Twenty states have enacted laws prohibiting the use of unique merchant category codes to distinguish firearm purchases, and Missouri could be the 21st. State Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Granby, presented legislation to a Senate committee Monday that would create the “Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act.” The bill prohibits government entities from keeping a […]

Missouri lawmakers scrounged for unspent or underutilized funds that could be cut from next year’s budget Monday, vowing to protect programs they said are vital to the health of Missourians. Republican state Rep. Darin Chappell of Rogersville vowed during a presentation of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to minimize proposed cuts to […]

A bill requiring public schools screen all students to determine if they qualify for gifted education by the time they reach the third grade passed the Missouri House on a 142-8 vote Monday. It bolsters a state law requiring schools to provide gifted classes when at least 3% of its students are identified as gifted. […]

For Jessica Haynes, cooking with her 21-year-old son AJ is “the most amazing thing.” When Jessica and AJ, who has autism, prepare a meal side by side in their Raytown home, Haynes told The Independent, “he gets to learn new skills, and we get to learn things right along with it.” Jessica and her husband […]

A law passed last year to add a measure for grade-level equivalency as part of Missouri’s standardized test reports may be scrapped as a casualty of the state’s budgetary woes. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education requested $1 million to add grade-level equivalency to the Missouri Assessment Program, which would largely be a one-time […]

A bill that would lower the minimum wage for minors was pitched by its sponsor last week as a way to help small businesses and young workers. The legislation would create a separate minimum wage for those under age 18 who are employed in Missouri. The new minimum wage rate for minors would be $12.30 […]

A state and federal investigation of “illegal” slot machines is looking at how “billions” flow from Missourians to the companies that own the games, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway told a legislative committee Thursday. The state, at the request of federal investigators, joined the probe that has its roots in a federal civil court case where […]

The first bill to clear the Missouri House this year would open the door for health care providers to face the death penalty if they don’t provide life-saving care to a baby born after an attempted abortion.  The legislation also opens the door for lawsuits against anyone assisting with illegal medication abortions.  “A baby that […]

The number of Missourians waiting in jail for services from the state’s mental health department continues to rise, with a backlog of more than 500 people with stalled cases. None of the people on the wait list have been convicted of the crime that led to their incarceration. They were found incompetent to stand trial […]