A voter-mandated pay hike for Missouri’s minimum wage workers hasn’t kicked in yet — and conservative lawmakers and business groups are looking to the General Assembly and the courts to block the raise. State legislators have filed three bills to restrict the provisions of Proposition A, which ordered a boost to the minimum wage and […]
Voter-approved minimum wage and sick leave measure under fire in courts and the Capitol
Posted inHealth
Even after voters, and now a judge, backed abortion rights, access in Missouri will remain difficult
Voters passed Amendment 3 in November to guarantee abortion rights in the Missouri Constitution. That kicked in Dec. 5. But that voter action followed decades of work by the General Assembly to regulate abortion into oblivion. So now state courts must reconcile those myriad regulations attacking abortion with the fresh constitutional amendment that promises access […]
Posted inState Government
Kansas nearing ‘constitutional crisis’ as small-town lawyers become a scarcity
Kansas judges in rural counties struggle to find qualified attorneys to represent defendants in cases where the right to a lawyer is guaranteed. “We are approaching a constitutional crisis,” said Kansas Supreme Court Justice Keynen “K.J.” Wall. Forty-seven rural counties are legal deserts, or areas without adequate access to legal help. One-third of rural attorneys […]
Posted inHousing
A new Kansas City program steers residents to mental health or drug care rather than custody
You see someone in the midst of a mental breakdown, or high on drugs. Call 911 and they may get arrested. Things could get worse from there. They might lose their job, their apartment. Rather than get the care that could pull them out of a crisis, they could land in custody and spiral into […]
Posted inEducation
Park University drops its push to de-annex property from Kansas City — for now
Park University has postponed its request to transfer 80 acres of Kansas City to Parkville, but hopes it can move forward in the future.
Posted inLocal Government
As Kansas City Life Insurance flattens houses in the Valentine neighborhood, residents anxiously await what’s next
Dozens of homes and businesses on four blocks of the Valentine neighborhood have been razed over the past 120 years, demolished one by one from 80 at its peak in 1909 to 30 at the beginning of this year.
As 2024 comes to a close, only eight still stand in the area bordered by 33rd and 35th streets, Southwest Trafficway and Pennsylvania Avenue.
“It’s like a wasteland,” said Catherine Hayes, a Valentine resident for the past 40 years.
Posted inState Government
Millions in Kansas juvenile justice dollars sit unused
Steve Stonehouse has seen it before. Children come to the Sedgwick County Department of Corrections youth intake facility, where he’s the director. They’re already kicked out of school and have nothing to do all day. So, the county corrections department started offering classes. The kids get at least four months of schooling, and they might […]
Posted inState Government
Abortion, insulin prices and period products: Here are the Missouri health bills to watch in 2025
Missouri lawmakers will return to Jefferson City in January ready to launch on dozens of health-related bills, including an effort to chip away at abortion rights approved last month by voters, limit how recipients can use government food assistance cards and eliminate the state sales tax on food. Legislation already filed for consideration for 2025 […]
Posted inState Government
Kansas hired a felon to manage $100 million. An audit says that fits with a sloppy hiring system
The Kansas Department of Commerce doesn’t run criminal background checks on nearly any of its prospective employees. That’s one explanation of how the agency hired a felon with a history of financial crimes to handle over $100 million in American Rescue Plan Act money. Former Commerce employee Jonathan Clayton is suspected of embezzling public funds. […]
Posted inHealth
Missouri ended its cannabis prohibition. Now it’s looking at the public health consequences
Since Missouri legalized marijuana in 2018, Dr. Bob Batterson has noticed a change in attitudes. The Children’s Mercy Hospital psychiatrist more often hears from parents wondering if cannabis could help their child’s anxiety, autism or OCD. “I tell them there are no studies,” said Batterson, the medical associate director of the hospital’s Division of Developmental […]