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Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri IndependentThe proposed amendment drafted by Republican lawmakers will appear before voters in November 2026, two years after Missourians codified the right to reproductive health care in the state constitution. -
Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri IndependentState Senate Democratic Leader Doug Beck said Gov. Mike Kehoe should not have authorized a deployment just hours before the federal shutdown.
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Kansas City is a regional hub for federal offices and the almost 30,000 federal workers who make up the largest workforce in the area. Many of those workers are furloughed without pay, their agencies closed until the government reopens. -
Tuesday's election saw 85% of voters supporting the recall of Jackson County Executive Frank White Jr., which will set off a rush by county legislators to appoint his replacement. But White is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to stop the vote certification. -
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins will have to rewrite the ballot summary for a proposed constitutional amendment a third time, because the judge ruled that it "fails to adequately alert voters" that the measure would ban abortion. -
The Unified Government could vote this week on an ordinance that would make it illegal for people to sleep outside on public and private property. But without a single overnight shelter in Wyandotte County, community groups say the crackdown will only worsen conditions for unhoused residents. -
The Democratic National Committee announced it will send people and money to Missouri, to help a referendum effort aimed at blocking a new congressional map from going into effect. -
White has served as county executive since 2016. Tens of thousands of signatures were gathered to trigger the special election, which White believes was called illegally. -
Kansas Republican lawmakers are circulating a petition for a special session to redistrict. The goal is to defeat the state's only Democrat in Congress. -
The move comes amid President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement practices garnering increasing criticism. Kehoe said that Missouri National Guard troops will help with "administrative, clerical and logistical duties." -
The federal shutdown will affect people across the United States. NPR's network of member stations explains what will be impacted and where. -
Federal Medicare and Medicaid regulations mandate staff vaccinations for employers that receive funding. But the high court ruled that Katlin Keeran was protected by a 2021 Kansas law making it illegal for employers to question the sincerity of religious beliefs for opting out of vaccines. -
A rarely-used maneuver could force a vote in the U.S. House on a bill requiring the Justice Department to publicly disclosed unclassified records and documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver has signed onto the petition, but of Missouri's GOP representatives, only Rep. Mark Alford says he will vote to advance the bill. -
The fourth lawsuit to be filed over the recent redistricting plan, this one argues that the Missouri Constitution does not allow lawmakers to revise congressional districts without new census data. It also argues that the districts are not legal because they stretch for hundreds of miles across the state.
Government
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Proposition C supporters say changing the form of government will bring needed reform to the county while opponents say the problem is the current commissioners. -
Lucas plans to enforce his rules, which allows businesses to increase their capacity to 50%, over more restrictive measures announced by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday. -
City voters have traditionally supported firefighters, but critics worry the city's tax burden is already too high, especially for low-income residents amid the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. -
An estimated 200,000 people could receive coverage if the program was expanded. -
The fire department, whose employees include numerous relatives, had pressed for the changes -
Councilmembers cited a memo by Police Chief Tim Schwartzkopf, who said he was against the ordinance because of the strains it was likely to put on his department. -
Jackson County received nearly $123 million in the first round of CARES Act funding, but Kansas City didn’t receive a dime. -
KCPD has curtailed contact with the public in order to protect investigators from COVID-19. At the same time, homicides and shootings are up over last year. -
Lawmakers say they expect to come back soon, especially if Congress passes a bill allocating money to help state and local governments with budget shortfalls. -
In 2018, voters overwhelmingly approved the constitutional amendment known as Clean Missouri, which included state redistricting and ethics changes.
Elections
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A recent poll said nearly a third of voters didn't support either former President Donald Trump or President Joe Biden. But third-party or independent candidates still don't have a serious path forward, and in Kansas, lawmakers want to make it more difficult for them to make the ballot for statewide office. -
The Kansas legislature has taken up several bills this session that the ACLU says would make casting ballots harder. The House Committee on Elections' chair says the goal is to improve Kansans' confidence in elections, and that many of the measures won't make it to a vote on the floor. -
Jackson County voters will see a question in the April 2 election asking to repeal and replace a sales tax, which would help pay for a new Royals ballpark. Here is a guide to the stadium ballot measure, including whether the Royals needs taxpayer dollars and who would own it. -
Big wins in statewide offices and the legislature have helped create bitter factionalism within the Missouri GOP. But since former President Trump is likely to take the state easily in November, many GOP officials aren’t worried about what’s to come. -
Jackson County voters will decide in April whether to fund the Chiefs' and Royals' stadiums through a 3/8th-cent sales tax for the next 40 years. However, two legislators worry their constituents won’t have enough information to cast their ballots. -
Jackson County voters will decide in April whether to fund the Chiefs' and Royals' stadiums through a 3/8th-cent sales tax for the next 40 years. However, two legislators worry their constituents won’t have enough information to cast their ballots. -
State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, a Republican, issued an audit of Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft's office and downgraded his administration to the second-lowest rating because it illegally withheld documentation about election cybersecurity. Ashcroft, who is also a Republican, criticized the report as a political attack. -
In the few days since the 2024 Kansas legislative session started, bills governing mail-in ballots and advance voting applications have already been filed. There is still zero evidence that widespread election fraud happens at the state or national levels. -
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft threatened to unilaterally kick President Joe Biden off of the Missouri ballot if Donald Trump is disqualified in other states for violating the U.S. Constitution's insurrection clause. But an appeals court ruling found Missouri law did not give the secretary of state that power. -
A local baseball fan created a Facebook group to "save Kauffman Stadium" over two years ago. Now, their movement claims over 7,500 members, even as the campaign to build a new downtown Royals ballpark gains momentum and legislative support.
