Rudi Keller

State Senate Democratic Leader Doug Beck said Gov. Mike Kehoe should not have authorized a deployment just hours before the federal shutdown.

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.

At an event in Columbia, Gov. Mike Kehoe said he is confident he was on firm legal ground when he called lawmakers into a special session to redraw maps to benefit Republicans. But with three lawsuits pending, the governor said it was up to the courts to prove him right.

Even as court cases seek to throw out the new redistricting plan approved in the special session, a referendum campaign to put it before voters is gaining momentum. At the same time, campaign committees are preparing to battle over the initiative process.

Missouri state Rep. Jeremy Dean of Springfield sent the text message on Sept. 4 to Republican state Rep. Cecelie Williams of Dittmer, during debates over a bill making it harder for voters to amend the state constitution. The message included a description of an oral sex act with the president.

State Sen. Lincoln Hough voted against efforts to end debate on gerrymandering and initiative petition bills — and was swiftly removed as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He was only one of two Republicans who opposed efforts to push through the measures.

The working group established by Gov. Mike Kehoe to look at the regulations governing parole has met twice since a public hearing in June. Neither the public nor the media was notified of either meeting.

Missouri's capital gains tax cut will apply to all gains since Jan. 1, and will be reflected in the income tax returns due in April. It's the first state to exempt profits from the sale of assets such as stocks, real estate, and cryptocurrency from income taxes.

Lawmakers voted to repeal the Missouri Incarceration Reimbursement Act, a 1988 law now seen as a property rights violation and a barrier to a fresh start after prison.