” Parson said in his annual State of the State address. […]
Missouri House sends Congressional map to Senate without an emergency clause
A redrawn Congressional map cleared the Missouri House on Wednesday, but without an emergency clause needed for it to go into effect before the Aug. 2 primary. Now, the map heads to the state Senate, where members of the chamber’s conservative caucus are already denouncing it for not doing away with a safe Democratic seat […]