Rudi Keller
Rudi Keller covers the state budget, energy and the legislature for the Missouri Independent. He’s spent 22 of his 30 years in journalism covering Missouri government and politics, most recently as the news editor of the Columbia Daily Tribune. Keller has won awards for spot news and investigative reporting.
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Gov. Mike Parson vetoed items large and small that were outside the budget he laid out to lawmakers in January.
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Legislation directs social services, mental health departments to collaborate on solutions to clients being boarded in medical and mental health facilities ‘without medical justification’
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In the ruling, a Cole County judge said that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey had an "absolute absence of authority" in refusing to accept the state auditor's estimate for an abortion rights initiative petition and attempting to falsely inflate the cost. Bailey's office said it would appeal the decision.
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The court ruled that the Missouri Conservation Commission — not lawmakers — has the power to spend appropriated funds. The decision could influence a pending Cole County case over how much Department of Transportation employees get paid.
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A crime bill awaits action by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson. Shepherded to passage by Parkville Republican Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, it removes limits on payments to wrongly convicted people.
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Rep. Doug Richey, a Republican from Excelsior Springs, is proposing a narrowed version of his amendment banning diversity, equity and inclusion programming as the Missouri budget debate moves to the Senate.
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Gov. Mike Parson requested $859 million from the Missouri legislature to widen three sections of Interstate 70, including from Blue Springs to Odessa. But House Budget Committee chair Cody Smith says there's little chance of federal aid for the project.
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In addition to proposing cuts to the lawmakers' priorities, Missouri House Budget Chairman Cody Smith, a Republican from Carthage, wants to cut all aid to libraries in retaliation for a lawsuit challenging a new state law.
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The GOP bill would cut Missouri's corporate income tax rate in half, cut the top rate on personal income taxes, and exempt Social Security payments from taxation. Democrats, however, said another cut — coming on top of a tax cut approved in September that has not been fully implemented — would put the state into a potentially precarious financial position.
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"Even though we’re in a fairly red state, we are having some more progressive policies, a little left of center policies, wanted by voters on both guns and school safety," poll director says.